Sheep Heart Lab Videos

Walkthrough / Tutorial Video

Heart Cycle Extra Credit Video

Sheep Heart Dissection Lab

Questions
1. What is the purpose of the pericardium?
It is the outermost layer surrounding the heart, like a sac. It serves to protect the heart

2. Observe the blood vessels connecting to heart. How do arteries differ from the veins in their structure?
Veins are smaller. Arteries carries blood away from the heart and vein bring blood to the heart.

3) What function do you think the auricle serves?
The auricle flaps are placed inside the left and right atrium to increase the capacity of the atria.

4) Q: Observe the external structures of the atrias and ventricles. What are the differences?

A:The walls of the ventricles are thicker and more muscular than those of the atria. The right ventricles is the depository for deoxygenated blood from the right atrium. The job of this ventricle is to pump the blood to the lungs so that it can obtain oxygen. The left ventricles is the powerhouse of the heart.

6) (Draw a) picture of the tricuspid valve, including chordae tendineae and the papillary muscle.

7) Why is the “anchoring” of the heart valves by the chordae tendineae and the papillary muscle important to the heart function?
When the heart contracts, the pressure on the valve flaps by blood is counteracted on by the chordae tendinae, anchoring the flaps closed. This keeps blood from flowing backwards through the circulatory system.

8) Using pictures / words, describe what you see after making a cut from the pulmonary veins to the left atrium.

From top to bottom of picture
- bicuspid / mitral / left atrioventricular valve
- chordae tendinae
- papillary muscles

9. What is the function of the semi-lunar valves?
The semilunar valves stop blood from flowing back into the heart from the pulmonary artery and aorta.

10. Valvular heart disease is when one of the heart valves does not work properly. Improperly functioning heart valves can lead to regurgitation, which is the backflow of blood through a leaky value. Ultimately this can lead to congestive heart failure, a condition that can be life threatening.
a) If the valve disease occurs on the right side of the heart, it results in swelling in the feet and ankles. Why might this happen? 
heart disease on the right side of the heart damages the inferior and superior vena cavas, thus blocking the path of blood back to the heart. The pressure will eventually build and cause the veins to expand to compensate.

b) If the valve disease occurs on the left side of the heart, what complications would you expect to see?
Fatigue, soreness, or, in extreme cases, death of tissue that is not able to acquire oxygenated blood due to damage to the pulmonary vein, on the left side of the heart.

11. Using pictures / words, describe what you see after opening the cut from the anterior aorta wall to the apex of the left ventricle.

green - aortic semilunar valve
red     - chordae tendinae (bicuspid valve) [the strings]
white  - papillary muscle (bicuspid valve) [the lumps of muscles, base of chordae tendinae]

12. Describe how the left and right sides of the heart differ from each other.
The left side of the heart receives oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it to the rest of the body through the aorta, and thus its myocardium is larger and thicker than the right side, which receives deoxygenated blood from the body, and only has to pump it a short way to the lungs.

13. Draw and label all structures visible in the interior of the cross-section.

1) Right Atrium
2) Tricuspid Valve
3) Right Ventricle
4) Left Arium
5) Bicuspid Valve
6) Left Ventricle
7) Chordae Tendinae
8) Papillary Muscles
9) Interventriclar Septum

Unit 3 Reflection

        This unit was mainly focused on, what I feel to be, the memorization and understanding of the circulatory system. The circulatory system, also sometimes called the cardiovascular system, is the system that is an umbrella category for the main organs regulating blood flow, and the blood's functions. The first organ that comes to mind is probably the heart, because it is the main, shall we say, checkpoint of the blood stream, and also functions as a pump, which creates the flow of blood throughout the body. As its myocardium layer contracts, it creates pressure (using valves) which then immediately dissipates with the movement of blood through its channels, such as arteries, arterioles, capillaries, venules, and then veins back to the heart.
        In these channels, atherosclerosis can occur. Atherosclerosis is the buildup of plaque on the walls of these channels, caused by excessive amounts of LDL (low-density lipoproteins). This buildup can cause sections to be blocked off, and if the blockaded section is important enough, like the coronary artery to the heart, essential organs may be damaged and eventually die, killing the organism in the process. That is the true root of heart diseases and even strokes.

Heart Chalk Walk Video

        To maintain and manage my personal cardiovascular health, I will workout with more cardiovascular exercises, and eat less saturated / trans fats, to keep the LDL in my bloodstream low. What I wanted to delve deeper into this unit was how these fatty deposits actually made their way into the bloodstream, as we have only covered the lungs and how it injects oxygen into the red blood cells.
        This unit was filled semi-new terms, and thus I spent more time than usual studying notes and the like. Even after this though, the sections I knew were the most complex, and least discussed, were on the test itself (like the type of test used to diagnose specific cases). I should begin studying earlier and review notes and what activities were done in class every other day, at least.

