Ovarian and Uterine Cycles

Ovarian and Uterine Cycles

Ovarian Cycle: This is a cycle where an oocyte will mature,  then erupt from an ovary, and finally travel down the oviduct to the uterus

Uterine cycle: This is when the lining of the uterus grows and prepares for an embryo to implant, but if an oocyte is not fertilized then menstruation occurs (When a girl has their period)

GnRH: Gonadotropin releasing hormone stored in the hypothalamus triggers the release of FSH and LHLH: Luteinizing hormone that is produced by an implanted embryo. When it is released it causes the follicle to release the egg. This process is known as ovulation and then it triggers remaining follicle cells to differentiate into the corpus luteum

FSH: Follicle-stimulating hormone produced in the pituitary gland which stimulates ovarian follicles to grow which begins the secretion of estrogen

Estrogen: There is an increased level of estrogen which serves as a source of positive and negative feedback to regulate the levels of FSH and LH within the body.

Progesterone: Secretion from a follicle that released an egg which is responsible for the thickening of the endometrium and preparing to support embryonic development

hCG: human chorionic hormone which is secreted after the egg has been fertilized and has been detected in pregnancy tests

Positive Feedback Loops: An increase in the hormone levels after the release of an egg into the ovary. This is because more hormones are needed to aid in the proper development of the zygote to a fetus.

Negative Feedback Loops: This is a decrease in the hormone levels within the body which decreases GnRH levels too

Menstruation vs. Pregnancy: Hormone levels are much lower during menstruation than during pregnancy.

Fetal development:

1st trimester: Initially a zygote is turning into an embryo which then turns into a fetus. Organs in the fetus are in their first stages.

2nd trimester: The fetus continues to grow and develop and during this trimester the brain and lungs begin to form

3rd trimester: In this trimester the fetus is growing faster, and at a more rapid pace than the other two trimesters.

 

 

The Immune System

The Immune System

Four types of Pathogens:

Viruses

Bacteria

Fungi 

Protists

Pathogens: These are infectious agents, or more commonly known as a germ. It is a biological agent that causes disease in whatever body it may reside in.

Macrophage: a type of phagocyte or white blood cell that digests foreign invaders and damaged tissues.

Antigen: This is any substance that stimulates an immune response in the body...especially the production of antibodies

Helper T cell: These are a sub-group of lymphocytes that help in establishing and maximizing the capabilities of the immune system

B cell: These are a lymphocyte derived from bone marrow that provides immunity. Part of their job is that it recognizes free antigen molecules in solution and matures into plasma cells that secrete antibodies that inactivate the antigens

Antibody: These are any of a large variety of proteins that are normally present in the body or produced in response to an antigen which it neutralizes....in return it produces an immune response

Killer cell: This is a white blood cell that attacks and kills foreign cells to the body. Some examples of these are tumor cells and other cells infected with bacteria or viruses.

Cytotoxic T cell: This is a type of white blood cell that can destroy specific cells directly

Memory cell: This is a subset of T-cells and B-cells that have been exposed to specific antigens and can then can recognize the antigen and divide more readily when the immune system re-encounters the same antigens later in time.

Different Types of Immunities

 1) Innate 2) Adaptive 3) Passive. 

1) You are born with a natural immunity called innate immunity. This provides an overall and general protection for you. It also prevents other diseases from harming our bodies. Luckily this has external barries to disease as well.  

2) Adaptive immunity is the immunity that an individual develops in the duration of their life. It develops from the pathogens that a person is exposed to.

3) Passive immunity is taken from another source not coming from the body. This does not last very long.

 

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome): This is initially a disease that unfortunately at a very slow pace destroys a person's immune system. As time goes on HIV turns into AIDS. This is a virus that completely destroys helper T cells. Without these cells the immune system is unable to defend the body against normally harmless organisms.  Because of the damage to our immune system, HIV attacks the body and one is not able to fight for their life, even with medication or treatment. It is possible for newborn babies to get the HIV infection from their mothers in the duration of the birth process. Other ways that people can get HIV are from having unprotected sex with an infected person or from sharing contaminated needles (such as from drugs, tattoos, steroids, etc). STAY AWAY once you have this infection, it stays with you and you will unfortunately die at a much earlier age than you should.


