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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 5 (4th semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 5 (4th semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

Hectic week will beginnn..

So for this week i had a few tests which are food microbiology on 12 march, Enzymology on 14 March, and Virology, Micology and Japanese on 15 March. We did some revision for Enzymology by Dr Baya on protein assay and protein purification using the Affinity chromatography His Tagged Protein. I got better understanding than before after doing this revision. All the tests went smoothly, although some of them might confusing but still they are answerable. Haha.

For the MGM class, we were assigned to do new a product by using the recycle material. All of the recycle things was brought by Dr Rosmila. This activity will actually developed our creativity and being innovative. On Friday, I went to Bukit Ekspo to do my Lax video discussion 3 but one of our member did not came, so we decided to postpone and do our video discussion 3 on Sunday. In the way back, i suddenly noticed this beautiful tree and took some times to take pictures. Its soooo beautiful and i kept saying this to myself '' why i did not noticed this tree before, hahaha. Maybe because this tree not blooming yet.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah :)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 4 (4th semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 4 (4th semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

Its already week 4 and i got a lot of test for next week. Okay for this week, Prof Tan has already covered the topic on techniques in virology. For micology, Dr Termizi also already covered the topic of somatic structure and reproduction of fungi. Prof Suhaimi also covered the topic of microorganisms in food industries for microbiology.

For Japanese, i had covered all the Hiragana (ひらがな) and Katakana (かたかな) characters and just a little bit numbering. Those will be asked in the test 1. On Friday, i joined a program of Cultural Engagement, Language Interaction and Knowledge (CELIK) with Kyoto Municipal Horikawa High School in Centre for the Advancement of Language Competence (CALC). First of all, we were going to take all of them to visit Muzium Kesenian and started our program by playing Yamanote line game for about 20 minutes. It was so fun.

Then, we continue the next section when all of my japanese group member showed their family and friends photo. After that, they showed some photos that representing their country. I learned a lot from them especially their train time schedule, capsule hotel and others. For the last section, we taught them how to play our traditional games which were congkak and batu seremban. They were really enjoyed them although it was their first time. Lastly was the certificates and gifts ceremony. I got a pen and some sweets from Kyohei who was a leader for this group. It was such a memorable for me and i hope that i can joined more program like this in the future.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah :)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 3 (4th semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 3 (4th semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

For this week, Prof Suhaimi already covered the topic of Pathogenesis and diagnostic. Next on Friday, i was going to have a meeting with my LAX group member (GROUP 43 COMIC STRIP) to discuss for our first and second video discussion. For the first title for our comic strip was about the healthy lifestyle among UPM students and for the second tittle was about the environment.
So that we finished filming 2 video discussions at the same times because after this we were going to focus more on producing my comic strip 1.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah :

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 2 (4th semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 2 (4th semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

Hello second week !!!!

Most of my classmates were already came back from their holidays and ready to start the lesson by this week. Start my second week of semester 4 with the Virology class. Prof Tan will start to teach us instead of Dr Eddie on the Introduction of Virus which including the history and others. Prof Tan also assigned us with  two SCL which were creating the icosohedral structure of virus by using the cardboard or other recycle item and the next SCL was presentation on the topic given for my group : inactivated viral vaccines.

Next for the food microbiology class, we had received new friends from France. Rafael and Melvin will be on my group for the presentation. Besides, i started my Japanese class this week. First of all, i learned some basic Japanese character which was ひらがな(Hiragana). The Hiragana alphabet contains 46 basic characters, each representing a sound, rather than a thing. Also, this week MGM class was already started and was conducted by Dr Rosmila. This course covers the key components of the business aspects involving small-scale real business.

After that, we also done our second Enzymology practical which was Affinity Chromatography : His tagged protein.

Sincerely,

Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 1 (4th semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 1 (4th semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

After having one month for the semester break, here i am. Can't believe that i have already been in the semester 4. Time flies very fast right ?

So, for this semester i have already registered for some courses such as Virology, Mycology, Food Microbiology, Enzymology, LAX, Asas Keusahawanan and Japanese. For the first class of Virology, Dr Eddie entered the class and gave some short explanations about this course and assigned us with the SCL of interviewing the senior on our topic regarding on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Also, we were revised on topic of the protein synthesis which including transcription and translation which Dr Eddie said it was very important to have a better understanding on this topic before we were going more depth for this topic later on. Next, for the Food Microbiology course, Prof Dr Suhaimi will teach us and we were already assigned with the scl which was a presentation by group.

After that, for the enzymology course, Dr Siti NurBaya and Dr Siti Aqlima will teach us. For mycology course, we were already start the class on Tuesday. Dr Termizi was in charged to teach us for the whole semester. We had some revision on the fungi and our previous practical which involve fungi.

Last but not least, i did not have class for Asas Keusahawanan and Japanese.
Not forget to wish Happy Chinese New Year for my friends or lecturers who were celebrating this occasion.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah :)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 14 (3rd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 14 (3rd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

Finally, its come to the last week. I really cant wait to finish this semester, hehe. So for this week i have been through 2 test which were practical in microbiology 3 on Wednesday and agriculture on Thursday. Still have 6 test to go through fuhh.

On Thursday, Dr Wan treated  me and other classmates with the cakes and Hanna brought 'roti jala' for us. It was so delicious. I would like to thank Dr Wan and Hanna for the treat. I only met Dr Wan at the last of this semester and just know her achievement and news before  from whatsapp. Hehe. Truthfully, i really miss her. Its kind of relief to meet her last Thursday.

A HECTIC STUDY WEEK WILL BEGIN !!!!

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 12 (3rd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 12 (3rd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

Started this week with the presentation on biomolecules. The topic that my group got was terpenes. So just a brief explanation on terpenes, terpenes are a natural organic compounds. They are components of a variety of fruit and floral flavours and aromas that have been using in perfumes , essential oils and medicines. Terpenes also are unsaturated compounds formed by joining together isoprene units.

Okay, for this week I also had presented for 3-minutes-talk on microbial physiology. The topic that I had chosen to present was the microgravity's effect on microbial physiology. In this presentation I had highlighted on a few researches that have be conducted on the effects of microgravity. As we know, microbes in the space behave differently that on the earth. Before this, NASA has been sending Salmonella into the space since 2006. They found that compared to the samples that stay on earth, samples incubated on the International Space Station (ISS) come back 3 to 7 times more virulent.

Researcher think that this space-borne virulent bacteria may have to do with the effect of microgravity on the fluid that surrounded a microbe’s outer surface.
Typically, this fluid exerts a force, called fluid shear. Pathogenic species such as Pseudomonas aeroginosa cause disease by producing toxins that effect the physiological functions of the host cell. Microgravity also affect biofilm formation by Pseudomonas aeroginosa with the increase number of viable cells, increase in biomass and increase in thickness. Biofilm formed by Pseudomonas aeroginosa in the space also exhibited a column and canopy shaped that has not been observed previously on the earth.

Lastly, for the practical this week we were going to continue with the gel electrophoresis. Electrophoresis is a technique commonly used in the lab to separate charged molecules, like DNA, according to size.

This would be our last practical for this semester. I would like to thank Prof Tan, Dr Muhajir and Dr Tarmizi who had taught me throughout the semester. Thank you for the lessons and knowledge that you gave me. I hope that i could applied all of the knowledge in the future and during the final year project. Sadly, Puan Pah said that maybe this would be her last practical :( She was like a mom to us. Although she a little bit fierce and but sometimes she always helped us to make sure that we were already followed all the steps on the manual in every practical. Anyway, i always pray the best for Puan Pah. May Allah bless her.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah :)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 11 (3rd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 11 (3rd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

Basically, this week we were conducted a practical on the extraction of plasmid and genome DNA. Genomic deoxyribonucleic acid is chromosomal DNA, in contrast to extra-chromosomal DNAs like plasmids. It is also then abbreviated as gDNA. Most organisms have the same genomic DNA in every cell; however, only certain genes are active in each cell to allow for cell function and differentiation within the body. The genome of an organism (encoded by the genomic DNA) is the (biological) information of heredity which is passed from one generation of organism to the next. That genome is transcribed to produce various RNAs, which are necessary for the function of the organism.

