Dissection Video

This is our sheep heart dissection video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gussycC6joU

Sheep Heart Dissection Questions

Q1. The purpose of the pericardium is to protect the heart. It also secretes a fluid to lubricate the heart and reduce friction.
Q2. The arteries and veins of the heart differ in a few ways. The vein is thinner than the artery and prevents back flow in the heart.
Q3. The auricle inflates as blood goes through and increases the volume of the atrium.
Q4. The ventricle and atria look very similar. A difference between the two is that the ventricle is thicker than the atria.
Q6.

Q7. Without the chordate tendinae and papillary muscle, the valves would not close and the blood would not flow properly.                                                                                                                                              

Q8. 

Q9. The function of the semi-lunar valve is to prevent back flow of blood from the arteries to the ventricles.  

Q10. a) Swelling in the feet and ankles due to a valve disease occurring on the right side is because the blood from the lower body would now properly flow through the heart. This cause the blood to stay in the lower body leading to swelling in the feet and ankles. 

b)If valve disease were to occur on the left side of the heart, the blood would not reach the lungs properly and breathing would be difficult due to the lack of oxygen.

Q11. 

Q12. The left and right side of the heart receives deoxygenated blood whereas the left side of the heart receives oxygen rich blood. The right side of the heart send the blood to the lungs and the left side sends the blood to the other parts of the body.

Q13. 

Unit 3 Reflection

Unit 3 was about the Cardiovascular System. The Circulatory System is a fluid filled network of tubes through which materials more between the environment and cells of multicellular animals. It transports the materials needed by cells and removes waste materials from cells.
Heart disease and strokes are caused by an unhealthy diet. This leads to fat being built up in the vessels. This could also lead to artherosclerosis.

To promote our health, we can do many things such as exercise, eat healthy, do not smoke and so much more!
I would love to learn more about what can happen to the heart if we don't treat it properly and to learn more about how to stay healthy and in good condition.

I think that one of my strengths throughout this unit was the location of the heart. I had trouble, though, learning about the different cells and disease but I will definitely find time to learn it own my own.

This unit, we dissected a sheep's heart. This was a really fun and interesting lab and I really look forward to more dissections in the future.
Below is a picture of the heart we dissected!

Hypertension Lab

1. What factors are known to cause increases in blood pressure?
Some factors that can lead to an increase in blood pressure are lack of exercise, overconsumption of salt, and possibly genetics.
2. Use your knowledge about the heart and the circulatory system to make a

hypothesis about how the average blood pressure for a group of people would

be affected by manipulating the age and gender of the group members.
I think that as age increase, so does the blood pressure and that it should be treated immediately. Also I hypothesize that gender does not affect blood pressure.

3. What sorts of problems might a person develop who has chronic

hypertension?
Their blood pressure would be higher than normal and it could be fatal.

4. Analyze the result of your experiment. Explain any patterns you observed.
I noticed that the male blood pressure is higher than the females for all ages. Also that as age increase, so does the blood pressure. This is probably because the younger ones get more exercise. Also, male diastolic numbers are really close to one another.

5. Did the result of your experiment support your hypothesis? Why or why not?

Based on your experiment what conclusion can you draw about the

relationship of age and gender to group blood pressure averages?
My hypothesis that the older the person, the higher the blood pressure was correct but it turns out that female usually have lower blood pressure than male. Due to age, I believe that as age increase, blood pressure will too because of the decrease in exercise. I was surprised to find out, though, that females have lower blood pressure than male. It could be said that some males eat a little more.

6. During the course of your experiment, did you obtain any blood pressure

reading that were outside of the normal range for the group being tested?

What did you notice on the medical charts for these individuals that might

explain their high reading?
Yes, some of the factors could have been genetics and lack of exercise. Also, that those who don't exercise are a lot heavier and may have more issues. I learned a lot of new things from this experiment.

7. List risk factors associated with the hypertension. Based on your observation,

which risk factor do you think is most closely associated with hypertension?

- smoking
- lack of exercise
- genetics
- too much salt
8. What effect might obesity have on blood pressure? Does obesity alone cause a

person to be at risk for high blood pressure? What other factors, in

combination with obesity, might increase a person's risk for high blood

pressure?
Obesity can mean that there is too much fat in your body. This can clot your blood and slow down blood flow. Obesity can cause a person to be at risk of high blood pressure. Being just overweight can lead to high blood pressure.

