Humanities

Attached you will find my written paper. Please change to APA format including references and follow reaction paper instructions. Please make necessary changes to the paper as well. Feel free to add or remove whatever is needed to make this an A paper. The two health problems that are present in my family are diabetes and mental health issues. Please incorporate into my paper.

Instructions for Reaction Paper

The Reaction Paper Assignment

You will be writing a 1,000 word Reaction Paper in this course using the instructions and links found below. You will be completing the following tasks and gathering the following information for your paper:

Watch the epigenetics video from PBS available as a YouTube link in this folder (second item in the folder). Begin your paper by defining epigenetics in your own words and discussing your reaction to the video.
Interview your family members and complete the Family History-Dr. Oz.pdf Click for more options . Find out which disease(s) you are most at risk for.
Research and locate one article on epigenetics and whatever disease you are most at risk for (select a study on research conducted on humans) from a reputable academic source:
Reputable Sources:

journal articles
government publications based on research
Do not use:

magazines of any sort, whether they are on paper or online
Websites of any type, including epigenetics websites
Wikipedia
How to Perform Your Research

Use the College Library in person or online (log in with your new MDC ID number (the one that is all numbers). Your password is the last four digits of that same MDC ID unless you have changed it.
Read the epigenetics article you find. Continue your paper with a discussion of the epigenetics article. Be sure to paraphrase (put things in your own words) and be sure to cite the author(s) of the article you find using APA style (see the section below on using APA style). Aim for about a page for this part of your paper.

Discuss the concept of epigenesis in light of your family history and the article you read. Aim for one page for this section of your paper.
Complete the Living to 100 Questionnaires. Integrate your findings on the questionnaire into your discussion. Aim for another page.
Discuss how you can improve your health and longevity in light of your findings in this questionnaire, your understanding of epigenetics, and your knowledge of your family history. This should be your final page.
You can go over or under a page for any of the sections of the paper as long as your total paper is 1,000 words not counting the references.

General Rules for an “A” Paper (check your paper against this list)

◻ 1,000 words
◻ Original work; plagiarism score of less than 10% (90% original work)
◻ Double-spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch margins
◻ Covers all 6 tasks
◻ Spellchecked
◻ College-level grammar
◻ Cite your article APA style (author & year within body of paper; full reference at end)
◻ No abstract, no cover
◻ Place your name and reference number on the first page. Use page numbers.

Submit the paper by the deadline in the Schedule and also in the Calendar. The box will open at the beginning of the semester so that you have time to submit your paper, review the originality report, and resubmit your paper if necessary until you have a plagiarism score of under 10%. Be sure to use the Turnitin Grammar Checker to ensure that your paper is well written and ensure that you have spellchecked everything. If you resubmit your paper, note that it takes 24 hours for your new score to show up in the Turnitin Drop Box.

Submission to Turnitin Drop Box

The Turnitin Drop Box is in Blackboard. You do NOT have to go to Turnitin to submit your paper. Turnitin is a plagiarism checking software. It checks to see if your work is original. I have set the Turnitin Drop Box so you can submit your paper as many times as you want until the due date. That will allow you to check your plagiarism score and see where your work is not original. You can then rephrase that section and put it into your own words. The expectation in this course is that your paper scores no more than 10% in plagiarism (90% original work). You will be able to resubmit your paper as many times as you need to in order to get it right until the Due Date. You will NOT be able to resubmit after the Due Date. Note that it takes 24 hours to see your new plagiarism score after resubmission. No more than 2 or 3 quotes in the entire paper, please.

Avoiding Plagiarism

You must be careful not to copy someone else’s ideas and not to copy and paste ideas from the sources you find. Copying and pasting from someone else’s work is considered plagiarism. You may use other people’s ideas, but you have to put them in your own words and reference the source. Putting things in your own words is called “paraphrasing.” And you must put the reference right after the idea. Needless to say, submitting plagiarized papers, including those copied from one of the Web sites that have “free” papers or even papers you can buy, will result in a penalty. That penalty in this course is that your grade will be reduced by the percentage of plagiarism over 10%. In other words, the less plagiarism, the higher your score; the more plagiarism, the lower your score. The paper is worth 10% of your grade in this course. Don’t risk it!

APA Style and References

One thing you will need to do in college is learn how to find and use references. References support your ideas. College-level work must be supported by research. You are expected to do that for this paper. You will research, locate, and use one reputable source from the literature on the topic of epigenetics/epigenesis. The “literature” is composed of studies that have been conducted in a scholarly way to support ideas. Scholarly sources can be found in journals or in some Web sites, especially those that come from .edu domains (.edu is short for “educational” Web sites) or .gov domains (.gov are government sites). The College Libraries have dozens of good journals you can use. You will be using the College Library for this paper. You may do the research in person or use the Web to access our library. See your librarian for more information on finding credible sources.

In APA style, you cite a source in two places: within the body of the paper where you use the idea or words of the author of the paper; and again in the Reference List at the end of the paper. For example, you might say, “According to Researcher A (2011)…epigenetics is…” What you must do is supply the researcher’s name within a sentence or at the end of a sentence in parenthesis (Smith, 2011). Then you give the full information for locating the study in the Reference List. That’s what Reference Lists are for: they allow the person reading your paper to look up your source if they want to. So remember, citing references APA style, requires two things: 1) that you cite the reference within the body of the paper, and 2) that you list the full reference at the end in the Reference List.

