Blood

"The human body contains about 5 liters of blood, and the heart pumps this amount of blood with every beat! " (Sylvia Mader; Human biology 10e)

Blood supplies the tissues with oxygen, supplies nutrients, removes waste, clots when the body is injured, it serves as a messaging system, it regulates the bodies ph and body temperature.

Blood is a tissue therefore it contains cells and cell fragments. These fragments are suspended in plasma. The cells and the cell fragments make what is called formed elements. Formed elements contain red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. They are formed in red bone marrow. Blood contains plasma which is the liquid that carries substances in the blood.

Red blood cells transport oxygen. They don't have a nucleus and instead have hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the pigment that makes red blood cells and blood red. Each hemoglobin molecule can transport 4 molecules of oxygen. Each red blood cell contains approximately 280 million hemoglobin molecules.

Some common disorders associated with red blood cells are anemia, which is when you red blood count is low. Some symptoms of this would be fatigue, lack of energy, etc. A hereditary red blood cell disorder is sickle cell disease. This is when the person's red blood cells are sickle shaped and rupture as they pass through the capillaries.

White blood cells are the ones that helps our body to naturally fight off infection and disease. A lot of times doctors are able to tell there is some sort of infection in your body just due to the white blood cell count. White blood cells are larger than red blood cells and contain a nucleus. There are two classifications for white blood cells. They are granular leukocytes and agranular leukocytes. They are called this because some have noticeable granules and some don't. The granual leukocytes are neutrophils which account for 50 - 70 % of all white blood cells. They are usually the first ones to respond to a bacterial infection. Then there's the eosinophils which contain a bilobed nucleus. They don't quite know the function of this. They do know that if you have a parasite or an allergic reaction they reproduce quickly. The last of the granular leukocytes is the basophils. This cell releases a histamine when you have an allergic reaction. The histamine dilates your blood vessels, but cuts off the air tubes that lead to the lungs.

The agranular leukocytes are lymphocytes and monocytes. Lymphocytes are 25 - 35% of white blood cells. They are responisble for specific immunity to certain pathogens and toxins. Lymphocytes are called T cells and B cells. The AIDS virus attacks the T-cells. Then you have monocytes they are the largest of the white blood cells. They live in the tissue and become dendritic cells which work as a "vacuum cleaner" to clean up cellular debris.

Some disorders associated with white blood cells are sever combined immunodeficency disease which is when the stem cells lack an enzyme therefore the body can not fight of any infections. There is also leukemia which is caused by uncontrollable white blood cell proliferation.

The Cardiovascular System

The cardiovascular systems consists of the heart and blood vessels. It is also known as the circulatory system. It's primary job is to move substance to and from cells, it also helps regulate body temperature and ph. The lymphatic system assists the cardiovascular system by gathering up exess tissue waste and returning it to the cardiovascular system. There are three different types of blood vessels. You have the arteries which pump blood from the heart. The main artery is called the dorsal aorta. That artery divides into smaller ones and branches out into different regions of your body. An artery is tough on the outside and smooth on the inside. The arterial wall has three layers an outer layer of tissue, middle layer of muscle and and inner layer of epithelial cells. The strong walls of the artery give it support when blood enters under pressure; the elastic tissues allows it to expand.

Next, you have the capillaries. Capillaries are very thin and fragile. Alot of times you will see people with broken capillaries on their face, especially on and around their nose. Capillaries are so thin that blood cells can only pass through them in single file. The blood cells in the capillary release the oxygen and the tissue release it's waste products.

Lastly, you have the veins. The vein is what carries blood to the heart. The best way to describe the vein is as a hollow tube that will collapse if empty. Most veins have valves to keep the blood from flowing backwards.

Since we are talking about the cardiovascular system we have to mention the heart.
"The heart is a cone-shaped muscular organ located between the lungs directly behind the sternum. The heart is tilted so the apex is oriented to the left." (Sylvia Mader; Human biology 10e)

The pumpling of the heart is what keeps blood flowing through the body. It is estimated that the human heart beats more than 3.5 million times in an average lifetime.

