Today, we cover a subject full of air... the Respiratory System!
The Respiratory System
There are a couple of things we need to keep going. One is food, the other is air... primarily, oxygen. Oxygen is needed for the chemical reactions in our cells that give said cells energy.
The Respiratory System's primary purpose is to pull in air with oxygen, and expel air that has wastes out. It's the system behind breathing. Most of the time, the brain controls our breathing without our knowledge. We even forget we're doing it! All the same, we're doing it, and we need to... or we'll die.
It starts with either our nose or mouth. These are the ways air gets into the body. The nose, in fact, has mucus and hair that "cleans" the air coming in by trapping dirt and germs.
Then the air travels down the throat, past the larnyx (sp?), through the windpipe (called the trachea), into the bronchial tree. The bronchia (sp?) are the two big pipes that go into our lungs.
The lungs is where the next step takes place. These spongy bags are the primary part of the Respiratory System... also the most well-known. The lungs also big. They need to be, since they hold a ton of air-sacks called alveoli (sp?). And by "ton", I mean six million! If you spread these alveoli out, they would take up half of a tennis court!
But back to following the air through the Respiratory System. Air flows into the bronchial tree inside the lungs, until it reaches the bronchioles (sp?). These are tiny air-pipes inside our lungs. Each pipe ends in a bunch of sacks called alveoli (sp?), which are covered in tiny blood cells. These blood cells are so tiny, only one blood cell can pass through at a time! Through tiny holes in the alveolus (sp?; singular of alveoli [sp?]), blood cells give up the waste gas that is made in the cells' energy-making chemical process, carbon dioxide. Oxygen is taken out of the air, and then placed into the blood cells. The blood cells then travel back to the heart, and into the circulatory system (the energy/oxygen transport system in the body, along with the bloodstream), which is connected in this way to the Respiratory System.
Then we start the exit procedure. Basically, we go backwards through the whole system. There is sometimes an extra step, though. At the top of the trachea is the larnyx... AKA the voice-box. This is the area that contains the vocal cords. When air passes through these cords, it can make noise. When we use the vocal cords, our tongue, and mouth in sync, we can different noises and talk! And the vocal cords can adjust themselves to make higher or lower tones.
Of course, it goes much faster than what reading all that may make it seem like. And it needs to! The human body needs about a gallon of air a minute! That means we breathe over a couple thousand times a day... especially since our body isn't the greatest air-storage-device!
We have two lungs, as you may know. But did you know that one lung is smaller than the other? It's true! The left lung is smaller than the right lung. Why? Simple... the other must-have organ for life takes up some space, so the left lung has a "dent" in which this organ fits perfectly. Which organ am I speaking of? Why, the heart of course! They have to be close to work together anyway (since the heart is the part of circulatory system, and sends the blood through the lungs), and the left lung has a perfect-sized dent where the heart can lie as close as it can to its "business partners"!
The lung, being so important, needs protection. As well as the hairs and mucus in the nose, the trachea has many microscopic hair-like structures called cilia that helps to protect the lung. They catch dirt and dust, and keep them from getting into the lung, and causing problems.
In fact, this comes to the part about smoking. We all know smoking's bad. But how? Simple... the smoke kills the cilia. Then dirt and junk fill up the lungs, turning them from a healthy pink to more of a dirty black, since there's no cilia to protect them. Then cigeratte (sp?) tar (yep, there's tar there) starts blocking up the bronchioles (sp?) and parts of the bronchial tree. That causes trouble on its own, since it stops air from reaching its destination, and oxygen getting around the body! But smoking can cause lung cancer, in which lung cells go out of whack, and start growing out of control... literally growing out of control. I mean they started growing and multiplying, and, well... hello, lung cancer!
How do the lungs get air in and out? There's a muscle called the diaphragm which does this. It pulls and relaxes, making the lungs bigger and smaller. When the lungs are bigger, air rushes in. When smaller, air is pushed out. Some other muscles help, but the diaphragm is the primary one (as well as the most well-known).
