Osmosis Jones

• In class on Thursday we watched part of Osmosis Jones. Basically, this guy named Frank, is a couch potato and a zoo keeper. He eats a germ infested egg and catches a disease that are unsure of what it actually is, but his name is "Thrax."
• Frank thinks he's getting a cold so he pops a cold pill, and Drix and Osmosis Jones work together to stop Thrax from killing Frank, the person they live in.
• So how does this relate to biology?
• Osmosis Jones is a lot more entertaining than the Mike Dowling videos we watched all year, and the part we watched talked about how our bodies fight disease, except it made it more fun. This movie gave us an animated tour of the human body and tried to tell us that if we don't eat right and exercise then we'll end up like Frank.
• The movie says our bodies are like an organized city of cells, all doing their part to keep us healthy, but we have to do our by staying healthy and not being couch potatoes. Osmosis Jones was a more entertaining way of learning how our body works and what can happen we don't take care of it.

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The Skeletal System

Last bio class we watched another great movie. But just incase you were not listening to Mike Dowling, ill try and review the important parts.

-The Skeletal System serves many important functions. It allows are bodys to move, in addition to supporting, protecting, and storing minerals.



- Blood cells are produced by the marrow located in some bones. An average of 2.6 million red blood cells are produced each second by the bone marrow to replace those worn out and destroyed by the liver.



-Bones serve as a storage area for minerals such as calcium, minerals, salts, fats and phosphorus. When an excess is present in the blood, buildup will occur within the bones. When the supply of these minerals within the blood is low, it will be withdrawn from the bones to replenish the supply.



Types of Bone:


Long bones- are longer than they are wide and work as levers. Ex.) Femur

Short bones- are short and spongy. Found in the wrists and ankles.

Flat bones- are thin and have broad surfaces for protection of organs and attachment of muscles.

Irregular bones- are all others that do not fall into the previous categories. They have varied shapes and sizes.

Divisions of the Skeleton

The human skeleton is divided into two distinct parts:

- Axial Skeleton
- Appendicular Skeleton

- The axial skeleton consists of bones that form the axis of the body and support and protect the organs of the head, neck, and trunk. Ex.) The Skull, Sternum, and Ribs.
-The appendicular skeleton is composed of bones that anchor the appendages to the axial skeleton. Ex.) The Upper and Lower Extremities.

Bones

Human Skeletons have 206 bones. Im not going to tell you about all of them but there is a nice picture at the top of the page for you. =)

Joint System:

Functional classification of joints (based on the amount of movement allowed at the joint)

1)Synarthroses: immovable joints

2)Amphiarthroses: slightly movable joints

3)Diarthroses: freely movable joints

Structural classification of joints (based on the material binding the bones together)

1)Fibrous: the articulating bones are held together by fibrous connective tissue.

2)Cartilaginous: the articulating bones are held together by cartilage.

3)Synovial: ligaments aid in supporting the articulating bones. Synovial Joints include:

Gliding joints, Hinge joints, Pivot joints, Saddle joints, ect.

Thats all for now! Have fun reviewing!

=)

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Today in class we watched a movie about the Muscular System. Muscles make up 40-50% of a person's body mass. The main functions of muscles are to maintain posture, generate heat, and control voluntary and involuntary movement. Muscles contribute to homeostaiss by helping to maintain a constant body temperature of about 96 degrees. There are three types of muscles: skeletal, cardiac, and smooth.

Skeletal muscles are attached to the bones by tendons. There are two types of skeletal muscles: axial and appendicular. Axial muscles are located in the head, neck and trunk, while appendicular muscles are located in the arms and legs. There are many different types of movements controlled by the skeletal muscles:

• Flexion: brings two bones closer together
• Tension of Extensions: increases the angel betwee two bones
• Abduction: movement of limbs away from the midline of the body
• Aduction: movement of limbs toward the midline of the body
• Rotation: movement in a circular motion (turning the head)
• Circumduction: cone-shaped circular movement of a limb (ball and socket)

The joint between and nerve and a muscle is called a neuromuscular junction. When a nerve impulse is sent by the brain to a muscles, the chemical balance at the neuromuscular junction changes. This causes the muscles to move. We control the movement of skeletal muscles. In other words, it is voluntary movement

Caridac muscle is the muscle that lines the wall of the heart. It contracts and relaxes rapidly in order to keep the heart beating. There are two types of smooth mucles: visceral muscles, which line the walls of hollow organs such as the stomach, and multi-unit muscles, which are located in the iris, sorrounding hair folicles, and line the walls of blood vessels. Both cardiac and smooth muscles expand and contract without nerve impulses. They are involuntary movements.