A plasmid is a small, circular, double-stranded DNA molecule that is distinct from a cell's chromosomal DNA. Plasmids naturally exist in bacterial cells, and they also occur in some eukaryotes. Often, the genes carried in plasmids provide bacteria with genetic advantages, such as antibiotic resistance.

Beside that, this week we also learned the next chapter for bacteriology which was photosynthetic bacteria. We could not finished the topic this week and would continue this topic for next week.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 10 (3rd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 10 (3rd semester)

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Assalamulalaikum and hello everyone

For this week I had my second test for the microbial physiology course on Monday. The topics covered in this test were a central pathway for carbohydrate metabolism and bioenergetics. I also got BBI test on Wednesday and Agriculture test on Thursday. Beside that, I had a biomolecule presentation on Wednesday based on the topic glycogen. Fuhhh...really tiring. For this week also I need to finish my literature review draft and lab report as well.  For the practical this week we did not have any lab practice, thus to replace this practices, we just did the revision on the topic fungi and had an online quiz.

On Thursday, Dr Adelene took the class for bacteriology. The topic that had to be covered was photosynthesis. Its remind me during matriculation syllabus, i had already learned on the process occur in photosynthesis but for this time, i would learned more details with association of bacteria. I love this topic actually and i hope i could score more better than the previous examination.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 9 (3rd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 9 (3rd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

We had our field work for Hubungan Etnik at Restaurant Sentral Chappati House in Brickfields Kuala Lumpur. Our group need to study about Punjabi's food and we choose chappati as their popular food and decided to have a taste for the most popular chappati in Kuala Lumpur. We did the role play at Sue house. It was such a great memory for me as it was my first time ever tried chappati and made it by myself. i would like to make chappati for my family after this, hehe. Thank you Sue and Sue's mom for teaching me the steps of making chappati. I thought it was easy at first but not that easy. There were a few steps need to take care of for example when frying chappati, we need to press it and not only just put into the frying pan.

Besides, this week i got two tests which were Biomolecule on Tuesday and Bacteriology on Thursday. Both of them were killing subjects :'(  I could say that biomolecule's questions were quite hard and the time given to answer all of the questions were limited. Only two hours to answer 50 objectives and 5 essays questions (10 marks each). For me two hours and half would be enough, luckily i could answer all of the questions by time given but i could not really checked again my answer for the objectives which usually i would check first for every question paper.

For the practical this week i could see that all the fungi had already growth. Most of them grow abundantly on the PDA but grew slightly on sodium acetate agar. So i only need to observe them under the microscope to identify them based on their morphology and their ability to form spores. The techniques that we used were first slide culture technique. Firstly, we need to put cover slip on Fungi colony then take it with care and put on glass slide but before that we need to put a drop of Methylene blue.Then observed under 40x magnification. Based on our observation, we found the Fusarium sp

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 8 (3rd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 8 (3rd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

This week i observed fungi that i had already cultured for last week. I saw that there were already had the subculture. In my plate, i could saw three subcultures had growth and for the next step i need inoculated the cultures into Sodium acetate.

Dr Baya had assigned us with the new SCL (10 %) for the our biomolecules course. There were a few topics that each of group would came up with the acting. So after that, Dr Baya started to give us the topics for each group. My group got the enzyme concentration topic and we came up with the idea of preparing the foods at the restaurant and another one was the process of transferring the offer letter by postman by the same postman but different ways which were the first one by walking and the other one by using poslaju van. We could saw that the process of transferring the letter by walking was much slower than by poslaju van which in this case it indicate the enzyme transferrase.

For the restaurant idea, we wanted to make a scene which at first only one chef who are going to serve for the customer. The service took longer time and it gave a bad expression to the customer. So the chef decided to hire more chef up to four chefs and as the result the service became much faster than before. In this case, enzyme would be the chef and the substrate would be the food that the chef need to prepare for the customer and as the product were the foods that have been cooked. We also fixed the customers which were three of them. So these were basically our ideas and have been approved by Prof Bakar and Dr Baya. My group members and i started to prepare for the props since last week. I was in charged to search for the background music and played a role as chef 4.

All the groups were came up with different stories and i could said that all the groups performance were great especially Bernard's group since his group's idea was different compared to the other groups. I felt very relieved since there were no more SCL after this.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah :)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 7 (3rd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 7 (3rd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

There was a pre-test on Wednesday for biomolecules course. It's so sad since I didn't get high marks for the pre-test. Luckily, this pre-test was only for the student to be familiar with the questions that will be asked for the next test which will be conducted in week 8 (next week). fuhhh.. still have time to do more revision on each topic. Fighting :)

For this week experiment, we were having Dr Mohd Termizi Yusuf as our lecturer. We haven't had him as our lecturer before, it was our first time. He's so funny and I think that I can get along his teaching style.
This week practical was media and isolation preparation isolation of fungi from the soil/liquid.The objectives of this experiment were to identify the fungal isolate up to genus level and to isolate fungi able to utilise sodium acetate as sole carbon source.

Firstly, we Dr Termizi thaught us to prepare the minimal media. He made 4 litres of minimal media which consist of 200ml of 20x nitrate salts, 150 ml of carbon source(zinc chloride, copper sulphate and sodium acetate),4 ml of trace elements, 4ml 1% thiamine and 200 ml 0.05% biotin solution. Then, the pH of the minimal media was adjusted to pH 6.5 by using the sodium hydroxide (NaOH).

On Friday I went to the lab to see either my fungi grow or not. There was no subculture yet. So we will start observing the result for next week.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 6 (3rd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 6 (3rd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

Just getting back from the mid-semester break and there were two tests waited for me which were BBI (Friday) and microbiology practical (Wednesday).

For the microbiology practical this week we another new experiment which was serology techniques. Serology is the diagnostics identification of antibodies in the serum. These methods are suitable for the detection and quantitation of antibodies to infectious agents, as well as microbial and non-microbial antigens.

The serological technique that has been used during the practical is ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). The goal of this laboratory course is to provide students with experience in a variety of immunological techniques. We also conducted another experiment which is determining the blood type by using Eldon card. Based on the result, I found that there was an agglutination at the Anti-A field and in the Anti-D field. This indicates the Rhesus-positive blood in the Anti-D field. Thus, my result for ABO test is A positive. I once have already conducted another experiment to identify the blood type during my matriculation but at that time, I got B positive if I am not mistaken.
it's quite confusing me after all.

I think that's all from me

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 5  (3rd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 5  (3rd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

I feel very happy for this week because i was going home for the mid semester break. Yeayyy finally after a month half here, i can meet my family and i really miss home so badly. I don't really think that i can rest well bacause there were exam waiting for me after the holiday :'(

I need to go through two tests before going back which were bacteriology and agriculture. Both of the tests would be on thursday.
The lab experiment for this week was identification of organisms by using computer-assisted system. We were using Microbact which was a standardised micro-substrate system designated to stimulate conventional biochemical substrates used for the identification of  Enterobacteriaceae and common miscellaneous Gram-negative bacilli (MGNB).

Each kit contains 12 (12A, 12B & 12E) or 24 (24E) miniature biochemical tests. Organism identification is based on pH change and substrate utilisation. Clinical use only: MicrobactTM Gram-negative 12A (strip format) and 12E (microplate format) may be used alone for the identification of oxidase-negative, nitrate positive glucose fermenters (comprising 15 genera) and is useful for screening pathogenic
Enterobacteriaceae from enteric and urine specimens.

MicrobactTM Gram-negative 12B can be used in conjunction with 12A for the identification of oxidase-positive,nitrate-negative, glucose non-fermenters (miscellaneous Gram-negative bacteria - MGNB) and
Enterobacteriaceae.

The octal coding system has been adopted for Microbact™ ¹. Each group of three reactions produces a single digit of the code. Using the results obtained, the indices of the positive reactions are circled. The sum of these indices in each group of three reactions forms the code number. This code is entered into the computer package.

