Anatomy and Physiology For Dummies

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But don’t restrict it to late-night cramming just before each test. Meet with your group at least once a week to go over lecture notes and textbook readings. If it’s true that people only retain about 10 percent of what they hear or read, then it makes sense that your fellow group members will recall things that slipped immediately from your mind. Outline what’s to come We want to make sure that you know where we’re coming from when we use certain terms. If you don’t look at the body from the correct perspective, you’ll have your right and left confused. This section shows you the anatomical position, planes, regions, and cavities, as well as the main membranes that line the body and divide it into major sections. Getting in position

If you’re a visual learner, you may get more out of anatomy and physiology by seeing the real thing in the flesh. If you’re an aural learner, you may learn best in the classroom as the teacher lectures. If you’re a reading and writing kind of learner, you’ll get the most out of our first tip to write stuff down. And if you’re a kinesthetic learner, there’s nothing like touching or holding to commit something to memory. Get a grip on Greek and Latin Suitable for different grades of medical school students, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and nursing or preparing for medical schools students. It is also used as a revision source for doctors in postgraduates. Thoracic cavity: The chest; contains the trachea, bronchi, lungs, esophagus, heart and great blood vessels, thymus gland, lymph nodes, and nerve,. as well as the following smaller cavities:

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This workbook isn’t a substitute for a textbook, and it is certainly not meant to replace going to an actual anatomy and physiology class. Species Sapiens: All species are given a two-part Latin name, in which the genus name comes first and a species epithet comes second. The biologists who name species sometimes try to use a descriptor in the epithet. For humans, they could have chosen bipedal or talking or hairless, but they chose thinker. An organ is a part of the body that performs a specialized physiological function. For example, the stomach is an organ that has the specific physiological function of breaking down food. By definition, an organ is made up of at least two different tissue types; many organs contain tissues of all four types. Although we can name and describe all four tissue types that make up all organs, as we do in the preceding section, listing all the organs in the body wouldn’t be so easy. Okay, it’s test time! Take advantage of the test itself. You may find that the answer to an exam question that stumps you is revealed — at least partially — in the phrasing of a subsequent question. Stay alert to these blessed little gifts even when you think that you already understand all the anatomical structures and physiological processes. You won’t be the first student to change an answer after working your way through an exam. Review your mistakes

tip.eps Every time you come across an anatomical or physiological term that’s new to you, pull it apart to see whether any of its fragments are familiar. Using this knowledge, go as far as you can in guessing the meaning of the whole term. After studying Table 1-1 and the other vocabulary lists in this chapter, you should be able to make some pretty good guesses. Looking at the Body from the Proper Perspective The fourth shell (which can be found in elements such as potassium, calcium, and iron) holds up to 18 electrons. Higher shells also exist. Scientists try to create terminology that’s precise and easy to understand by developing it systematically. That is, they create new words by putting together existing and known elements. They use certain syllables or word fragments over and over to build new terms. With a little help from this book, you’ll soon start to recognize some of these fragments. Then you can put the meanings of different fragments together and accurately guess the meaning of a term you’ve never seen before, just as you can understand a sentence you’ve never read before. Table 1-1 gets you started, listing some word fragments related to the organ systems we cover in this book. /Table 0101a /Table 0101b Human anatomists and physiologists have divided the human body into organ systems, groups of organs that work together to meet a major physiological need. For example, the digestive system is one of the organ systems responsible for obtaining energy from the environment. Other organ systems include the musculoskeletal system, the integument, the nervous system, and on down the list. The chapter structure of this book is based on the definition of organ systems. Level V: The organism level

Abdominal cavity: Contains the stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, small intestines, and most of the large intestine Ultrasound imaging technology uses the echoes of sound waves sent into the body to generate a signal that a computer turns into a real-time image of anatomy and physiology. Ultrasound can also produce audible sounds, so the anatomist or physiologist can, for example, watch the pulsations of an artery while hearing the sound of the blood flowing through it. Although all these technologies are considered noninvasive, ultrasound is the least invasive of all, and so is used more freely, especially in sensitive situations like pregnancy. As you read through a chapter of your textbook to prepare for the next lecture, prepare an outline of what you’re reading, leaving plenty of space between subheadings. Then, during the lecture, take your notes within the outline you’ve already created. Piecing together an incomplete puzzle shows you where the key gaps in your knowledge may be. Put in time to practice

This chapter is about your life as an organism. As Chapter 1 explains, organism is the fifth of five levels of organization in living things. Although the word organism has many possible definitions, for the purposes of this chapter, an organism is a living unit that metabolizes and maintains its own existence . The ventral cavity is much larger and contains all the organs not contained in the dorsal cavity. The ventral cavity is divided by the diaphragm into smaller cavities: the thoracic cavity, which contains the heart and lungs, and the abdomino pelvic cavity, which contains the organs of the abdomen and the pelvis. The abdominal organs are the stomach, liver, gallbladder, spleen, and most of the intestines. The pelvic cavity contains the reproductive organs, the bladder, the rectum, and the lower portion of the intestines. Abdominal cavity:Contains the stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, small intestines, and most of the large intestine The organs that belong to one system can have functions integral to another system. In fact, most organs contribute to more than one system. The blood vessels are an excellent example: They serve as a transportation network, delivering nutrients produced by the digestive system to the skeletal muscles to provide energy for locomotion and to the uterus to support the developing fetus. They remove the byproducts of the energy consumed in locomotion and by the fetus in development and carry them to the organs of the urinary system for excretion. Level IV: The organ system levelBiologists take for granted that human anatomy and physiology evolved from the anatomy and physiology of ancient forms. These scientists base their work on the assumption that every structure and process, no matter how tiny in scope, must somehow contribute to the survival of the individual. So each process — and the structures within which the chemistry and physics of the process actually happen — must help keep the individual alive and meeting the relentless challenges of a continually changing environment. Evolution favors processes that work. If you examine a sample of any human tissue under a microscope, you see cells, possibly millions of cells. All living things are made of cells. In fact, having a cellular level of organization is inherent in any definition of organism. We discuss the cellular level of organization in some detail in Chapter 3. Level II: The tissue level