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Friday, December 28, 2012
Medical Central: The Brain
It's time to check out the body's Control, Intelligence, and Head of Operation Center... the Brain!
The Brain
The Brain controls everything. It controls involuntary actions, sleep, hunger, and so on. And it's the part we use for thinking and making decisions. It's so important, the skull has a special part which protects it.
The Brain is our primary control center. There are actually a bunch of parts to it, all controlling different things. One part is actually a gland... the piturary (sp?) gland, which sends out hormones. These hormones control different stuff, like growth.
But there are three primary parts to the brain... the cerebrum, the cellebum (sp?), and the brain stem. The brain stem controls different involuntary actions... well, a lot of the brain does that. The cellebum (sp?) controls balance. And the cerebrum does a lot of stuff, including movement.
The cerebrum has two halves. For some unknown reason, the right half controls the left half of the body, and visa-versa! (sp?) And scientists think that these halves have specialities (sp?)... one half does more math and stuff, and the other specializes more in music and such stuff. But these two halves have a piece connecting them, so that each of them know what their counterpart is doing.
The brain is made of nerves (also known as neurons or neurones [sp?]). It is part of the nervous system, so that makes sense. It has nerves connected to it too, which it can control different parts of the body... and some don't even have to go down the other primary part of the nervous system (the spinal cord)! This is because some are connected directly to the face muscles, and some are connected to our arms and shoulders, so the visit into the spinal cord isn't always necessary.
There are three types of nerves... sensory neurons, motor neurons, and connector neurons. We can easily figure out sensory neurons... they're for carrying signals to the brain about our senses! Motor neurons are the ones that carry instructions to the muscles from the brain. And connector neurons are all the rest.
Nerves work by sending electrical signals. They receive them from the tentacles connected to the main body (which has its own control/processing center called the nucleus!), zap them down the protein-protected axon, then out the tentacles at the far end. Once the signal reaches here, neurons release a chemical, which the next neuron catches, translated into electricity, and zap! There goes the cycle all over again! But it happens extremely fast! Nerve signals move around 270mph! Whoa! So it makes sense that nerves receive a ton of signals! In a short amount of time, one nerve can receive about 100,000 signals! WOW!
Nerves are too small (or narrow) to see. Still, we know about the longest nerve... it goes from the spinal cord (which is part of the primary nervous system) to our toes! This nerve can be about 4 feet long! WOW!
Despite knowing how nerves work, we are still unsure totally of how the brain works. It's the best computer in existence... it does a zillion times better than any man-made computer today! The brain can compute, do calculations, make decisions, make memories, think, and control a ton of stuff... in less than a second! And this is all done by a bunch of connection-making and signal-sending and so forth by tons of nerves! The only computer that comes close to this organ is seen only in sci-fi movies and shows. Scientists are still studying the brain, and figuring out which part does what (brain scans helps), and so on.
And guess what? The part we use for thinking is only the surface of the cerebrum!!! It'll seem unlikely, but it's true! It's about 0.1 inch thick in most places, but this wrinkly brain-surface is pretty big. When spread out, it's as big as a newspaper! Wow!
The Brain
The Brain controls everything. It controls involuntary actions, sleep, hunger, and so on. And it's the part we use for thinking and making decisions. It's so important, the skull has a special part which protects it.
The Brain is our primary control center. There are actually a bunch of parts to it, all controlling different things. One part is actually a gland... the piturary (sp?) gland, which sends out hormones. These hormones control different stuff, like growth.
But there are three primary parts to the brain... the cerebrum, the cellebum (sp?), and the brain stem. The brain stem controls different involuntary actions... well, a lot of the brain does that. The cellebum (sp?) controls balance. And the cerebrum does a lot of stuff, including movement.
The cerebrum has two halves. For some unknown reason, the right half controls the left half of the body, and visa-versa! (sp?) And scientists think that these halves have specialities (sp?)... one half does more math and stuff, and the other specializes more in music and such stuff. But these two halves have a piece connecting them, so that each of them know what their counterpart is doing.