Using the results obtained, from each group of three reactions a 9 (nine) digit code number is produced. As the result the octal number based on the test trip is 040522001. Thus the unknown bacteria named is X.(S.) Maltophilia.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 4  (3rd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 4  (3rd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

Okay, for this week i had my first Biomolecule's SCL. Me and other group members sacrified our weekend to finish our protein modeling. We went to The Mines to find all the materials needed for contructing the structures and we spend lots of our money since the materials were all expensive. Almost RM80++ :( (at the end we just throw away all of them) huhuhu.

We finished modelling our Oligopeptide structure on Monday. We met Prof Nurbaya on Tuesday and it was really disappointed me and other group members because our structure was totally wrong according to the instructions given. I felt that i want to cry there since the next day was our presentation day. By hook or by crook we need to make another protein structure or else we just show our wrong structure. Of course we did not want to ruin our 15% presentation :(

So without hesitation , we went to The Mines again and bought another molecule. We start to construct our Oligopeptide and Thank Allah that we finished constructing the protein structure at 3 am. Fuhhhh..finally.

On the next day, Alhamdulillah our presentation runs smoothly. Most of questions asked could be answered by us. Although, it was really tiring and we faced a lot of problems during the time we started to construct our structure to the day of the presentation but i got a lot of valuable memories. Our team cooperation was really awesome. All of us were tried very hard to give our ideas and also effort during the meeting.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah :)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 3  (3rd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 3  (3rd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

For this week i was a little bit busy preparing for SCL presentation of Oligopeptide structure which i need to present on next Wednesday (4 october 2017) . After discussing with  other group members which were raihan, izati, tharishini and nabilah, we decided to make a Pentapeptide.

We went to Prof Nurbaya office on Friday. I thought it would take only for a few minutes but she dragged the time for almost 2 hours. Lots of things that she shared with us such as her previous degree,master and pHD life. Not only in her study experience but she also shared with us about her personal life. She really love to travel and she told us about having backpacker alone by herself. All the things that she wanted to do she would list first in her planner. Its quite inspired and motivated me. I really hope that one day i could achieved my dream and success in everything i do like her.

Okay, next was the Microbiology practical class. This week we had a new experiment which was Harvest and Purification of Solutions Haemagglutination Assay (HA) and Haemagglutination Inhibition Assay (HI). The presence of virus in infected cell cultures can be detected by hemagglutination. The identity of the virus or of antibodies in a patient’s serum can be determined by specific inhibition of that hemagglutination. We used the same egg from our previous experiment.

The hemagglutination assay (HA) is a tool used to screen cell culture isolates or amnioallantoic fluid harvested from embryonated chicken eggs for hemagglutinating agents, such as type A influenza. The HA assay is not an identification assay, as other agents also have hemagglutinating properties. Live and inactivated viruses are detected by the HA test. Amplification by virus isolation in embryonated chicken eggs or cell culture is typically required before HA activity can be detected from a clinical sample.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah :)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 2  (3rd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 2  (3rd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

For this week i have been through all the lectures and experiments.
I felt very excited to start my first experiment this semester with Prof Tan. Hehe. He's always smile and too cute. I felt very comfortable with her teaching style and not too stress even though the practical in microbiology 3 was quite challenging for this semester compared to previous semester. We all had a lot of fun during the lecture.

For the first experiment, we had an experiment on candling and propagation of NDV (Newcastle Disease Virus). Just a little bit info about Newcastle disease virus. It is a type strain for avian paramyxoviruses. Members of this family have a single stranded, linear, RNA, with an elliptical symmetry. Replication of the the virus takes place in the cytoplasm of the host cell. NDV is a contagious and fatal viral disease affecting most species of birds.

Transmission:  NDV is spread primarily through direct contact between healthy birds and the bodily discharges of infected birds. The disease is transmitted through infected birds' droppings and secretions from the nose, mouth, and eyes. NDV spreads rapidly among birds kept in confinement, such as commercially raised chickens.

So for the result we were going to observe next week. Cant wait to see the result (>_<)

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

p/s : credit to hanna

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 1  (3rd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 1  (3rd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

It has been 2 months and a half for a holiday. I had a great holiday, even though I didn't go anywhere or even working. But as long as I can spend my whole holiday with my family, I think it's enough for me. Still enjoying the holiday :) It's always been a sad moment to be apart with my family. But I believe that a small sacrifice will bring me closer to what seek for. In sha Allah I always tell myself that everything that I do now is for my own future.

I went through all the classes during this first week and I got some ideas on what I am going to learn throughout this semester. The courses that I took were microbial physiology, bacteriology, biomolecules, practical in Microbiology 3, hubungan etnik, academic writing (BBI2424), Agriculture and man.

For biomolecules course, each group must design and produce a model of an oligopeptide and materials used must be from the environment. Quite challenging right? Next for bacteriology course, on our SCL task we will do the literature review. And we need to write 3000 words for our literature review :( . I have never wrote anything for 3000 words. But it is okay since this is such a good idea as i can explore more about the course and the most important thing it would be useful for my future as i am gong to do my FYP after this :)

Lastly i really hope that all the progression going well throughout the semester. I will put more effort and i really want to improve myself not only in my academic but also in my soft skill. I want to gain more knowledge in all courses especially in microbiology itself.

YEAH, YOU CAN DO IT :)

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah :)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 14 (2nd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 14 (2nd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

Finally its came to the end. This week gonna be the last week before study week. So, this week we were having 3 minutes talk (3MT).
I have choose one of the microbe which was Pseudomonas syringe

For two and a half years workers have been preparing the mountains of Vancouver to host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.  But they haven’t been the only ones hard at work.  You may be surprised to learn that the bacteria, Pseudomonas syringe, are responsible for the production of artificial snow.  For twenty years ski resorts and other winter attractions have been using artificial snow to create the perfect slopes and scenery.  If the Olympic competitors need a little more snow under their skis, it is likely that Pseudomonas syringe will come to the rescue.

Pseudomonas syringe

With the advent of climate change and increased tourism in snowy areas, ski resorts and winter wonderlands were facing a major problem.  During light winters, and at the beginning or ends of the snowy season, there wasn’t enough snow coverage for the amount of people flooding the mountain sides.  Luckily, a discovery by microbiologists at the University of Wisconsin, Madison would solve the snow crisis.  While studying disease in plants they found a specific strain of bacteria,

Pseudomonas syringe, were responsible for initializing ice crystallization in water.  These properties could be harvested and used to make snow.  It all starts with the bacteria’s outer membrane.  Pseudomonas syringe has a special protein located in the outer membrane called an Ice Nucleating Protein.  Under favorable environmental conditions the INP changes configuration to form a “nucleation site”.  It is speculated that when water enters the nucleation site it becomes crystallized.  The small, newly formed crystal then acts as a seed and locks other water molecules around it into an ice structure.  However, the exact mechanism used by the bacteria remains unknown.   Ice crystals naturally form in the sky around -7°C and fall to the ground as snow.  Pseudomonas syringe can naturally nucleate ice crystals at -2°C on land or in the sky, making snow easier to produce.

Microbial Snow

Pseudomonas syringe has other unique properties in addition to their snow making ability.  This gram negative, rod shaped organism is psychrotrophic and can withstand temperatures below 7°C.  They are strictly aerobic and fluorescent bacteria.  Surprisingly, it is also a very common microbe.  While it typically associates with plants at densities of up to 1014 cells per hectare of agricultural land, it can also be found in water and in snow.  In water they reach a concentration of 100 to 1000 bacteria per liter and in snow they reach up to 105 bacteria per liter.  With such a natural abundance in cold climates, these microbes are a perfect addition to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Despite the thrill of artificial snow, there have been some skeptics that believe the microbes can cause harm.  While some strains of bacteria have caused disease and sickness in humans, Pseudomonas syringe is not one of them.  Extensive research has shown that exposure to the bacteria has no effect on skiers or workers.  Moreover, the bacteria are rendered inactive before they are used on the mountain sides.  Because the INP protein is on the outer membrane and can readily react with water there is no need for the cells to remain functional.  This increases the safety factor for those who come into contact with the organism.  Fans and officials can be certain that the snow on the Vancouver mountainsides will not be a danger to any of the Olympic athletes.

Whether it is cross-country skiing or freestyle snowboarding the Winter Olympics would not be the same without the help of Pseudomonas syringe.