Muscles have two main energy sources. The most common is oxygen. Endurance building exercise, such as running, requires a lot of oxygen. When muscles run out og oxygen or when muscles cannot take in enought oxygen, they stop contracting. They need a bakc-up energy source so they use sugar or glycolosis. Sugar is a more common energy source from strength building exercise such as lifting weights of sprinting.

The movie also talked a bit about the Integumentary System. This system contains teh skin, hair, nails, and glands. The purpose of it is to protect the body. The skin insulates the body and separates the inside of the body from the outside. As we learned in the Special Senses unit, the skin contains two layers: the dermis and the epidermis. The epidermis is the top layer that contains skin cells. the skin cells are replaced every 35-40 days and are what protect out bodies. Hair also helps protect us from teh sun and also keeps dust adn other particles out of our eyes. Both they hair and nails are made of protein and dead cells. There are two types of glands in the Integumentary system: sebatious and sweat glands. Sebatious glands secrete oil and sweat glands secrete wastes and help regulate body temperature.

Someone had asked about yawning and whether it is voluntary of involuntary. I looked it up and it is involuntary. As you probably know, we yawn when we are bored or tired. During these times, our breathing is shallow and not as much oxygen is reaching the lungs. Yawning is the body`s was of trying to get more oxygen into the lungs. When we yawn, our heart rate increases and the lungs and bloodstream are cleansed of carbon dioxide build-up and are filled with fresh oxygen. This helps us to feel more alert and energized. Even fetuses yawn before they are even born, but scientists do not really understand why yet.

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Scribe Post: May 11

Diuretics

• a diuretic is any drug that elevates the flow of urine
• the increased production of urine releases fluids, helps the body get rid of excess salts, and may reduce blood volume.

Diuretic drugs are used for people with health problems, such as edema, high blood pressure, or other heart related issues. Diuretic drugs inhibit the active transport of sodium at the loop of Henle or DCT. (fig, 16.7 in notes)

Other people use diuretics to help with rapid weight loss in a short period of time by removing retained fluid. However this is not a healthy way to lose weight and it is very temporary. Abusing diuretics can lead to dehydration and potassium deficiencies.

Foods with natural diuretic properties include:

• cranberry juice
• coffee
• cucumbers
• watermelon
• vinegar

These can be used by those who require minimal fluid reduction and do not have health concerns.

Alcohol

Alcohol is an example of a diuretic, it encourages the body to lose more water than it takes on by stopping the production of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH). This speeds up the loss of fluid from your body which results in dehydration (cause of hangover).

here is a link if you are interested in the cause of hangovers:

http://www.alcohol.org.nz/BodyEffect.aspx?PostingID=671

Caffeine

Caffeine is another example of a diuretic, it increases the glomerular filtration rate and decreases the tubular reabsorption of sodium.

I also found a youtube video about natural diuretics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR0Hnge9UgU

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The Nephron and Urine Formation!

Hey guys, sorry this wasn't up earlier! It was one of those situations where I don't look at my agenda until late Sunday night and then realize I forgot to write on the blog. SO, here it goes.

We learned a lot about the nephron this class. The nephron is the funcional unit of the kidney. As was said by Camille (I think it was Camille), nephrons are to the kidney as lobules are to the liver. There are approximately 1 million nephrons in the kidney and each are composed of a system of tubules. Each has its own blood supply. From the renal artery, the afferent arteriole leads into the glomerulus and then blood leaves the glomerulus by way of the efferent arteriole. The efferent arteriole then takes the blood to the peritubular capillaries which surround the rest of the nephron. The blood then goes to the renal vein.

