Category: Posts
The Immune System — Our Body Defenses
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Humans come into contact with external agents on a daily basis, agents that could be harmful if allowed the opportunity to enter the body. The most severe are dangerous disease-causing microorganisms, pathogens, or ab...
A Brief Introduction to the Upper Limb
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The upper limb is the region of the skeleton that is known for its mobility and dexterity. It is the area of the skeleton that is able to grasp, strike and conduct fine motor skills. It is supported and stabilized by ...
Stroke: The Silent Killer
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Stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) is the most common cause of brain damage. More specifically, a stroke is the rapid loss of brain function due to the disruption of blood supply to the brain. In turn, a signifi...
Bone Development — Some Concise Notes for Review
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The early skeleton of a fetus is composed of cartilage and connective tissue. As the fetus grows these components are then replaced by bone, a process called ossification. This process can take many years to complete....
Medical Terminology Explained
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One of the most important foundations when learning anatomy and biology is to know correct terminology and how to use it. Today, I will be discussing some of the most common terms used in these areas. It might seem ov...
What’s the Big Deal About Stress? A Look into the Stress Hormone – Cortisol
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Stress can be initiated by a number of physical or emotional triggers. Your stress level will increase if you are physically sick with a cold or just had surgery. Not to mention, the mental and emotion...
An Introduction to the Skeletal System: Bones and Cartilages
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The human skeleton is composed of cartilage and bones. There are in all 206 bones. It is divided into two functional parts: Axial Skeleton Appendicular skeleton The axial skeleton consists of bones of the ...
Balancing GI Bacteria with Probiotics
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You’ve heard all about them, or seen them advertised in your food: yogurt, sauerkraut, and even pickles! But what are they exactly? And why are they good for you? Read on to find out! Probiotics are live microorgan...
Blood Pressure: Short-term and Long-term Control Measures
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Last time we discussed the effects of blood pressure determinants on blood pressure, in essence stating how these determinants control blood pressure. In this last installment on blood pressure we’ll seek to get a cle...
Megaloblastic Anemia
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Megaloblastic anemia is a term used to describe a group of blood disorder which is characterized by a defect in DNA synthesis and by a change in the size of the RBC. The red blood cells are very large. When DNA sy...
Handling pH: How Your Body Regulates Acididity
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When it comes to pH, your body likes to keep a tight control of the balance between acidity and alkalinity. The normal range for pH in your body is between 7.35-7.45 so, very slightly alkaline. At times, this balance...
The Basics of Cellular Respiration
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What is Cellular Respiration? Cellular respiration is the set of reactions that produces ATP. ATP, quite possibly the most talked about molecule in biology, is our energy currency. Cellular respiration uses glucos...
A General Overview on Diabetes and the Physiology Behind It
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We all have met a diabetic person at one point or the other in our life. Diabetics are normal people, but don't you wonder why are they called Diabetics? What's going on with them? Why are they so particular about wha...
Blood Pressure Regulation at a Glance: How Determinants Affect Blood Pressure
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In continuation of my article from last week I want to dig a little deeper into the mechanism of the regulation of blood pressure. Last week, we stated that the two divisions of the Autonomic Nervous System (Sympathet...
Voluntary Muscular Control and The Corticospinal Tract
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Last week we looked at an ascending track, the lateral spinothalamic tract. This week we’ll be looking at a descending track. If you remember, an ascending track is a neural pathway that sends information from d...
How Does Lactose Affect Gastrointestinal Function?
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Lactose is a disaccharide sugar found mainly in cow’s milk and milk derivates. It is basically “milk sugar.” Lactose, in its disaccharide form, cannot be broken down in your gut. It needs an enzyme to get the job done...
Synopsis of the Common Forms of Dermatitis
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This week, I would like to discuss a little about a condition near and dear to me: dermatitis. I actually suffer from two forms of it and feel that while it is common, not many people know exactly what it is or the di...
