Bone Structure

     If you like to study the human skeletal system, you will probably want to start with the support of the body. That would be the bones and bone structure. The best example I could start for beginners would be the femur. This bone is the longest and straightest single bone in the human body. It is also the strongest. If you break this bone, dont plan on walking again until it is completely healed or major problems could occur! the picture below is a human femur.

     Now, not all bones are solid in the human body. There are two specific types of bones when thinking of the structure. Cortical and Trabecular bones. Cortical bones are the hard and white bones you see that are the harder of the two. Trabecular bones are the honey comb looking holes inside the bone and are actually filled with marrow. Personally, I dont understand why the holes are considered "bone" but that is just me. It is important for bones to be strong to support our body weight and in some cases provide protection such as the skull and ribs. However, they must also be light enough to make movement possible. A long bone consists of several sections:

• Diaphysis: This is the long central shaft
• Epiphysis: Forms the larger rounded ends of long bones
• Metaphysis: Area between the diaphysis and epiphysis at both ends of the bone
• Epiphyseal Plates: Plates of cartilage, also known as growth plates which allow the long bones to grow in length during childhood. Once we stop growing, between 18 and 25 years of age the cartilage plates stop producing cartilage cells and are gradually replaced by bone.

     Just to make sure you all understand this bone structure a little better, I will add a youtube video just for a little extra grasp of the concept! I will warn you now it is 8:42 minutes long but it is very informative and also explains everything about the picture above as well. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnY6l9hMOew

Skeleton Labeling Blog

 We were assigned a group activity in class which we would label every bone we could within a certain amount of time. My personal part of the skeleton was the legs and feet. I had to memorize every part I could. The experiment was great! I learned a total of 26 bones! The only problem I had was putting all of the sticky notes on the little bones on the skeleton and actually getting them to stick! Sadly, after the time expired I was still left with 6 sticky notes. We came in last place! We found out we didn't have a group member to memorize the bones of the skull when we started. Even though that put us back a lot,  it was still a great experience and lots of fun to perform this assignment. I think if we did this more often, I could have the entire skeletal system memorized by the end of the year! I memorized all 26 of my parts in around 15 minutes and that was because I am already somewhat familiar with the human body since my mother is a nurse. Therefore, I felt I was a good person to have in our group. As far as the other members in my group went, they all put in a great effort. Nobody showed up not knowing what was going on which was great because it made us look better as a whole. I believe if we could of had somebody that was studying the skull and had just been quicker putting our sticky notes on, we would have been able to come in at least 3rd. Below is a picture of the skeleton just so you can have a visual description as well.

Everything below the pelvis/hip is what I was assigned to, this was a great experience to get a little more knowledge of anatomy and have some fun in the process. I would definitely be up for doing this again!

Integumentary System: Tattoos

     If you are considering getting a tattoo, you might want to think about what you are doing to your body and what you want. Remember tattoos are permanent and if you're not happy, not many people can afford or bear the pain when it comes to tattoo removal(laser surgery). I will split this blog into certain parts so you can see which part you're interested in reading:

How tattoos are done

A tattoo is a permanent mark or design made on your skin with pigments inserted through pricks into the skin's top layer. Typically, the tattoo artist uses a hand-held machine that acts much like a sewing machine, with one or more needles piercing the skin repeatedly. With every puncture, the needles insert tiny ink droplets. The process — which is done without anesthetics — causes a small amount of bleeding and slight to potentially significant pain.

     Now, you might be wondering, since you're puncturing your skin with a needle, are there any risks? The answer is absolutely! There are way more risks than you might have thought possible. That is why if you get a tattoo, check the place out first, if it is a dark room with one light on in someone's basement, you might not want to get a tattoo there! Sanitation is key in the tattoo process. Look for a very clean place that has high recommendations and great reviews. Remember, tattoos aren't suppose to be cheap since they will be on your body forever. So, in the tattoo business you are getting what you pay for. Here is what you should think over before getting a tattoo:

• Allergic reactions. Tattoo dyes — especially red, green, yellow and blue dyes — can cause allergic skin reactions, such as an itchy rash at the tattoo site. This can occur even years after you get the tattoo.
• Skin infections. A skin infection — which might cause redness, swelling, pain and a pus-like drainage — is possible after tattooing.
• Other skin problems. Sometimes bumps called granulomas form around tattoo ink. Tattooing can also lead to keloids — raised areas caused by an overgrowth of scar tissue.
• Bloodborne diseases. If the equipment used to create your tattoo is contaminated with infected blood, you can contract various bloodborne diseases — including tetanus, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
• MRI complications. Rarely, tattoos or permanent makeup might cause swelling or burning in the affected areas during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exams. In some cases, tattoo pigments can interfere with the quality of the image — such as when a person who has permanent eyeliner has an MRI of the eye.

Medication or other treatment — including possible removal of the tattoo — might be needed if you experience an allergic reaction to the tattoo ink or you develop an infection or other skin problem near a tattoo. 