Lupus: This is an incurable and chronic disease characterized by muscle and joint pain and inflammation. The abnormal immune response includes attacks against the kidneys, other organs, or even red blood cells. This occurs more often in women than in men. There is not just one type of Lupus, there are actually four: 
1) systemic lupus erythematosus (THE WORST KIN) 2) discoid lupus erythematosus 
3) drug-induced lupus erythematosus 4) neonatal lupus.

 

AGING

AGING
AGING. Most people are afraid of it. In reality it is a natural, physiological process. With technology today some people are lucky enough to either slow down this unfortunate process or just fake their appearances with surgeries and procedures. When you age, not only your appearances change, but the insides of your bodies, and even the choices you make are different from the ones you would have made when you were once a kid. AGING IS CAUSED BY GENETICS AND LIFESTYLES


When it comes to genetics...cells are dividing which results in our telomeres becoming shorter with each division. The length of the telomeres at the ends of the chromosomes protect these genes from the tears that occur daily within our body. When we are born, the telomeres are of certain length. As stated before...as we age the telomeres get shorter due to the division of our cells. Eventually, cells lose their ability to divide and repair themselves. This is known as senescence. Unfortunately while the telomeres become shorter and shorter from this division process, sometimes the critical parts of DNA can be damaged following the new divisions.



Lifestyle choice plays a big role in aging too. In one study, The New England Centenarian included 850 people entering the ages of their 100s. They identified several behavioral and personality traits that are critical to longevity, and literally living life as long as possible. These included not smoking, being extroverted versus introverted, and easygoing and staying lean or in shape. It is very important to take care of your body over your life time. It can help maintain your youth. It has been known that becoming involved in risky lifestyle choices could speed up the aging process. Doctors everywhere always say how critical it is to exercise throughout the week. A lack of exercise can even increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Smoking is another big thing to stay away from. Smoking damanges your lungs and makes it harder to breathe but it also speeds up the rate at which telomeres decay. Because of this, your body will age at a faster rate than anyone would want.

The next VERY IMPORTANT factor of aging has to do with good cholesterol also known as  high-density lipoprotein (HDL).  FACT: People with higher levels of HDL tend to live longer. This is because the HDL removes the bad cholesterol and the LDL from the body. This is important because it helps decrease the risk of heart disease.

EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY

Exercise Physiology is the study of the acute responses and chronic adaptations to a wide-range of physical exercise conditions

 Exercise physiologists study the effect of exercise on diseases or on a diagnosis of some sort.


Energy Pathways

It is important to note that it is hard for the body to store ATP. Because of this the body needs to continuously circulate for ATP during exercise via aerobic or anaerobic respiration.

1)       ATP-CP: This is known as the phosphate system; the combination of ADP and CP are both stored in muscles and create ATP, but this only lasts around 2-3 seconds and the re-synthesis of ATP from CP continues unto CP storage are depleted. ( This is key for short sprints)

 2)      Aerobic Metabolism: Known as the endurance exercise energy production; oxygen from the Krebs cycle and the electron transport chain manufacture ATP from glucose; This is the prime energy source during endurance activities, yet it is slower than anaerobic energy because it relies on the circulatory system for transporting oxygen to muscle cells in order to generate ATP

3)     Anaerobic Metabolism:  This is glycolysis and lactic acid production; ATP is produced without oxygen once the CP reserves are depleted. This makes energy for a short amount of time during high intensity activity (or until lactic acid build-up reaches a threshold with muscle pain and fatigue). ( key with longer sprints)

VOCABULARY FOR EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY

VO2 max: The maximum capacity of an individual's body to transport and use oxygen during incremental exercise, which reflects the physical fitness of the individual.

Lactic Acid: A chemical compound that plays a role in several biochemical processes. (Regarding exercise..) when the rate of demand for energy is high, lactic acid is produced faster than the ability of the tissues to remove it, so lactate concentration begins to rise. 

Aerobic Respiration: This requires oxygen in order to generate energy. Although carbohydrates, fats, and proteins can all be processed and consumed as reactant, it is the preferred method of pyruvate breakdown in glycolysis.  Pyruvate enters the mitochondrion in order to be fully oxidized by the Krebs cycle. The product of this process is ATP (a form of energy)

Anaerobic Respiration: A form of respiration using electron acceptors and instruments other than oxygen. It is respiration without oxygen.

ATP (Adenosine triphosphate): A multifunctional nucleotide used in cells as a coenzyme. ATP transports chemical energy within cells for metabolism. It is produced by cellular respiration and used by enzymes and structural proteins in many cellular processes, including cell division.

