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Bio.590-1.Intro
Integrative Physiology Ch. 1 - Introduction to Physiology
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Physiology | The study of the normal functioning of a living organism and its component parts, including all its chemical and physical processes. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, popularized the term in the context of medicine |
| Anatomy | Refers to the structure of the living organism, with less focus on the function. Despite this distinction, anatomy vs. physiology cannot be separated. |
| The Levels of Organization of living organisms | Atoms -> Molecules -> Cells -> Tissues -> Organs -> Organ systems -> Organisms -> Populations of one species -> Ecosystems of different species -> Biosphere |
| Distinguishing feature of the study of physiology | It encompasses many levels of organization, from the molecular level all the way to populations of a species |
| Cell | The smallest unit of structure capable of carrying out all life processes |
| Cells are separated from the external environment via a barrier called the | Cell (or plasma) membrane |
| Tissues | Collections of cells that carry out related functions |
| Organs | Structural and functional units formed from tissues |
| Organ systems | Groups of organs with their functions integrated |
| List the organ systems of the body | Circulatory, Digestive, Endocrine, Immune, Integumentary, Musculoskeletal, Nervous, Reproductive, Respiratory, Urinary. 10 in total. |
| Circulatory system | Heart, blood vessels, blood – Transport of materials between all cells of the body |
| Digestive system | Stomach, intestines, liver, pancreas – Conversion of food into particles that can be transported into the body; elimination of some wastes |
| Endocrine system | Thyroid gland, adrenal gland – Coordination of body function through synthesis and release of regulatory molecules |
| Immune system | Thymus, spleen, lymph nodes – Defense against foreign invaders |
| Integumentary system | Skin – Protection from external environment |
| Musculoskeletal system | Skeletal muscles, bones – Support and movement |
| Nervous system | Brain, spinal cord – Coordination of body function through electrical signals and release of regulatory molecules |
| Reproductive system | Ovaries and uterus, testes – Perpetuation of the species |
| Respiratory system | Lungs, airways – Exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the internal and external environments |
| Urinary system | Kidneys, bladder – Maintenance of water and solutes in the internal environment; waste removal |
| Four systems that exchange materials between internal and external environments: | 1) respiratory, 2) digestive, 3) urinary, 4) reproductive |
| What approach is taken with regard to determining the function of a physiological system? | The teleological approach to physiology, which asks the questions “why does the system exist and why does the event happen?” |
| What approach is taken with regard to determining the process (AKA mechanisms) of a physiological system? | The mechanistic approach to physiology which outlines “how” a system works, rather than why. |
| Adaptive significance | Why a certain function helps an animal survive in a particular situation. |
| Homeostasis | An organism’s ability to cope with an environment’s variability by keeping their internal environment relatively stable. |
| How did organisms ultimately evolve to obtain the ability of homeostasis? | Early organisms that lived in tropical seas had internal environments that were almost identical to their surroundings. As they moved into estuaries and land they required mechanisms to maintain internal stability |
| Extracellular fluid (ECF) | The watery internal environment of multicellular animals. It is the body of fluid that surrounds the cells. It serves as the transition between an organism’s external environment and the intracellular fluid inside cells |
| Intracellular fluid | The fluid inside cells |
| Because extracellular fluid is a buffer zone between the outside world and most cells of the body… | …elaborate physiological processes have evolved to keep its composition relatively stable. |
| List of variables under homeostatic control | 1) Environmental factors that affect cells (osmolarity, temperature, and pH); 2) materials for cells needs (nutrients, water, sodium, calcium, other inorganic ions, oxygen, and hormones and other related chemicals) |
| If the body fails to maintain homeostasis of the variables under homeostatic control… | …then normal function is disrupted and a disease state, or pathological condition, may result. |
| Diseases can be divided into two general groups according to their origin: | 1) Those in which the problem arises from internal failure of some normal physiological process (e.g. cancer, autoimmune, etc.), and 2) those that originate from some outside source |
| Pathophysiology | The study of body functions in a disease state |