Unit 2

During Unit 2 we touched base on two different topics the first one was about the cardiovascular system, blood, and immunity and microbes. The second topic was about nutrition: digestion and glucose and diet. In my following posts you will see a few of the key items that I picked up on about each topic.

Evaluation

1. What were the three aspects of the assignments I've submitted that I am most proud of?

The three things I would say I am most proud of would be my compendium reviews, my different stages of mitosis lab and my quiz scores.



2. What two aspects of my submitted assignments do I believe could have used some improvement? I definetly feel like my ethical issues and my color group peer essays could have used more work.

3. What do I believe my overall grade should be for this unit?
While I don't believe that I should receive an "A" for this unit I do feel that I deserve a "B". I did put a lot of effort into finishing this unit and believe/tried to do more than average work.

4. How could I perform better in the next unit?

I will definetly spend more time and do more research for my ethical essay.

5. At what moment during this unit did you feel most engaged with the course?

Suprisingly I had most fun making my cell models. While doing the hands on it really made me stop and notice all the parts of the cell.


6. At what moment unit did you feel most distanced from the course?

The essays.....sorry...I hate them.


7. What action that anyone (teacher or student) took during this unit that find most affirming and helpful?

Mr. Frolich being so understanding on my misreading the directions really helped take some of the pressure off and keep me from feeling so over whelmed. Thank you Mr. Frolich.


8. What action that anyone (teacher or student) took during this unit did you find most puzzling or confusing?

I didn't find anything puzzling or confusing in this unit. I was amazed to look at other students blogs and wondered if I would be able to do as well as they did.

9. What about this unit surprised you the most? (This could be something about your own reactions to the course, something that someone did, or anything else that occurs to you.)

Oops...I kind of answered that in question 8..so I will say it again here. Just goind through other students blogs to get an idea on how they were completing the coursed put me in awe but also scared me because I wasn't sure that I could do as well as they did.

Cloning....playing God??

Science has come a long way. Scientists are always learning and doing new things that were impossible yesterday.

One of the amazing things that happened was in 1997 when some British scientist cloned a sheep named "Dolly". Dolly was reproduced by reproductive cloning. She lived to be the age of 6 although she only lived half the life span she was expected to live after doing a biopsy they found that other than arthritis and cancer Dolly was normal. That in itself was an amazing discovery.

Hundreds of animals have been cloned. Yet they are still unable to clone monkeys, dogs, chickens and horses. Scientist feel that this is because some species are more resistant to somatic cell nuclear transfer. During this process they strip the nucleus from an egg shell and they replace it with a cell from a donor one. This is a very traumatic process and a lot of the eggs don't make it.

Scientists are even trying to reproduce organs. I think that this is an amazing a great thing. While we have numerous organ donors out there, there just isn't enough to go around and a lot of patients die while waiting to receive an organ.

There are alot of risks associated with cloning. More than 90% of attempted clones fail. It takes more than 100 attempts to produce one live offspring. Cloned animals also tend to have health issues and die at a young age.

This makes me wonder if cloning is something that we should be doing. Are scientists trying to play God by creating life? I defintely agree with cloning organs but, I am not sure how I feel about cloning animals and eventually humans.

Cell

Here's my cell that I made out of playdough....as you can see....art wasn't one of my strong points.

DNA

The chromosomes in the nucleus of a cell contain all the information a cell needs to carry on its life processes. They are made up of a complex chemical (a nucleic acid) called deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA for short. Scientist's decoding of the chemical structure of DNA has led to a simple conceptual understanding of genetic processes. DNA is the hereditary material of all cells. It is a double-stranded helical macromolecule consisting of nucleotide monomers with deoxyribose sugar and the nitrogenous bases adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T). In the chromosomes of a cell, DNA occurs as fine, spirally coiled threads that in turn coils around another, like a twisted ladder.(http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1998/StevenChen.shtml)

Telophase

Daughter cells are forming as nuclear envelopes and nucleoli reappear. Chromosomes will become indistinct chromatin.

Anaphase

Sister chromatids part and become daughter chromosomes that move toward the spindle poles. In this way, each pole receives the same number and kinds of chromosomes as the parental cell.