Blood Pressure and its Regulation
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When we think about blood pressure it is the mean arterial pressure that is monitored and regulated by the body. It is the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps blood to the syste...
Introduction To The Spinothalamic Tract
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I think it's time to make a jump, and to look at the nervous networked that feeds the brain information about what's going on with the body. There are two types of information relays. There are pathways that transm...
Lymphopoiesis: The Development of Lymphocytes
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[caption id="" align="alignright" width="73"] Fig.1 Lymphocyte[/caption] Lymphocytes are the smallest and the second most common type of white blood cell. They are known as the cells of immunity. Lymphocytes have l...
Functional Anatomy of the Knee: Movement and Stability
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The knee is a joint formed, stabilized and given mobility by the articulation of bones, ligaments and tendons. This joint is the largest joint in the body and is formed by the articulation of the femur bone in the thi...
Classification of Secondary Metabolites: How Plants and Humans Use Them
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Plants produce a variety of compounds that can be divided into primary metabolites and secondary metabolites. Primary metabolites are essential for the survival of the plant and include sugars, proteins and amino acid...
Erythropoiesis – Formation of Red Blood Cells
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Because of the inability of erythrocytes (red blood cells) to divide to replenish their own numbers, the old ruptured cells must be replaced by totally new cells. They meet their demise because they don’t have the usu...
Ionotropic vs Metabotropic Receptors
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In our previous article, I mentioned that after neurotransmitters are released into the synaptic cleft, they diffuse until they reach the postsynaptic membrane. There, they bind with either ionotropic or metabotropic ...
Function and Synthesis of Hemoglobin
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What is hemoglobin? Hemoglobin is the main protein in mature red blood cells. Each RBC contains over 600 million hemoglobin molecules. It is tetramer, that is, one molecule of hemoglobin in adult is composed of four...
Anatomy of the Plant Cell vs a Human Cell
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This week, I would like to take a break from human anatomy and move on to something different: plant cell anatomy. I know botany is not everyone’s cup of tea; I am included in that category. It may not be the most exc...
Fiber and You: Keeping Your GI system healthy
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I’m sure you’ve heard many times in your life to, “Eat your vegetables, they’re good for you!” But have you ever wondered why they’re so good for you? Besides the fact that vegetables are full of beneficial nutri...
The Chemical Synaptic Transmission — How It Happens
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Electrical information is conducted through the body along neurons. But neurons are not infinitely long (although some can be pretty long and measure above 1 m in length) and they “synapse” on each other. The probl...
Production and Regulation of RBCs
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As humans each day we produce approximately 2 billion red blood cells. But the question is, how do we accomplish this? Well, we accomplish this task through a complex and well regulated process called erythropoiesis. ...
Basics of Hormone Classification
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My article from last week focused on the key components of the endocrine system. Following the same idea, I thought it would be ideal to do a follow up article on the classification of hormones and even mention some o...
What Happens When We Eat? Gastric Motility
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When we eat a meal, we don't usually think about what is happening in our bodies once we've left the dinner table. So what happens when we eat a meal? Gastric secretion begins before you even start eating! The v...
A Look Into the Major Neurotransmitters of the Nervous System
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Major Neurotransmitters Acetylcholine. During the early stages of neuroanatomy exploration, scientists were not sure how neurons transmitted their information. Was it all electrical conduction or did chemicals p...
A Brief Review on The Study of Blood and Its Different Components
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What is Hematology? Hematology is the study of the blood. Blood is a fluid that is necessary for the maintenance of life. Without it we would all be dead. We need blood to maintain good health. Blood carries nut...
Don’t Forget About the Endocrine System! (The Key Players in Maintaining Body Homeostasis)
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Sadly, the endocrine system takes a back seat to the other systems of the body. However, without the endocrine system, our body would not be able to carry out many of its functions. What Exactly Is the Endocrine Syst...
