LAST BLOG

What was your favorite topic this semester? Why?


My favorite topic this semester was the sexual health part because it reminded me of how important it is to be safe with relationships and what the dangers of coitus are.

What was your least favorite?


My least favorite topic was the immune system, because it was extremely complicated for me and hard to comprehend

What would you change about this class if you could?


I think there needs to be more of an emphasis on experimental design, because most students aren't quite sure how to write up labs and what defines variables and such.

What do you feel is your biggest accomplishment in physiology this year?


My biggest accomplishment was probably the fact that I learned a lot about dissections and bones and muscles, which are a huge part of my (hopefully) future profession, as a developer and designer of prosthetic limbs.

BOW Nutritional Disease

BOW Find a nutritional disease, i.e. scurvey Describe the cause of the disease, the symptoms and a treatment. Include a picture and references




Goiter

Cause:
  -iodine deficiency
  -selenium deficiency
  -thyroiditis
Symptoms:
  -increased appetite
  -weight loss
  -heat intolerance
  -hypo/hyperthyroidism
Treatment(depends on type/cause):
  -radioactive iodine exposure
  -small doses of Lugol's Iodine/KI solution
  -thyroid supplements
  -thyroidectomy


Sources:
http://www.iodinenetwork.net/Learning.htm
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/goiter/DS00217
http://www.thyroid.org/patients/patient_brochures/goiter.html

BOW Disease Awareness

BOW What disease have you become more aware of because of class? What behaviors have you changed?


I have become very aware of some more basic diseases such as bone breaks and cuts. Now that I know how they work, I can apply that knowledge to my experience as a Boy Scout. When I teach first aid at meetings, not only can I explain to younger scouts the processes the body undergoes upon injury, I also can explain the exact purpose of each remedy and how it plays into the body recovering, as well as when the professional doctors take over.

BOW Explain the difference between the cell mediated and the humoral immune systems.


Humoral immune response occurs when circulating antibodies recognize foreign antigens. This triggers the activation of the complement system. Cell mediated response occurs when T-cells recognize an antigen as foreign. This causes an increase in the clones of that particular type of T-cell and also causes T-cell migration into that site. This takes more time than humoral response.





Sources
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Comparison_of_humoral_and_cell_mediated_immune_response


http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_Differentiate_between_Humoral_mediated_immune_response_and_cellular_mediated_immune_response

BOW 9 Pathogen

Find an example and a picture of each type of disease/pathogen: bacteria, virus, prion, genetic, environmental and invertebrates


Bacterial: Staph infection

Viral: Smallpox

Prionic: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Genetic: Hemophilia

Environmental: Asthma

Invertebrates:Babesiosis

Finish your epidemic simulation
Do a screen capture of your settings and data and in your blog explain which is more critical to the impact of a disease contagiousness or lethality

I beleave that the contagiousness of a disease is more critical because while some diseases may be highly fatal, it wont have as much of an effect if it cannot spread. Compared to less lethal disease that could spread more, where everyone is sick and there are no people left to take care of the ill, the situation is much worse.


Sources:
http://starmap.causeway.co.uk/epidemic.asp
http://www.asthmatreatmentreport.com/
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/intro/bio_smallpox-pics.htm
http://www.staph-infection-pictures.com/staph-infection-pictures.php

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse_photogallery.html

BOW 8 Action Potential

Go to http://thevirtualheart.org/CAPindex.html
Click on ions
Run the regular action potential and the cardiac potential compare and contrast what is happening in each


In the regular neuron action potential, the membrane current gradually becomes larger and once it reaches a maximum, decreases accordingly. In addition, the membrane voltage climbs quickly and decreases fairly gradually. However, in cardiac cells, as action potential is generated, membrane current quickly spikes and stays constant until the end of the process, while the membrane voltage spikes and stays high through until the end.

Source:
http://thevirtualheart.org/CAPindex.html

BOW: Thinking/Body nerves

BOW 
PART 1
Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/leonardo/thinker_quiz/What are the implications in terms of how you study? In terms of potential careers?


According to the quiz, I am a logical mathematical thinker, or one who learns and solves problems using rationality and enjoys understanding patterns. This means that I should study more of a cause-effect relation in my work and it should make more sense to me when things have a backing or logical support. As far as potential careers go, I should aim to be a physicist, engineer, scientist, etc.

PART 2
Now go to
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/index_interactivebody.shtmldo the nervous system challenge. Write three things you learned about how your body is "wired".


1. The vital organs and direct sensory structures generally connect directly to the brain
2. The parts of the body used less are usually connected to lower sections of the spinal cord
3. Skeletal muscles can connect to various places, but arm muscles generally connect to the cervical portion while leg muscles connect to the sacral portion.






Sources
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/leonardo/thinker_quiz/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/index_interactivebody.shtml

BOW: Leprosy

Look up a disease of one of the senses: vision, hearing, skin, taste and smell. What causes the disease? What are the symptoms? How can it be treated? Include a picture an a reference 

Leprosy is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. The symptoms of this disease do not appear till long after exposure, making it difficult to track. However, it is not easy to spread from person to person, while people have been known to contract the disease from armadillos. Essentially, what this disease does is create various lesions and bumps, cause numbness on the skin, and weakness in the muscles. There are many various antibiotics that attack the bacteria, and several are generally used together to treat the disease, along with drugs designed to control inflammation. However, leprosy can have long lasting effects, including permanent nerve damage, muscle weakness, and disfigurement.




Reference:


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002323/


http://www.dmoz.org/Health/Conditions_and_Diseases/Infectious_Diseases/Mycobacterial/Hansen's_Disease/


http://www.wayang.net/?page_id=169

BOW: Phantoms Ch 2

What is the significance of brain plasticity? How does the mapping of the brain explain various fetishes?


