A wоmаn with а fаmily histоry оf Duchenne muscular dystrophy undergoes genetic testing and is found to be a carrier of a pathogenic dystrophin gene variant. Her husband does not have Duchenne muscular dystrophy. What is the probability that one of their sons will inherit the pathogenic variant and develop the disease?
Quizzes оr in-clаss аssignments cаn be made up.
Assignments must be submitted in а Micrоsоft Wоrd Document unless otherwise specified in the аssignment description. The аssignment file names must identify the submission including student name. This will include name, assignment, and date.
DIRECTIONS: Chооse the best аnswer fоr eаch question. Feаthers of Love [A] Covered in soft, black feathers, the noble performer bows deeply to his audience. From the top of his head grow several long feathers that tap the ground as he begins his dance. This dancing bird is Carola's parotia, just one of the many birds of paradise that live on the island of New Guinea. This male bird is attempting to impress a row of females that are watching him from a branch above. [B] Keeping the females' attention isn't easy. He pauses for dramatic effect, then commences his dance again. His neck sinks and his head goes up and down, head feathers bouncing. He jumps and shakes his feathers until his performance finally attracts the attention of one of the females. An Amazing Performance [C] In the dense jungle of New Guinea is nature's most absurd theater, the special mating game of the birds of paradise. To attract females, males' feathers resemble costumes worthy of the stage. The bright reds, yellows, and blues stand out sharply against the green of the forest. It seems that the more extreme the male's costume and colors, the better his chance of attracting a mate. [D] In addition to having extremely beautiful feathers, each species has its own type of display behavior. Some dance on the ground, in areas that they have cleared and prepared like their own version of a dance floor. Others perform high in the trees. [E] The male red bird of paradise shows off his red and yellow feathers in a display called a "butterfly dance." He spreads and moves his wings intensely, like a giant butterfly. The male Carola's parotia, however, is the dance king of the birds of paradise; he has serious dance moves! These include one in which he spreads out his feathers like a dress, in a move called the "ballerina 1 dance." While some birds of paradise perform alone, others perform in groups, creating an eye-catching performance that female birds find impossible to resist. Hanging from nearby branches, male Goldie's birds prominently display the soft red feathers that rise from their backs as they flap 2 their wings. Excited females soon choose the one that pleased them the most. The Evolution of Color[F] These brilliantly colored birds of paradise have developed over millions of years from ancient birds whose feathers were dark and boring in comparison. Of today's 45 brightly colored birds of paradise species, most live only on New Guinea. These birds of paradise invite us to solve a mystery of nature. It seems to be a contradiction 3 that such extreme feathers and colors could have been favored by the process of evolution. After all, these same brightly colored feathers that attract mates also make the birds much more noticeable to predators. The answer lies in the safe environment in which the birds live, and a process of evolution known as sexual selection. [G] "Life here is pretty comfortable for birds of paradise. The island's unique environment has allowed them to go to extremes unheard of elsewhere," says biologist Ed Scholes. Under harsher conditions, he says, "evolution simply wouldn't have come up with these birds." Fruit and insects are abundant all year round, and predators are few. The result is a perfect environment for birds. [H] Sexual selection has thus been the driving force in the evolution of birds of paradise. Freed of other pressures, birds of paradise began to specialize in attracting mates. Over millions of years, they have slowly undergone changes in their colors, feathers, and other talents. Characteristics that made one bird more attractive than another were passed on and enhanced over time. "The usual rules of survival aren't as important here as the rules of successful mating," Scholes adds. [I] The diversity of New Guinea's birds also springs from its varied environments: from coastal plains to cloud forests, from swamps 4 to mountains rising as high as 5,000 meters. The landscape has many physical barriers that isolate animal populations, allowing them to develop into distinct species. Trouble in Paradise[J] The people of New Guinea have been watching the displays of the birds of paradise for centuries. "Locals will tell you they went into the forest and copied their rituals from the birds," says anthropologist Gillian Gillison. At local dance performances, the painted dancers still evoke the birds with their movements and beautiful costumes. "By wearing the feathers," Gillison says, "... you capture the animal's life force." [K] In the past, demand for the birds' feathers resulted in a huge amount of hunting. At the peak of the trade in the early 1900s, 80,000 skins a year were exported from New Guinea for European ladies' hats. Nowadays, few birds die for fashion or for traditional costumes: Ceremonial feathers are passed down from generation to generation. Although local people are still permitted to hunt the birds for traditional uses, they usually target older male birds, leaving younger males to continue breeding. [L] There are more serious threats to the birds, however. An illegal market in feathers still exists. Large farms use up thousands of hectares of forest where birds of paradise once lived. Logging, 5 oil prospecting, and mining also present dangers to New Guinea's forests. Meanwhile, human populations continue to grow. [M] David Mitchell, a conservationist, is relying on the help of local villagers to record where the birds display and what they eat. He hopes to not only gather data, but also encourage protection of the birds' habitat. The strategy seems to be working. "I had come to cut down some trees and plant yam 6 vines," says Ambrose Joseph, one of Mitchell's farmers. "Then I saw the birds land there, so I left the trees alone." For millions of years, these impressive birds have danced to find their mates. They'll keep dancing for as long as the forest offers them a stage. 1 A ballerina is a female ballet dancer. 2 If a bird or an insect flaps its wings, the wings move quickly up and down. 3 If an aspect of a situation is a contradiction, it is completely different from other aspects and makes the situation confusing. 4 A swamp is an area of very wet land with wild plants growing in it. 5 Logging is the business of cutting down trees for use as wood. 6 A yam is a root vegetable, like a potato, that grows in tropical areas. What example of figurative language is this sentence from paragraph F? These birds of paradise invite us to solve a mystery of nature.
