Sheep Heart Dissection and Video Tutorial

Sheep Heart Dissection Video Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yseXrnx8T0

Sheep Heart Dissection Video Part 2: http://youtu.be/vjzb7_2gN_A

Sheep Heart Dissection Extra Credit Video: 

http://youtu.be/Cj1QR3DbH8M

Questions:
1. The purpose of the pericardium is to protect and contain the heart.
2. Arteries differ from veins in that the arteries are thicker and have more muscle than the veins because they need to pump the blood to the rest of the body. The veins also have a larger volume.
3. The purpose of the auricles is to pump blood into the atria. The left auricles pump the oxygenated blood into the left atrium, and the right auricles collect and transport deoxygenated blood into the left atrium.
4. The atria have more fat and fold over, and the right side is much smaller than the left side of the heart because it does not need to pump oxygenated blood to the rest of the body. The left side is thicker because it contains more muscle.
5.The exit from the coronary sinus is a little indentation in the right atrium where the bundle of veins empty out, the inferior vena cava is a big vein that runs into the bottom of the right atrium, and the tricuspid valve is at the bottom of the right atrium and on top of the right ventricle, and it has three cusps and chordate tendinae, surrounded by papillary muscle.
6.

7. The anchoring of the valves by the chordate tendinae and papillary muscles is important because it makes sure that the valves are in place as it contracts. Because the valves undergo a lot of pressure and stress from the powerful contractions, if there was nothing to hold them down securely then they would easily be in the wrong orientation. 

8. 

9. The function of the semilunar valves is to prevent backflow of blood between the ventricles and the pulmonary artery and aorta. 

10. Because the right side of the heart is responsible for processing the deoxygenated blood, if the valves malfunction then there is nothing to prevent the backflow of deoxygenated blood. This causes there to be a build up of both oxygenated and deoxygenated blood in excess in the feet and ankles. If the same thing happened to the other side, then the person would likely have shortness of breath, dizziness and or fainting, and chest pain because there is not enough oxygenated blood going to the rest of the body. 

11. 

12. The left and right sides of the heart differ from each other in that the right side is much smaller than the left side. This is because the right side of the heart has to pump oxygenated blood to the entire body, so it needs to have more muscle. The left side receives deoxygenated blood from the superior vena cava and the inferior vena cava, so it does not need a lot of muscle. Because of this, the left ventricle is much bigger and has  a thicker layer of myocardium than the right side. 

13. 

Unit 3 Reflection

This unit was about the circulatory system and respiratory system, particularly about the heart and blood vessels. The cardiovascular system works by taking inhaled oxygen and transporting it to the rest of the body through blood vessels. Cardiovascular health revolves around the blood vessels; if a blood vessel becomes thin with an aneurysm, then heart disease can occur.A stroke occurs when theres is a blood clot in the blood vessel. In a recent lab, we learned about blood pressure and how it was measured: 

http://alexandriatso17.blogspot.com/2015/10/measuring-blood-pressure-lab-analysis.html

To promote cardiovascular health, one should not smoke or consume excess alcohol or drugs. One should eat healthy, maintain weight by exercising, and getting enough sleep. However, genetics do play a big role. I would like to learn more about how stress directly causes heart disease, as well as how big of an impact genetics have and to what extent we can reduce the risk of heart disease by counteracting genetic factors. 

In this unit, some strengths I had were that I had learned many concepts over summer before, so I knew the anatomy of the heart very well. One weakness I had was that I had not learned about the blood vessels in detail before. Some successes include my group's teamwork when we did the heart dissection because we were all very eager and competent, so there was very little confusion. There honestly haven't been many setbacks except for the unit test, but I have no idea what happened there. 

As for my health goals, I have successfully gotten enough sleep lately, particularly because my SATs happened recently and I was a lot more determined to get enough sleep. I have also been able to get enough exercise through regularly doing yoga, which hasn't been too hard to fit in because I find that it really helps me unwind for sleep. Goals that I have for the remainder of the semester would be to continue to get enough sleep and to also try to always set aside time to strengthen my relationships. 