BYE-BYE SEMESTER TWO :)

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 13 (2nd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 13 (2nd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone..

This week was the last microbiology's class with Dr Irwan (T_T)
I will miss his life story, his jokes and other things about him.  Before ending our class, he told us some important things which we never taught for this time being.

He said that  ''At first, we might think that we want the jobs that would give us a high salary, a luxury car to drive on or even a big and comfortable house to live in with our new family. But one day, we would come to the point when we started to think that those kind of things were not the things that we wanted the most even not brought us the happiness. Those kind of things were not too important for us anymore.

He also told us the same thing like Dr Wan said before which was we all might have difference journey after graduating from this course. Not all of us will become a microbiologist, yet some of us might further study to the high level (Master, Phd) or work in other sectors.

As for me, so far i did not have any idea about this yet. For sure, i really interested in jobs that could help other people. I had a strong desire to connect with individuals, assisted them through their hard times, or helped them to navigate the complexities of their everyday life. I want to make the world as a better place to live in. InsyaAllah :)

Alright, for this week, we were finished on the last topic : Microbial Epidemiology and Public Health. There were four important components that we need to understand which were :
I. Epidemiological Concepts
II. Disease Transmission and Emergence
III. Collective Immunity
IV. Global Perspectives on Public Health

Last but not least, we were also had a last experiment on thursday which was enumeration.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah :)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 12 (2nd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 12 (2nd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone..

Starting this week, I will become more busy with the presentations. I need to prepare for BBI presentation for next week and of course for 3MT. I already have one microbe in my mind and i think that i will use this microbe as my 3MT.

This week, we gonna have some games regarding on the topic immunology which are cover for both parts. I and the other group members (group 4) decide to do the bingo. So i just do the questions and other group members also do their part. I think all of the games are fun and interesting. I enjoyed all the games especially the 'music chair'. It was so funny and I can't stop laughing during the games. Haha.

On thursday, Dr Irwan teached us on topic immunology part 2, but before that he explained for the part 1. I think that by seeing the video i can understand more better about this topic.

For this week, we had one experiment which is standard qualitative analysis of water. This also consists of presumptive test, confirmed test and completed test.

On friday (12/5) was Dr Wan's birthday. Happy Birthday Dr. May Allah bless you always. You are such an amazing woman that i have ever met. I want to thank you for teaching me throughout this semester. May Allah reward all of your kindness :)
I LOVE YOU DR :)

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah :)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 11 (2nd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 11 (2nd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone..

Week 11 already ?? So, its only left for 3 weeks before study week and final examination. This week i was so stress since there are no electric in my room for a few days. Truthfully this actually distracted my daily routine :( I cant actually do my works properly.

We had our second microbiology test on tuesday. Open book test. Okay, actually i feel very nervous for this test. Based on my experience, open book test would never be easy and of course the questions will be a high level questions. So as expected, there were some questions that need higher order thinking skills (HOTS). But alhamdulillah , i think that i can answer all of questions(since it is an open book test, hehe) but i am not sure either my answer would be true or not.

So, on thursday we learned the new topic which is immunology part 1.
Immunology is a study of the development, anatomy functions and malfunctions of the immune system, all of which are of fundamental importance to the understanding of human disease. The immune system is made up of many types of molecules and cells that are distributed in every tissue of the body.

Alhamdulillah, end of co-curiculum !! I am having a farewell on next Saturday. Of course I felt very sad to leave kompang group. From a person who never know how to play kompang, now I can play kompang quite well and I even made a performance on the stage. I gained a lot of knowledge and experience along the way :)

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 10 (2nd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 10 (2nd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone..

For this week, were going to learn the topic of microbial application in industry. We also did some activities after finishing the lecture note which was creating some questions that we taught important for us to knew/learned in this topic. So, after that lots of questions that we managed to compile together and Dr Irwan said that he gonna choose a few questions to come up in our final examm.. (⨉_⨉) !!

After that, on Thursday Dr Irwan taught us on the new topic which was introduction of microbial genetic (part 1). We were having the lecture and stoped for a while to watch the video on the DNA replication, LAC Operon and others. Since its consists of the processes, so its better for us to watch the video instead of just reading :) Then, before ending our class on that day, we were going to answer two questions prepared by Dr Irwan which are :
1. Describe how bacteria duplicate its genetic information ?
2. You are a science consultant to a factory. To reduce costs, the manager suggests releasing high-nutrient fertilisation waste into a nearby lake. Do you agree with him. Describe what you expect to happen ? Oh ya, for this week we are also having a test which is a basic technique and calculation in biochemistry on Wednesday.

For this weekend, i will be one of the  volunteer for NASA Space Apps Challenge. It was such a great experiences and i felt very proud of UPM's students who involved in this competition especially for my coursemate. Special congratulations for TEAM 40 for being the finalist in HACKATHON category and they were the winner for the people choice. Indeed, they were awesome !! I am so proud of them :)

YOU REAP WHAT SO SOW GUYS :)

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 9 (2nd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 9 (2nd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone..

As Dr.Wan had promised before, we were going to watch Temple Grandin movie in the Library on tuesday at 10 am. Tuthfully,I really enjoyed this movie and it gave me a lot of inspirations. So, i would like a share a short information about this movie.

Grandin was diagnosed with autism at the age of three. She's being a child who could not speak as a preschooler, through early school years and a painful adolescence when she was often ridiculed and misunderstood, to a young adulthood full of similar adversity, to the present day.

The story enumerates Grandin’s many champions, starting with her mother, who resisted tremendous pressure to have Temple institutionalized as a child, believing instead that she had much more to offer. She sought out schools and learning opportunities for her daughter that would help young Temple focus on her abilities. . But in spite some positive experiences, Grandin was still exposed to cruelty and ridicule during many of her school years, and even well into her adult professional life.

As an adult, Grandin became an outspoken advocate not only of animals, but of others with autism. She is an inspiring writer, speaker, and teacher. Somehow, she is able to translate her own thoughts—pictures—into words that those of us without autism can understand, to help us see what it’s like from the inside. She encourages all those who suffer from the disorder to find the unique strengths resulting from their autism and cultivate them, using them as a way of creating a fulfilling life beyond the diagnosis.

Such an inspiring story. I tried to hold my tears when watching this movie but at last i cant hold my tears anymore, huaaa.. :'( Dr Wan asked us to write a letter in any form to Prof Temple Grandin.

For the next class which was on thursday, there were two groups needed to do the presentation on biotechnology company. And i think thats all from me End for this week class :)

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 8 (2nd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 8 (2nd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone..

This week our microbiology class will be by teached Dr.Irwan. Before this, Dr.Irwan had teached us for microbiology lab. What i could say that Dr.Wan and Dr.Irwan had different styles in teaching. I really like both styles.

The topic that i have learned for this week is the aspects of biotechnology in microbial ecology. There were 4 important things in this topic which the definition and concepts of biotechnology, microorganisms and pollution, microorganisms in energy and biomass technology and microorganisms as biocontrol agents.

In the class, Dr.Irwan also tell us about the story of El Morro which was situated in Medellin, Colombia. This story was really inspired me a lot.  Garbage was not only home to the millions of microbes that survive on decaying flesh and rotting materials, but to the 15,000 humans who lived in El Morro. Inhabitants survived through the recycling of the waste materials and the close transport links, like the old train station.

Next, By 2006 Mayor Sergio Fajardo and Colombia’s Interior Ministry declared the situation in Morro de Moravia a “public disaster”.  A government initiative had begun to transform the community by this time, and the former garbage dump was to be converted into a public space.

First, residents of the dump were evicted and relocated to safe areas, then they began the process of decontaminating the mountain and converting into public gardens. Next came a series of small urban projects, new dwellings, and the opening of an educational and cultural building.

All projects employ residents of the neighborhood, so the transformation can be the pride of those who live there. One stand-out project was a series of greenhouses atop the old garbage hill that employed single mothers from the community.

The goal for the project is Moravia should “blossom into life”. The result of government projects and work by locals seems to indicate that Moravia is indeed blossoming, quite literally. Today, locals have planted more than 50,000 plants of 47 species.

