Sheep Heart Dissection Video

Sheep Heart Dissection

Q1: What is the purpose of the pericardium?

The pericardium is the sac that holds the heart in place. There is mucous on the walls of the pericardium so that if the heart is jostled around, there is no friction.

Q2: Observe the blood vessels connecting to the heart. How do arteries differ from veins in their structure?

The walls of arteries are thicker than those of veins (due to the higher pressure in arteries), and arteries always go away from the heart.

Q3: Place your finger inside the auricle. What function do you think the auricle serves?

Auricles collect oxygenated blood from lungs and deoxygenated blood from the bloodstream.

Q4: Observe the external structures of the atria and ventricles. What differences do you observe?

The walls of the ventricles are thicker than those of the atria. Blood also flows into the right atrium, into the right ventricle, into the left atrium, and into the left ventricle.

Q5: Find the following structures. Use pictures or words to describe each.
             a) Exit from the coronary sinus
             b) Exit from the inferior vena cava
             c) Right Atrioventricular Valve (Tricuspid Valve)

             a) Blood exits from the coronary sinus into the right atrium.
             b) Deoxygenated blood enters the heart through the inferior vena cava, and continues on to the right atrium.
             c) The tricuspid valve stops blood in the right ventricle from back-flowing into the right atrium. 

Q6: Draw a picture of the tricuspid valve, including chordate tendinae and the papillary muscle.

Q7: Why is the "anchoring" of the heart valves by the chordate tendinae and the papillary muscle important to heart function?

They are there to prevent the tricuspid and bicuspid valves from collapsing into the atria when the heart contracts.

Q8: Using pictures and/ or words describe what you see.

The bicuspid and tricuspid valves prevent backflow of blood into the left atrium and right ventricle.

Q9: What is the function of the semi-lunar valves?

They prevent arterial blood from re-entering the heart. 

Q10: Valvular heart disease is when one of more heart valves does not work properly. Improperly functioning heart valves can lead to regurgitation, which is the backflow of blood through a leaky valve. Ultimately this can lead to congestive heart failure, a condition that can be life threatening.
             a) If this valve disease occurs on the right side of the heart, it results in swelling in the feet and ankles. Why might this happen?
             b) If the valve disease occurs on the left side of the heart, what complications would you expect to see?

             a) Blood is not properly flowing in through the inferior vena cava through the heart to get reoxygenated, so blood is staying in feet and ankles and causing swelling.
             b) Swelling of the lungs as blood is backflowing from the the left ventricle into the left atrium into the lungs. 

Q11: Using pictures and/ or words describe what you see.

Cordae tendinae connects papillary msucle to the bicuspid valve.

Q12: Describe how the left and right sides of the heart differ from each other.

The left side of the heart carries oxygenated blood, and the right side carries deoxygenated blood. The walls of the left side are thicker because it needs more power to push blood out to the body.

Q13: Draw and label all structures visible in the interior of the cross-section.

Unit 3 Reflection

sphygmoman 

sheep heart

This unit was about the cardiovascular system - circulation, the heart, the heartbeat, blood, blood vessels, diseases, and respiration. The cardiovascular system transports materials (oxygen,glucose), and removes waste materials (carbon dioxide, urea) from cells by a fluid-filled network of vessels that connect to heart, lungs, kidneys, intestines, and liver. Cardiovascular health is when a person maintains a healthy weight and diet, controls their blood pressure and cholesterol, prevents atherosclerosis and diabetes, and controls inflammation. Heart attacks and strokes can be caused by blockage of blood vessels in heart/ brain. To improve cardiovascular health, a person can exercise, not smoke, minimize stress, and smile/ laugh. I would like to learn more about bleeding out from arteries/ veins.

I am really interested in the heart, so this was a really great unit for me. Some memorization of the difference between blood vessels I struggled with, but the structure of the heart, heart attack/stroke, and the sheep heart dissection were really good and interesting for me.

chalk heart

Since I set my health goals for unit 2, I have been making an effort to get more sleep and relax more when I have a heavy workload or am struggling with something. Since I took this class because of my interest in anatomy and physiology (and my continued interest in it), for the rest of the semester, I am really focusing on fully understanding what we are learning.

Snacking

What was healthy about the snack you just made?

The snack we made consisted of a quarter apple, peanut butter, and almonds. These foods are low-sugar and low-fat, and have lots of vitamins and nutrients that essentially make up a healthy mini-meal. 

How often to snack?

If we are to snack, we should snack before meals, two to three times a day. Snacks should also not be very big - just enough to evade hunger until the next meal.