An example of a tattoo gone bad( not done professionally):

Now, an example of a terrible artist! I hope nobody's kids look like this! Haha!:

Tissue Engineering: New Approaches and Advancements

     We were just assigned an assignment in class to look and research more about the youtube video Tissue Engineering: New approaches and advancements. I have to say, this video is amazing! What scientists are actually doing is looking into creating artificial organs for the human body! People are dying because they cant get organs from donors quick enough, and with this new scientific breakthrough, that might not be an issue anymore. Scientists actually took a lab rat and injected cells to where an ear was actually growing on its back! it was so wild because it had cartilage growing into its back to form the ear as well. I had never imagined the world of science was so complex and technologically advanced! Another example was a woman named Claudia. She had tuberculosis and she was having a very difficult time breathing. What scientists did was get a trachea from a human cadaver, disinfect it, and insert cells from Claudia's own body into this new trachea. This was amazing because not only did she get to go home 4 days after, but she never has had a problem breathing since! She also doesn't have to worry about her body rejecting the surgery since she has the cadavers trachea embedded into her body. I have done research on this scientific topic, and the most useful one was an article from http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-chembioeng-061010-114257. This article said the tissue engineering is mainly focused on skin replacement and cartilage repair right now, but is gradually growing into a breakthrough for organ engineering! The skin and cartilage engineering now will help wounded soldiers and thousands of people right now! The most amazing thing I  have ever heard of was 3-D printing. The scientists actually took a inkjet printer, and injected cells into the ink cartridge. The scary part of this process is they are able to print organs, and they function! I am not going into detail about how the scientists do this because I don't think you should just take my word, you need to check this out for yourself! The link is posted below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YiKI3ppo0pM

Epithelial Tissues

     Epithelial tissue is made up of cells that covers the whole body! It is made up of cells closely packed and ranged in one or more layers. This tissue is designed to form the covering or lining of all internal and external body surfaces. Epithelial tissue that occurs on surfaces on the interior of the body is known as endothelium. There are 6 types of epithelium: Squamous, simple cuboidal, simple columnar, ciliated columnar, glandular, and stratified epithelium. Epithelial tissue actually has a lot more functions than you would imagine. These functions being: protection, sensation, secretion, absorption, excretion, diffuses, cleaning, and it reduces friction. So as you can see, these tissues can serve a lot of purposes great for living organisms. The picture below was added into this blog so you can visually see the different types of epithelial tissues.

The picture above is a simple squamous tissue. The reason for having this kind of tissue for filtration and diffusion.

Next, we have simple cuboidal tissues. The group members are trying to look like a cube as much as possible. The purpose the cuboidal tissue serves is for excretion and absorption.

This is a simple columnar tissue. As you can see in the image, the group members are standing straight up and trying to represent columns. Columnar tissue is most likely found in anything that has to do with digestion in the human body. It's purpose is absorption.

 

Above is a transitional tissue. You can see the diagram really does represent the name. The "cell" is transitioning between two different flows. I have done research and asked other classmates for help; the best way I can describe this cell is it swells up and plays a role in the urinary tract.

This is a pseudostratified columnar tissue! Even this little guy's name sounds killer! Actually What is does is travel through airways and respiratory systems. Its main purpose is to remove dust and particles from the airways. Therefore, making it easier for you to breathe!

This is a stratified columnar tissue. It is used for protection and secretion in the body. Therefore, it is most likely found in the male urethra, but can also be found in the male or female urinary tract.

Organization of the Body

Above is an anterior view of the human anatomy. It shows a better angle and view of the human body standing up. It also names some good body parts you might not know. Below is the definitions that were in the powerpoint video.

Body Erect- feet slightly apart, palms facing forward, thumbs pointing away from body.

Superior- Towards the head or upper part of the body

Inferior-  Away from the head or toward the lower end of the body

Anterior- Toward the front of the body

Posterior- Toward the back of the body

Medial- toward the midline of the body

Lateral- Away from the midline of the body

Intermediate- Between a medial and lateral structure

Proximal- Closer to the origin of the body

Distal- Father from the origin of the body

Superficial- Toward the surface of the body. The skin is more superficial than the heart.

Deep- away from the body surface, more interior

Sagittal- divides the body into right and left parts

Midsagittal- Sagittal plane that lies on the midline

Transverse or horizontal- divides the body to interior and superior parts

Oblique Sections- Cuts made diagonally

Homeostasis

     Homeostasis is an (ideal or virtual) state of equilibrium, in which all body systems are working and interacting in an appropriate way to fulfill all the needs of the person and/or the body. For example, if you had a man planning to run a marathon in 3 months, it would take tremendous amounts of training and stress on the body. The man would need to run extreme distances every day just to get his body into shape! But, before he started this, he should probably go to the hospital and get tests done just to make sure he is physically capable of completing this task. There are also things called negative homeostasis! These are things like stress, weight, depression, and bad eating habits. These all can cause physical and emotional roller coaster effects on the human body. Viruses, and bacteria can also be a type of negative homeostasis. If you become sick, you're body temperature changes and you're immune system is working harder to return your body back to its normal internal temperature. In our group, we are going to have one guy and one girl take an ice bath in the training room. We will sit in the bath for 10-15 minutes and check our post and pre pulse, blood pressure, and temperature. This should give us a good reason toward explaining what exactly it is that homeostasis does. In this case, it is maintaining body temperature and the heart trying to beat fast enough to carry blood throughout the body even though the whole organ system and nerve system is slowing down due to the rapid change in body temperature. 

To see the second part of our group experiment, please click the link below:
https://docs.google.com/a/lajunta.k12.co.us/presentation/d/1I7BEO7uA46xICn1SkVIongSH8Ctenjb_425lRDJugAU/edit#slide=id.p