How a Neural Crest Cell Makes Career Decisions
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In your classes about neural development you might have encountered these funny little cells called “the neural crest cells.” [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="354"] Neural Crest Cells. Image Credit Abitua[...
What Happens When Two Hybrid Traits are Bred Together? The Punnet Square Plus Some Fun Links in the End
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We know that, after Mendel bred tall and short plants, he got all tall plants as their off-springs. However, these off-springs were heterozygous or hybrid, meaning their gene imprint was Tt instead of pure line, which...
What Does the Neural Plate Have to Do With College Competition? (From a Neural Tube to the Entire Central Nervous System)
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In a previous article we looked at the formation of the neural tube. (If you need to, you can go back to that article and refresh your memory). In this article, we will take a look at what happens during developmen...
Mendel’s Law of Dominance
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Mendel's Law of Dominance can also be simply stated as: "In a cross of parents that are pure for contrasting traits, only one form of the trait will appear in the next generation. Offspring that are hybrid for a trai...
Overview of Three Common Bone Disorders — Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoporosis
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In my last two articles, I discussed the bones and joints. Now I would like to go over some of the common diseases that plague the skeletal system. It is important to be aware of some of these conditions for two reaso...
The Flexor Withdrawal/Crossed Extensor Thrust Reflex
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One Monday we covered a very famous stretch reflex, the myotatic reflex. Today I want to take you to another level of complexity with the flexor withdrawal/crossed extensor thrust reflex (that's a mouthful!). Th...
A Brief Review on Iron Deficiency Anemia
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What is Anemia? Anemia is a reduction in the number red blood cell (RBC) and the hemoglobin concentration of the blood. In other words, it is a condition in which our bodies do not produce enough healthy RBCs. R...
Why You Don’t Fall When You Stand: The Myotatic Reflex
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Today, Let's talk about another popular topic: Spinal reflexes. As humans, we are capable of a wide array of conscious movements, and conscious control of our behavior. Much so to the point that we often consider o...
Nephrons: Function of the Various Segments of the Renal Tubule
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As we have learned from my previous article on nephrons, the renal tubule is the part of the nephron in which the filtrate from the glomerulus enter. It consists of the following: Proximal convoluted tubule Prox...
An In Depth Look at the Bones: Classification and Structure of Skeletal Joints
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In my last article, I discussed the types of bones and how they were formed. I left out quite a bit on joints because their classification and structure results in a lengthy article, too. Joints are just as importa...
Why Pancreatic Cells Have More Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum
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Recently, a question was sent in by one of our readers: It has been found out that certain cells of the pancreas, which synthesize and release digestive enzymes (proteins), have more rough endoplasmic reticulum a...
What Foods to Avoid When You Suffer From Psoriasis (A Naturopathic View)
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As we discussed in in my previous article, your skin is a reflection of what is happening inside your body. The body separates nutrients and waste through the liver, kidneys, lungs (through breathing), and skin to rem...
Afferent and Efferent Projections of the Thalamus
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In a previous article, we covered the basic terminology and nuclei of the thalamus. Today, we are going to look at the projections that synapse onto the thalamus and those that depart from the thalamus! The Anterior ...
The Mechanism Behind Alcohol and How to Avoid a Hangover
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You’re probably familiar with alcohol, which is scientifically known as ethanol. But how much do you know about one of the oldest recreational drugs besides the fact that it can make a great party? If you’re intereste...
Bones: A Brief Review on its Functions, Types, Structure and Development
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Bones are often used as symbols of fear and death, such as the ever popular skull and cross bones. Sadly, this gives bones a bad reputation at times. Bones may appear simple, but they are quite fascinating and serve m...
Mendel’s Pea Plant Experiment — The Root of All in Genetics
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Mendel's pea plant experiment which lasted for over a decade was a huge scientific breakthrough. The pea plant has Seven different variable traits. Scientists say that it was due to his luck and the ever important ...