What's in a healthy snack?

A healthy snack will generally not be sticky and will not have HFCS, high fat, or artificial ingredients. The foods should be nutritious and natural.

Snacks to stay away from?

Ritz bits, Cheetos, beef jerky - they contain a lot of artificial ingredients, empty calories, lots of preservatives, high sugar or fat content.

What did you like/ dislike about the activity?

I liked that their activity was very interactive and made snacking fun. I also liked the video, it was interesting to watch.

Blood Pressure Lab

A typical blood pressure is 120/80 mm Hg. In our lab, subject 1 had a primary reading of 120/60 mm Hg, and a secondary reading of 110/70 mm Hg. Subject 2 had a primary reading of 90/55 mm Hg, and a secondary reading of 90/60 mm Hg.

To measure heart rate, we can use our fingers for radial and carotid pulse rate, and a stethoscope for the heart. To measure blood pressure, we use a sphygmomanometer. A thumb also has a pulse, so it can be confusing when counting pulse rates.

To use a sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff), it needs to be put on someone's upper arm, fully deflated. The stethoscope then should be put just under the cuff. Squeezing the cuff bulb, the cuff will inflate quickly, cutting off blood pressure in the blood vessel under the cuff. Stop squeezing at around 150 mm Hg. Then, deflate the cuff by slowly opening the valve just above the bulb. Listening through the stethoscope, you will hear a sound starting - note the reading. When the sound ends, note this reading also. The first reading is systolic blood pressure, and the second is diastolic. 

Unit 2 Reflection

Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". I could definitely eat more vegetables and get more sleep, but overall I am quite healthy. I think the majority of people at SHS could get more sleep and have more balanced diets. I see a lot of people who don't eat any vegetables whatsoever, which I find quite scary as they don't seem to realise how detrimental this is to their health. The lack of sleep is also very unhealthy. If people knew how to focus better and procrastinate less, the amount of sleep would greatly improve. Also with nutrition, if people knew how unhealthy they are, they would be more likely to change diets. I also think the cafeteria should offer healthier foods, to encourage people to make better eating choices.

The themes and essential understandings from this unit were that health is the measure of our body's efficiency and overall wellbeing. It includes physical, social, and mental health. Nutrients are necessary to maintain life. Regular exercise reduces risks of many adverse health outcomes, and some physical activity is better than none. Sleep is essential to physical/ emotional wellbeing. We need it to rest and restore the brain. Stress is any event/ demand that causes a predictable physiological response. 

I learnt that the pillars of health is what is necessary to maintain full health. Nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress, and social impact our lives and the way we live them. Hormones play a huge role in our health and affect each pillar. The big 4 hormones are insulin, leptin, glucagon, and cortisol. I understand it all, but I would like to learn more about how important sleep is and how it affects the body. I think I'm interested in it because as a teenager, I struggle to get all the sleep I need, even though I know I need it.

Next unit I will improve my relate & reviews and will make sure not to forget to make any notes. Dieticians, like Ms. Kuehn, focus on helping people improve their lifestyles by helping them sort out the nutrition they need. They are experts on what nutrients are necessary for a healthy, balanced life and are very helpful to not only people who struggle with their diet, but everyone. A lot of people could use help improving their diets.   

Health Power Hour Reading

• Name of Book: Food Fight
• Name of Chapter: Portions the Size of Cleveland
• Summary: This chapter is about how much portion sizes have increased dramatically since around the 1950s. Portions that used to be large, are now smalls and the major cause of increase in calorie intake is the increased portion sizes. It is considered nowadays that bigger is better, and many companies brag about how large they can make their portions. Many restaurants offer competitions for 'how much can you eat' and encourage overeating. Foods in other countries offer much smaller portions, and have generally smaller serving sizes. Even when people are offered larger portions, they eat more, and people do not compensate for the extra calorie intake. The huge American portions do not help anyone except for the companies themselves. Many people assume that the portion they are served is the correct amount - which shows just how difficult it is for a person to judge what is a correct serving. Companies do this because it is a question of value, not health. People want more for their money, and that is exactly what the companies give them. Humans are creatures of habit, and this will not be easily corrected. But people can be educated, companies can relabel their foods, repackage their foods with correct serving sizes, people can be encouraged to make better choices, have reasonable portions in ads, food labeling can be required in restaurants, and being active in society about eating healthily can make the difference. 
•  If I could ask the authors two questions, they would be:

1. Do you feel that people have adapted to the increased portions?
2. Who is more responsible: the customer or the supplier?