The Cardiovacular System- The Circulatory System

The Cardiovascular System

My Assigned System

Introduction to the BEST and Most SIGNIFICANT System (in my opinion) in Your Entire Body

The cardiovascular system is one the most important systems in your entire body that includes one of your most important organs, your heart. The heart is a major organ because it controls all of your blood flow. Without blood flow, your body would not be able to function due to the lack of nutrients it wasn't receiving.

Main Components: 

Well first off, your cardiovascular system includes your heart, blood vessels, and 5 liters of blood (in the AVERAGE human body, not including blood dopers, see diseases for more info)

The Heart:

The heart is located  medial to the lungs and towards the upper side of the midline of the body in the thoracic cavity.  Its main function is to pump blood to the lungs and around the body. The heart contains arteries and veins, in which arteries carry blood away from the heart and oxygenated blood to the rest of the body& veins carry blood to the heart and deoxygenated blood to the lungs. 

The Pathway Through the Heart: 

Referenced from : http://www.medicinenet.com/heart_how_the_heart_works/page3.htm

Right Side of the Heart:

• Blood enters the heart through two large veins, the inferior and superior vena cava, emptying deoxygenated blood from the body into the right atrium of the heart.

• As the atrium contracts, blood flows from your right atrium into your right ventricle through the open tricuspid valve.

• When the ventricle is full, the tricuspid valve shuts. This prevents blood from flowing backward into the atrium while the ventricle contracts. This is due to their three flapped- one way valves.

• As the ventricle contracts, blood leaves the heart through the pulmonic valve, into the pulmonary artery and to the lungs where it is oxygenated.

Left Side of the Heart

• The pulmonary vein empties oxygen-rich blood from the lungs into the left atrium of the heart.

• As the atrium contracts, blood flows from your left atrium into your left ventricle through the open mitral valve.

• When the ventricle is full, the mitral valve shuts. This prevents blood from flowing backward into the atrium while the ventricle contracts.

• As the ventricle contracts, blood leaves the heart through the aortic valve, into the aorta and to the body.

The Heart is but a Simple Machine... Kind of.  

The Blood: 

The blood is made of red blood cells, platelets, white blood cells, and liquid plasma. Using these, it transports nutrients, gases, and wastes, to help maintain homeostasis. What is homeostasis, you ask? Homeostasis is an equilibrium state in which the body is constantly trying to pursue, consisting of all of the body's functions. 

Fun Fact: Every day, your heart beats about 100,000 times, sending 2,000 gallons of blood surging through your body. Although it’s no bigger than your fist, your heart has the mighty job of keeping blood flowing through the 60,000 miles of blood vessels that feed your organs and tissues. Any damage to the heart or its valves can reduce that pumping power, forcing the heart to work harder just to keep up with the body’s demand for blood. (via: WebMD)

Red Blood Cells: Also known as erythrocytes, contain a protein called hemoglobin that is responsible for carrying oxygen molecules. They make up 45% of blood volume and are produced in the stem cells in the bone marrow of flat bones. The bone marrow produces an astonishing 2 million blood cells per second!

The Muscular System

The Muscular System: Common Questions Answered

Introduction to the Muscular System:

Muscles are some of the most important features our body has. They work as the engine that makes things move (literally) in our body. The muscular system consists of tiny fibers, or cells, that contract to help you move your body. Muscles can be attached to bones and to internal organs.They are so important that almost nearly all movement in the body is done by them. 30-40% of our body weight is made up of muscular tissue, and we each have approximately 640 muscles in our bodies. Speaking of muscle tissue, there are three type: Skeletal, cardiac , and smooth. In this blog post, we will focus on the the different types of tissue, previously mentioned, and talk about what makes up an individual muscle.

Here are just SOME of the 640 muscles in the human body

What Makes Up a Muscle?

What are the Different Types of Muscle? (There are different types of muscle???)

Skeletal: 

Skeletal muscle is the only type of muscle that is voluntary, meaning we can control it. These muscles are primarily connected to the Central Nervous System (CNS). In fact, the peripheral section of the CNS is all connected to skeletal muscle. They are also striated. Meaning their fibers run transversely. The fibers also each have multiple nuclei compared to smooth and cardiac cells which each have one central nucleus.