| “-ome” and “-omics” suffixes | “-ome”: refers to the collection of items that make up a whole (e.g. genome and proteome); “-omics”: refers to the study of that particular “-ome” (e.g. genomics and proteomics). |
| Four major themes in physiology | (1) homeostasis and control systems; (2) biological energy use; (3) structure-function relationships; (4) and communication |
| Homeostasis and Control systems: Regulated variables | Certain key variables, such as blood pressure and blood glucose concentration, that must be held within a certain operating range. These variables are monitored and adjusted by physiological control systems |
| Physiological control system | Has three components: (1) and input signal; (2) a controller, which is programmed to respond to certain input signals; and (3) an output signal. Most control systems are more complex, integrating many functions |
| Structure-Function relationships | Integration of structure and function. Some structural influences on function include: (1) molecular interactions, (2) the division of the body into discrete compartments; (3) mechanical properties of cells/tissues/organs |
| (1) Molecular interactions | The ability of individual molecules to bind to or react with other molecules is essential for biological function, and this ability is intimately related to each molecule’s structure. E.g. enzymes, signal molecules, etc. |
| (2) Compartmentation of the body and of cells | Compartmentation, or the presence of separate compartments, allows a cell/tissue/organ to specialize and isolate functions. E.g. organelles (compartmentalization via membranes) |
| (3) Mechanical properties of cells/tissues/organs | Some of the mechanical properties of cells/tissues that influence function are: compliance (ability to stretch), elastance (ability to return to the unstretched state), strength, flexibility, and fluidity. |
| Communication: information flow | Information flow in the body takes the form of either chemical signals or electrical signals. Information may pass between neighboring cells (local communication) or across the whole body (long-distance communication) |
| Communication: signal transduction | Extracellular signal molecules that cannot enter the cell pass their message across the cell membranes by a process known as signal transduction |
| Mass flow | The movement of substances within and between compartments of the body. E.g. blood, air, gases, nutrients, wasted, etc. |
| Gradient | A driving forces, such as pressure or concentration, by which mass flow can occur |
| Resistance | Mass flow may be opposed by friction or other factors. Thus, in most instances, energy input is required to facilitate mass flow |
| Integration | Physiologists are trained to think about the integration of function across many levels of organization, from molecules to the living body |
| Emergent properties | Properties that cannot be predicted to exist based only on knowledge of the system’s individual components. E.g. consciousness can’t be predicted upon the understanding of a single neuron |
| Two types of maps used to understand how the different organ systems work together | (1) schematic representation of structure or function; and (2) a process map (AKA flow chart) |
| Translational research | AKA “bench to bedside”; translational research applies the insights and results gained from basic biomedical research to treating and preventing human diseases |
| Evidence-based medicine | Examining biomedical literature for evidence from tests and trials that will help guide their clinical decision making |
| _____ are the key elements of scientific inquiry | Observation and experimentation |
| Scientific inquiry | An investigator observes an event and, using prior knowledge, generates a hypothesis, or logical guess, about how the events take place. The next step is to test the hypothesis by designing and experiment |
| A common type of biological experiment… | …either removes or alters some variable that the investigator thinks is an essential part of an observed phenomenon. |
| Independent variable | The altered variable in an experiment |
| Dependent variable | The variable that depends on the independent variable and changes as a result of tweaking the independent variable |
| Control | A control group is usually a duplicate of the experimental group in every respect except that the independent variable is not changed from its initial value |
| Data | Information about the effect that the independent variable has on the dependent variable |
| Replication | The step of an experiment where an experiment is repeated to make sure that the results obtained were not an unusual, one-time event. |
| Model | When the data support a hypothesis in multiple experiments, the hypothesis may become a working model. |
| Scientific theory | Models with substantial evidence supporting them may be known as a scientific theory |
