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Herringbone Tweed Sheath Dress

Herringbone Tweed Sheath Dress

Isn't this fabulous? I got this adorable tweed dress a few weeks ago for New Years.

The toilets are coming along!

As you can see the toilet construction is coming along well. There was some extra money left to built 2 church toilets as well. The 100 chickens that are suppose to lay eggs so the orphans can sell the eggs for an income are getting nice and fat. And Kate's funded Batik business is teaching these women a thing or two about being entrepreneurs.

Bye Bye Fall!

Oh my gosh 1 more week and I'll be done with my fall semester. I've been so completely drained from going to school and working that I simply can't wait. Jenny and John will be flying in from Boston and staying with us those few days before heading to her parents. I plan on being completely toasted for those few days. Yes every day. Just rolling around on my kitchen floor.

Looking forward to cooking, baking, and spending time with my husband. Yeah for 2 weekends off and holiday time together. Which will be just perfectly timed for Sean's parents to come in, our new bed to be moved in (yeah for king size), and my white pottery barn desk to make itself comfortable in its new home. As my room is bursting by the reorganization seems- this will be a welcome change.

I'm slowly working on the decorating, got the cutest little lamp a week ago for our living room- we need some color. We are also suppose to order photos for our frames soon, and our portrait canvas for the bedroom. See pic.


We are flying to Texas for New Years but will be back in fabulous Ann Arbor to start my winter semester for the 11th. I am desperately trying to get Dr Foret as my anatomy teacher. I took a bio class with him this semester and he is just amazing and so sweet. Plus we get 2 cadavers- how neat is that? It's so amazing when people gift their bodies to help society. Which is exactly what I plan on doing one day.

On another note,I really enjoy writing. It's my only way to escape and relax. If you are a friend of mine you'll know my humor is pretty dry and sarcastic and that my intention is never to hurt anyones feelings- I'm just a very honest person who gets incredibly worked up about things that I observe and hear. I refuse to put on an insincere smile when in my heart I know someone is not a good person to have in my life. I simply have too many beautiful things in life to care about. The wonderful things that are happening in the lives of the people I love and care about, pregnancies, weddings, engagements, charity work, school, work, an amazing group of orphans in Tanzania who my husband and I support. And what is so amazing is that we've found people who have the same beliefs and who actually give back to society and who are sincerely nice. I recently found that perhaps my blog following was a little bigger than my family and European friends and decided to make it private. But then I realized that in doing so that I was eliminating my voice and the opportunity to raise awareness for our Project Mhaji Cause and that it would deprive 13 beautiful orphans of the opportunity of a better life. 1 Year ago these children did not have a toilet, had never had a toothbrush, and some nothing to write with at school. This year we can look back and say we changed the life of 500 school children in Africa as we continue our ongoing efforts to help them with needed school supplies, toiletries, food, and even funding for the school toilets. It has been a beautiful year and I simply don't think next year can be better- but some how I have a feeling it will be even more amazing. I have faith that we can do even better and continue to improve the lives of others.

Anniversary

Cardiovascular effects of alcohol and caffeine on Daphnia

Cardiovascular effects of alcohol and caffeine on Daphnia

Janet English

Abstract

We studied the effects of alcohol and caffeine on the cardiovascular system of Daphnias. We hypothesized that incremental increases in alcohol exposure will cause incremental decreases in heart rate and incremental increases in caffeine exposure will cause incremental increases in heart rate. Daphnias were exposed to 2%-6% solutions of alcohol and 1%-2% solutions of caffeine. Changes in heart rate were measured microscopically. Exposure to alcohol and caffeine caused variable effects on the Daphnia heart rate. 2% Alcohol increased the heart rate whereas the remaining dosages decreased the heart rate. Interestingly 1% caffeine caused a decrease in the heart rate while the 1.5%-2% caused an increase in heart rate. The result of this experiment rejects our hypothesis that alcohol causes a predictable decrease in Daphnia heart rate and that caffeine causes a predictable increase in heart rate. The physiologic response of the Daphnia to alcohol and caffeine is more complicated that initially thought.