Monday Wellness Reflection

Link to Prezi: https://prezi.com/tgam4rpdipon/did-someone-say-snack-time/

For our monday wellness presentation, we chose to talk about the habit of unhealthy snacking in American society and its health implications, and also propose a healthier lifestyle by teaching the class how to make their own healthy snack. We chose to do snacking because we felt like it was a really overlooked problem within the American culture. People always talk about how important it is to eat healthy, with heavy emphasis on meals and post workout foods, as we have clearly seen in our prior monday wellness presentations. However, if people eat unhealthy snacks excessively, they undo all the other work that they do in their workouts and healthy meals. It is imperative that people understand how to snack properly. The most interesting thing I learned through this project was how unhealthy snacking, because it is high in LDL cholesterol and simple sugars and modified carbohydrates, can lead to atherosclerosis, as well as hypertension. This was a really direct implication and demonstration of a combined set of concepts that we learned in class, and I thought that our project really connected both health unit and the circulatory system well. As mentioned previously, this topic is very important for maintaining health and wellness because in our culture, people snack so often that it is unhealthy, on top of all the detrimental ingredients in the food that they eat. If people eat healthy meals and get enough sleep and exercise but consume too many unhealthy snacks, then they undo all the other work that they do and become unfit and unhealthy. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being good, I would give myself a 10 because I worked really well with Simrun and we both did a lot of research for the presentation, and also spent hours formatting the presentation. We also had to invent our own version of a healthy snack, which took trial and error. Even though we went over time, I don't think that points should be docked because a large chunk of our time was spent waiting for the class to finish their blog posts, gather the ingredients from the back of the room, and generally transition from activity to activity. If you do not account for the time spent doing these events, then we are well within the time limit. Something else that I find interesting about the topic of snacking that we were not able to explore fully due to the time constraint was how other countries snack. America is notorious for their unhealthy snacking  culture, and although we were able to integrate another culture's perspective through the buzz feed video, it would have been even better if we could have Americans commenting on Italian snacks. I would bet that Italian snacks are healthier because I know that Italians have a really huge respect for fresh and natural food, so they would be much more motivated to consume and buy snacks that are much healthier with less faulty labels and harmful ingredients. It would also be interesting to compare the life expectancies of Italians and Americans from the perspective of their snacking. Assuming Italians eat healthier snacks, then technically they should live longer. Americans have a pretty short life expectancy compared to many other countries, especially Asian countries. This is likely because Asian countries eat a lot healthier foods. When you go to an Asian restaurant, majority of the menu items are not excessively oily, fatty, or salty, which are all trademark characteristics of American food. (587 words) 

Measuring Blood Pressure Lab Analysis Questions

1. The systolic pressure was significantly higher than the diastolic pressure, which makes sense because there must be a greater pressure when blood is being pumped by the heart to the organs versus when the heart is not actively using force to pump.
2. A Sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff) is used to measure blood pressure. To measure heart rate, a stethoscope can be used, or it can be measured by auscultation.
3. It is bad to use your thumb to measure a pulse because you may easily confuse it with your own pulse.
4. First, wrap the cuff decently tight around the patient's arm slight above the elbow. Then, squeeze the pump in quick, short bursts until the pressure reaches around 150. Slowly release the air until you hear a pulse with a stethoscope placed on the bronchial artery directly above the elbow crease. Count the number of pulses until it can no longer be heard. Record the pressure at which your first heard the pulse and when you could last hear the pulse. Release the pressure in the cuff and remove equipment.
Here are the pictures of the data table and the lab:

Unit 2 Reflection

Health is a measure of how well your body can function, as well as its overall wellbeing. I think that I am relatively health in terms of nutrition, social, and exercise, but I do not get enough sleep and I get stressed out when I have big assignments or tests, or when I just have too many things I need to finish soon. Compared to the students at SHS, I think that I am slightly more healthy because even though we all do not get enough sleep and are stressed out, I can bet that I eat healthier than most of them. Here is a nutrition analysis I did: http://alexandriatso17.blogspot.com/2015/09/nutrition-analysis-using-supertracker.html . The post's graphs show that on most days, I would be quite close to the targeted levels in most of the nutrient categories. What should be done to promote better health on campus is obviously to reduce homework and have some of the teachers put less pressure on the students; some teachers on campus are really ruthless and don't sympathize for all the things students must get done and instead strictly enforce due dates of numerous assignments. Also, the cafeteria sells so many unhealthy processed foods, so they should work on selling healthier foods, including more veggies especially. Some essential themes and understandings from this unit would be balance, variety, and moderate. It is really important to have a balance of nutrients in your diet, as well as a balance in your life between all five pillars of health; if one pillar falls short, the whole "temple" of health collapses eventually. You should also include a variety of foods in your diet, but of course never overconsume, especially overcarbsume. 