Monday Wellness (Tuesday 11/3) Reflection

Usually the people that go to a conference, seminar, or other type of presentation as audience members are the ones that expect to learn. The irony is that the host- in this case the presenter(s)- have most likely learned more about themselves, in aspects such as work ethic, time management, and organizational methods, and the topic in question than any audience members engaged in passive listening.
During the initial stages of our planning, we were mainly focused on getting a topic that would be the most supported by scientific evidence, because of the 40 minute lecture time that was given to us to fill. The thing is, when we factored in the “commonality” portion of the assignment- where the topic chosen should be either “something you already do to feel well or something that you are interested in learning more about” (from the instructions)- there were very few options that had, by itself, a multitude of effects that could be easily backed up with scientific facts. Thus we switched our criteria to a topic most relatable to the current unit, and also had connections to other aspects of life. In summation, we chose “relatability”, like the Relate and Reviews you have us do in class to increase our absorption of the material, as our main motivator for choosing jump rope.
Jumping rope, and just jumping in general, has many interesting and often overlooked qualities. It was remarkable how a single exercise was able to demonstrate three organs that could adapt to the stress that was placed upon them: the heart, the lungs (specifically the diaphragm), and bones. The heart becoming larger through cardiovascular exercise is honestly something that didn’t expect. Upon further research, though, I was stopped in my tracks with unanswered questions (like: can the heart grow big enough to be a problem as it is surrounded, in part, by the lungs?) because of the restrictions on scientific papers. One of the most important points, though, that I may not have emphasized sufficiently, is the improvement in coordination that jumping rope can do for your efficiency and precision of movement. The habit of staying on your toes is one I frequently neglect, and thus feel the effects of the most, as a badminton and ultimate frisbee player.
      After the presentation concluded and I looked up to the clock to confirm the time, I was demoralized at only just reaching the thirty minute mark. During run throughs of our presentation (with my double lecture), we averaged at around thirty five minutes without any people responding to our questions, so I naturally assumed that we would break the 40 minute margin during the actual presentation. Unfortunately, I spoke too quickly under stress and cut down the time by a substantial margin. All in all, I feel that the live presentation deserved a 9 / 10 or maybe even a 8.5 / 10.
Initially, there were some activities and secondary engagement tools that I planned to incorporate, but during the week prior to our presentation, we quickly realized that it would be near impossible to develop them to the point where they would look professional during the actual presentation, and thus had to cut them out. This included a jump rope activity demonstrating the “talk test” where we would have split the class into two teams, and provided them with questions from Unit 3, as a review for the test.

Blood Pressure Virtual Lab

From http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/virtual_labs_2K8/labs/BL_14/

Follow the virtual lab procedure, and answer the questions below.  Answer in complete sentences. Please leave spaces between questions and your answers.

1. What factors are known to cause increases in blood pressure?

The habits of an unhealthy lifestyle are mostly congruent to the factors raising blood pressure, such as inactivity, malnutrition, and stress.

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.

If a high(er) age range is selected for testing, then their average blood pressure will be high(er).

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

They could have increased risk of heart diseases, kidney failure, and/or cardiovascular problems, such as a stroke.

4. Analyze the results of your experiment. Explain any patterns you observed.

After the analyzing the results of the lab, for people between the ages of 18 & 54, Females had, on average, a lower blood pressure than males in their identical respective age group. This could be attributed to the double standards of society, where men are usually the ones working physically harder, and thus have a higher blood pressure because of the physical taxation. Secondly, I noticed that the more the survey boxes were checked “yes,” the higher the blood pressure of the patient would be. This is most likely due to the link of all of the questions in the survey to be factors in increasing heart pressure. Third, the older the age group was, the higher the average blood pressure would be. This is probably due to the continual process of atherosclerosis inside of our arteries, which lessens the space blood can flow through, and thus increases pressure. Lastly, I noticed a direct relationship of BMI (body mass index) value to blood pressure. A possible cause of this might, again, be due to atherosclerosis, as people with a high BMI usually have more fat.

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?

Yes, it supported my hypothesis because the higher the age group I tested, the more people had hypertension. Also, the females of the group consistently had a lower blood pressure than the males, minus the 11-17 age group.

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?

As, I mentioned before, the questions on the survey seemed to directly tie into the subject's blood pressure, and all of the topics: genetics (family history), a diet high in sodium, a lack of exercise, and whether the subject consumed alcohol were met with an elevated blood pressure when the subject answered positively.

7. List risk factors associated with the hypertension. Based on your observation, which risk factor do you think is most closely associated with hypertension?

Hypertension is caused by a variety of factors, some being: High BMI, alcohol consumption, old age, a high-sodium diet, a lack of exercise, and a genetic history of high blood pressure. The factor most closely related to being the hypertension source would probably be a family genetic history of high blood pressure, as more than half- actually around 70-80%- of the people with the highest blood pressure per age group had little in common other than the fact that they all admitted to having a family history of hypertension.