After loss of a limb or body part, it is not uncommon for amputees to "feel" sensations in the area of the body that they lost, even though there are no nerves to feel with. This is caused by brain plasticity, or the ability of the brain to connect various neurons located in the brain and make one feel as though their lost limb can feel sensations felt by actual flesh in other areas. These re-mappings are also the cause of various fetishes, with the area of the brain that feels genitalia located close to the foot and trunk areas, causing foot fetishes to have a valid excuse.

BOW Taste

Taste is the ability of our bodies to chemically analyze substances that we put in our mouths, in order to "screen" food before it is ingested, in case of contamination or a substance we cannot eat. Our tongue works with our noses to identify chemicals, and our olfactory senses play a large role in this process. The different tastes that we perceive (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami) are analyzed by taste buds on our tongues and send a message through our neural network to the brain, which tells us what flavor we seem to taste.

BOW: Eye Tricks

Our eyes can affect how we perceive things in many ways. Through our usual clues, proportions can be affected making two different sized things seem the same, or two same things seem different. We might get used to certain shapes and lights, making other things seem off, or even weird. Usually our brain controls what we seem to see and our perceptions, although they may not alway be true. Among these tricks include  mach bands, lightness issues, color conceptions, etc.

BOW Diet Success

Did you follow your diet plan for all four weeks? Why or why not? Predict your nutritional state in terms of nutrients


I admit, I was not vigilant in keeping with my diet. After about two and a half weeks, I was at several chinese new years parties with my family, and any sort of diet more or less went out the window. Although I did try to be consistent with what I ate in the mornings and at lunch, there was little continuity in my dinners. I believe that my nutritional state at the end of the four weeks was quite ordinary for the average american, most likely evenly filled with most nutrients, although probably too much sugar and fat.

BOW

Why is it important that the body have two control systems rather than one?


Well, our nervous and endocrine systems are there to differentiate the kinds of control, as well as provide different outlets for body control under different circumstances. Our neural pathways are a more instantaneous response system, allowing for immediate movement and reactions to stimuli. However, our hormones control growth and development, and while they are affected by the environment and can act immediately (epinephrine/adrenaline), this system is more of a passive, over time control of body functions. Without either one, humans would not be able to neither think nor grow properly. Only together are they able to shape a mere fetus into a human being capable of many things.

CH 5 Wordle

BOW 15

What is your take away lesson from Dead Men Do Tell Tales? Could you be a forensic anthropologist? Why or why not?


I think that this book is a great resource for debunking common misconceptions about dead bodies and forensic investigations. Not only does it remove the general dark, evil feeling of death from a body, and properly points all that negativity at the murder and the act of dying itself, but it also analyzes crimes and various mutilations and deathly causes in a way that almost interests the reader, so that they may not fear death, but try to understand it. However, I do not think that I could be a forensic anthropologist largely due to the fact that dealing with bodies everyday, while necessary and not as bad as one would think, would put me into a cynical and probably depressed state that I would rather not live out. Although I would not mind working with one, because I'm sure anyone interested in this field must be an interesting person.

BOW 14

Pick three factors that can change your heart rate. How do they change your heart rate? (i.e. faster, stronger, slower, weaker) For each give another system affected by the change in heart rate.


Temperature
  -Can either increase or decrease heart rate, higher temperature generally means faster heart rate, and the inverse is also true. This can also affect the muscular system, with lack of heat slowing down heart rate and blood flow, making movement/reaction delayed.


Alcohol
  -Generally decreases heart rate, relaxes nervous system and dull motor functions. 


Adrenaline
  -Tends to increase heart rate, all the blood flowing at such a high rate makes the nervous system and motor functions seem to react faster.

BOW 13

Based upon this week's labs why is it hard for a fit person to get an exercise benefit? 


Well as we have tested, thoroughly, over and over again how heart rate is affected by repetitive exercise and how it affects reaction time, it is apparent that benefit from exercise takes time, because in order to get the heart pumping more steadily, one must train it to be used to beating harder and faster, so that each beat causes blood to flow faster and transport materials throughout the body. In order to do this, the heart must be strained, just like any other muscle. But without adding resistance to its actions, the only way to strengthen the heart is by making the body push blood faster. This is done with cardio-based exercise.

BOW 12

What similarities have you noted between a mink musculature and a human's? What has surprised you most about the mink?


It occurred to me that mink muscles are very similar human muscles in the number, arrangement, and attachments. Granted, the mink tend to be different in shape and size, because they use different sets of muscles differently to get around. But in the most basic of comparisons, you can say that both a mink and a human have similar muscle systems. And that is probably the most surprising thing, the fact that such a different animal from a totally different genetic tree could have such similar muscles compared to mine.

BOW 11

Fusiform Muscles

  Biceps Brachii and Psoas Major

Quadrate Muscles

  Pronator Quadratus and Quadratus Lumborum

Flat w/Aponeurosis

  Abdominal external obliques

  Transverse abdominis

Pennate

 Unipennate

  Extensor Digitorum Longus

  Triangular Deltoid

 Bipennate

  Rectus Femoris 

  Stapedius

 Multipennate

  Deltoid

  Flexor Hallucis Longus

BOW: Anatomy & Art

 Compared to the earlier Grecian/Roman styles of art, later European depictions of the human body became more fragile and realistic. Perhaps the earlier artists had a belief in the perfection of the human body, or their subject were based off of the idea that gods were humans, yet perfect in every way shape and form. However, it remains that later eras of art brought about a stage were humans had a fair bit of realism and noticeable flaws, such as fat, scars, wrinkles, etc.

I believe that art evolved in order to better capture images of the human body, and as such, the study of the human body changed and grew in order to provide more accurate and detailed description to match these images. In the end, both expanded greatly out of a need for more detail and exactness.