Metaphase

In the metaphase stage centomeres of duplicated chromosomes are aligned at the equator (center of fully formed spindle). Spindle fibers attached to the sister chromatids come from opposite spindle poles.

Early Metaphase

In the early metaphase each chromatid is attached to a spindle fiber. Some of the spindle fibers stretch from each spindle pole and overlap.

Prophase

During the prophase stage you will notice that the nucleolus has disappeared, and duplicated chromosomes are now visible. The centrosomes start to move apart and spindle is starting to form.

Early Prophase

During the early prophase stage the centrosomes have duplicated. Chromatin is condensing into chromosomes, and the nuclear envelope is fragmenting.

Lab Project Unit 1

The supplies I bought to use for this project were playdough, pipecleaners, construction paper, and fuzzy balls. Not included in the picture were markers and 4 pills that I added later during the process of my lab. I used a cereal bowl to trace the size of the cell and one of my childrens plastic cups to trace the size of the nuclear envelope.

Recombinant DNA

Recombinant DNA is a form of artificial DNA which is engineered through the combination or insertion of one or more DNA strands, thereby combining DNA sequences which would not normally occur together.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recombinant_DNA)

Cancer

Cancer is a disease characterized by disorderly division of cells, combined with the malignant behavior of these cells. Malignant cancer cells tend to spread, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion, or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis (the process whereby cancer cells can move through the bloodstream or lymphatic system to distant locations). Cancer may affect people at all ages, but risk tends to increase with age. It is one of the principal causes of death in developed countries. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer)

Cancer cells are nonspecialized and do not contribute to the functioning of a body part. The cell usually divides itself 60 - 70 times before dying. Cancer cells never die and keep dividing until eventually they end up creating tumors.

There are over 200 types of cancer. Some of the more common ones we hear about are skin cancer, lung cancer and breast cancer. You can develope cancer in any one of your bodies organs. Statistics indicate that 1 in 3 Americans will deal with cancer at some point in there life. Cancer has many different causes. One maybe caused by enviromental factors, while another is caused by your genes and inheritating it. Cancer may also be caused by your diet.

Treatment of cancer includes surgery to remove the tumor, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Typically they say if after treatments you can go 5 years without cancer then you are now cancer free.

DNA

The structure of part of a DNA double helix.

DNA is also know as deoxyribonucliec acid it is largely found in chromosomes. DNA is a double helix, meaning that it is composed of two strands that spiral about each other. The main purpose of DNA is the role of long time storage of information. It is often referred to as our bodies blueprint because it contains the information to construct other components of cells. The DNA segments that carry our genetic information are called genes.

Chromosome Inheritance

A chromosome is a single large macromolecule of DNA, and constitutes a physically organized form of DNA in a cell. It is a very long, continuous piece of DNA (a single DNA molecule), which contains many genes, regulatory elements and other intervening nucleotide sequences. A broader definition of "chromosome" also includes the DNA-bound proteins which serve to package and manage the DNA. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromosome)

Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes. In each pair one comes from the mother and one from the father. These genetic traits from both sides will determine whether you inheriate your mothers blonde hair or your fathers brown hair. Your mother green eyes or you fathers brown eyes....etc. The 23rd chromosome is the one that determines sex. XY for males and XX for females.

Unit 1 Section 2: Genetics

Early Fetal Devolopment

The creation of life is truly a miracle. It's amazing to learn all the steps that our bodies go through to create this little tiny human being. And that fact that our bodies do it all on their own. From the moment of conception the body start rapidly making these changes. Immediately after fertilization, the zygote divides repeatedly and passes down the oviduct to the uterus. The actual embryonic development starts the second week and last until the end of the second month.
Week 3: Nervous system and heart develope.
Weeks 4 & 5: Umbilical cord starts to form. Buds that will eventually be arms and legs develop, head enlarges and organs become more prominent.
Weeks 6 - 8: Heart develops and usually starts beating around 24 days after conception. Embryo changes to a form easily recognized by humans. Nervous system is developed well enough to have reflex actions.
3 - 4 months: Chance of miscarriage significantly declines. Cartilage begins to turn into bone. Tooth buds are starting to form.
5 - 6 months: Hair beginning to grow on babies head. Eyelashes, eyebrows, and eyelids appear. Around the 6th month the eyelids will start to part and the baby can open it's eyes for short periods of time.
7 - 8 months: Taste buds have developed. Fat layers are forming and organs have are maturing. By the 8th month most organs are developed with the exception of the lungs. Tremendous brain growth is happening at this time.
9 months: Baby is now fully developed and ready to survive outside it's mother.