Before finishing our class, Dr. Irwan give us an assignment which was about the biotechnology companies and projects. On thursday, two groups had done their presentation and other groups which are not present yet need to continue the presentation for the next week.

Lastly, for the microbiology lab this week we had conducted two experiments which are Isolation of coliphages from raw sewage and cultivation and enumeration of bacteriophages. Personally, i think this two experiments are a little bit hard compare to the other experiments.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

(El Morro now)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 7 (2nd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 7 (2nd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone...

Its week 7 already.. I have been waiting this week for almost 2 months because i will to go back home this Saturday for Mid semester break. Actually, i have planned to go back on Friday but i got Co-coriculum on Saturday and at the same time i got the technical skills test , huargghh.. But, its okay as long as i can still go back to Kelantan though its a bit late than others.

YEAYYY !!. Hehehehe.. Cant wait to see my family :')
I have made a promise to myself that i would make sure this holiday would fill with beneficial activities instead of just sleeping, eat and sleeping again.. HEHE..

So as usual we were having our class on Tuesday morning. This week we gonna finish our topic on principle of ecology. The word ecology was coined by the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel, who applied the term oekologie to the “relation of the animal both to its organic as well as its inorganic environment.” The word comes from the Greek oikos, meaning “household,” “home,” or “place . Lastly, we were having an activity at the end of our class which is kahoot !!

For the lecture on thursday, i did learned a lot of things. What i had learnt Phycobiont refers to the algal component of the lichens and mycobiont refers to the fungal component. Both of these are present in symbiotic relationship in which Algae prepare food for Fungi due to presence of chlorophyll whereas the fungus provides shelter to algae and absorbs water and nutrients from the soil.

Group 7 also did a presentation on the topic principle of ecology. They did something different which they drew some pictures regarding to this topic. It was very interesting and good.  I really appreciate their efforts for making this comic version of this topic. I did not know how much they spent their time by making this comic. Anyway, Good job group 7 !!

We also discussed on on the interaction type between the microbes and other animals which were mutualism, cooperation, commenzalism, predation (protozoa and bacteria).  Legionella is a type of bacterium found naturally in freshwater environments, like lakes and streams. It can become a health concern when it grows and spreads in human-made water systems.

Last but not least, we were having unknown identification of fungi during the lab. Luckily, we did not have any lab on friday. Hehe.

HAPPY HOLIDAY EVERYONE !!!!

I think thats all from me :)

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 6 (2nd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 6 (2nd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone ..

For this week we were going to have two hours microbiology class on Tuesday. We were going to finish our lecture on algae and Dr Wan also gives some tips for our test that will be conducted on Friday. This week  i will have two tests , one for microbiology and another one for basic techniques and calculations in biochemistry.

Next,we also gonna have two experiments on fungi which were cultivation & morphology of molds and yeast morphology, cultural characteristics, & reproduction. But we need to make the observation for next week T_T

Alright, I think that all for this week.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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A TRIP TO INTI UNIVERSITY (2nd semester)

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A TRIP TO INTI UNIVERSITY (2nd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

So on wednesday (14/3/2017) , we are having our trip to INTI University, NILAI Negeri Sembilan. There is a talk about the Antibiotic resistance microbe.

There are a lot of things that I gained from this talk specifically in microbiology field. Antibiotic resistance bacteria is the bacteria that are not controlled or killed by antibiotics. They are able to survive and even multiply in the presence of an antibiotic.

Bacteria that are resistant to many antibiotics are known as multi-resistant organisms (MRO).

MRSA : Methicilin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

VRE : Vancomyan-Resistant Enterococcus

MDR-TB : Multi-Drug-Resistant Myocobacterium Tuberculosis

CRE : Carbapenem Resistant Enterobacteriaceae

Anti-Microbial Resistant (AMR)

-Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the ability of a microorganism (like bacteria, viruses, and some parasites) to stop an antimicrobial (such as antibiotics, antivirals and antimalarials) from working against it.

Advantages of Phoshylaxis :

Reduce the incidence of surgical site infection.

Minimize the effect on the patients normal bacteria

Minimize adverse side effects of the antibiotics.

Principle of therapeutic antibiotic :

-Pharmacodynamic

- Empirical

- Definitive

- Culture and sensitivity

- Therapeutic drug monitoring

- Monotherapy

- Host status

- Surgical site infection

Common causes :

Overuse

Misuse

Over the counter (OTC) antibiotics

Healtcare patients

Hospitalized staffs

Hospitalized clealiness

Animal feed

Antibiotic in water and food

Antibiotic resistance is genetically modified crops.

Types of antibiotic resistance :

-Natural or antibiotic resistance .

-Mutational resistant

-Acquired (Extrachrosomal)

Consequences of the antibiotics resistance :

-Increase peri-operative mortality

-Increase surgical site infection

-prolog hospital stay

-overcrowding in hospital

- Reduce survival of cancer patients

- Increase healthcare cost

How to reduce the antibiotic resistance ?

Stop unnessary antibiotic prescriptions

finish antibiotic prescription

use the right antibiotic

improve communication, education and training

improve monitoring and survellance of antibiotic use in human and animal

promote research and inovation.

So its kind of honor to have Dr Maha as the speaker. This talk was really interesting and really informative.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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Assalamulaikum and hello everyone..

So this week , we are having a wonderful trip to Yakult.

Yakult was first launched in Japan in 1935, and today with over 80 years of history, Yakult is a global leader in the probiotic drinks market with the wide range of probiotic products using Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota ( LcS ) and Bifidobacterium breve.

In 1930 Dr. Minoru Shirota, a Japanese scientist, was the first in the world to isolate and culture a probiotic strain which reached the intestines alive in large numbers and imparted health benefits to the host. He used this strain to make Yakult, a fermented milk drink, so as to reach the benefits of the strain to people at large.

Probiotic - Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate

Suggested health effects :
- Positive influence of gastro-intestinal tract
- Regulation of intestinal motility
- Prevention of infection (bacteria, virus)
- Improvement of immune system
- Risk reduction of cancer
- Increase the nutritional value

Benefits :
- increase good bacteria, reduce harmful bacteria
- reduce production of toxins
- improve bowel movement (avoid diarrhae and constipation)
- boots on the immune system (reduce risk of infections)

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 5 (2nd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 5 (2nd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone..

So this week gonna be a hectic week since i am having two tests, lab microbe and thinking skill respectively which will be held on Friday. :(

BUT, at the same time  i am also excited through this week since we are having our trip to Yakult and INTI, nilai Negeri Sembilan.

We are having our class in evening at 5 pm to 7 pm after coming back from Yakult. Dr Wan wants to finish on the topic fungi and algae at the same time since next week we gonna have our first test.

This week we are having a simple experiment on free living protozoa from the pond water. Its really hard to see the protozoa at first , but alhamdulilah,i am finally manage to see them. Yeayyy.. Those happiness was just hold for a few minutes as my protozoa suddenly move and leave the slide. Haha.

Its pretty amazing to see these microbes since they can move around and we can see their morphology clearly.

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Okay, like i have mentioned before in reflection week 3 , this week i am gonna conduct all of the biochemical tests for the unknown identification. So the total of the experiments are 11 of them.

On friday, we are going to observe the result. Hihi, so actually i am  already have one name of bacteria on my mind. This is because my bacteria growth abundantly, opaque and golden color and also the clue is on gram staining method. I got gram negative and cocci shape which is exactly same with Staphylococcus aureus.

After doing all of the biochemical tests all of the tests, i am very happy because all of the tests matched well with Staphylococcus aureus, accept for Voges-Proskauer test and Methyl red test. This is also mention by Puan Pah that there is maybe any error in MR-VP broth. So the result maybe not accurate. But its okay,  i am satisfied enough with the results. So , as the conclusion my unknown bacteria is Staphylococcus aureus.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 4 (2nd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 4 (2nd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone..

OHO.. its week 4 ALREADY ?? This indicate that, i have been here for a month. HUH?? Only left one month for mid semester break , hehe. Yeay!!