Here is a diagram showing the path of the blood.

Next are the different parts of the nephron. First up is the GLOMERULAR CAPSULE, also known as Bowman's Capsule. Then we have the PROXIMAL CONVOLUTED TUBULE, which is difficult to remember so it can be shortened to PCT. Thirdly is the LOOP OF HENLE, which is a U-shaped tube composed of simple squamous epithelium. Next up is the DISTAL CONVOLUTED TUBULE, which again, may be difficult to remember. So we can shorten it to DCT. Last but not least are the COLLECTING DUCTS. They empty out into the renal pelvis.

Here is another lovely diagram, but this one shows all the different parts of the nephron that I just mentioned.

Now here is the big question that I know you are all secretly asking yourselves...

HOW IS PEE MADE? or in more formal terminoligy: URINE FORMATION.

You see, there are 3 steps to urine formation: GLOMERULAR FILTRATION, TUBULAR REABSORPTION, and TUBULAR SECRETION. Now I'm not going to go into great detail about these 3 steps because you can easily go read your powerpoint notes or textbook. Instead I'll show you a video:

*make note: she says capillary really weird (in my opinion)

AND, sorry guys! I couldn't figure out how to embed the video onto the blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glu0dzK4dbU

Lastly, why is our pee yellow? Well, I actually coincidentally found out the answer to this question ON this blogger website. It said,

"The yellow color in urine is due to chemicals called urobilins. These are the breakdown products of the bile pigment bilirubin. Bilirubin is itself a breakdown product of the heme part of hemoglobin from worn-out red blood cells. Most bilirubin is partly broken down in the liver, stored in the gall bladder, broken down some more in the intestines, and excreted in the feces (its metabolites are what make feces brown), but some remains in the bloodstream to be extracted by the kidneys where, converted to urobilins, it gives urine that familiar yellow tint."

(http://sxxz.blogspot.com/2006/07/why-is-urine-yellow.html)

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ScribePost: Introduction of Urinary System (May 5)

Ok so today we started off with a pop quiz which was on the bolded words and the funtions of the urinary system found in 16.1 which is pages 304 to the top of 306

Functions of the Urinary System

- there are 4

Excretion of Metabolic Wastes
- this is the toxins leaving your body (nitrogenous wastes).
We started talking about survivorman and how you need to filter your pee before you can drink it if you ever happen to need to hydrate yourself and don't have water. For those of you not in physics who have not seen this video it's about a waterbottle which can filter out anything that is not smaller then 15 nm (nanometers). It's being used in third world countries so maybe an idea for St Mary's mission next year? Anyways here's the video if you want to check it out



Maitenance of Water-Salt Balance
-too much water = higher blood pressure = micturition

Maitenance of Acid-Base Balance
- excrete hydrogen ions but keep bicarbonate ions to make acid (which is why urine has a pH of 6 or lower)

Secretion of Hormones
-renin and erythropoetin

It was asked if high blood pressure caused a person to urinate more often so I researched it and there are no symptoms I could find on any medical website that said that urination occurred more often

Here is a diagram of the Urinary system similar to the one that's found in our textbook (page 305)

The 4 main organs are

1. Kidneys
2. Ureters
3. Urinary Bladder
4. Urethra

What I found most interesting in class was about the kidney stones. A kidney stone is a build up of iodine crystals which block the urethra causing you not to be able to pee and causes pressure on your bladder. You might remember a certain friends episode...

As Joey showed us it is very painful to pass kidney stones so I thought it would be good to get some prevention tips

Lastly we learnt about the actual urination.

1. stretch receptors in wall of bladder expand
2. it can hold up to 250 ml of urine
3. motor impulse from spinal cord causes contraction
4. micturition reflex occurs

The reflex is controlled more as we reach adulthood but as Mr Mac said with the dumbell analogy you can only hold your pee for so long.

The power point goes into more detail but as of late is not yet up on the downloads page so keep checking.

We're discussing the Nephron next class which FOR SURE is going to be on the exam either a long or short answer so make sure you pay attention next class. If you want a head start the reading of it starts on page 306 and its a couple pages of reading.

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