T-b-a-blr-blog - Untitled

If you cannot grasp what I have just explained, you should just leave and study economics!

Microbiology professor, first lecture (via scienceprofessorquotes)

Hepatitis Viruses Mnemonic

P residential   H onor  F ree  D.C.

Virus & Lab

A = P icornavirus, naked capside, RNA, anti-HAV-IgM

B = H epadnavirus, enveloped, DNA, anti-HBc IgM, HBsAg, HBeAg

C = F lavivirus, enveloped, RNA, anti-HVC ELISA

D = D efective, enveloped circular RNA, anti-HDV ELISA

E = C alcivirus, naked capsid, RNA, -

Satellite phenomenon of Haemophilus influenzae around Staphilococcus aureus in blood agar

Hi optom! I'm very new to the studyblr community and it's my first term of university. I was a straight A student in high school and i am not performing well in my classes. In fact... I'm doing terribly. About a B to B- average. I know I'm probably not the first to go through so I've been trying to find posts that help students cope with this. Resources. Helpful tips. Is there a tag you can recommend? Any posts that you've encountered/wrote that I could peruse? Thank you very much for any help!

Hey there, thanks for asking. This is actually a very common problem experienced by people as they progress from high school to university. 

The problem is that mediocre study techniques and a combination of natural ability may have gotten you straight As whilst in high school, but it’s just not going to cut it in university. Cracking down on yourself and sitting down for more hours isn’t going to make your grades much better; it’s just doing more of the same mediocre studying. 

So you basically need to read up on good studying techniques and actually apply them to your studies. 

Everything You Need to Cover To Succeed As A Student

I actually have a web directory of all my study tips which already lists all these links.

So because the problem you have at its base is most likely that you’re using high school level techniques to tackle university-level problems, you’ll need to find resources on all areas related to good studying. For some of these areas, I have a related post, but for the more generalised topics like procrastination, I haven’t yet put one out because if I do, I want to be certain that the post will be unique, useful and practical. 

Without further ado, here’s a list of all the tags/areas you should work through and evaluate whether you need to change your current study habits if you want to be a 4.0/HD student at university. 

Firstly, have a read of my recent answer about 20 Things You Can Do To Prepare for University, and click through to any of the parts of my 15-Part University 101 Series. 

Time management

Organisation (see Part 3 Studying and Part 8 Four Secrets from University and Part 11 Adapting to Uni Studying which covers how you can manage university workloads on the whole and specific changes to your studies you should make)

Motivation

Discipline / Staying Focused

Procrastination (see post by @samsstudygram​)

Study Methods (I’ve got one on the Blank Paper Method and the Cornell Method)

Exams (I’ve got a multi-part series in the works)

Study Materials (see Part 2 of my University Series for some tips)

Studying from Textbooks (see Part 12 How To Study From Textbooks in Uni which deals with this specifically)

Self Care (you can see my tag here of my own + useful curated posts)

Spaced Repetition (use Anki!)

Study Space (I have a masterpost with tips here)

Hope that helps! If you have a specific question about any areas then let me know! 

Innate Immunity - intro

First line of defence + first to act

A primitive response (exists in animals and some plants)

Non-specialised and without ‘memory’

Consists of:

Physical barriers (eg skin and mucosa//tight junctions, airflow)

Chemical barriers (eg enzymes, lung surfactant, antimicrobals)

Soluble mediators of inflammation (eg cytokines)

Microbal defence (eg commensal competition, secreted antimicrobals)

Cells (eg phagocytes)

Receptors to recognise presence of pathogen/injury - results in inflammation

Soluble Mediators

Complement Proteins

liver-derived 

circulate in serum in inactive form

activated by pathogens during innate response

functions include lysis, chemotaxis and opsonisation

Auxiliary Cells

Mediate inflammation as part of the immune response. The main auxiliary cells involved in the immune response are Basophils, Mast cells and Platelets.

Basophils 

Leukocyte containing granules 

on degranulation release histamine + platelet activating factor

causing increased vascular permeability and smooth muscle contraction

also synthesise and secrete other mediators that control the development of immune system reactions

Mast Cells

Also contain granules 

However they are not circulating cells - found close to blood vessels in all types of tissue especially mucosal and epithelial tissues.

rapidly release inflammatory histamine but this is IgE dependant so not innate

Platelets 

normally function in blood clotting

also release inflammatory mediators

Cytokines and chemokines

Produced by many cells but especially mØ (macrophages), initiate inflammatory response and act on blood vessels 

interferons - antiviral protection

chemokines - recruit cells

interleukines - fever inducing, IL-6 induces acute phase proteins 

IL-1 - encourages leukocytes to migrate to infected/damaged tissue

as does tumour necrosis factor (TNFa)

