Difference between revisions of "1050: Forgot Algebra"

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What is immunotoxin?
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{{comic
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| number    = 1050
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| date      = May 2, 2012
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| title    = Forgot Algebra
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| image    = forgot_algebra.png
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| titletext = The only things you HAVE to know are how to make enough of a living to stay alive and how to get your taxes done. All the fun parts of life are optional.
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}}
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==Explanation==
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[[Megan]], standing with [[Hairy]], is an ex student of [[Miss Lenhart]] and she taunts her old algebra teacher, because she hasn't used algebra since she left school. This is a reflection of a common gripe among students: that they have no need to learn math because they assume they'll never use it after they graduate. [[Randall|Randall's]] argument is that you have the option to use what you learned in school or not. Lots of people use math after they graduate, lots of people use their music lessons, and others don't use anything they learned in school at all. However, Randall doesn't understand why someone would be proud of their own ignorance, especially since people do brag about things like being able to cook and speak other languages, which are also entirely non-essential, perhaps even more so than algebra.
  
Malignant tumors are a kind of serious diseases that endanger human health. With the deterioration of human living environment and the increase of social pressure, the incidence and mortality of malignant tumors are gradually increasing. Surgery is the main treatment of tumors, supplemented by radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but surgery is not suitable for all patients and has certain damage to patients. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy lack specificity and have greater toxicity and side effects on normal tissues and organs. Targeted therapy has become the goal of many medical workers. The [https://www.creativebiolabs.net/Immunotoxins_13.htm&action=edit&redlink=1 immunotoxin] (IT) is a conjugate of cytotoxin and monoclonal antibody. This conjugate does not show activity in normal cells, especially in the circulatory system, but only releases effector molecules in tumor tissues. Therefore, the immunotoxin not only has the ability to specifically recognize tumor antigens, but also retains the toxicity of effector molecules to kill tumor cells.
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However, Megan is also wrong in that she likely does use basic mathematical calculations in everyday life, even if they're not in orderly lists of parameters ending with "solve for x." For example, to turn one's apartment into a ball pit like in  [[150: Grownups]], one must calculate or at least estimate (another skill learned in math class) the floor space of the room, the desired depth for the balls to cover, the space occupied by one crate of balls, and the cost of such a crate. While the operations are basic arithmetic, the ability to recognize unknowns and sort them into a meaningful statement comes from algebra.
  
Composition of immunotoxins
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The title text states that technically you don't "need" to do anything but survive and {{w|Death & Taxes|pay your taxes}} (although, ironically, doing one's taxes can require quite a bit of algebra), and implies that math is one of the optional and fun parts of life.
  
Selection of appropriate cytotoxins
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This is one of the two comics where Miss Lenhart is both drawn and named, the first being [[499: Scantron]].
  
1. Plant-derived cytotoxins: Plant-derived cytotoxins are ribosomal inactivating proteins (RIPs). RIPs widely exist in plants. According to their different structures, RIPs can be divided into two types:(1) Type I RIP (RIP-I) is a single chain protein with a relative molecular weight of about 30 kD and an isoelectric point of 8-10, which is a stable basic protein. (2) TypeⅡRIP (RIP-II) is a double-chain protein, in which proteins A and B are linked by a pair of disulfide bonds. The relative molecular weight of each chain is about 30kD. The function of the chain is similar to that of type I RIP, and its isoelectric point is generally 4.8-8, which is very acidic and unstable.RIPs have broadspectrum of anti-tumor activity, which may be due to the fact that there are many phytotoxin receptors on the surface of cancer cells or their receptors are easily endocytosed after binding to toxins.
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==Transcript==
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:[Hairy is looking on as Megan takes her hands to her mouth and yells after Miss Lenhart who is walking away while looking back at her over her shoulder.]
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:Megan: Hey, Miss Lenhart! I forgot everything about algebra the moment I graduated, and in 20 years no one has needed me to solve ''anything'' for x.  
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:Megan: I ''told you'' I'd never use it!
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:Megan: In your ''face''!
  
2. Animal-derived cytotoxins: Cytotoxin (CTX) extracted from cobra is a protein with 60 amino acid residues and a relative molecular weight of 6000-7000. The CTX is soluble in water and resistant to strong acids, strongalkalis and hydrolase. It is extremely stable at room temperature. It has a selective, dose-dependent killing effect, which is characterized by direct action on the cell membrane and no inhibition on bone marrow and other germinal tissues.CTX, as a warhead for the construction of anti-tumor immunotoxin, has a relatively small molecular weight and can quickly infiltrate into the tumor foci and kill the tumor cells. CTX has no oligosaccharide side chain on the molecule, and is not easy to be removed by the liver because of its non-specific binding with the liver cells, thus shortening the half-life of drug action.And the strong membrane toxicity of CTX makes it impossible to perform endocytosis and kills cancer cells quickly. Therefore, the construction of immunotoxins by CTX is a promising approach for targeted therapy of tumors.
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:[Caption below the panel:]
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:It's weird how proud people are of not learning math when the same arguments apply to learning to play music, cook, or speak a foreign language.
  
