Anatomy & Physiology For Dummies

Erin Odya is an anatomy and physiology teacher at Carmel High School in Carmel, Indiana, one of Indiana’s top schools.Maggie Norris is a freelance science writer living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

• Introduction 1About This Book 2Foolish Assumptions 2Icons Used in This Book 3Beyond the Book 3Where to Go from Here 4Part 1: Locating Physiology on the Web of Knowledge 5Chapter 1: Anatomy and Physiology: The Big Picture 7Scientifically Speaking 7How anatomy and physiology fit into science 8Anatomy, gross and otherwise 10A Little Chat about Jargon 11Creating better communication 11Establishing precise terminology 11Looking at the Body from the Proper Perspective 13Getting in position 13Dividing the anatomy 15Mapping out your regions 15Casing your cavities 19Organizing Yourself on Many Levels 21Level I: The cellular level 23Level II: The tissue level 23Level III: The organ level 23Level IV: The organ system level 23Level V: The organism level 24Chapter 2: What Your Body Does All Day 27Transferring Energy: A Body’s Place in the World 28Building Up and Breaking Down: Metabolism 28Why your cells metabolize 29How your cells metabolize 30Staying in Range: Homeostasis 33Maintaining a constant temperature: Thermoregulation 34Swimming in H2O: Fluid balance 35Adjusting the fuel supply: Blood glucose concentration 35Measuring important variables 36Growing, Replacing, and Renewing 37Growing 37Replacing 37Repairing parts 39Healing wounds 39Lasting parts 40Chapter 3: A Bit about Cell Biology 43The Functions of Cells 43Building themselves 44Building tissues 45Transforming energy 45Making and transporting products 45Communicating 46Seeing the Inside of Eukaryotic Cells 46Containing the cell: Cell membrane 48Controlling the cell: Nucleus 51Cytoplasm 51Internal membranes 52Powering the cell: Mitochondria 52The protein factory 53Lysosomes 54Building Blocks That Build You 54Joining together: The structure of macromolecules 54Polysaccharides 55Lipids 55Proteins 56Nucleic acids 57Genes and Genetic Material 58Traiting you right 59Gene structure 59Synthesizing protein 60The Cell Cycle 62Cells that divide, cells that don’t 62Interphase 64DNA replication 64Mitosis 64Organizing Cells into Tissues 67Connecting with connective tissue 67Continuing with epithelial tissue 68Mixing it up with muscle tissue 70Getting nervous about nervous tissue? 70Part 2: Sizing Up the Structural Layers 71Chapter 4: Getting the Skinny on Skin, Hair, and Nails 73Functions of the Integument 74Structure of the Integument 75Touching the epidermis 75Exploring the dermis 79Getting under your skin: The hypodermis 81Accessorizing Your Skin 81Now hair this 81Nailing nails 82Nothing’s bland about glands 82Your Skin Saving You 84Controlling your internal temperature 85Your skin is sensational 85Your skin is self-healing 86Pathophysiology of the Integument 86Skin cancer 86Dermatitis 87Alopecia 87Nail problems as signs of possible medical conditions 88Chapter 5: Scrutinizing the Skeletal System 89Reporting for Duty: The Jobs of Your Skeleton 90Checking Out the Skeleton’s Makeup 90Caring about connective tissue 90The structure of a bone 93Classifying bones 94Bone Growth and Remodeling 95The Axial Skeleton 96Keeping your head up: The skull 97Setting you straight on the curved spinal column 99Being caged can be a good thing 101The Appendicular Skeleton 102Wearing girdles: Everybody has two 103Going out on a limb: Arms and legs 105Joints and the Movements They Allow 110Categorizing the types of joints 110Knowing what your joints can do 111Pathophysiology of the Skeletal System 113Abnormal curvature 113Osteoporosis 113Cleft palate 114Arthritis 114Fractures 115Chapter 6: Muscles: Setting You in Motion 117Functions of the Muscular System 118Supporting your structure 118Moving you 118Poised positioning 119Maintaining body temperature 119Pushing things around inside 119Talking about Tissue Types 121Defining unique features of muscle cells 121Skeletal muscle 123Cardiac muscle 125Smooth muscle 125Getting a Grip on the Sliding Filament 126Assembling a sarcomere 126Telling the fiber to contract 127Contracting and releasing the sarcomere 128Naming the Skeletal Muscles 129Starting at the top 130Twisting the torso 132Spreading your wings 135Getting a leg up 136Pathophysiology of the Muscular System 138Muscular dystrophy 139Muscle spasms 139Fibromyalgia 140Part 3: Talking to Yourself 141Chapter 7: The Nervous System: Your Body’s Circuit Board 143Integrating the Input with the Output 144Nervous tissues 144Neurons 145Neuroglial cells 146Nerves 147Ganglia and plexuses 147Integrated Networks 147Central nervous system 148Peripheral nervous system 149Thinking about Your Brain 150Keeping conscious: Your cerebrum 152Making your moves smooth: The cerebellum 152Coming up roses: Your brain stem 153Regulating systems: The diencephalon 154Following fluid through the ventricles 154Blood-brain barrier 155Transmitting the Impulse 156Across the neuron 156Across the synapse 158Making Sense of Your Senses 161Touch 162Hearing and balance 162Sight 163Olfaction 164Taste 165Pathophysiology of the Nervous System 166Chronic pain syndrome 166Multiple sclerosis 166Macular degeneration 166Chapter 8: The Endocrine System: Releasing Chemical Messages 167Homing In on Hormones 168Hormone chemistry 168Hormone sources 169Hormone receptors 171Grouping the Glands 172The taskmasters: The hypothalamus