Methods and Materials

Samples of alcohol and caffeine kept at room temperature were provided. We used a microscope to view the contractions of the Daphnia's heart. Two drops of pond water was placed on Daphnia A with a pipette to provide oxygen to maintain normal breathing. This was followed by counting of the heart beat for 10 seconds to provide us with the heart beat per minute (BPM). After 2 minutes, a drop of 2% alcohol was placed on the Daphnia with a pipette
and the BPM was recorded and flushed with pond water to return to its normal expected heart rate. After another 2 minutes we repeated this process for both alcohol solution 4% and 6%. Daphnia A was returned to its container.

We compiled another control sample by using a different Daphnia and by adding pond water in the same technique as before to provide a normal environment to Daphnia B. We counted the heart beat for 10 seconds and consequently calculated the BPM. After 2 minutes, a drop of 1% caffeine was placed on the Daphnia and the BPM was recorded. It was then flushed with pond water to return to its normal expected heart rate. After another 2 minutes we repeated this same process for both caffeine solutions of 1.5% and 2%. Daphnia B was returned to its container.

Results

The average heart rate (HR) of our 2 random samples is approximately 180 BPM.

Daphnia A

An increase in HR for Daphnia A was observed in response to 2% alcohol solution after 2 minute period of exposure (Table 1). The alcohol initially spiked the cardiac levels by 30 BPM before dropping at an average of 42 beats per dosage increment; reducing the HR by 33.3% in 6 minutes (Figure 2).

Table 1

BPM (control experiment A)	2% Alcohol	4% Alcohol	6% Alcohol
162	192	144	108

Figure 1

Daphnia B

Daphnia B was introduced to a 1% caffeine exposure which resulted in a 36 BPM decrease in HR, followed by an 8 BPM decrease, and then a surprising 34 BPM increase in HR (Table 2). Over all, we recorded a 9% reduction in heart rate over a period of 6 minutes (Figure 2).

Table 2

BPM (control Experiment B)	1% Caffeine	1.5% Caffeine	2% Caffeine
198	162	156	180

Figure 2

Conclusion

Daphnia
A depicted an increase in HR to the initial 2% alcohol exposure but became bradycardic when exposed to the 4% and 6% alcohol dosages. Our hypothesis for Daphnia A is thus rejected because alcohol did not decrease the heart rate in increments.

Daphnia
B experienced a decrease in its HR after being given 1% caffeine and an increase for the following dosages. Our hypothesis for Daphnia B is thus rejected because we did not observe a consistent incremental increase in the HR of the Daphnia. During the first 2 dosages Daphnia B seemed active, rotating frequently, and produced a great deal of feces. At the 34 BPM increase, it was noted that the Daphnia suddenly became lethargic in appearance even though the HR was steadily increasing. It is unclear as to why both Daphnias experienced inverse reactions for the first substance dosages. I would recommend that it would be more accurate to study groups of Daphnias of similar age and sex, each receiving only one dosage of a substance to find a group average of the HR and to then determine whether this inverse reaction is unique to initial exposure. I would attempt this by starting with the strongest dose to have a comparison. Alternatively, it would also be beneficial to record the HR of the Daphnia after it is flushed with pond water to verify its actual HR in relation to the incremental dosages.

References

Olsen, Andrew. "Caffeine and Heart Rate: A Pharmacological Study Using Daphnia magna." Science Fair Project Ideas, Answers, & Tools. Web. 16 Oct. 2009. <http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_ideas/Pharm_p009.shtml>.

Schleidt, Stephanie, and Cierra Lewis. "Effect of an Aspartame-Alcohol Mixture on Daphnia magna Cardiac Activity - HTML Cache." PDFCast.org - Upload PDF Files - Free PDF Download. 22 Sept. 2009. Web. 16 Oct. 2009. <http://pdfcast.org/cache/effect-of-an-aspartame-alcohol-mixture-on-daphnia-magna-cardiac-activity>.

Turley, K. R., J. R. Bland, and W. J. Evans. "Effects of different doses of caffeine on exercise responses in young children." Effects of different doses of caffeine on exercise responses in young children 40.5 (2008): 871-78. PubMed. NIH, May 2008. Web. 16 Oct. 2009. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18408611>.

Some yummy bread from last night

Parsley, buttermilk, cheese.... so good