Unit I Section 2 Lab Results

The first picture is of the dragon lab that we had to do. In that lab we were learning the relationship between genotype and phenotype, using both sex-linked and autosomal dominant and recessive traits. I found it interesting that in making the dragons identical that all chromosomes were not the same.

The second picture represents using the Punnett Square to show what two types of flies would be needed in order to have 50% chance of hving homozygous gray-bodied offspring and 50% chance of heterozygous gray-bodied offspring.

Compendium Review Unit 1 Topic 1: Cells

cutaway of human skin
A. melanocyte
B. muscle
C. sebaceous gland
D. hair shaft
E. epidermis
F. dermis
G. subcutaneous tissue
H. fat
I. artery
J. sweat gland
K. hair follicle


Our skin is made up of four different tissue types. The epithelial tissue, connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue.

Epithelial tissue covers the whole surface of the body. It's made up of cells closely packed and ranged in one or more layers. This tissue is specialised 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. Epithelial cells are packed tightly together, with almost no intercellular spaces and only a small amount of intercellular substance. Epithelial tissue, regardless of the type, is usually separated from the underlying tissue by a thin sheet of connective tissue; basement membrane. The basement membrane provides structural support for the epithelium and also binds it to neighbouring structures. http://www.botany.uwc.ac.za/sci_ed/grade10/mammal/Epithelial.htm

Connective tissue is widespread in the body. It's main function is to bind and strenghten other organs and tissues. It also compartmentalizes and divides other tissue structure. Loose connective tissue is known as adipose tissue and is used for storing fat.

Muscle tissue a very specialized tissue that has both the ability to contract and the ability to conduct electrical impulses. Muscles are are classified both functionally as either voluntary or involuntary and structurally as either striated or smooth. From this, there emerges three types of muscles: smooth involuntary (smooth) muscle, striated voluntary (skeletal) muscle and striated involuntary (cardiac) muscle. http://www.uoguelph.ca/zoology/devobio/210labs/muscle1.ht

Nervous tissue is specialized to react to stimulation and to send out impulse message to certain organs in the body. When that happens the body then sends out a reaction. Nerve tissue is made up of special nerve cells called neurons. Neurons are easily stimulated and send out warning messages very quickly. The endoneurium, which consists of a thin layer of loose connective tissue, surrounds the individual nerve fibers. There are three main type of neurons each are classified by their function. They are sensory neurons, motor neurons and interneurons.

Conpendium Review Unit 1 Topic 1: Cells

Schematic of typical animal cell, showing subcellular components. Organelles: (1) nucleolus (2) nucleus (3) ribosome (4) vesicle (5) rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER) (6) Golgi apparatus (7) cytoskeleton (8) smooth ER (9) mitochondria (10) lysosome (11) cytoplasm (12) peroxisome (13) centrioles

Cell Organelles and Metabolism:

An organelle is a discrete structure of a cell having specialized functions. An organelle is to a cell what and organ is to the body.

Metabolism is the complete set of chemical reactions that occurs in living cells. These processes are the basis of life, allowing cells to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolism It is usually divided into two categories catabolic reactions and anabolic reactions. Catabolic reactions yield energy and anabolic reactions use energy.
Structure of the coenzyme adenosine triphosphate, a central intermediate in energy metabolism.

Compenduim Review Unit 1 Topic 1: Cells

href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsp6YUvE4RUaWaZbUtjQYiv6ARZNPwHE55WOdbx3DsWTKjZt19JRdo2cBee6mtZpjizmPWLe3J0WVWqfdHjPYPCcyowmqUJncxsczuTxq94J33Z34p0j31hPqmWi8rP4-RK35XW5nilbZ3/s1600-h/cells.bmp"> Picture of two human cells.