Alright, for this week i am going to have my first video progression of virtual microbe with both local and oversea students. I cant wait to see them especially my teammate from Lafayette College. HEHEH.. After scheduling our time table, we are going to meet virtually with Alan Tu and Mason Keel on Friday. At first during our virtual microbe meeting in zoom apps, we are having a problem with the connection and sound but alhamdulillah its finally going well overall.

All of us come up with the pathogenic microbes for example influenza A virus , Clostridium tetani, Streptococcus pyogenes and Yersinia Pestis. I choose Yersinia Pestis   because this microbe can cause disease called black death. So actually i am very interested with this microbe since one of my classmate has presented this microbe before for pecha kucha presentation. I found this microbe have a lot of interesting facts and this is one the reasons why i choose Yersinia Pestis.

Then, we are decided to choose for Streptococcus pyogenes since it  got the highest votes and this microbe have been chosen by Raihan. Yup, this microbe is very interesting as it can cause a lot of diseases , and one of them called as destructive wound infections (necrotizing fasciitis) or flesh-eating disease. I am very satisfied enough with the microbe that we have been chosen.

Next, I have done the first meeting with my group members from local universities that have been conducted on monday. So far my group members are very nice and friendly. After a few minutes discussion, we are decided to choose Lactobacillus acidophilus. This bacteria has been suggested by one of my group members and the reason why she chooses this bacteria is because Lactobacillus acidophilus gives a lot of benefit to us as it can treat our urinary tract infection. The sources are really easy to find. We can find them in culture drinks, for example yogurt, calpis and most commonly in yakult.

For the class this week, Dr Wan have finished our first topic on microbial systematic and on thursday Dr Wan start to discuss for the topic fungi and we will continue next week for the topic algae.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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This week would gonna be a very important week for us because we were having hands on for unknown bacteria and at the same time we have to conduct FIVE experiments on biochemical tests, which were litmus milk, nitrate reduction, catalase test, oxidase test and utilization of amino acid. Fortunately, the procedures were just simple, so they only takes a short time to finish all of the procedures before we proceed to the hands on.

We were having streaking method on Thursday and we were going to isolate the single colony on Friday. Alhamdulillah, i got my single colony although the streaking is not nice and good. I have to improve my skill in streaking , so that i won't keep repeating the same mistakes in the future :)

On Friday, we are going to isolate our single colony and perform the gram staining technique. This need to be done after taking the results from our previous biochemical tests. I am not too sure about the single colony that i have been isolated after doing the gram staining. Hoping that during the biochemical test next week, i would identify the right bacteria  :)

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 3 (2nd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 3 (2nd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone..

Third week already ?? Time flies so fast :) (its good actually, HUHU)

Where should i start first ? Hmm, okay i should start with the my lecture. We had our 3 hours lectures on Tuesday. What did i got during the first hour lecture was Dr Wan explained to us about finding the relation in our study. She said that our previous seniors are having difficulties in their Final Year Project (FYP) because they cannot make a relation about the topic that they have studied.

Because of that, Dr Wan was really hope for us to understand what exactly the topic that we are studying , the reason why and MOST IMPORTANTLY know how to relate all of the topic from the beginning until the end. Yup, its totally a good and great idea. I know that i am also having this same difficulties to relate all of those things.

Then, for our second and third hours classes we come to an activity. This activity called which microbe am i ?. OHO.. we need to find the microbes which are being same with us either in form of physical or according to our attitudes.

I've start the brainstorming ideas with my group mates and we are using dichotomous key to make us easier to make the questions. This activity is indeed hard for me and others group mates as we find difficulties at the middle of our dichotomous key.

Although , it's quite challenging but still it really help me to relate the topic that i've been given.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 2 (2nd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 2 (2nd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone..

Alright, for this week we are going to start our Virtual Microbe project.  At first, i feel very excited to start this grand project but at the same time i am a little bit nervous. I really hope that i could improve myself from the previous Virtual Microbe and take as much knowledge through this projects. Besides, I am also hope that i would cooperate well with other team members.

The progression for this project is so far so good. We have done with the grouping for both local and Lafayette College's students. Still we are having difficulties in contacting them as some of them cannot be reached but some of them show cooperation in giving their contact number.

So for this week, i have been contacted some of the students from  local universities such as UKM and USM. We come to introduce ourselves first in our WhatsApp group. Most of the students from USM are taking a course of applied biology and environmental science from UKM. So far they are also very excited to start the progression. HUHU..

Hmmm, what's else ? Oh ya .. for the class this week we only had one hour class as Dr Wan was very busy lately. Dr Wan has said in our class about searching for the journal. Of course , i am not very familier with the journal, hoho. But this really could help me in understand more deeper about a certain topic because everything would be there in the journal from the start until the end.

So i think that's all for this week :)

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 1

Assalamualaikum and hello everyone
So we are having our semester break for 1 month and half. My holiday was great and nice. I took those opportunity to rest well at the home and spent my time wisely with my family member. Although , its a bit sad to leave home and continue my semester two but still i have to come back to UPM :(

NEW SEMESTER NEW HOPES :)

My expectation for this semester of microbiology class is to gain and widen more knowledge in microbiology. Besides, i really hope that i can perform well throughout this second semester than the previous semester.

As expected , for my first class of microbiology, Dr Wan was came up with a lots of idea about the activities and projects that we are going to do throughout this semester.

This are several activities and project in our plan :
1. Trip to Yakult - 3/3/2107 (not sure yet)
* Calpis / Electromicroscope (bioscience) / fermentation technology unit (suggestion)

2. INTI University , Nilai Negeri Sembilan

3. And our biggest project , VIRTUAL MICROBE !!!
And suprisingly , this semester we are going to conduct two virtual microbe projects which include the collaboration with the local and oversea universities. Dr Wan said that we are going to collaborate with Lafayette College and others local universities such as UM, UKM, UNIMAS, USM and others.

So, i think that all for my first reflection, i hope that all of the progressions would start well and end well. May the work that i do and the way i do it, bring new hope, new life, and courage to all i come in contact with this semester. LETS START A FRESH NEW START :)

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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From the previous post..

Alhamdulillah, done with my presentation :)

Next class would be held at bilik mesyuarat fakulti at 12.30 o'clock in the afternoon. Dr Wan treated us with chicken rice. It was soo delicious !! and it was really 'nice' eating chicken rice while watching others present on their pecha kucha. hehe..

Then, we continued our class on two last topics of microbiology which were microbial metabolism and microbial nutritional. And END OF MICROBIOLOGY CLASS BY THIS SEMESTER !!!

For this opportunity, i would like to thank Dr Wan for teaching us for this semester :)

Thank you,
for making this class fun to come to. I learned a lot, learn something new and get a good laugh on at the same time.

Thank you,
Your class activities were memorable and i learned a lot of applications and websites that would benefit me in the future.

Thank you,
For being outgoing, happy, and PASSIONATE on your job! It shows in your teaching.

Thank you dr ,
for the information you taught us and the way you conveyed it was truly valuable.

May Allah bless you always. AMINN..

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone. For this week, the pecha kucha presentation continued as many of us are not finish with our presentation yet. On Wednesday, the presentation was be held in DKU starts from 1 o'clock in the afternoon and finish at 4.30 pm.

I can see a lot of good presentations from my classmates. They showed their efforts and did the best for the presentations. The next day, our class started early at 8 am in the morning and it was a day that i were going to present. So for the microbe that have been chosen by me is Mycoplasma hemofelis which can cause Feline Infectious Anemia(also called feline hemotropic mycoplasmosis ).

Parasitic organisms survive by attaching themselves to a host and using the host's body to thrive, generally at the host's expense. Parasites find themselves protected from the harsh temperature and moisture changes of the external world when they live within the rich, warm body of their host.

Besides, this bacteria will attach themselves to the red blood cell membranes of their host, happily riding around, feeding and reproducing until the host's immune system sees them and begins destroying red blood cells in an attempt to remove them. This parasitic organisms infected animals usually a cat.

A cat becomes infected from a bite from an infected flea and soon the cat’s red blood cells are covered with free-loading mycoplasma organisms.The cat’s immune system eventually detects foreign proteins on red blood cells and begins to mount an attack in the form of antibodies. These antibodies bind to the mycoplasma organism as a coating, which serves to mark the infected red blood cell for removal and destruction.