I learned a lot about the different hormones that are involved in maintaing the body's health, including leptin, insulin, glucagon, and cortisol, and how it is really easy to create an imbalance in the hormonal levels and start a cycle of deteriorating health. I still don't fully understand REM sleep as well as I would like to, but that's probably because I am really interested in this area and would like to know all the details about it. for example, if you have multiple REM cycles in one night, why do you only remember one dream? is there a certain mechanism in the brain that controls which one you remember, or is it just the last one you have before you wake up that you remember? If it is the latter, then what makes you forget all the other dreams, especially since your brain is just as active? Is the ability to remember your dreams compromised by the REM stage?

In the next unit, I will improve by starting to study for the tests earlier, as well as making sure I date all my notebook entries the day we do the assignment so that I am not trying to fill in dates the night before the notebook check. As for a real world application, one of the things I found really interesting was an iphone app that acts as an alarm clock, and analyzes your sleep patterns. This app helped me analyze my own sleep patterns every night, and through the graph it shows me every morning when I wake up, i can see how many cycles of REM sleep I had at what time during the night, and what times I fell asleep and woke up. I thought that this was pretty cool because it differed from night to night; some nights when I was more stressed out there were a lot of fluctuations in my graph; there was not as much rem sleep, and there were more periods in nrem stages. Even if I didn't consciously know I was stressed out, subconsciously I was, and my sleep patterns reflected this, which I found to be extremely interesting. Below are three pictures that represent the sleep, social, and exercise pillars of the 5 health pillars. 

Nutrition Analysis Using SuperTracker

From my diet monitoring, I learned that I should be eating more fruits more consistently, and consuming more refined grains, as I do not eat many foods that are high in carbohydrates. I also learned that I overeat proteins, but consume enough calcium and vegetables on a daily basis. From the Falcon Market lab, I learned that it is very easy to be fooled by commercial packaging and marketing strategies on the food in super markets, as a lot of the products are packaged to look like they are natural and healthy, when in fact they contain lots of unhealthy chemicals that are detrimental to your health. Not only that, but many foods also manage to sneak in hydrogenated oils, or trans fats, without clearly stating it on the packaging. One specific example of my nutrient deficiencies/excesses is that on Day 1, the graph showed that I only consumed about 60% of my recommended intake for the Whole Fruit category. In Days 2 and 3, I gradually increased my intake in whole fruit, rising to almost 75% on Day 2 and about 80% on day 3. One thing to note about the data is that I regularly take calcium supplements, so the Cheese category on the three days is inaccurately portrayed, as I do get sufficient amounts of calcium daily. 

Here are the screenshots of the 3 days:

Day 1: 

Day 2

 Day 3

To improve my diet, I will continue to increase my intake in fruit until I reach the 100% threshold, and try to keep my intake of refined grains constant. To increase my intake in whole fruit, I will incorporate more fruit into my diet during the day, such as eating grapes or apples with my toast during breakfast, or bringing fruit to snack on at school. To limit my intake of carbohydrates to a constant rate, I will try to pay closer attention to the types of foods that contain a high amount of refined grains and only eat those in moderation. For example, on Day 2, I had a couple of cookies for snack and some noodles for dinner, but since those are both fairly high in refined grains, it basically blew up my refined grains category. In the future, if I know that I am going to have noodles for dinner, then I will remember to get another snack, such as a a bowl of fruit, instead of a few cookies. This way, the intake on refined grains can be limited and I am still able to have a yummy, healthy afternoon snack. 

If I had the opportunity to coach someone on proper health and nutrition, I would definitely warn them to pay close attention to the products that they buy and watch out for refined grains and detrimental chemicals and other substances in food products, such as hydrogenated oils. People tend to not pay as much attention to refined grains, so as the day goes on, the amount they consume exceeds the recommended daily amount very quickly. Hydrogenated oils should not be eaten because they are shown to increase the LDL "Bad" cholesterol while lowering the HDL "good" cholesterol, which in causes a multitude of health concerns including heart disease. I would tell the person I am coaching to make sure that they eat enough fruits and vegetables. Even though I always eat enough vegetables, I don't think that majority of the American population consumes enough vegetables on a daily basis, and whole fruits are often overlooked and insufficiently consumed because people favor deserts and other unhealthy sweets, such as candy and ice cream.  

Health Collage

Health to me means a balanced lifestyle where you and the people around you are happy. The pillars I am strongest at are nutrition, exercise, and social as I get exercise through swimming and am able to interact with children when I coach swimming and through my club at school. I hope to improve in sleep because as a junior, I do not get enough sleep in order to function optimally. This can hopefully be done by completing work more efficiently and therefore sleeping earlier. I would like to learn more about the social aspect of health, as a lot of emphasis has been placed on the other areas, but not so much on the social aspect of health, like what exactly it includes, and how it affects and connects with the other areas of health.