and pituitary 173Controlling metabolism 175Getting the gonads going 178Enteric endocrine 180Other endocrine glands 182Pathophysiology of the Endocrine System 183Abnormalities in insulin metabolism 183Thyroid disorders 184Androgen insensitivity 186Part 4: Exploring the Inner Workings of the Body 187Chapter 9: The Cardiovascular System: Getting Your Blood Pumping 189Getting Substances from Here to There 190Carrying Cargo: Your Blood and What’s in It 190Watering down your blood: Plasma 190Transporting oxygen and carbon dioxide: Red blood cells 191Plugging along with platelets 192Putting up a good fight: White blood cells 192Looking at Your Blood Vessels 193Starting with the arteries 193Cruising through the capillaries 194Visiting the veins 196Cardiac Anatomy 197Sizing up the heart’s structure 197Examining the heart’s tissues 199Supplying blood to the heart 200Cardiac Cycle 201Generating electricity 201Moving blood through the heart 204The heartbeat 205Physiology of Circulation 206On the beating path: The circuits of blood through the heart and body 206Putting your finger on your pulse 208Going up, going down, holding steady: Blood pressure 208Not going with the flow 209Pathophysiology of the Cardiovascular System 210Cardiac disorders 210Vascular disorders 211Blood disorders 212Chapter 10: The Respiratory System: Breathing Life into Your Body 215Functions of the Respiratory System 215Nosing around Your Respiratory Anatomy 216Nose 216Pharynx 217Trachea 219Lungs 219Diaphragm 220Breathing: Everybody’s Doing It 220Normal breathing 221Breathing under stress 221Controlled breathing 222Gas Exchange 224The respiratory membrane 224The trade-off 225Pathophysiology of the Respiratory System 226Hypoxemia 226Airway disorders 227Lungs 228Chapter 11: The Digestive System: Beginning the Breakdown 231Functions of the Digestive System 232The Alimentary Canal 233Examining the walls of the digestive tract 233Starting with the mighty mouth 234Pharynx and esophagus: Not Egyptian landmarks 235Stirring it up in your stomach 236Moving through the intestines 238Accessory Organs 240The liver delivers 241Pancreas 243The Breakdown 244Pathophysiology of the Digestive System 246Diseases of the oral cavity 246Disorders of the stomach and intestines 246Bowel syndromes 248Diseases of the accessory organs 249Chapter 12: The Urinary System: Cleaning Up the Act 253Functions of the Urinary System 253Structures of the Urinary System 255Putting out the trash: Kidneys 255Holding and releasing 257The Yellow River 259Composition of urine 259Filtering the blood 261Selectively reabsorbing 261Expelling urine 263Maintaining Homeostasis 264Fluid balance and blood pressure 264Regulating blood pH 265Pathophysiology of the Urinary System 267Kidney pathologies 267Urinary tract pathologies 268Chapter 13: The Lymphatic System: Living in a Microbe Jungle 271Functions of the Lymphatic System 272Loving Your Lymphatic System 273Lymphing along 273Structures of the lymphatic system 274Identifying Immune System Cells 277Looking at leukocytes 278Lymphocytes 279Phagocytizing leukocytes 280Examining Immune System Molecules 280Histamine 281Chemical defense 281Antigens 281Antibodies 282Complement system proteins 283Immune System Mechanisms 284Phagocytosis 284Degranulation 285Inflammation is swell 285Adaptive Immunity 286Cell-mediated immunity 286Humoral immunity 287Secondary immunity 289Immunization 289Pathophysiology of the Immune System 289The immune system and cancer 289Immune-mediated diseases 290Infectious diseases 292Part 5: Life’s Rich Pageant: Reproduction and Development 295Chapter 14: The Reproductive System 297Functions of the Reproductive System 297Producing Gametes 298Meiosis 299Female gametes: Ova 299Male gametes: Sperm 301Determining sex 302The Female Reproductive System 303Organs of the female reproductive system 303Cycling approximately monthly 307The Male Reproductive System 310The organs of the male reproductive system 310Seminal fluid and ejaculation 312Pausing for Pregnancy 313Steps to fertilization 313Implantation 314Adapting to pregnancy 314Labor and delivery 316Pathophysiology of the Reproductive System 318Infertility 318Sexually transmitted infections 318Premenstrual syndromes 319Endometriosis 319Cryptorchidism 320Hypogonadism 320Erectile dysfunction 320Pathophysiology of pregnancy 320Pregnancy loss 322Chapter 15: Change and Development over the Life Span 323Programming Development 324Stages of development 324Dimensions of development 324Development before Birth 326Free-floating zygote to protected embryo 326Dividing development into trimesters 329The Human Life Span 331Changes at birth 331Infancy and childhood 333Adolescence 334Young adulthood 335Middle age 336Growing creaky 336Part 6: The Part of Tens 341Chapter 16: Ten (Or So) Chemistry Concepts Related to Anatomy and Physiology 343Energy Can Neither Be Created Nor Destroyed 344Everything Falls Apart 344Everything’s in Motion 345Probability Rules 345Polarity Charges Life 346Water Is Special 346Fluids and Solids 347Under Pressure 348Redox Reactions Transfer Electrons 348Chapter 17: Ten Phabulous Physiology Phacts 349Unique to You: Hands, Fingers, Thumbs 349Nothing’s Better than Mother’s Milk 350It’s Apparent: Your Hair Is Different 350The Only Thing You Have to Fear Is 351You Smell Well! 352Microbes: We Are Their World 353The Pesky Appendix 354Talkin’ about Breath Control 355Taking Your First Breath 355Is Blood Really Blue? 356Index 357