Coated red blood cells are removed from the circulation by the spleen, which contains tortuous blood vessels lined with cells that process old red blood cells. Red blood cells marked for removal are destroyed here, which kills the mycoplasma organism; although even without an antibody marker, parasitized red blood cells are relatively fragile and may break apart in this area of the spleen anyway.

The iron from the dead red blood cell is harvested and recycled for new red blood cells. The problem is that if many red blood cells are parasitized, then so many red blood cells are destroyed that the cat becomes anemic. The infected sick cat is pale, sometimes even jaundiced, and weak.

Anemic cats often eat dirt or litter in an attempt to consume iron. An infected cat may have a fever. The initial blood tests show not just red cell loss but a responsive bone marrow (the source of new red blood cells), which means that the cat's body knows it is losing red cells and is trying to make more as quickly as possible to keep up.

Cats with concurrent feline leukemia virus infection tend to have more severe anemia as the virus does not permit the bone marrow to respond.When a cat is newly infected, it can take up to one month before there are adequate numbers of parasites to actually make the cat sick. Mortality is highest during the month following this initial stage. If the cat recovers, it becomes a permanent carrier, though stress can re-activate the infection.

(to be continued)...

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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Kumpulan Gambar Kucing Bergerak Lucu Banget (5)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone. This week our faculty was having a big day which was Prof's Tan inaugural lecture. So Dr Wan asked us to go to DKU on friday morning to see the inaugural and tried to get more information on Prof's Tan lectures  which is FIGHTING HEPATITIS B : PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE and gained as much experience from the lecture. I attended an inaugural lecture on that day. Its quite amazed me as Prof's Tan was by one of the top scientists in the MALAYSIA!!!. And at that time i felt so proud of him even though he was not the one who taught me.

It was an inspiring story of a man, his deep relationship with his mentor, and his love for his carrier. It helps me reflect on the value of listening to life stories of others. One of the most useful things you can do is to read or listen to life stories. Those stories entered my heart, very often and i have been absorbed through the stories that he sincerely told. What i learned from this inaugural lecture was not only about the viruses but also life. AND.. Yeah.. ''The more kindness you do to others, the lighter and more joyful your life will be'' :)

After having a free meal at the foyer of our faculty, we continued our class with pecha kucha presentation. I am quite impress with my classmate who did very well in their pecha kucha. They were only have a few days to prepare the presentation but they managed to do all of those things very well. CONGRATULATION GUYSS !!! During the pecha kucha presentation i gained a lot of knowledge about other microbes which i had never heard before.

i think thats all for my reflection 14 :)
Looking forward for next week , yeah next week gonna be our last lecture for this semester. Sincerely, i really want to finish it speedily but at the same time i feel very sad. Time flies very fast right ? :(

Sincerely ,
Nadia Athirah

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone. For this week we have already covered on the topic microbial growth (sterilization and disinfectant).
We have to know the  Important concepts, terminology, general mechanism of action, physical methods and chemical methods.

Besides, we also need to know about the Pattern of Microbial Death.  Effectiveness of Antimicrobial Treatment depends on Number of microbes, Duration of exposure and Microbial characteristics.

So for the sterilization and disinfectant topic, we need to do the mind map and as usual i did my mind map by using popplet.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone. So for this week we have learnt about the virus. I found myself more interest with this topic compared to the other topics , even though they were having a lots of names and its quite confusing sometimes. hehe.. For this topic, we need to do the mind map, so i chosed to make it by popplet.

After doing the mindmap, i can see more clearer and its makes me more easy to understand. Virus is a microorganism that is smaller than a bacterium that cannot grow or reproduce apart from a living cell. A virus invades living cells and uses their chemical machinery to keep itself alive and to replicate itself.

It may reproduce with fidelity or with errors (mutations), this ability to mutate is responsible for the ability of some viruses to change slightly in each infected person, making treatment difficult. Viruses cause many common human infections and are also responsible for a number of rare diseases.

Here, i want to share the interesting facts and some of the information about the virus ;
1. http://www.amazingfacts4u.com/virus/

2.http://biology.about.com/od/virology/ss/7-Facts-About-Viruses.htm

3.http://www.crizmo.com/top-10-interesting-facts-about-virus.html

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone. I was just back from my mid sem holiday and ya i did really miss my family already :(
Huhh..But yes, i have to back to reality and i got an instinct that after this mid semester break,  there would be a lot of tasks and assignments awaited for me.  And that was true (X_X)..

Okay, first of all we did our replacement class on monday. Dr Wan said that she wont be available for this week since she got a very packed schedule and two of our classes have to be cancelled. During this class, we just had our discussion in a small group on the topic prokaryotes.

So i did the one of the tasks given by Dr Wan on the new topic, fungi. i choose to do the mind map since i think this would be easy and helps me to understand the overview of the topic.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone. This week , we only got one class and my class on friday have been cancelled since we were going to start our mid semester break (^_^). YEAYYYY... cant waitt.. So what we did on that day was answering the quiz on eukaryotes topic using quizlet :)

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone. For this week, we did our mind map on prokaryotes. Each of my group members took their own subtopic in prokaryotes and develop them in a very great mind map. By doing this mind map, we got the overview on topic and it really helps me to get through of this topic first.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone. So for this week, we are going to conduct a few of games based on our new topic which is eukaryotes. Each group must have a games on the sub topic of eukaryotes and the  topic which my group decide  to select are chloroplast, golgi apparatus and centrosome.

We have been decided to make human snake ladder games. The things that we need in order to prepare for the games is quite easy to find. Focus on the games, we found out that others group members are having difficulties to answer the questioned that we have been prepared , but there are some of them also can answer the question correctly.

There are also other games such as by using kahoot, bingo, selective answer question and so on. In my opinion, having those kinds of  games really help us to understand more about the topic by learning together.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone. For the last week , Dr wan had covered a topic on prokaryotes including the extracellular and intracellullar. Dr wan had asked us to make our own mind map on prokaryotes.

So far this kind o things is really benefits me as i will know the flow and got a rough idea on a topic. In addition, Dr wan also asked us to make a mind map for prokaryotes at the white board without referring to any notes. Omo.. Of course i am not okay. hehehe. I am just remember for a few things about this topic but i realized that this would benefit me. Its mean that i need to prepared myself before entering the class and must go through the lecture notes first to know  what i am going to learn in the class.

By doing mind map would really helps me to get an overview about the topic but not remembering those kind of things. HEHE. So that , i really hope that i would remain continue do the mind map in the future and make some revision about a certain topic before the class.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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This video was created by high school juniors James Wills and Sarah Lim, it details the prokaryotic cell and its parts. Cells and Their Organelles is one of two 3D animations created by James (JB) Wills and narrated by Sarah Lim, two high school juniors.

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 13 (3rd semester)

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WEEK 13 (3rd semester)

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.

It's been on week 13. On Monday, we did not have any classes because of the public holiday. Since, it was a public holiday i took an opportunity to go to the big bad wolf with Izzati and Raihan. I just wanted to do a 'window shopping' but ended up bought another few books , hehe. There were a lot of books that were unread which i bought last year. I hope that i could finished read them on this upcoming semester break. In shaa Allah :)

For this week, we did not have any practical since we were already finished and covered all of the practical. So we did not have classes on that day. This week i was only needed to present to the course agriculture and man. The topic that my group chose was Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). I was assigned to search for the technologies that involved in GMO.

Methods used to genetically modify an organism is gene insertion, gene insertion, which is injecting an organism with a gene it does not originally possess.  Organisms that have new genes inserted into them are called transgenic or genetically modified organisms (GMOs).  Lately, GMO technology has become visible in the public eye because of its use in engineering agricultural crops that are intended to increase yield, increase profit, and benefit the environment due to a decrease in pesticides.  However, implementation of these crops has raised many biological, ethical and environmental issues both in the United States and abroad.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone. For this reflective journal, i would like to reflect about the topic of classification of organisms (taxonomy and nomenclature). I have been studied about the nomenclature that must be agreement with published rules (for example uppercase for genus and lowercase for species) during matriculation but not too specific.