| There may be many reasons it is difficult to carry out physiological experiments in humans, including | Variability, psychological factors, and ethical considerations |
| Variability | Due to the wide range of values that are measured in humans in the context of blood pressure, etc. and investigator has to include a large number of similar subjects to acquire averages |
| Crossover study | One way to reduce variability; each individual acts both as experimental subject and as control. Thus each individual’s response to the treatment can be compared with his or her own control value |
| Placebo effect | If you give someone treatment and tell them what the effect will be, even if the treatment is invalid, the effect may still occur because the patient is convinced of it |
| Nocebo effect | If you tell someone about the adverse effects a drug may have, there’s a higher likelihood they’ll experience those effects, even if the treatment is an inert substance |
| How to control for the placebo and nocebo effects? | With a blind study |
| Blind study | A study in which the subjects do not know whether they are receiving the treatment or the placebo |
| Problems with blind studies | Problems can still arise if the researchers assessing the subjects know which type of treatment each subject is receiving. Thus, a double-blind study may be required |
| Double-blind study | A third party, not involved in the experiment, is the only one who knows which group is receiving the experimental treatment and which group is receiving the control treatment |
| Double-blind crossover study | A double-blind study in which the control group in the first half of the experiment becomes the experimental group in the second half, and vice versa. This is the most sophisticated approach to minimize psychological effects |
| Ethical concerns | Studies may be halted if there is excessive harm done, or if the treatment is working so well the control group should be immediately treated with it |
| Longitudinal studies | Designed to be carried out for a long period of time. |
| Prospective study | Follows a group over time that differs in certain factors to determine how those factors affect them. Many longitudinal studies are prospective studies |
| Cross-sectional studies | Surveys a population for the prevalence of a disease or condition |
| Retrospective studies | Match groups of people who all have a particular disease to a similar but healthy control group to see whether development of the disease can be associated with a particular variable |
| Meta-analysis of data | Combines all the data from a group of similar studies and uses sophisticated statistical techniques to extract significant trends or findings from the combined data |
| Journals | Scientific periodicals |
| Peer-reviewed | The research has gone through a screening process where the article is screened by an anonymous panel of two or three scientists whose credentials qualify them to judge the quality of the work |
| Review articles | A synopsis of recent research on a particular topic. When researching a new topic it’s a good idea to check review articles first because they’ll have the most recent information in summary form |
| How to cite a paper | Author(s). Article title. Journal Name volume(issue): inclusive pages, year of publication. |
| Paper citation example | Echevarria M and Ilundain AA. Aquaporins. J Physiol Biochem 54(2): 107 118, 1998. |
| Word for word quotes from other scientific papers are rarely used, most often paraphrasing is used. How to cite in the body of the paper? Example: | Some rare forms of epilepsy are known to be caused by mutations in ion channels (Mulley et al., 2003). |
| When to use et al. | When a paper has three or more authors. Et al. is Latin for “and others”. |
| Two ways to determine how a molecule or a gene works in an organism | 1) Knock out/lose the function of the gene in question. This is called a “loss-of-function” experiment. E.g. knock out the estrogen gene 2) Gain-of-function experiment: e.g. what will estrogen do in a male mouse? |
| Most powerful type of study | A study containing both loss-of-function and gain-of-function experiments |
| Disease is always a result of… | …loss of homeostasis |
| Analogy of the circulatory system | A closed system like a hose capped on both ends |
| What changes in an experiment? | Variable |
| Independent vs. dependent variable | Independent variable: the variable that you change (e.g. hours studied); dependent: the variable that changes as a result of the change of the independent variable, (e.g. the exam scores). |
| The ____ is plotted as a function of ____ | Dependent variable; the independent variable |
| Most important question regarding an experiment | Is the experiment valid? |
| Validity depends on | The way data were acquired, the numbers of data points acquired, and what the data points calculate out to be statistically |
| Experiments can be invalid if… | Data was recorded recklessly/erroneously, data was recorded unethically, etc. |
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