CP (Creatine Phosphate): A molecule that serves as a reserve of high-energy phosphates in the skeletal muscle and brain; it can anaerobically supply a phosphate grout to ADP in order to form ATP during the first 2-7 seconds following an intense muscular effort

Glycolysis:  The first stage of both aerobic and anaerobic respiration; glucose is converted into a 3 carbon sugar in ten reduction/oxidation reactions. The energy released is used to for ATP and NADH

Carbohydrates: An organic compound that consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen to oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (Eat before working out)

Fats: Consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and largely insoluble in water. (Do not want to eat fatty food before exercise)

Proteins: Biochemical compounds that are sequences of amino acids which are the building blocks of the body; proteins repair and rebuild muscle that is broken down during exercise.

 

STRESS

STRESS

CAUSES OF STRESS

Death: of spouse, family, friend
Health: injury, illness, pregnancy
Crime: Sexual molestation, mugging, burglary, pick-pocketed
Self-abuse: drug abuse, alcoholism, self-harm
Family change: separation, divorce, new baby, marriage
Sexual or Relationship problems: getting partner, with partner
Arguments: with spouse, family, friends, co-workers, boss
Physical changes: lack of sleep, new work hours
New location: vacation, moving house
Money: lack of it, owing it, investing it
Environment change: in school, job, house, town, jail
Responsibility increase: new dependent, new job



HOW TO REDUCE STRESS

Sports and exercise

Reading, relaxing

Spending time with friends or family

Art projects or home improvement projects (hands on activities)

Physiological effects of stress on the body

 Chronic stress leads to an out of balance biochemistry with elevated cortisol and suppressed serotonin. A LOT of stress causes mental and physical problems. In some cases, a little stress is good but too much stress is bad.

HEART SURGERIES

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/heart/pioneers.html

History of Heart Surgeries
(information from PBS. org NOVA online, Pioneers of Heart Surgery)

For the majority of our past history, the heart was known as too delicate of an organ to be messed with..including performing any type of surgeries or procedures to it. It was not until World War II when thousands of soldiers were wounded from battle that the military doctors at hand needed to operate. Dr. Dwight Harken, was among one of the first to perform surgeries on the heart. He was a young army doctor from the United States. After soldiers were in battle and had bullets or fragments of the bullets left in their hearts Dr. Harken did not know what to do. It was too dangerous to leave the fragments in the heart but it was also too dangerous to attempt to get the bullet pieces out. This was the beginning for Dr. Harken. He began to practice procedures on animals. He developed a technique that allowed him to cut into the wall of a still beating heart, insert a finger, locate the shrapnel and remove it.

Results of his earliest practices: All of his first 14 animals subjects died. Of the second group of 14, half died. Of the third group of 14, only 2 died.

In 1948, Harken and Dr. Charles Bailey, a surgeon from Philadelphia both had similar procedures or ideas on how to correct mitral stenosis. This is a condition that where the mitral valve is narrowed and won't open properly.

This was their procedure: a small hole was cut in the side of a beating heart and a finger was inserted to find and very carefully widen the narrowed valve.
Unfortunately. the earliest tries at this were unsuccessful, but as time went on surgeons gradually improved their techniques and eventually the procedure became safe and extremely successful. This came to be known as "Closed Heart" Surgery, and spread to hospitals all around the world.

Though this new improvement was fantastic, surgeons and doctors were still faced with a problem. This procedure could not be done for every patient with a heart problem or heart defect. They were faced with a brick wall, if they couldn't work on the heart from the inside then nothing could be done. They needed to find the solution to one massive problem. How can they open up the heart without the patients bleeding to death? If they stopped circulation temporarily they would have about 4 minutes to work and fix the problem before the patient would have brain damage due to being deprived of oxygen.

Dr. Bill Bigelow was the one to come up with the first potential solution or answer to this problem. After testing his procedures on animal subjects he came to the conclusion that when at lower temperatures, the tissues of the body and brain did not need as much oxygen and could survive without oxygenated blood for longer. From here on doctors have made significant advancements in this field and have accomplished a great deal regarding heart surgeries, more specifically, open heart surgeries.

Stress is BAD for the heart. A lot of stress may lead to high blood pressure or high cholesterol. It can be viewed as a chain of events. 


1) You are VERY stressed
2) Your blood pressure goes up
3) You may be very tense and continue to be more stressed
4) This may cause you to smoke to relieve stress
5) Smoking may lead to heart disease or heart failure.