Snack Time Monday Wellness

In class, for a Monday Wellness presentation, we learned about what we should eat for a snack. The snacks we have just made in class contained only healthy ingredients: apples, peanut butter, and almonds. This is a much healthier improvement that most people eat for a snack each day. We should snack 2-3 times a day and not more because that can be too much. Snacking is good so that we don't over eat during dinner, breakfast, or lunch. A healthy snack should have less than 200 calories and high fiber. We should stay away from unhealthy snacks like chips and ice cream because that can lead to obesity and blood flow problems.
For the activity, I enjoyed making the apple creation because it was really fun and cute! I did not get to eat the apple though but it was definitely fun to make.

Blood Pressure Lab

Today we did a lab where we took each others blood pressure and pulse rate. For the blood pressure area, the systole number is supposed to be higher than the diastole number. The systole was where we started to hear the pulse and the diastole was around where it ended. My systole was around 110-115, where as my diastole number was around 60-70. To be specific, the systolic pressure is the result of the contraction of the ventricles and the diastolic pressure is during the ventricle relaxation.

To measure the heart rate, my partner and I used a stethoscope, which I found really cool. I heard the heart beat clearly. To measure the blood pressure, we used a sphygomanometer, which was a little difficult to use because hearing the pulse was hard.

We should use two fingers instead of our thumb to measure the pulse because it is more accurate using two fingers and you can feel your pulse more.

Using the blood pressure cuff was pretty simple. We just put on the cuff and then press the valve so the cuff tightens. Then we look at the numbers as it goes down when we loosen up the cuffs.

Overall, I found this lab fun and helpful!

Unit 2 Reflection

What is health? To me health is being in good condition physically and mentally. This also means that one is good socially too. Also, being happy in general is a huge factor. I would say that I am pretty healthy. Although I don't always eat healthy, I exercise to balance out my diet. I think that the people at SHS can be both healthy and unhealthy. To promote better health, more healthy foods should be sold and require people to have a certain amount of exercise. In my opinion, though, being healthy is up to you. It's your body and although it's best to take care of it as much as you can, the decision is up to you.
Some themes and things I learned are ways to keep a healthy diet. You shouldn't always just eat fruits and protein just because you think they're healthiest. Our bodies need fat too. We just need to know how to balance and control it.
Health is 5 important pillars: sleep, nutrition, social, stress, and exercise. To be healthy, we should balance all those things out for ourselves.

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd/why

This talks about why sleep is important. I think sleep is really important because it keeps you awake the next morning and gives you the energy you need. This article would help me a lot because I don't take sleep seriously enough. I need to sleep more so that I don't wake up so tired and so that I can function better in school.
Overall, I found this unit to be really interesting and helpful to me in many ways. Next unit, I will definitely try and take more notes and maybe even research some things about the topic on my own!

Nutrition Analysis

Falcon Market

As I walked around the classroom looking at the nutritions of several different foods, I learned a lot of new things. One that surprised me most was the Starbucks station. I noticed that the drink I usually get does not contain many calories. There also isn't a lot of fat in it. Another thing that caught my attention was the Seasonal Produce station. I learned that most fruits and vegetables go by seasons and that is when they are best. In summer, its best to eat fruits such as strawberries and cherries!
Some things that I learned are that its better to have low glycemic index and that when shopping for groceries, you should get protein first, then produce, then healthy fats.

Choose My Plate

Another thing we did was track our own food that we eat on a daily basis. Once I entered in information, like my weight and height, I was told that I should eat around 2000 calories a day. When looking at my results, I noticed that I don't eat enough vegetables and dairy, like milk, and that I do eat a lot of protein each day, which surprised me. To be healthier, I should eat more dairy and drink a lot of milk. Below are 3 days of my foods I tracked!
I would want people to know that eating fat is necessary, you just have to eat the right amount. Also, eat fruits and vegetables that are in season because they are better for you and also taste better!

Health Collage

In my opinion, I think that health has a lot to do with being happy overall and being in good condition, physically and mentally. To be physically healthy is to have things such as low cholestral and low blood sugar. To be mentally healthy is to be happy and to be social in a way with the people around you. The 5 pillars are nutrition, sleep, social, exercise, and stress. Its good to have beneficial nutrition and good social skills, plenty of sleep, a limited amount of stress and a fair amount of exercise. I think that I am strongest with excercise because I manage to get over an hour of excercise each day but something that I cound improve on is having a better nutrition. In regards to health, I would love to learn about different exercises that benefit you most and how much we should exercise overall.