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?

What I noticed during the data analysis, was that every person that had a BMI of less than 30 did not have hypertension. There were people with a BMI of less than 30 that did have hypertension though, so it can’t be a surefire cause. Virtually all of the other factors mentioned in Q7 can influence your blood pressure, and thus whether you are considered to have hypertension or not.

Lab: Measuring Blood Pressure

Heart Rate Data Table

	Subject 1 (bpm)	Subject 2 (bpm)	Average for Subjects
Pulse Rate (radial)	80	52	66
Pulse Rate (carotid)	60	68	64
Pulse Rate (stethoscope)	72	64	68
Average of Subject	70.7	61.3	66

Heart Pressure Data Table

	Subject 1	Subject 2
Trial 1: Blood Pressure (systolic/diastolic)	109/84	111/71
Trial 2: Blood Pressure (systolic/diastolic)	111/78	120/80

Question 1

Systolic pressure is the highest pressure measured where you can still feel your heartbeat, while diastolic pressure is the lowest pressure measured while you can still hear your heartbeat.

Question 2

To measure heart rate, you can use your fingers (not your thumb) or a stethoscope. To measure blood pressure, use a syphgmomanometer- also known as a blood pressure cuff- in conjunction with a stethoscope.

Question 3

The thumb has its own pulse, and would throw off the results.

Question 4

After wrapping it around your upper arm, place the stethoscope on the artery and begin to use the air pump to increase the pressure. Once there is no longer a pulse, use the valve to slowly release the pressure. The pressure reading at the beginning of the blood flow noise is systolic pressure, while the reading when the noise dissipates is diastolic pressure.

Unit 2 Reflection

         Health is the state your body is in, relative to the complete working functions of the average human. I unfortunately, am not very healthy as the pillar of relaxation and recoup has crumbled for me. I get around two-thirds of the sleep I'm supposed to be getting, and see this phenomenon around campus with extreme frequency. There should be a mandatory time to turn in assignments online, but this cannot be regulated as well with written assignments and studying. A central theme of this unit was the ways to maintain homeostasis in your body, and keep that internal environment from breaking down                                                                                       through external and internal factors.
     I learned a little more about human bodies (their anatomy and physiology) such as the stress hormones like aldosterone and their function, like the production of adrenaline and the increase in retention of certain ions in the organs of the excretory system. I am still confused, however, on the idea that marriage can be good for health, as I didn't acquire that reading and the discussion about it was really short. In the next unit I will probably want to start studying before the day before the test, as this late-night study-session actually impairs my test taking ability. Well, we shall see.


        The implications of not getting enough sleep are highly prominent in my life, as I have seen in my daily life, like the one time I was so tired from pulling an all-nighter to write an essay, finish a project, and study for a test, I ended up with a low C on it. I wasn't able to process information and ended up sleeping with my eyes open for a good half of the test. This will hopefully reinforce my choices in the future about whether I should sacrifice sleep for extra studying time.


My goals were to get physically stronger by reinforcing as many of the pillars of health as possible, and that the end result would show itself at the 7 mile march at the Rose Parade, a strenuous test of both physical and mental strength.

Nutrition Analysis

        During the Falcon Market activity and Supertracker assignment, I (re)learned the major food groups and the nutrients present in each. I now know to stay away from trans fats, or also known as hydrogenated fats, as they increase the risk of heart disease. I was able to reevaluate my diet, according to what the Supertracker website had limited me to, but I still feel that, with the physical activity I do and my rate of metabolism, the calorie limit per day is a little low. I was, on two out of the three days recorded on Supertracker, far exceeding my recommended limit for sodium intake, and this makes sense, as I seem to feel a little more thirsty the days I consume salty, or high sodium-content foods. To remedy this problem of sodium, I could try to ask my parents to put less sauce in home-made foods, or just tell them that I will add the sauce (the main source of sodium) into the food myself, to monitor and regulate my sodium balance. Also, I find myself lacking in vegetables. This can easily be rectified, through, with a side of salad or cucumbers to each meal, and is easily found in asian markets. If I were to pose as a dietician or the like, I would probably advise them to look carefully at ingredient labels, as I've learned that foods with less than one gram of trans(hydrogenated) fats are allowed to round down on the nutrition labels, but still are required to state it in the ingredients and manufacturing list.

9/16

9/15

9/17

What is "Health"?

         Through all of the information my brain sifts through each day, there are buried pieces of my own failure to maintain my well being, transmitted as pangs of pain, bouts of weakness, and an unfocused mind. I assume that these symptoms result from not sleeping enough each night, having more stress than normal placed upon my shoulders, and not eating right. I exhibit, though, plenty of social activity and exercise, mostly because of school-related activities. I would prefer to know more about health in general, but also the side effects and plainly visible symptoms of deprivation of each pillar so that it can be indicated to me.