So here again, i am studying the same thing but more specific and there are a lot of new information for me for example the strain which is a subgroup of species with one or more characteristics that will distinguish it from other subgroup of the same species.

There are 3 types of strain such as biovars(strain characterize by biochemical or physiological differences), morphovars (differ morphologically) and serovars(distintive antigenic properties). For instance, Escherichia coli. E. coli are bacteria that normally live in the intestines of humans and animals. One particular E. coli strain called 0157:H7 can cause severe diarrhea and kidney damage.

Then after knowing this E.coli strain , i am searching for my additional knowledge and what i have been found is Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a serotype of the bacterial species Escherichia coli  and is one of the Shiga toxin producing type of E. coli. It is a cause of disease, typically foodborne illnessof the "colonic escherichiosis" type, through consumption of contaminated and raw food including raw milk.

In addition, Infection with this type of pathogenic bacteria may lead to hemorrhagic diarrhea , and to kidney failure. Next, methods of classifying and identifying which negative staining for the capsules, endospore staining, gram staining, acid fast staining and flagella staining. Lastly, biochemical tests, serology, phage typing, fatty acid profiles, DNA base composition, DNA fingerprinting, nuclei acid hybridisation, DNA chips, ribotyping of ribosomal RNA sequencing and fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH).

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone. So this is my addition reflective journal regarding the virtual lab that Dr Wan had posted before at putrablast. Alhamdulillah, i have been watched all of eight virtual labs. Firstly, testing for corn mold mycotoxins. Aflatoxins is produced by a specific mold, glows under black light. Undergo a few tests such as presumptive test, aflatoxin test, weighing sample and extracting toxins. Secondly,bacteria sampling.

The steps for this laboratory experiment is inoculation, incubation,swabbing intro, wet swabbing, dry swabbing, inoculation and interpretation. Thirdly, gram staining. Fourthly, using the microscope by using low magnification, high magnification and oil immersion . Next, the pH scale and water calibration which told about the introduction and measuring the pH , testing and adjusting pH.

Besides, understanding water activity by knowing the definition, storing foods safely, microbes and water, binding water and sugar, controlling aw, hazardous foods and testing for accuracy. in addition, testing/adjusting pH. Clostridium botulinum or a short name as C.bot multiply and produce deadly toxins. C.bot loves nothing better than a vacuum seal and only grow if oxygen is not present. Lastly, controlling water activity in test batch X,A,B and C

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone.. time passing so fast and now we were already in week 4. For tuesday, the topic that have been covered was history of microbiology.

Start from Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, father of microbiology. He was the first to observe and described single-celled organisms which referred to animalcules. Next, invention of microscope in 1660 by Robert Hooke. Then, spontaneous generation by John Needham, but dissapproved by Lazzaro Spallanzani. Rudolf Virchow came with biogenesis concept.

Spontaneous generation vs biogenesis was finally resolved by Louis Pasteur. For wednesday, the topic that we have been covered was microscopy including the bright field, phase contrast, dark-field, electron microscope, confocal microscopy and fluoresence microscope.

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/biology/microbiology/introduction-to-microbiology/a-brief-history-of-microbiology

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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Seeing the Invisible: van Leeuwenhoek's first glimpses of the microbial world

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También disponible con narración en español: http://youtu.be/57SZHltgSJc In 1674, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek looked at a drop of lake water through his homemade microscope and discovered an invisible world that no one knew existed. His work inspired countless microbiology researchers, including HHMI investigator Bonnie Bassler, one of the narrators of this animated feature.

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ASSALAMUALAIKUM..
Hello everyone.. This is my third reflective journal. For tuesday , Dr Wan cannot be in class since she was sending our seniors to UTM for international event. So, she had left us with a task and we gonna make a presentation regarding the topic of microscopy.

My group need to be prepared on a subtopic of bright-field microscope. For this subtopic, we were focusing on an introduction, usage, advantages, disadvantages, performance and having some games at the end of the presentation. This kind of activities was very fun and at the same time we were learning together.

The presentation goes well but we were still have a lot of things need to be improve. Like Dr Wan has said before, no one can do everything, but everyone can do something. You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great :)
Yeah , thanks Dr for inspiring us.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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Microscopy: What Can You Learn With a Light Microscope (Ron Vale)

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This lecture provides an overview of the historical contributions that light microscopy has made to the life sciences and an overview of current exciting developments, such as GFP, super-resolution microscopy, using microscopy to measure biochemical reactions, and imaging of the nervous system.

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Hello everyone ^^. During our last week lecture, i am truly happy because i got a lot of  information and more understand about microbiology compared to the previous week. Alhamdulillah , may Allah comprehand me to understand more on the next class for the new topic. So for my second reflective journal, i would like to highlight a few important things regarding our lecture for last week, firstly the definition of microbe , a very first thing to know. Secondly, Dr wan had gave briefly explanation about the application of  microbiology.

One of the application that Dr wan had stressed is environmental microbiology (bioremediation) which is a waste management technique that involves the use of organisms to remove or neutralize pollutants from a contaminated site. After that, i have been through all the general characteristics of Bacteria, Fungi, Archaea, Protozoa, Algae and Viruses.

The general characteristics of bacteria are prokaryotes, unicelullar organisms, enclosed in cell wall, reproduce by binary fission and gram positive bacteria can form endospores. Soon , the general characteristics of fungi are eukaryotes, unicelullar or multicellular , cell wall is made up of chitin which is same with the insects and reproduce sexually and asexually.

Besides,  for Archaea are prokaryotes and cell wall is lack of peptidoglycan (called as pseudopeptidoglycan). Archaea that use an organic material is chemolitotrophics, Methanogens are microorganisms that produce methane as a metabolic byproduct in anoxic conditions, Thermoacidophile is an extremophilic microorganism that is both thermophilic and acidophilic for example it can grow under conditions of high temperature and low pH and Halophiles are organisms that live in high salt concentrations.

Next,for protozoa are singular, eukaryotes, they can splits apart and form two cells that are identical to the original cell and the ecology of protozoa is protozoa eat bacteria, detritus, algae and other protozoa. In addition, for algae are singular, cell wall is made up of cellulose, reproduce sexually and asexually, some are heterotroph and most important in the food chain as it act as a producer.

Lastly, for viruses are acelullar, very small, can only be seen with electron microscope and a simple microorganisms that contain DNA or RNA. Viruses reproduce by using cellular machinery of host which to synthesize and assemble their separate components. Example of viruses are bacteriophage (T4) and Megavirus.
That is. Looking forward to learn more about microbiology and be more understand for next topic on microscopy

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah

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ASSALAMUALAIKUM..

HELLO EVERYONE.. Alhamdulillah. All praise be upon Him. I am very grateful to be a part of microbiology's family 16/17 :)

J.O.U.R.N.E.Y

Each person's life is a journey on a contorted road dotted with bumps and craters. At certain points, the bumps could seem as high as mountains and the pits as deep as lots, making this journey called life appear quite despondent.

So today i am going to write a reflective journal on my microbiology class during last week. At first, i really excited to start my first microbiology class. My first impression of Dr Wan Zuhainis Saad turns out so good. She looks very lovely, kindly and friendly.

These are some characters that what i was looking for a lecturer. Hehe. On the first meeting, i felt really nervous but when Dr Wan came in and talks, my 'nervous level' went low because she talks kind of funny and makes the class in laughter. I am more comfortable now and of course i am happy and no worries when going to the class :)

Firstly, Dr Wan had told us about 'adobe microbe' programme which will be collaborate with an upstanding universities such as Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). It's been a very good news for me and i was extremely excited to start the project since i got two friends from UKM who are now taking this course. Thus , maybe this grand project will unite us. InsyaAllah :)

Besides, Dr Wan had refresh back our mind about a few terms that we're already familier with and what i've learned during that lesson was about the extremophilic bacteria that able to grow or survive at a cold temperature such as refrIgerator. This bacteria called as psychrophilic which can cause food to spoil , having bad tastes and smells. After that , Dr Wan also mention about the harmful viruses such as bacteriophage which can invades other bacteria.

Lastly, i am always looking forward to study more about microbiology for the next lesson.

Sincerely,
Nadia Athirah