Cardiovascular Disease

I became a little more interested in the heart and wondered a little about heart disease.  I found some interesting information.  61 millions americans are faced with cardiovascular disease.  There are different types including, high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, heart attacks, and stroke.  The heart is obviously the center of the cardiovascular system and pumps blood to all of the cells in our body.  It also carries oxygen, which the cells need. When these things aren't happening we are faced with problems, know as cardiovascular disease.  


Some problems that go along with heart disease are:


Arteriosclerosis: also called hardening of the arteries, arteriosclerosis means the arteries become thickened and are no longer as flexible.
Atherosclerosis: a buildup of cholesterol and fat that makes the arteries narrower so less blood can flow through. Those buildups are called plaque.
Angina : people with angina feel a pain in the chest that means the heart isn't getting enough blood.
Heart attack: when a blood clot or other blockage cuts blood flow to a part of the heart.
Stroke: when part of the brain doesn't get enough blood due to a clot or a burst blood vessel.


Below is a video of an actual surgery, While the heart is still beating. VERY INTERESTING:

Cardiovascular

Over the last couple of weeks, we have done many things involving the cardiovascular system.  We have gathered up a lot of useful information to help us better understand how it works, and we have done this by performing various labs.

First of all and most interesting was the dissection of the cow, sheep, and pig heart.  My group dissected the pig heart.  Looking for things such as the ventricles, aorta, atriums, outer walls, and the pulmonary trunk. This blog was very useful for me, in the sense that I not only got to see what the internal heart looked like, but it also allowed me to learn how to locate the different parts of the heart. We measure each part, in order for us to compare the difference in sizes, finding that the cow heart was the biggest out of the three.  I really enjoyed this lab and felt that I know have a better understanding of the way that the heart function.

Here is an appetizing picture: : ) . . . .

Next we analyzed the heart using EKG. This is the graphical recording of the electrical events occurring within the heart.  This allowed us to learn how to distinguish a "normal" heart rate from a "abnormal heart beat".  

Before this lab, I would look at this and think it was just a bunch of line that meant you were breathing so everything was good.  But now I look at this and realize that this is a normal heart beat because the atrial depolarization, ventricular depolarization, and ventricular re-polarization are all normal.  

This is a picture of an abnormal heart beat, because it is missing the Q,R, and the S. Which indicates that the electrical impulse was blocked before it reached the ventricles.  This would be something that you would definitely need to recognize an abnormal heart which can be life threatening.  

We also learned how to use a stethoscope with the sphygmomanometer to take blood pressure.  This showed the advancement of technology and how easy it is for us to listen to someones heart to make sure that everything is running correctly.  The normal blood pressure is 120/80, although women often tend to have a lower blood pressure than men.

After this unit, I feel as though I have learned a lot about the heart.  I didn't know much before, but now I can actually understand how the heart works, and even take someones blood presssure : )! Very fun unit.

Anesthesia

Stephanie and I did some research on anesthesia.  We found a lot of interesting information and answered a lot of unknown questions...Please view our slide show and take the quiz after to see what you've learned! . . . .






QUIZ:

Anesthesia Quiz

Leech Nuerophysiology Lab

Purpose:  The purpose of this lab is to record the electrical activity found in the neurons of the leech and to identify which neurons respond to certain stimuli.
Hypothesis:  Considering the leeches nervous system.  the electrical activity would be easy to identify in the ganglia because they are so large and serve the same purpose.
Materials:  Leech tank, dissection tray, 20% ethanol, dissecting microscope, micro manipulator, probe, forceps, scissors, dissection pins, leech tongs, Oscilloscope   
Procedure:  1. Anesthetize and dissect the leech 2. remove leech innards and observe ganglion 3. cut our the ganglion window 4. isolate one ganglion 5. cut the ganglion sinus 6. probe and identify ganglion sensory cells
Results and Conlusion: There was five cells found with different stimuli.  Basically, one ganglia contains many cells which contribute to the whole nervous system.  

Food Lab

Over the past week, our anatomy class performed an experiment to test the electrical potential produced when chewing different foods.  Above is a slide show, showing our process, hypothesis, results, ect.  Although we did not meet our hypothesis, I still enjoyed the lab and would like to do further testing to prove our last theory.  : ) enjoy.

Bone Fractures!!!

So usually when we brake a bone we all panic.  What we don't realize is that some brakes are more sever than others.  There are many different types of brakes, that I will further explain.

First off is the non-displaced fracture.  This is where the bone ends retain their normal position. 

Displaced fracture- bone ends are out of normal alignment

Complete fracture- bone is all the way through

Incomplete- bone is not broken all the way through

Linear fracture- the fracture is parallel to the long axis of the bone

Transverse fracture- fracture is perpendicular to the long-axis of the bone

compound (open)- bone ends penetrate the skin

Simple Fracture- Bone ends do not penetrate the skin

Comminuted fracture- bone fragments in three or more pieces; common in elders

Spiral fracture- ragged brake when bone is excessively twisted; very common sports fracture

Depression fracture: broken bone portion pressed inward; typical skull fracture

Compression Fracture-bone is completely crushed

 

 

 

Epiphyseal: epiphysis separates from diaphysis along epiphyseal line;

occurs where cartilage cells are dying

 

Above are a brief description and a picture of the different types of fractures.  I would have to say that personally, I think the open fracture is the most nasty.  I have been very fortunate and have only broken my index finger throughout my 18 years of life.  Although, it was probably considered and "open fracture", it wasn't nearly as severe are the one picture above. YUCKKKKK! It is really interesting to me to see all these different pictures and learn about our bone and the types of things that can happen to them. 

The Bionic Body

http://www.pbs.org/saf/1107/features/body.htm

Above is a link to an article on some tissue engineering that has been going on recently.   Many engineers have come together to perform some experiments that would contribute to the present and future in many positive ways.  This experiment would be, of course, tissue engineering.  This would aid patients with sever burn, ulcers, and other serious skin disorders.  In the near future scientists want to be to the point where they are able to have lab-grown cartilage and bone.  This would benefit people with arthritis.  They would also be able to produce cardiac valves, muscle tissue and blood vessels, helping many people with cardiovascular diseases.  This would be really helpful to the human population because most list threatening diseases can be cured if they were able to produce a new version of the tissue that is being infected.  In order for them to become successful in doing this, they would have to mimic the environment in which cells grow naturally.  This sounds like it would be easy, but it is the first step in the process and isn't an easy step to accomplish.  They then have to find materials to serve as scaffolding so that the cells can be seeded.  Why do they need scaffolds?  Scaffolds provide the cells better access to nutrients and waste removal.  Scaffolding allows the tissue to be put into any shape or size that it needed, which can become very helpful when doing this.  To test this the scientists grew a human ear on a specially bred mouse.  They were successful when doing this. Also, the bioreactor was designed which cultivates cartilage, allowing the cells to grow more developed.  

When I first read this article, I almost didn't want to believe that this was actually happening.  It seems too unrealistic and complicated for anyone to be successful at something so complex.  I find it truly amazing to know that I am lucky enough to be alive when technology and science has had such a huge growth spurt.  I really hope that this starts coming into effect and starts being used on people who truly need it.  It would save so many lives and people would no longer have to feel so desperate for good health when they know that there life is at risk!


How does tissue engineering happen?