Acute phase proteins

Liver derived proteins 

plasma concentrations increase (positive acute-phase proteins) or decrease (negative acute-phase proteins) in response to inflammation

called the acute-phase reaction 

triggered by inflammatory cytokines ( IL-1, IL-6, TNFα)

help mediate inflammation ( fever, leukocytosis, increased cortisol, decreased thyroxine, decreased serum iron, etc)

activate complement opsonisation 

Inflammation 

Cells

Cytotoxic Cells

Eosinophils/natural killer cells, cytotoxic T cells

kill target via release of toxic granules 

dendritic cell derived IL-12 helps activate NK cells

Phagocytes

mono-nuclear = long-lived; polynuclear = short-lived

engulf, internalize and destroy 

phagosome forms around microbe

enzyme filled with lysosomes fuses to form phagolysosome

organism is digested

fragments are either ‘presented’ or exocytosed

phagocytosis requires recognition of microbe via receptors for

PAMPs (pathogen associated molecular patterns - eg flagella or capsule) - recognised by toll-like receptors 

activated complement

antibody

The innate immune response primes for the adaptive 

B-cells are primed by activated complement

Th1 cell differentiation needs pro-inflammatory cytokines

A fib =  no p wave 

MICROBIOLOGY MNEMONIC

My favorite band: the Killers (and I’m gonna see them for the second time in 3 weeks!!!!!!! I’m SO excited!!!!!!)

There’s this mnemonic to remember encapsulated organisms that use capsule layers as their major mechanism of pathogenicity. 

Capsules are slippery layers and can not be phagocyte. To remember that, just remember this Killer’s song called “All the pretty faces”

This is the only way I can remember this mnemonic, here it goes…

S ome   K illers  H ave   P retty   N ice   Capsules

S treptococcus pneumoniae

K lebsiella pneumoniae

H aemophilus influenzae

P seudomona aeuroginosa

N eisseria meningitidis

C riptococcus neoformans

BACTERIAL MENINGITIS Timeline, Organisms, Presentation

I have decided to share how I revise for math since math has always been one of my best subjects.

Do homework. This may not seem crucial but it is important as homework helps you to revise what you have learnt in class.

Ask when you are in doubt. This is pretty self explanatory but math is essentially a subject which builds on what you have learnt in the past. Thus, your foundation for math must be strong. Ask your teacher asap when you don’t understand the concept.

Do assessment books. Books like the ten year series is important to give you a feel of what o-level math examinations questions are like. Basically, just do assessment books to prepare for whatever major examinations you are attending for.

Revise all of your worksheets, textbook and notes. Improving math, be better at solving equations, etc is all about practicing. You can try redoing all the questions in your textbook, notes and worksheets.

Alternatively, you can also come up with your own questions simply by changing the values in a sample question.

There are also lots of resources out there such as Photomath and Khan Academy (these are the ones I personally use) which helps you to better grasp the mathematical concept.

It is the most important to remember the formulas. I usually write down all the formulas I need to remember on the formulas printable designed by @emmastudies

Math problems are pretty standard so you can try to familiarise the method used to solve certain hard problemsums.

Lastly, definitely do not try to cram math. Math has a lot of topics so it is not a good idea to study the day before.

How tos

How I study math by @grangerproductivity

How I study mathematics by @aescademic

How to ace your next math test by @concentrationandtea

How to avoid carelessness in calculations by @ugly-postcards

How to do well in math by @rhubarbstudies

How to easily remember the unit of circles by @rebrobindoesmath

How to math by @studybuzz

How to study for math by @nostalgicstudyblr

How to study math by @blogisclosed

How to study math by @studyquill

How to study math by @study-well

How to study math when you hate it by @thecanadianundergradmoved

How to succeed in math by @gracefullywitty

How to take notes Math by @thestudiouspanda

Tips, techniques and tricks

Math study and exam tips by @studymelody

Tips for mathematics by @studyingnic

Top 5 math tips by @etudiance

Trick for remembering trigonometric values by @study-math

Math studying technique by @lunastudy

9 Unnecessary ways to lose points on math assessments

Don’t let calculus d(e)rive you mad by @biopsychs

“Conquering” math by @thestudyfeels

Guides

Algebra 2 by @parisgellerstudy

AP Calculus by @hollohat

Maths: a survival guide by @ashleigh-studies

Formulas and equations

Formulas by @maxwellsequations

Magic trig hexagons by @collegesavviness

Geometric formulas by @chaosophia218

Trigonometry by @visualizingmath

Reference by @badsciencejokes

Graphical equations by @littlemusicalwitch

Formulas and equations printable by @rosallindfranklin

Pythagoras theorem explained by @leetakeuchi-blog

Resources

Khan academy

Photomath by @asukastudies

Desmos graphing calculator

Life saving resources for studying math by @mathbrain

Math masterpost by @pythagaoras

Math aid by @allwriteokay

Precalculus by @etudiance

Other masterposts

Maths masterpost by @acadehmic

A maths masterpost by @organisaticns

Math by @areistotle

Maths masterpost by @highlightcrs

Calc ap study guide by @komlin

Other masterposts by me

Printables

Self care

College

Ace your exams

Apps for students

Note taking