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?

Epithelial Tissue

There are 8 different types of epithelial tissue.  The first is simple squamous epithelial.

   

Characteristics: single layer of flattened cells with disc-shaped nuclei and sparse cytoplasm

Functions: diffusion and filtration and provide a slick, friction-reducing lining in lymphatic and cardiovascular systems

Examples:present in the kidney glomeruli, lining of heart, blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, and serosae

Simple Cuboidal Epithelium

Charcteristics: single layer of cubelike cells with large, spherical central nuclei

Examples:present in kidney tubules, ducts and secretory portions of small glands, and ovary surface

Function:Secretion and absorbtion

Simple Columnar Epithelium

Characteristics:single layer of tall cells with oval nuclei: many contain cilia

Goblet cells are often found in this area

Examples: ciliated type line small bronchi, uterine tubes, and some regions of the uterus


Psuedostratified Columnar

Characteristics: single layer of cells with different heights; some do not reach the free suface and nuclei are seen at different layers

Examples: present in the male sperm-carrying ducts (nonciliated) and trachea (ciliated)

Stratified Squamous 

Characteristics: thick membrande composed of several layers of cells

Examples:-forms the external part of the skin's epidermis (kertinized cells) and linings of the esophagus, mouth, and vagina (nonkeratinized cells)

Stratified Cuboidal Epithelium

Characteristics: Very rarely found, two layers thick

Examples: found in sweat and mammary glands

Stratified Columnar Epithelium

Characteristics: limited distribution in the body

Examples:-found in the pharynx, male urethra, and lining some glandular ducts

     -also occurs at transition areas between two other types of epithelia

Transitional Epithelium

Characteristics: several cell layers, basal cells are cuboidal, surface cells are dome shaped

Examples: lines the urinary bladder, ureters, and part of the urethra

A slide show of the different anatomy tissues :)

Below is a slide show of pictures that were taken during the lab.

Homeostasis Lab

Over the last few weeks we have been studying homestasis.  In order to demonstrate it, we performed a lab.  Below is a slide show of our process, and results.

Medical Terms

When I first thought of "medical terms" I panicked, because I knew that I would be learning a big mess of words that I had no idea what they meant.  When the words were thrown at me and explained I calmed down, because they were words that I had at least heard before even if I didn't know the meaning.  Some of them were very easy to infer, such as medial.  This means medium, and when you say m-e-d-i-a-l, it is very easy to get medium out of it.  Metabolism is another very familiar word to us.  When people talk about eating the first word that often comes to mind is metabolism because without it, our body's would not be able to handle food properly and we would be much over weight.  This is why people often notice thin people as having a "good metabolism".  When you heard the word distal, what often comes to mind? Distance I would hope.  Well that is exactly right, when a body part is distal, that means that it is far away from what you are comparing it to.  An example would be your hand to your shoulder.  There is a far distance between therefore, they are distal.  The opposite of distal would be proximal. Which you can infer would be close together if you know what distal means.  An example would be your arm to your shoulder, they are very close together therefore, they are proximal.
When I think of superficial I think of not real or not being able to see it, but in medical terms it is the exact opposite, and this is how I remember what it is.  It means "on the surface", which would be visible to us.  The opposite of superficial in medical terms would be deep, this means exactly what it sounds like, things that are not visible to the eye.  Such as, internal organs, bones, etc. 
There are also many medical regions, two that are really easy to remember are superior and inferior. Superior is up by the head and interior is by the feet.  So your neck would be superior and your feet legs would be inferior.  
After looking at all this mess of terms, it really wasn't hard to understand.  I connected them with myself and made ways for me to remember them.
  

Levels of the body

After learning about homeostasis, medical terms, and organization of the body, I have decided to make my first post about the organization of the body.  


There are five levels that have to happen before the chemical reaches the organismal level.  First, a chemical, which are atoms that are combined to form molecules.  Once these molecules are formed they turn into cells, which are made out of molecules.  After they have reached the cellular level they turn into tissues.  Each tissue consists of similar types of cells. Then the tissues combine to make organs.  After organs are made it turns into the organismal system, this a system that consists of many different organs that work together.  Finally it is at it's last stage, which is finally the organism!  This is finally the whole process and after all that work, a human body is finally up and running!