Microbe Mission B/C

[_deltaV]

When we're talking about immunity, ask yourself where the pathogen attacks. Take cholera, for example. It doesn't invade the cells of the of intestines, so cell mediated immunity wouldn't do much against it. This is where humoral immunity would come in. An infection in the alveoli such as S. pyogenes would probably be affected more by cell mediated immunity since the alveoli are chock full of macrophages waiting to deal with pathogens.

[Skink]

Would appreciate some opinions on this. Is it worth the time to study the taxonomic divisions, specific metabolic processes, etc for every type of microbe (aside from pathogenic and commercially useful)? None of the tests I have taken so far have gone very in depth in terms of the specific morphological and physiological characteristics of the microbes. Nonetheless, I am afraid that this may change come stats/nats.

There's really no merit to diving that deeply into diversity. There are just too many taxa. Additionally, because it's only one cheat sheet, you don't have the real estate for this kind of information (no matter how densely you pack it) rendering it not good test design to ask about. It's better to ask you higher-order thinking questions about stuff you already know than to sting teams on what amounts to trivia or minutiae that they were never really expected to study in the first place. I saw some questions like that on a test from today, in fact.

[Ashernoel]

Would appreciate some opinions on this. Is it worth the time to study the taxonomic divisions, specific metabolic processes, etc for every type of microbe (aside from pathogenic and commercially useful)? None of the tests I have taken so far have gone very in depth in terms of the specific morphological and physiological characteristics of the microbes. Nonetheless, I am afraid that this may change come stats/nats.

There's really no merit to diving that deeply into diversity. There are just too many taxa. Additionally, because it's only one cheat sheet, you don't have the real estate for this kind of information (no matter how densely you pack it) rendering it not good test design to ask about. It's better to ask you higher-order thinking questions about stuff you already know than to sting teams on what amounts to trivia or minutiae that they were never really expected to study in the first place. I saw some questions like that on a test from today, in fact.

Were you at Loyola ? The Microbe Test was really crazy weird. There were essay questions explaining phylogenic trees in flamingos and really bizarre stuff...

[Skink]

I wonder? Weird stuff including:
-bacteria ID (this isn't, even, expected in Invasive...where a binder is allowed)
-alligator microbiota (huh?!)
-flying saucer-looking micrograph
-at least four countable mistakes on the key/with grading (uh, really bad!)
-ecology of bird gut microbiota
-termite phylogeny inference from termite gut microbiota (there's a trend here)

...

[Ashernoel]

I wonder? Weird stuff including:
-bacteria ID (this isn't, even, expected in Invasive...where a binder is allowed)
-alligator microbiota (huh?!)
-flying saucer-looking micrograph
-at least four countable mistakes on the key/with grading (uh, really bad!)
-ecology of bird gut microbiota
-termite phylogeny inference from termite gut microbiota (there's a trend here)

...

YES!!! It was so weird! The proctor told our testing group "Ya, and I'm a jack a**" when he was introducing himself and the test. It was really crazy...

But, I guess its kind of expected from a small invitational. Some events are good, some are bad, and some are average, but in the end it is all a learning experience and practice for state and nationals.

Did you supervise any events?

[Skink]

Of course. And...of course, I'm not giving away my secret identity by telling you which one of the good ones I was responsible for.

[mc408]

Would appreciate some opinions on this. Is it worth the time to study the taxonomic divisions, specific metabolic processes, etc for every type of microbe (aside from pathogenic and commercially useful)? None of the tests I have taken so far have gone very in depth in terms of the specific morphological and physiological characteristics of the microbes. Nonetheless, I am afraid that this may change come stats/nats.

There's really no merit to diving that deeply into diversity. There are just too many taxa. Additionally, because it's only one cheat sheet, you don't have the real estate for this kind of information (no matter how densely you pack it) rendering it not good test design to ask about. It's better to ask you higher-order thinking questions about stuff you already know than to sting teams on what amounts to trivia or minutiae that they were never really expected to study in the first place. I saw some questions like that on a test from today, in fact.

I thought so too. I too just took a test with a ridiculous amount of trivia, some of which my textbook probably wouldn't even cover. I've been studying to get the big picture and delving deeper when necessary (commercial, disease, etc.), so I wasn't sure how to answer a good portion of the questions.

[Jesusfather123]

Hi, can someone suggest a good website to study about list of diseases and causes ,treatment ? To study microbiology topics...
Thanks

[Skink]

Most of the diseases are comprehensively covered in microbiology textbooks. It's harder to get all of the right information (and at the right level) on the Web, but anything from college lecture notes to the CDC/WHO/etc. Web pages to Wikipedia should be sufficient.

[NeilMehta]

Hi, can someone suggest a good website to study about list of diseases and causes ,treatment ? To study microbiology topics...
Thanks

What I usually do is skim the WHO page to learn basic info about the disease, and spend an hour or two reading the wikipedia page on it, attempting to learn as much as possible. I use the cheatsheet only for basic facts (cause, transmission, treatment, distinguishing characteristics). After this, I spend about ten minutes looking through images of the disease to be able to recognize it.
For information on microscopes, a good site (this is the one I used) is http://www.keyence.com/ss/products/micr ... /index.jsp
I added a chart on the sizes of microbes and a few charts for all the major types of microbes.
Leaving one side of the cheatsheet for disease info and the other for other notes (esp charts and images) is a common strategy to optimize space.