Scientific Reading and Writing in English discussion Shu-ying Wang, Ph.D. Dept. Microbiology and Immunology Tel: ext Fax:

Discussion what do your findings mean  First answer question posed in introduction  Explain the significance of your results  Explain the findings, relationships, and generalizations of your results  Do not repeat results  Explains how results support answers and how answers fit with existing knowledge on the topic  Discuss weaknesses and discrepancies  Conclusion/summary, perspectives, implications  Has a beginning, middle, and end

Part 1, Beginning present the strongest evidence first Begin with significance of your results  Never begin with background information  Never repeat information from Introduction  Never begin with historical overviews

Part 1, beginning cont’d The question posed in Introduction… “… However, the functions of Egr-1 in viral replication and disease progression remain unclear. …..” Is answered in your Discussion… “.. The present study provides what we believe is the first evidence that Egr-1 acts as an enhancer for HSV-1 replication by binding to and activating the promoters of viral genes important for productive infection. Furthermore, suppression of Egr-1 reduces the viral replication in infected cells, viral loads in mouse tissues, and mortality in infected mice with HSV-1 encephalitis. ……” Ex 1

Part 1, beginning cont’d The question posed in Introduction… “… A question arises whether the domains of DbpA proteins normally form a stable, compact structure in solution, similar to replication involved helicases such as Rep, PcrA, and the hepatitis C virus helicase fragment (5), or whether they are distended from each other like beads on a string…..” Is answered in your Discussion… “.. The data presented here, demonstrating that the domains of YxiN are loosely tethered and distended in absence of ligands, support a model in which YxiN functions as an RNA chaperone…” Ex 2

Part 2, Middle interpret your results  Show how your results fit into the literature and how they support your answer  Give in descending order of importance  Compare your results with other studies, your work or others  Use one idea per paragraph

“ The Zta protein of Epstein-Barr virus has been shown to activate the Egr-1 promoter (14). Our in vitro results showed that infectious but not UV-inactivated HSV-1 induces Egr-1 expression, indicating that the viral replication process is required for induction. Our additional results found that HSV-1 infection activates Egr-1 promoter activity in SK-N-SH cells via interaction with the 5′ end of the promoter (Supplemental Figure 2), which contains a cAMP response element and binding sites for several transcription factors, including SP1, AP1, and Egr-1 itself (35). …..” Ex 1

“… we showed that HR212 could inhibit NDV-mediated cell fusion... This was in contrast to the results of others [16], which... As a further characterization, we detected the inhibition of HR212 added… This result implied that the conformational changes of the F protein occurred very quickly after receptor binding to the HN protein… This may explain why the inhibition activity was much lower if added after cleavage activation. However, all these results are still consistent with the idea that HR2 peptides could interact …” Ex 2

Part 3, Ending be strong  Restate answer to question, and signal this ending  Mention possible applications, implications, or speculations  Pull out as a separate Conclusions section  Suggest future work if needed

“…..Our study showing that knockdown of Egr-1 prevents the mortality of HSV-1–infected mice by reducing viral replication in tissues provides a cellular target for developing alternative therapies. Further studies are needed to test whether blocking Egr-1, which is unlikely to mutate, could be an alternative therapy for preventing HSV-induced diseases or reducing infections caused by drug-resistant mutants in patients.” Ex 1

“ The structure of the FlhDC complex presented here reveals the tertiary fold of the FlhC protomer, including a zinc-binding site that has not been described previously. It also reveals the quaternary interface between the FlhD and FlhC subunits, and provides a structural framework for future studies of the interaction of the complex with its target promoters.” Ex 2

Homework: Practice to write your own “Discussion” section

The baseline characteristics are shown in Table 1. Table 2 shows the body temperature of all female subjects. The baseline characteristics are shown in Table 1, and the body temperature of all female subjects are shown in Table 2. Table 1 and Table 2 show the baseline characteristics, and the body temperature of all female subjects, respectively.

It is well known that there are three forms of NO synthase……. There are three forms of NO synthase….. In a previous study it was demonstrated that IbaI was detected in monocytic cells. IbaI was detected in monocytic cells (Lopez et al 1995). (including a reference here indicates that this was found in a previous report) GST-F was also shown to bound to…. GST-F bound to ….

The role of cytotoxic T lymphocytes in MPGN has not been elucidated yet. The role of cytotoxic T lymphocytes in MPGN is not known. Excessive in vitro LPS-induced production of IL-1 in chronic liver diseases and their correlation with hepatic fibrosis has been reported. Hepatic fibrosis is associated with excessive in vitro LPS-induced production of IL-1 in chronic liver diseases.