APA Tutorial

There are multiple tutorials and other training sources on APA style at the APA Web site. You do NOT have to buy the APA Manual to do this paper.

References

American Psychological Association (2011). APA style. Retrieved from http://www.apastyle.org/index.aspx

ANSWER

Epigenetics Reaction Paper

Introduction

Epigenetivs entails the study of how individial behavior and environmwnt can lead to changes in how one’s genes tend to work. Epigenome can be altered depending on an individual’s lifestyle (nova scienceNOW). What it means is smoking, what you eat, and what you drink can alter normal cells making one susceptible to those diseases. Studies also proved that what your mother and grandparents eat and drink can have an effect on your future generations. Unlike genetic changes, epigenetics does not change the DNA sequence but changes how the body can read the DNA sequence. Therefore, epigenetics entail inheritance through mechanisms rather than the DNA sequence.

Video Reaction

Watching the PBS video (nova scienceNOW), has enhanced understanding as to what epigenetics is all about. With regards to the video, epigenetics is the study of biological mechanisms that will switch on and off due to the activation and deactivation of genes. Identical twins typically have the same blood type, same DNA, appearances are extremely similar, gender are always the same, but most importantly, their genes are identical. Unfortunately, identical twins may not be as genetically similar as suggested. Recent studies have shown that environmentally induced differences are reflected in the epigenome.

Article: Epigenetics of Early Child Development.

The article titled “Epigenetics of Early Child Development” clearly shows that early life encounters can alter expression levels of major genes through epigenetic making which can lead to changes in behavior. According to this article, clinical studies show that adverse conditions in early life can severely impact the developing brain and increase vulnerability to mood disorders later in life. (Murgatroyd & Spengler, 2011). The close relationship between the quality of early life and mental health in later life is a longstanding certainty. The article is quite interesting for the reason that mental disorders are common amongst children in the United States. Based on the National Institute of Mental Health, twenty percent children, either currently or at some point during their life, have had a serious debilitating mental disorder. Children can experience a range of mental health conditions including anxiety disorders, ADHD, autism spectrum (ASD), eating disorders, and last but not least schizophrenia. Scientist have known that these devastating illnesses arise from combinations of genes and environmental factors.

Mental health remains a subject most people find difficult to talk about. For more than half of my life I had to watch my closest family members struggle with schizophrenia/bipolar. Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder with symptoms that may include delusions, trouble with thinking and concentration, hallucinations, and lack of motivation. Before my research on epigenetics, I used to believe that schizophrenia was solely genetically inherited. I finally understood that certain stressors could trigger an illness in a person who is susceptible to mental illness. When it came to my mother, the environmental factor that triggered her illness was the traumatic death of my father and for my brother it was a combination of my father’s death and substance abuse.

When completing the Dr. Oz family questionnaire, I was delighted to find out mental illness is the only condition that poses a threat to me and my future generations. Besides that, my family is pretty healthy and takes very good care of themselves. Knowing what I know today, there are steps I can take to prevent being diagnosed with schizophrenia /bipolar. For example, avoiding street drugs, moderate any use of alcohol, make an ongoing effort to develop my social skills as much as I can, avoid social isolation, making better decisions when it comes to my health and finally, finding better ways to cope with traumatic and stressful situations in my life. Executing those things can lower my risk in developing this illness. Watching my family go through it gave me the motivation to do more research on how to protect myself.

Based on the “Live to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator” questionnaire, which is run by Dr. Thomas Perls, the director of the New England Centenarian, my life expectancy is 91 years old. You are basically asked forty questions related to your personal health and your family’s health history. In addition to the life expectancy score, the calculator promises to provide personalized feedback for your answers. For example, one of the questions was “how many cups of coffee do you drink per day?” I answered one cup of coffee and one cup of tea per day and the feedback that was provided was “You are doing a good job keeping your coffee consumption down to a minimum. Excessive coffee consumption can be a sign of increased stress.” It also mentioned that coffee predisposes the stomach to chronic inflammation which leads to release of substances that raise the risk of heart disease. I had absolutely no clue coffee caused chronic inflammation. They suggested I drink tea (especially green tea) as a preferred option. Green tea has significant antioxidant content. Another great example is the question regarding the aspirin intake. Almost four years ago I decided to detox from all prescription drugs including over the counter medicine. I thought I was doing something great eliminating all drugs. While reading the feedback on the questionnaire, I was amazed to find out that taking 81 mg of aspirin daily is actually healthy for you. For a matter of fact, it can significantly decrease your risk of heart disease. Chronic inflammation plays a role in heart disease; so therefore, aspirin’s effect on inflammation may be helpful. It is safe to say that I ordered a bottle of aspirin as soon as I read the feedback.

Conclusion

In summation, epigenetics are DNA changes that do not alter the DNA sequence but influence the gene activity. Epigentics is one of the areas that has influenced the way people acquire and maintain diseases. The research had played a great role in my life because I am now more conscious of my everyday choices and how it can affect my health. This has also enabled me to help my family live a more organic lifestyle. I hope to inspire my family and close friends to research and educate themselves on living a healthier lifestyle. In conclusion, if we all work together, future generations will potentially have longer and healthier lives.

References

Murgatroyd, C., & Spengler, D. (2011). Epigenetics of early child development. Frontiers in psychiatry, 2, 16.