Cell Structure and Function:

The cell is the structural and functional unit of all living organisms, and is sometimes called the "building block of life."[1] Some organisms, such as bacteria, are unicellular (consist of a single cell). Other organisms, such as humans, are multicellular. (Humans have an estimated 100 trillion or 1014 cells; a typical cell size is 10 µm; a typical cell mass is 1 nanogram.) The largest known cell is an ostrich egg. http://www.answers.com/topic/cell

Each cell is somewhat self contained and self maintaining, it takes nutrients and turns it into energy, carries out special functions and reproduces as necessary.

There are two types of cells the eukaryotic and the prokaryotic cells:


Prokaryotic cells are single cells that lack a membrane-bound nucleus. Their genetic information is in a circular loop called a plasmid. They have very few distinguishable features inside when looked at under a microscope. They have three main shapes: rod, spherical and spiral. They divide by bionary fisson.


Eurokaryotic cells are approximately 10 times the size of a prokaryotic cell and can be up to a 1000 times greater in volume. They are mostly multi-cellular and contain membrane-bound organelles such as mitochondria and chloroplasts.

Compendium Review Unit 1 Topic 1: Cells

Molecules of Life

Atoms often bond with eachother to form a chemical unit called a molecule. A molecule can contain atoms of the same kind or they can be different. When the atoms are different a compound is present. There are two types of bonds that join atoms.

The ionic bond is when atoms give up or take on and electron(s) in order to achieve a stable outer shell.

The covalent bond is a chemical bond in which atoms share one pair of electrons.

Compendium Review Unit 1 Topic 1: Cells

Basic Characteristics of Life:

According to wikipedia life is defined as a multi-faceted concept. Life may refer to the ongoing process of which living things are a part; the period between the birth (or a point at which the entity can be considered to be living) and death of an organism; the condition of an entity that has been born (or reached the point in its existence at which it can be established to be alive) and has yet to die; and that which makes a living thing alive.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life

When you think of life typically you think of humans and animals. We sometimes forget that plants are also among the living. Living things are:
* organized from atoms to the biosphere.
* take materials and energy from the environment.
* reproduce; they produce offspring that resemble themselves.
* grow and develop by undergoing various stages from fertilization to death.
* are homeostatic; internal conditions stay about the same.
* respond to stimuli; the react to external and internal changes.
* have an evolutionary history and have adapted modifications to a particular way of life.

Microscope

Microscopes were invented by Zacharis Janseen from Middleburg, Holland around the year 1595. The first compound microscope was basically a tube with a lens. Over the years the microscope has changed greatly and become more powerful. The most common microscope is the compound light microscope (pictured above).

The compound light microscope has many different levers and knobs that help to focus and view your specimen. Some of the parts include:

Stage: The stage is the where you place your slide with your specimen on it. You will use the stage clips to hold your slide in place. When placing the slide on the stage you want to place your specimen directly over the light.

Focus Knobs: Include the fine and coarse adjustment knobs. Each of these knobs will be used at some point while viewing your specimen. After placing your slide on the stage you want to slowly turn the coarse adjustment knob to move the slide up until the slide almost touches the lens. Now that you have done that you will want to look through your eyepiece at your slide and slowly turn the coarse adjustment knob until your specimen comes into view. Once your specimen comes into view you will want to switch to the fine adjustment knob to focus.

Iris: The iris of the microscope is also know as the diaphragm. It controls the amount of light which passes to the specimen. There are two types of diaphragms. There is the iris diagphragm which is a lever just under the stage in the front. The other type is the dial type which is located under the stage and has a rotating dial with different sized holes.

Oculars: The ocular is also known as the eyepiece. It is the closest group of lenses to our eyes. While looking in the eyepiece you want to adjust it until the circl of light becomes one and you no longer see it overlapping. If you wear glasses you will want to remove them while using the microscope.

Objectives: The objectives on the microscope are the magnification lenses. Most compound light microscopes have 3 - 4. 4x,10x,43x, and 100x oil emmersion. Total magnification = ocular power X objective power.

Lab 1

This is a picture of cheek cells magnified at 40x.