Cardiac:

Cardiac muscle, found in the walls of the heart, is also under control of the autonomic nervous system. The cardiac muscle cell has one central nucleus, as previously stated, like smooth muscle. Cardiac muscle is also striated, just like skeletal muscles. The contraction of cardiac muscle is involuntary, strong, and rhythmical. Imagine having to control your heart beat. 
Fun Fact: An Average Human Heart beats 1-3 times per second... thank goodness that its involuntary! I cant even remember to take my vitamins every morning.

Smooth:

Smooth muscle, found in the walls of the hollow internal organs such as blood vessels, the gastrointestinal tract, bladder, and uterus, is under control of the autonomic nervous system,as well as cardiac muscle. Smooth muscle is involuntary meaning it cannot be controlled by our minds. The non-striated (smooth) muscle cell is spindle-shaped and has one central nucleus.

How Does a Muscle Work? ( Don't you mean "contract"?)

Each muscle fiber, it turns out, are made up of sarcomeres. Sacromeres are tiny little compartments of the fiber that contain thick and thin filaments. All of these compartments and their contents work together to contract a muscle and produce enough movement to complete the task at hand. The thick and thin filaments do the actual work of a muscle, and the way they do this is incredibly interesting. Thick filaments are made of a protein called myosin & the thin filaments are made of a protein called actin. During contraction, the myosin thick filaments grab on to the actin thin filaments by forming crossbridges. The thick filaments pull the thin filaments past them, making the sarcomere shorter and pull themselves toward the M-Line or the "Mid- Line". In a muscle fiber, the signal for contraction is synchronized over the entire fiber so that all of the myofibrils that make up the sarcomere shorten simultaneously. This whole process is driven by something called Adenine Triphosphate A.K.A. ATP. When the crossbridges are formed, the ATP is turned into ADP because a phosphate bond is released or broken.
Heres a video that explains things more clearly: 

How Does this all Relate to the Circulatory System, You Ask? 

THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM IS ALL MADE OF MUSCLE!!!! 

Yes, that's what i said. CARDIAC muscle and SMOOTH muscle are all part of the circulatory system! Smooth muscle is what veins and arteries are made out of. Who would have known? Oh, and isn't it obvious that CARDIAC muscle is for the HEART? Yes! Even as obvious as it is, the whole heart is made up of cardiac muscle. 
However, sometimes the cardiac muscles fail, which results in heart failure. In Cardiomyophathy, the heart muscles fail to pump blood throughout the body because they become hard, thick, and rigid.

The main types of cardiomyopathy are:

• Dilated cardiomyopathy
• Hypertrophic (hi-per-TROF-ik) cardiomyopathy
• Restrictive cardiomyopathy
• Arrhythmogenic (ah-rith-mo-JEN-ik) right ventricular dysplasia
  (dis-PLA-ze-ah)

Each individual can either inherit or aquire the disease. Inherit meaning, your parents could have passed it on to you. Most of the time however, the cause is unknown with out a pre-existsing condition.Some people who have cardiomyopathy have no signs or symptoms and need no treatment. For other people, the disease develops quickly, symptoms are severe, and serious complications occur. Treatments for cardiomyopathy include lifestyle changes, medicines, surgery, implanted devices to correct arrhythmias, and a nonsurgical procedure. These treatments can control symptoms, reduce complications, and stop the disease from getting worse.

Fun Fact: You can take a sample of cardiac muscle cells and grow them on a Petri dish and they will still "beat" simultaneously!

Citations:

"SEER Training Modules." SEER Training:Muscle Groups. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. <http://training.seer.cancer.gov/anatomy/muscular/groups/>.

Mauk, Ben. "How Many Muscles Does a Human Have?" LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 01 Dec. 2012. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. <http://www.livescience.com/32312-how-many-muscles-does-a-human-have.html>.

Taylor, Tim. "Muscular System." InnerBody. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2015. <http://www.innerbody.com/image/musfov.html>.

"What Is Cardiomyopathy?" - NHLBI, NIH. N.p., 1 Jan. 2011. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. <http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/cm>.

The Skeletal System

The Skeletal System

Introduction to the Skeletal System:

The adult human skeleton contains 206 bones that a held together by a series of tendons and ligaments. The basic/main functions of the skeletal system are support, movement, blood cell production, protection, chemical storage and regulation.  The whole system together has two main parts. The appendicular and the axial skeletons. Also, within the skeleton there are two main types of bones. Flat bones and Long bones. 