Unit 1 Reflection

      This unit was an intro to anatomy and physiology and biology review. We learned different things like macromolecules and tissues. We learned that the presence of different macromolecules and their arrangement directly affect the behavior of the cell and it's corresponding tissue. The tissue's function is directly related to it's structure.
      Some major things that we learned were the four macromolecules and the different tissues. The macromolecules include carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acid. The different tissues were muscle, nervous, connective, and epithelial. The part that stood out to me the most was the epithelial tissue. There were different types like simple, stratifies,or pseudostratified and squamous, cuboidal, or columnar. I enjoyed looking at pictures of these tissues and identifying which type it was.
      Something I did not fully understand was the levels of organizations. I understand that the levels include chemical level, cellular level, tissue level, organ level, system level, and organismal level. I just don't get the detailed difference between the organ level and system level. 
      Next unit, I will try and read the book more and take more detailed notes if possible. Anatomy and Physiology is really similar to Biology. Both classes discuss major parts of the body  but I think that biology goes into detail in other things too. Anatomy and Physiology only focuses of body structures and functions. 

"Windsor Locks High School." Human Anatomy & Physiology • Page -. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Sept. 2015.

Tissue Lab

      In the lab we did today, we walked around to different microscopes around the room and saw around 14 different tissues! Next to the microscopes were posters of the tissue types, which are muscle, nervous, connective, and epithelial. 
      For the muscle tissues, I saw different things like human cardiac muscle and the human skeletal muscle. For cardiac, I knew that it had to do with the heart and was located on the walls of the heart. I also learned from the lecture that muscle tissues look like they have branches and that they push blood in the blood vessels and gets them flowing properly. Looking in the microscopes, I saw different things like multiple nuclei, discs, and fibers. 
       Next to muscle tissues, I saw some nervous tissue such as a human nerve. We learned that the nervous tissue transmits electrical signals from sensory receptors to effectors. We saw a variety of things like a human nerve. 
       Then I saw connective tissues. There were so many like the white fibrous tissue and elastic cartialage of a human ear.  The human ear elastic cartialage was similar to the hyaline cartilage. We knew that connective tissues provided structural and metabolic support for other tissues and organs
      Lastly, I saw epithelial tissues. Epithelial tissues could be simple, stratified, or pseudostratified, and squamous, cuboidal, or columnar. We saw different things like human skin and human lung. The human skin was stratified squamous and dense irregular whereas the human lung was simple squamous and single layer.
Below are some pictures from the lab!

Red Blood Cells

RED BLOOD CELLS

      Red blood cells, also known as erythrocytes, are cells that carry fresh oxygen throughout your body. They are large microscopic cells but they don't contain a nuclei, which makes it different than a eukaryotic cell. There are numerous of red blood cells in our body that look like tiny disk shaped figures. Red blood cells are really flexible so they can carry things in there like hemoglobin, which I will go in further detail on later. People think that because red blood cells don't have a nucleus, they are prokaryotic but actually, red blood cells are generally eukaryotic that have lost their nucleus. So, red blood cells contain many things that a eukaryotic cell would.

      Red blood cells transport oxygen from the lung to living tissues all over the body. Hemoglobin, though, is the protein inside the cells that carry the oxygen. They also take carbon dioxide to your lungs so that you can exhale it. Not only is hemoglobin the protein that transports oxygen and carbon dioxide, its also a pigment. It gives the red blood cell it's red color. The life span of a red blood cell is about 120 days but millions of them are also created every second.

An interesting fact about red blood cells is that they make up about 44 percent of your body and make up about 7 percent of your body weight!

"Hemoglobin Toxicity: New $10.8 Million Study Begins." Hemoglobin Toxicity: New $10.8 Million Study Begins. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2015.

Sweet Lab

        Our group did a tasting lab today with all sorts of carbohydrates. We started our lab by separating all our carbohydrates into separate piles. We used sucrose, glucose fructose, galactose, maltose, lactose, starch, and cellulose. I started off by tasting glucose then fructose. Fructose was definitely the sweetest of them all and cellulose was the least sweet.
        Cellulose would most probably be found in vegetables, like broccoli, because they're not sweet which is probably why most kids don't like it. Fructose is found in fruits, such as watermelons and strawberries, because they're sweet. As for the texture of the carbohydrates, most of them felt as if there was nothing in my mouth because they felt just like powder. Those carbohydrates are the galactose, maltose, lactose, starch and cellulose. Sucrose, glucose and fructose, though, felt granular and not smooth. 
The pictures below are of the carbohydrates we tasted!

Works Cited