Unit 1 Reflection

        Unit 1 was about the underlying structure of the anatomy physiology course, with terms classifying sections of the body with also some focus on general tissues and molecular structure.
The main, overarching themes of this unit were the optimization of structure for function; how our bodies' cells specialized into different tissues and, thus, organ systems to maintain homeostasis; and the four macromolecules inside us and other living things.

I was able to understand and review terms from some other science classes (Biology, Chemistry) and also learn more about how, where, and why my body has specific tissues, for example, the lining of my stomach, and also identify and describe them.

I still have a few questions about the structure of cartilage as it was only briefly talked about in the notes and I was not able to find any samples of it during the tissue lab. Also, I am interested in compact bone tissue, as it has a unique structure that is not explained on the poster, but I expect to get to it in a later chapter/unit.

During the next unit I hope to be able to draw more connections to the lab while working in the classroom, as I had to take it home and review terms to fully understand the things I was looking at through the microscope.

During this unit, I actually was inspired to research- on my own- the specifics of taste, not just the taste buds on the tongue (during the sweetness lab of course) and how their placement and number were correlated to one's genes. The edges of the tongue are actually the most taste receptive, with the little spots on its surface being the taste receptor sites.

Tissue Lab Relate and Review

         This lab was mostly a review lab for me, mostly reaffirming my knowledge (just in time for the unit 1 test), while also going a little bit more in depth than the cursory descriptive terms, such as squamous, cuboidal, columnar, stratification, and physical characteristics like nucleus count. Instead, using the slide names and posters, seeing which tissue structures were in each different regions or organs of the body allowed me to further understand the relations between the structure and function of the cell arrangements. For example, the connective tissue in the form of red and white blood cells on the "blood smear; human" sample revealed small, but circular red blood cells to create the most volume out of limited surface area and optimize the supply of oxygen moving around the bloodstream. In contrast, the slightly larger white blood cells were few and far between, but contained a visible dyed nucleus, showing its efficiency (with its large size) to engulf viruses and bacteria and use its nucleus to create immune cells. While connective blood cell tissue is spread apart between its cells, other tissues, especially the "stratified columnar epithelium; human" sample and the "human skeletal muscle" sample have little to no palpable space between cells, and thus confining the extra-cellular matrix to quick transport between cells and collagen fibers to strengthen the tissue's shape.

Specialized Blood Cells

        Blood cells are all cells that circulate in the bloodstream and make up blood, and are considered connective tissue because the bloodstream connects the body systems and has a wide range of functions for them (ex: transportation, removal of harmful substances, etc). They range from white blood cells to plasma to, the most commonly known, red blood cells. This post is specifically going to explain the characteristics and functions of the red blood cell. The red blood cell is circular in shape and has concave indents on both sides, so it looks like a pancake with a compressed inner area. The reason it seems red (and gives blood its red color) is due to the protein hemoglobin, which binds to oxygen and allows that oxygen to be transported throughout the body. One specific specialized trait of the red blood cell is that it doesn't contain a nucleus nor a any organelles. This allows the red blood cell to contain a large amount of hemoglobin, which then translates to an increased capability to hold and transfer oxygen. The red blood cell is, simply put, expendable. A single red blood has an average lifespan of 120 days, not including the loss of blood through cuts or other open wounds.

Sweetness Lab

August 25
Day of the Sweetness Lab

We examined the structures of carbohydrates at a molecular level, then hypothesized the possible sweetness "level" for each one, concluding the lab with a taste test.

It seems that monosaccharides are sweetest, with the exception of sucrose (a disaccharide consisting of glucose and fructose monomers is still very sweet)

Sucrose and fructose are common in our everyday life. Sucrose is table sugar and used as a sweetener for any food, while fructose occurs in all fruits and vegetables.

Ex Creds: The tongue tastes sweetness through interaction between the glucose or fructose monosaccharides and the protein TAS1R3 (taste receptor type 1, member 3) inside our mouths. The hydrogen atoms bonded on the ends of the saccharides align on the protein receptor, and this results in a stimulus applied to the cell. This interaction then causes the cell to send a signal through the nervous system and to the brain, which then manifests in a taste of sweetness. Depending on where we placed the sugar on our mouths, the taste of sweetness could be amplified or minimized. There are different regions for the sweetness receptor cells on our tongues, and thus there would be data discrepancy between the members of the group.

There is one source of error possible for this lab, being that the sweetness of each saccharide could be influenced by the taste of the one- or many- that came before it, causing a fluctuation in the recorded sweetness level. We were able to minimize this by going back and tasting the control sweetener (sucrose) before each sample, but there would still be slight effects.