3. Microbial-derived cytotoxins: Microbial-derived cytotoxins include cytotoxins derived from bacterial and fungi.
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{{comic discussion}}
  
Selection of appropriate carrier parts
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[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
 
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[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
(1). Monoclonal antibody vectors: As the carrier part of immunotoxic cords, antibodies have at least three functions:a. Like naked antibodies, they can effectively transport immunotoxins to the surface of targeted cells; b. They can retain the whole or part of naked antibodies, that is to say, the part of monoclonal antibodies is also an effective drug; c. They can induce cell phagocytosis of monoclonal antibodies into the pre-lysosome and lead to the effective release of effector molecules in cells.For antibodies targeting hematopoietic differentiation antigens, the internalization process sometimes requires the involvement of complements. At present, the commonly used anti-tumor monoclonal antibodies can theoretically be coupled with cytotoxins to prepare immunotoxins.
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[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
 
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[[Category:Math]]
(2). Cytokine vectors: The binding of cytokine to its receptors on the cell surface can effectively mediate endocytosis of toxins. Cytokine receptor level is regulated by cell activation and differentiation. The expression levels of cytokine receptors in different cell subsets are different. Cytokines can select specific cell groups, so cytokines can be used as targeted carriers. There are a large number of cytokine receptors on the surface of many cancer cells.
 
 
 
Preparation of immunotoxin
 
 
 
1. Chemical cross-linking method: Chemical cross-linking method refers to linking antibodies or cytokines to cytotoxins through cross-linking agents.
 
 
 
2. Gene fusion method: This method is based on molecular biology technology. The targeted part is ligated to the toxic part bya linker, the target gene fragment is amplified by PCR, the target gene fragment and vector are digestedwith two restriction enzymes, then the target gene fragment is connected to the vector to prepare a recombinant vector. It is cloned into the expression plasmid and transferred into the expression bacteria such as Escherichia coli, which is induced by isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG), and the products generally exist in the form of insoluble inclusions.
 
 
 
Action mechanism of immunotoxin
 
 
 
The killing effect of immunotoxin on target cells usually includes the following steps. (1) Binding: binding to specific receptor antigens on the surface of target cells by antibody or other ligands; (2) Internalization: the entry of immunotoxin into cells is the prerequisite for the action of immunotoxin; (3) Killing the target cells: after internalization, immunotoxin induces apoptosis mainly by inhibiting the synthesis of cancer cell proteins or activating important apoptotic proteins.
 
 
 
Problems and prospects
 
 
 
At present, the main problem in the application of immunotoxin is that they are easily degraded after application in vivo, that is, the half-life is not long and unstable.And the half-life and stability of the immunotoxin depend on the size of the immunotoxin, the stability of the junction and its affinity with tumors, etc. Therefore, appropriate antibody and junction should be selected to prepare the immunotoxin.Most immunotoxins have non-specific toxicity, and therefore need to clone and modify the toxic and targeted parts of the immunotoxins to reduce their toxicity to non-target cells. Most immunotoxins have immunogenicity, which mainly depends on their toxic part. Therefore, it is necessary to modify the immunogenic parts of the toxins by location mutation or gene deletion or to reduce the immunogenicity by developing and applying humanized carriers and warheads. The immunotoxin obtained by chemical cross-linking method has a lowyield, and the immunotoxin obtained by the method is a mixture, which is difficult to separate by effective methods, so more effective methods for obtaining immunotoxinshould be found.In summary, although there are still some problems in targeted treatment of malignant tumors by immunotoxins, with the in-depth study of protein and gene engineering technology, immunotoxin has good application prospects in the targeted therapy for malignant tumors.
 

Revision as of 21:19, 25 August 2019

Forgot Algebra
The only things you HAVE to know are how to make enough of a living to stay alive and how to get your taxes done. All the fun parts of life are optional.
Title text: The only things you HAVE to know are how to make enough of a living to stay alive and how to get your taxes done. All the fun parts of life are optional.

Explanation

Megan, standing with Hairy, is an ex student of Miss Lenhart and she taunts her old algebra teacher, because she hasn't used algebra since she left school. This is a reflection of a common gripe among students: that they have no need to learn math because they assume they'll never use it after they graduate. Randall's argument is that you have the option to use what you learned in school or not. Lots of people use math after they graduate, lots of people use their music lessons, and others don't use anything they learned in school at all. However, Randall doesn't understand why someone would be proud of their own ignorance, especially since people do brag about things like being able to cook and speak other languages, which are also entirely non-essential, perhaps even more so than algebra.