Unit 1 Reflection

This unit was about the four main types of tissue, specifically their function and structure. We also learned about the anatomical positions and the four macromolecules. The themes of this unit were how form fits function, and how all the different functions work together to serve a specific purpose in the human body. I think one of the key essential understandings was to be able to describe and locate any point on the body, as well as understand the main components of the human body, which include epithelia, connective tissue, muscle, and nervous tissue. I learned a lot about these different cells, specifically epithelial and connective tissues, as well as the structure of smooth and skeletal muscles. I did not know that skeletal muscles were multinucleate, and another interesting thing I learned was that epithelial cells are continuous sheets and not only serve as protection, but are also responsible for absorption, secretion, filtration, and forming slippery surfaces. I still do not fully understand the functions of neuroglial cells and also why bones and blood cells count as connective tissue. Next unit, I will improve by studying for the test earlier, and also writing neater if I can so that my notes are easier to read. One real world connection is a pathologist. If someone were to be a pathologist, his understanding and fluency of the anatomical positions would be crucial because he would have to describe where various injuries are on a human body. He would also need to know all the major components of the human body, and how the injuries could have affected the organs or other body parts to cause death. If the pathologist did not have a good understanding on the human body, then there is no way that he would be able to do his job with accuracy and reliability. Even if someone doesn't become a pathologist, knowing the anatomical positions is especially useful because if you or someone else is injured, then you need to describe the anatomical position of the injury to an EMS personnel over the phone. Here are 3 pictures that summarize this unit:

Tissue Lab Relate and Review

Through this lab, I was able to get a really good visualization of what the cells look like and the location of their nuclei, as well as how the cells all interact together. One cell that I thought was particular interesting was the human bone cell, which showed a beautiful black center with lighter gray patterned regions around it. The dark center of the bone was where the blood vessel would flow through, and it was surrounded by the dense, hard gray bone around it. See below for a picture:

The differences between the different tissue types is the shapes of the cells. For example, connective tissue tends to be more l=columnar in shape, and is often very compactly packed together in groups. This makes sense because connective tissues cannot have holes in them, as they have to completely wrap around organs and fill space in between the different organs. Nerve cells are much rounder and tend to be in random circular clumps. They have tiny axons and dendrites, and they can be more spaced out because information can be passed between cells efficiently between dendrites of cells. Muscular cells are often larger and appear more branched, with multiple nuclei and striations, as seen in the human smooth muscle. They need multiple nuclei and lots of space (thus there is branching) because they must code lots of proteins and have space to contract.

Cell Specialization: Cardiomyocytes

This is a picture of cardiomyocytes that are about 1 month old under a microscope, taken by me in a lab at Stanford. Cardiomyocytes are heart muscle cells, and they are located within the human heart. Cardiomyocytes are 0.02mm wide and .1 mm long, making them short, narrow, and rectangular. Similar to a skeletal muscle cell, cardiomyocytes are marked with grooves of skinny dark and light bands. These cells contain one nucleus, and mostly have the same organelles of a typical eukaryotic cell, but they have many mitochondria, as they need a lot of energy in order to contract. One unique feature of cardiomyocytes is that there are irregularly spaced dark bands between the cells, which are called intercalated discs. They essentially act as a "glue" that allows all the cells to contract in unison.  The main function of Cardiomyocytes is to contract, so that as a whole, it is the driving force that pumps blood and other nutrients to the entire body. These cells are also responsible for controlling a steady, constant rhythmic heartbeat. Cardiomyocytes form interlacing bundles that become heart muscles tissue, and these cells make up one of the three major types of muscles.

Please see Works Cited page for the resources that I used.

The Sweetest Lab Ever!

In our first lab, we learned different structures and functions of various carbohydrates, and then conducted a taste test to see how the structure of the carbohydrate affected its sweetness. The relationship we found between the structure and taste was that the fewer rings a carbohydrate had, the sweeter it tasted. Monosaccharides such as glucose and fructose tasted much sweeter than polysaccharides such as starch and cellulose. Fructose was the sweetest carbohydrate, and it is used in high fructose corn syrup to sweeten many manufactured foods. Lactose is from milk, and has a distinct remnant of milk in its aftertaste. Finally, starch tasted a little papery, which makes sense as paper is essentially made from the starch of trees. 

According to NPR, in the human body, our sense of taste is centralized on our tongue, and the tip of the tongue has the sweet receptors to taste. When our tongue tastes a sweet substance, the substance is reacting chemically with with the taste buds on our tongue. When the sweet protein receptor meets the sweet substance, the taste buds send a signal to the brain which makes the body react to sweetness.