Virus

2009-02-01T21:13:16Z

Takingalook:

[[Image:Virus.jpg|right|350px|thumb|Microscopic view of a virus.]]
A '''virus''' is a microscopic, non-[[cell]]ular, infectious agent that has two characteristics: It has genetic material (either [[DNA]] or [[RNA]]) inside a protective [[protein]] coat.<ref>Wile, Dr. Jay L. ''Exploring Creation With Biology''. Apologia Educational Ministries, Inc. 1998</ref>

To reproduce itself, a virus needs to infect a living cell. The genetic material is inserted into the cell, and the reproductive machinery of that cell is then effectively "hijacked": the cell starts to produce components of new virus particles. These components spontaneously self-assemble and the new virus particles can then infect other cells, where the same process happens.

==Forms of replication==

This infection cycle of replication has two forms, lysogenic and lytic. In the lysogenic a virus will implant its DNA in the host cell's and wait until the cell is under stress and then begin to copy more of itself. This method allows for the virus gene (called the pro-phage) to continue through multiple generations of cells until the correct replicating time has arrived. Viruses that use this cycle are said to be 'latent' and are often retroviruses (their genetic material is RNA, as opposed to DNA). An example of this type of virus would be the HIV virus. The other method (the lytic cycle) involves a virus directly injecting its genetic material into the cell and immediately forcing it to make viral copies. After about 200 viruses have been produced the cell lyses (explodes) and the copies are now free to infect more cells. Many of these viruses are bacteriophages. This is because bacterium have a cell wall that does not allow the absorption of the virus like the [[plasma membrane]] of animal cells do, forcing the virus to inject only its genetic material.

==Are viruses alive?==

There is disagreement on whether or not viruses should be considered alive since they do not share many of the processes that other forms of life have. They do not feed, respire, grow, reproduce through cell division, or move under their own power. Viruses also do not have a cell structure, despite having genes.

==Examples==
Examples of viruses include the [[influenza]] virus, the common cold, [[HIV]], [[smallpox]] and [[polio]].

==Immunities==
Viruses are not targeted by [[antibiotics]], the drugs used to kill [[bacteria]], and so use of antibiotics for viral infections is usually inappropriate. There are, however, many antiviral drugs used in cases of viral infection; most notably acyclovir, interferon, and ribavarin.

==Other uses==
Malicious computer programs are generally called viruses, as well. A computer can get "infected" with a computer virus, often without the user initially being aware of this, and the virus can then damage the information on the computer and spread to other computers. Such viruses are the manifestation of the [[Satan]] in the digital realm.

==References==

<references/>

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Medicine]]

Talk:Dog

2009-01-17T01:15:59Z

Takingalook: /* Message */ new section

This article most likely needs a rewrite sometime in the next couple of weeks. [[User:MountainDew|MountainDew]] 16:26, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

:A rewrite would be very good! I'm nominating this over at the Article Improvement Drive. ~ [[User:SharonS|SharonS]] [[User talk:SharonS|Talk!]] 16:30, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

::Please Vote for this article on [[CP:AID]]. ~ [[User:SharonS|SharonS]] [[User talk:SharonS|Talk!]] 16:45, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

Lets start thinking about the direction we want to take this article. What areas do you want to add and expand on? [[User:Tmtoulouse|Tmtoulouse]] 16:49, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

:I would make the first two paragraphs the introduction, and then make the uses of dogs its own section. From there, we can simply add on sections on a variety of topics such as types, training, showing, common diseases, etc. ~ [[User:SharonS|SharonS]] [[User talk:SharonS|Talk!]] 16:54, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

== Dangerous Animal ==

Why would dogs be considered part of the dangerous animals list? They are domesticated animals that aren't very dangerous. If dogs are on the dangerous animal list wouldn't almost all animals be on the list?--'''[[User:Staple|Staple]][[User talk:Staple|Talk]]''' 16:45, 26 April 2007 (EDT)
:There's a reference in the article to the frequency of dog bites. Though domesticated, they are still dangerous animals. [[User:DrSandstone|DrSandstone]] 16:47, 26 April 2007 (EDT)
::Wouldn't all animals be considered dangerous to some extent?--'''Staple[http://www.conservapedia.com/User_talk:Staple Your comments are welcomed!]''' 14:02, 27 April 2007 (EDT)

Dogs don't bite; their owners do. [[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 04:55, 23 May 2007 (EDT)

:I live in the ghetto and most of my neighbors have pitbulls, rotweilers, etc. and these dogs runs stray and attack me. The mailman, UPS man, FedEx, etc. are terrified when they have to come to my door to delivery or have my seen for something. I really like the emphasis on dog attacks in this article. [[User:JenniferTabuena|JenniferTabuena]] 19:53, 25 December 2007 (EST)

I can't stand it when people accuse poor defenseless dogs of "bad" biting when usually they are only trying to help by defending the house! Dogs don't understand that biting someone too much and attacking them will harm them, to them it is doing their job by keeping the owner safe (even if the victim wasn't a threat). I think the so called "experts" on dogs do not know anything about how to handle these things. If I ever made it as one of these "dog experts" I sure wouldn't do anything like the "experts" do now! --[[user:mssb57|m s s b 5 7]] // [[user talk:mssb57|blah !]] // [[special:contributions/mssb57|this was my fault]] 20:06, 25 December 2007 (EST)
:That doesn't explain why dogs sometimes attack their own owners/owners' families, though. Face it, dogs ''are'' a wild animal; it is the owner who "domesticates" them, they don't arrive pre-packaged to be non-wild. Leave a dog untrained, it will become feral and dangerous. [[Image:User Fox.png]] [[User:Fox|Fox]] ([[User talk:Fox|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Fox|contribs]]) 20:11, 25 December 2007 (EST)
::Interestingly, the domestic cats species don't attack humans unless corned. [[User:JenniferTabuena|JenniferTabuena]] 20:16, 25 December 2007 (EST)

:Well, my neighbor's dogs have attacked me on my doorstep so I don't think that's defending their house. I have friends who have dogs like bichans (sp?) and those dogs never will attack anyone ever. It's partly a breed thing as some breeds won't attack and cats won't attack, and partly an owner thing, though bad owners like to get attack dogs. It is true many dogs don't understand right and wrong, though the attacking ones can't be considered "defenseless" since they're pretty deadly. Many dogs are fast enough to take down a person with a gun before they can shoot. Again, dogs that attack are pretty good at attacking and are not defenseless. The tiny ones are pretty defenseless and those don't usually attack. [[User:JenniferTabuena|JenniferTabuena]] 20:14, 25 December 2007 (EST)
::I know, that would be attacking, but on the dog's property it is really just defending. --[[user:mssb57|m s s b 5 7]] // [[user talk:mssb57|blah !]] // [[special:contributions/mssb57|this was my fault]] 20:19, 25 December 2007 (EST)

== Message ==

What exactly is this article trying to say? That you shouldn't have dogs/live with dogs? That dogs in general should not be allowed to live with man? Or why is this article clearly exaggerating on the danger of bites?
It's true that dogs may bite, but that is in most cases due to overassessment, unexperience or violence of the owner. This article fails to see the real problem (probably written by people unexperienced/with bad experience with dogs?). --[[User:Takingalook|Takingalook]] 20:15, 16 January 2009 (EST)

Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Virus

Talk:Dog