Common Misconceptions ( Stupid Misconceptions I Had in Middle School):

Some common misconceptions are that the bones are just sticks inside the body and there are no veins or arteries going inside them. All bones are very much alive. Tiny blood vessels and nerves are run all around them and inside of them. They are overall very complex and very fragile. This is where my system comes in. The cardiovascular system is basically the blood system. The blood vessels are a way to transport the necessary nutrients needed to all parts of the body and the bones just so happen to create and store some of those nutrients.

The Appendicular Skeleton:

The appendicular skeleton has a total of 126 bones. Those 126 bones include the upper limbs, lower limbs, and girdles. Those bones are mostly used for balance and movement. The pelvic girdle protects the reproductive organs along with the excretion organs. 

The Axial Skeleton:

The Axial Skeleton has 80 bones in it. Those bones include the skull, vertebral column and the rib cage. Like the appendicular skeleton, the axial bones also protect vital organs. The rib cage protects mostly the lungs, heart and wind pipe. The skull protects the brain and the eyes, The vertebral column, in a way, protects the spinal cord. It also helps with flexibility. 

Disease(s): Leukemia 

Leukemia is a cancer that affects white blood cells and the tissue that makes them. All blood cells are made from the same bone marrow, which is found in most bones. When an individual gets leukemia, their body starts producing abnormal white blood cells. This is where both the skeletal and cardiovascular system intertwine. There are many ways to treat leukemia including: 

    

    -chemotherapy 

    -targeted therapy

    -biological therapy 

    -radiation therapy

    - stem cell transplant

These treatments are based on your conditions and overall health at the time of diagnosis. 

  

This is how blood cells are made in the bone marrow. They start off as stem cells and divide into these types of cells. 

Citations: 

"Skeletal." System Anatomy, Diagram & Function. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2014. <http://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/skeletal-system>.

"Leukemia Symptoms, Causes, Treatment - What Is Leukemia? - MedicineNet." MedicineNet. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2014. <http://www.medicinenet.com/leukemia/page2.htm#what_is_leukemia>.

Zimmermann, Kim Ann. "Skeletal System: Facts, Function & Diseases." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. <http://www.livescience.com/22537-skeletal-system.html>.

The Intergumentary System

Summary:

The integumentary system includes your epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis. It is the largest organ of your body. Some of it's functions are protection, prevents dehydration, produces vitamins and certain hormones. Your skin is your first line of protection against bacteria and infections. It helps your body maintaining homeostasis.

Some Interesting Things That I Have Learned

In this unit, I learned a lot of things that I previously didn't even know existed. Some of those things were:

- Why do goose bumps happen?
- What was responsible for the feeling aspect of our skin?
-Its and organ?

Goosebumps

When the body gets cold and needs to warm up, it sometimes results in goosebumps. Goosebumps are the result of your Arrector Pili Muscle contracting. This little movement in your dermis (second layer of skin) is there to try to produce heat and make you shiver.

Sensing Touch

When we went in depth on what little things caused certain functions in our bodies, I was amazed to see that there were actually two things in our skin that allow us to feel. One being your Meisinner's corpuscle, & two being your Pacinian Corpuscle. Your Meisinner's Corpuscle senses light touches, as in someone gently brushing against you. The Pacinian corpuscle actually is responsible for deep feelings as in pain and pressure.

Organ?

I actually had no idea that your skin was considered an organ. Actually, I thought that only your heart, brain, liver, etc. were only organs. I guess its very important to the human body because the fact that it holds everything in.

Cardiovascular VS Integumentary

 Certain aspects of the integumentary system most definitely tie in with the cardiovascular system. For example, the veins and arteries that run all over your body also run through your skin. Your skin is actually a great and reliable thermometer for your blood vessels. The colder it gets, the deeper your blood vessels go inside your body, to keep warm. our blood loses heat to internal organs and cools. This loss alerts the nervous system to retain heat by constricting dermal blood vessels. When our body and blood temperature rises, dermal vessels dilate and sweating begins.

Quick Diagram of a Good Chunk of What I Learned

 

Bibliography

Maez. "Integumentary System Functions." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QpKbWM1gjw.

 

"System Connections." System Connections. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2014. http://wps.aw.com/bc_marieb_hap_9_oa/218/55881/14305790.cw/index.html.

 

Digital image. Integumentary System. N.p., n.d. Web. http://w3.shorecrest.org/~Lisa_Peck/anatomy_phys/ch_4skin/ch_4home.htm.

 

 

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