When looking at what the meaning of a HEARTBEAT is, it is important to look at the cardiac cycle. This is a term referring to all or any of the events related to the blood pressure that occurs from the beginning of one heartbeat to the beginning of the next. This cycle is described as a heart rate.

EKG (Electrocardiogram): this is a test done in order to see if a patient has a heart problem or is at risk for one. Small sticky electrodes are stuck on several parts of the patient's body. Wires are used to connect the patient to an EKG machine. The electrical activity created by the patient's heart is processed by the EKG machine and then printed on a special graph paper. Next a doctor will evaluate the test and determine whether the patient has a heart problem. 

Coronary Bypass: An open-heart surgery in which the rib cage is opened and a section of a blood vessel is grafted from the aorta to the coronary artery to bypass the blocked section of the coronary artery and improve the blood supply to the heart (google definitions)

Heart Transplant: A surgical procedure for selected patients whose hearts are so severely damaged that medications, procedures, and surgical repair cannot help. A donated heart is transplanted into the patient to replace the damaged heart (google definitions)

Angiocardiography: A method of detecting whether a person's coronary arteries are narrowed or blocked. A dye is first introduced into the patient's coronary arteries and heart through a catheter. X-rays are then taken as the dye moves through the heart and coronary arteries (google definitions)

HEART PATIENT CASE HISTORY
  
Name: Mickey Mouse
Age: 55
Height: 6 feet
Weight: 100 lbs


History: Mickey has been under a lot of stress lately. He has been fighting a lot wit his girlfriend, Minnie. They have been together for the past 50 years. Mickey is an actor and has not been in a lot of movies or shows lately. Work is decreasing for one. This is a scary time. He has always found work and everyone has loved him but now this dramatic drop in love for the mouse has caused stress, and anxiety. This has left him to eat unhealthy, and exercise less. He has been going against his own morals and been eating food from McDonalds daily. He refuses to go to the hospital and be seen by anyone.


Family History: None..is not documented and can not be found.


Tests: Luckily for Mickey in Disney World everyone who resided there had to have an EKG test. Disney has been afraid that many of their characters are at risk for heart disease of some sort due to the obesity and size that some of the characters are at. It was shown that Mickey was at risk for a heart disease so an Angiocardiography was performed. 


Results: Shockingly enough, Mickey only had an aneurysm which was due to the abnormality in his birth. This is the thinning and bulging out - in part of the wall of a vein, artery, or the heart.

Mickey needs to go through a CT scan, MRI, and an Echocardiogram (procedure that evaluates the structure and function of the heart by using sound waves recorded on an electronic sensor that produce a moving picture of the heart and heart valves). The danger of this Aneurysm is that is can continue to grow and eventually burst. Unfortunately the aneurysm is in his heart, if this bursts it will lead him to bleed to death.

ARTIFICIAL ORGANS

An example of an artificial organ would be the artificial heart. An artificial heart is not a permanent organ to remain in a person's body it is only used temporarily until a healthy matching real heart can be found for the patient. Sometimes, in order to get around the long grueling process of waiting for an organ, people will substitue for an artificial one. These artificial organs can be made completely from the real organ or partially constructed with the real organ along with plastic, metal, or other synthetic materials.
Another example of an artificial organ is the bioartificial liver. This artificial organ is intended for the treatment of liver failure when using stem cells.  While this organ is in the process of being developed and completed it is designed to serve as a supportive device. It will either allow the liver to regenerate upon acute liver failure, or to bridge the patient's liver functions until a transplant is available for them. This bioartificial organ uses real liver cells which are known as hepatocytes but can still not be substituted permanently for a liver. Researchers Dr. Colin McGucklin, Professor of Regenerative Medicine at Newcastle University, and Dr. Nico Forraz, Senior Research Associate and Clinical Sciences Business Manager at Newcastle University, have come to the conclusion that within the next five years, pieces of artificial liver may be used to repair livers that were injured or damaged.


PROS OF ARTIFICAL ORGANS

They have a possibility of prolonging life

Can make the general quality of a patient's life better

Help regenerate skin (on burn victims)

Solution to the problem of low supply og organs available for donation

Organ transplant lists will become unnecessary in the future

 

Gives the possibility to a patient to beat a disease or illness

CONS

Ethical issues amongst the human race (many are against this type of procedure)

Possiblity of having a hidden disease in the base tissue in the original organ (not good if it gets into system of a patient)