DIRECTIONS: Chооse the best аnswer fоr eаch question. Scientists Sаy GE Foods are Safe, Public Doubts Remains [A] Genetically-engineered crops are as safe to eat as non-GE crops, they have no negative environmental impacts, and they have reduced the use of pesticides. That's according to a report released by the National Academy of Sciences today. The report admits that beyond safety, other issues need to be addressed, including earning the public's trust. It recommends a more transparent conversation about GE crops going forward. The report, two years in the making, is a 388-page look at every aspect of genetically engineered crops. [B] For those of you who want the report in a nutshell, here's a summary: • GE crops are safe to eat. There are always questions about safety, of course, but there's no evidence of harm. • The GE crops in our food system don't produce a larger harvest. However, because they have been introduced, farmers are better able to protect their harvests from insects and weeds. • Small-scale farmers may have trouble seeing economic gains because of the price of seed and lack of access to credit. • Appropriate regulation is needed, and that regulation should be based on the characteristics of the crop, rather than the technique used to develop it, whether GE or non-GE. [C] For those of you who interested in chapter and verse of the report, here are details of the committee's findings: Human Health[D] The committee doesn't find evidence that eating the GE foods increase food allergies. It also doesn't find any increases in cancer. The report's discussion of human health also includes some hope that both GE and non-GE crops with increased concentrations of some nutrients could result in "favorable effects on the health of millions of people." Harvests [E] There's no evidence that GE crops have increased harvests, which had been steadily increasing before GE crops were introduced, and have continued to increase afterward. GE crops can, however, help protect harvests from pests. Pesticide Use [F] Crops with a built-in organic pesticide, called Bt, have not just caused the reduction of the use of pesticides, they have, in some cases reduced the pest population so dramatically that pesticide spraying has gone down on non-GE fields. The report notes, however, that insects can develop a resistance to Bt. Environmental Impact [G] There's no evidence of negative effects of Bt crops on bees. Although crop diversity has been declining since 1987, the report didn't find a cause and effect relationship with GE crops. Social and Economic Effects [H] The report makes the point that, when we're talking about introducing a new kind of crop into our food system, we have to look beyond matters of human and environmental health, and take social and economic issues into consideration: • Overall GE crops have worked out well, economically, for the farmers who have chosen them, but there is a lot of variation in results. • Benefits of GE crops aren't always available to small-scale farmers, because of the high price of seed and lack of money, among other issues. • It's important to prevent the accidental presence of GE crops in non-GE fields, for both social and economic reasons. "Farmers want the freedom to decide what crops to grow," and non-GE crops command a higher price. The committee notes that this is often happening: "many areas are successfully growing organic, non-GE, and GE crops." • One important economic issue are trade problems. As different countries approve different GE crops at different times, trading becomes complicated. • The report also tackles the very issue of trust. It's difficult to add up "the cost of a loss of public trust in a product." Regulation [I] The report says that regulation of GE crops should achieve "the maximum societal benefits ... at given levels of acceptable risk." The committee knows that it's difficult to achieve, because both risks and benefits vary among crops. Other issues include: • Although the labeling issue is complex and there are strong arguments and considerable public support for labeling, the committee "does not believe that ... labeling of foods with GE content is justified to protect public health." • "Policy regarding GE crops has scientific, legal, and social dimensions, and not all issues can be answered by science alone." The values and priorities of everyone involved have to be considered. • "The lack of public access to the health and safety data" creates doubt in some people because "the public cannot judge for itself the quality, objectivity, and comprehensiveness of the materials submitted." The committee urges as much sharing as possible. Looking Forward [J] The report sees an important role for genetic engineering, and "the committee expects that its potential use in crop improvement in the coming decades will be substantial." Increased nutrition and a decrease in greenhouse gases are just some of the ways GE crops can improve human and environmental health and farmer well-being, it says. What is the main idea of the passage?
DIRECTIONS: Reаd eаch sentence, pаying attentiоn tо the underlined wоrds. Decide if the use of the word in each sentence makes the statement True (T) or False (F). Candy usually has more nutritional value than fruits and vegetables.