However, Megan is also wrong in that she likely does use basic mathematical calculations in everyday life, even if they're not in orderly lists of parameters ending with "solve for x." For example, to turn one's apartment into a ball pit like in 150: Grownups, one must calculate or at least estimate (another skill learned in math class) the floor space of the room, the desired depth for the balls to cover, the space occupied by one crate of balls, and the cost of such a crate. While the operations are basic arithmetic, the ability to recognize unknowns and sort them into a meaningful statement comes from algebra.

The title text states that technically you don't "need" to do anything but survive and pay your taxes (although, ironically, doing one's taxes can require quite a bit of algebra), and implies that math is one of the optional and fun parts of life.

This is one of the two comics where Miss Lenhart is both drawn and named, the first being 499: Scantron.

Transcript

[Hairy is looking on as Megan takes her hands to her mouth and yells after Miss Lenhart who is walking away while looking back at her over her shoulder.]
Megan: Hey, Miss Lenhart! I forgot everything about algebra the moment I graduated, and in 20 years no one has needed me to solve anything for x.
Megan: I told you I'd never use it!
Megan: In your face!
[Caption below the panel:]
It's weird how proud people are of not learning math when the same arguments apply to learning to play music, cook, or speak a foreign language.


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Discussion

Actually, I always use Megan's argument whenever I'm in World History Class.--Jimmy C (talk) 21:34, 14 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes, because what intelligent people did in the past when faced with complex decisions can have NO bearing on anything in my own life. 108.162.219.223 08:17, 10 January 2014 (UTC)
If history actually repeats itself if you don't study it, then the best way to study history is to not study it, because then it will happen to yourself and you will be able to experience it first hand! guess who (if you want to | what i have done) 17:12, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

It allways seems strange to me that there are places in the world where preparing your own meals is not an everyday task to most people. Living in Norway it just seems extremely decadent!85.164.251.29 20:44, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

I don't think that by "learning to cook" he means to prepare food, but to do it well and to enjoy it. Many people can prepare very limited food, causing them to not enjoy cooking and to believe that they cannot cook. Theo (talk) 21:06, 30 August 2013 (UTC)
No, he meant "learning to cook". We learn math, not necessarily so we can enjoy it but so that we can function as a modern human being. You don't have to enjoy cooking, but by god's sake you should at least learn the basics. We can't all be generation Y, you know; things would cease to function. 108.162.219.223 08:17, 10 January 2014 (UTC)
I think the point is that being able to cook, play an instrument, or speak a foreign language is generally seen as positive even if it doesn't benefit the person judging (they aren't expecting to eat the cooking or need an interpreter). "I can do integral calculus" will not get you the same sort of reaction. 162.158.187.178 20:54, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Fortunately for mathophiles, it appears that this sentiment fades with age. In an August 2013 Gallup survey of American adults, respondents were asked which school subject they considered most valuable in their daily lives, and Math took the top spot. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2013/09/math_viewed_as_most_valuable_s.html Frijole (talk) 23:39, 10 September 2013 (UTC)

A google search of "when am I ever going to use X?" reveals that "math" and "algebra" get tens of thousands of hits, physics gets hundreds, while just about everything else is under 100. I think the extreme dislike of math (edweek survey notwithstanding, and probably self-serving) is in a different league from what others have discussed here. The explanation should reflect. Jd2718 (talk) 03:16, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

It was a Gallup survey, and how can the choice of "math" be self-serving anyway?? It is an educational journal, for pete's sake! The only choices were school subjects.
My own reasoning is that people have an unnatural fear of math simply because it *is* a pure science, it *is* abstract. The idiotic thing is that people use math all the time, they just don't call it that. Trying to work out how many drinks you can buy and still have cab fare? Algebra, b*tches! 108.162.219.223 08:17, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

Counterpoint: Unlike music and foreign language, math is a required course throughout school, which must be infuriating for those who struggle with it. My belief for what are currently the core classes is that students should be taught the material that will help them "in real life" and in a variety of jobs, and probably a bit of extra knowledge beyond that; but the much more complex and abstract topics should be optional. ~AgentMuffin

Counter-counterpoint: You have to balance the 'need' for abstract topics with the advantage that young minds have in learning. Generally speaking, as you get older it becomes more difficult to learn new things. So the most advantageous time to learn those difficult/abstract topics is when your mind is (statistically) best capable of learning them.

Counter-counter-counterpoint: abstract topics are actually specifically the sorts of things that "young minds" (up through middle school, at least, and sometimes into high school) struggle to learn (or comprehend) more than more older minds. It's why teaching algebra to middle schoolers (in general and on average) is generally avoided. (Source: professional development as a middle school teacher) On an unrelated note, the depressing thing about this comic is that I have heard students make the same complaint (i.e. when am I ever going to need this) about music, cooking, AND speaking a foreign language. Who, me? (talk) 01:14, 19 January 2022 (UTC)