The brain is made of nerves (also known as neurons or neurones [sp?]). It is part of the nervous system, so that makes sense. It has nerves connected to it too, which it can control different parts of the body... and some don't even have to go down the other primary part of the nervous system (the spinal cord)! This is because some are connected directly to the face muscles, and some are connected to our arms and shoulders, so the visit into the spinal cord isn't always necessary.
There are three types of nerves... sensory neurons, motor neurons, and connector neurons. We can easily figure out sensory neurons... they're for carrying signals to the brain about our senses! Motor neurons are the ones that carry instructions to the muscles from the brain. And connector neurons are all the rest.
Nerves work by sending electrical signals. They receive them from the tentacles connected to the main body (which has its own control/processing center called the nucleus!), zap them down the protein-protected axon, then out the tentacles at the far end. Once the signal reaches here, neurons release a chemical, which the next neuron catches, translated into electricity, and zap! There goes the cycle all over again! But it happens extremely fast! Nerve signals move around 270mph! Whoa! So it makes sense that nerves receive a ton of signals! In a short amount of time, one nerve can receive about 100,000 signals! WOW!
Nerves are too small (or narrow) to see. Still, we know about the longest nerve... it goes from the spinal cord (which is part of the primary nervous system) to our toes! This nerve can be about 4 feet long! WOW!
Despite knowing how nerves work, we are still unsure totally of how the brain works. It's the best computer in existence... it does a zillion times better than any man-made computer today! The brain can compute, do calculations, make decisions, make memories, think, and control a ton of stuff... in less than a second! And this is all done by a bunch of connection-making and signal-sending and so forth by tons of nerves! The only computer that comes close to this organ is seen only in sci-fi movies and shows. Scientists are still studying the brain, and figuring out which part does what (brain scans helps), and so on.
And guess what? The part we use for thinking is only the surface of the cerebrum!!! It'll seem unlikely, but it's true! It's about 0.1 inch thick in most places, but this wrinkly brain-surface is pretty big. When spread out, it's as big as a newspaper! Wow!
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Medical Central: The Heart
Today's subject is something commonly known as the Heart. It is actually an organ. I've mentioned before that it has its own special muscle... cardiac muscle! But now let's explore the Heart a little more!
The Heart
The heart is primarily a big muscle, and a big pump. It pumps blood throughout our body, bringing food and oxygen to wherever it's needed. How does it do this? Like any other muscle, it contracts and relaxes. Plus, there's a valve system that helps a lot. There are two primary parts to the pump system: the atrium and the ventricle. Blood flows into the atrium, and then the ventricle. And then it leaves the heart for its primary destination.
There are two halves to the heart, with its own atrium and ventricle. There's even a piece of the heart called the septum that divides these halves! One side pumps used blood to the lungs to get cleaned and get an oxygen refill, and the other side sends oxygen-rich blood throughout our body.
How does the heart keep the blood going forwards instead of backwards and mixing things up? It's the valves! The valves open to let blood in, but close to keep the blood from taking a backwards trip. In fact, our heartbeat is actually the sound of the two valve sets closing... first the bigger set, and then the smaller set. Defective valves can be replaced via surgery... man-made valves for this purpose is made from pig fat. Sounds disgusting, I know, but it's a still-cool way of using stuff.
The heart, believe it or not, has its own mini-blood system that brings it blood and nutrients. You've got to remember that the heart is a muscle that works 24/7 without any breaks, so the stuff is needed. Now, the passages can get blocked... usually by a blockage of blood vessels called a blood clot. The muscle stops receiving what it needs, and dies... and that causes trouble. This problem is extremely well-known, especially by its name of heart attack!
The heart has a lot of blood vessels attached to it, whether the blood is being sent in or out. One of these is the atora (sp?), which is very strong! It can stand high pressure from the blood! This makes some sense, since it's one of the primary blood vessels.
Did you know that your heart has a skin too? It's true! The heart has a skin called the parcardium (sp?). This skin is a little different from our normal skin. It's two "bags" over the heart! Still, it's cool!
The Heart
The heart is primarily a big muscle, and a big pump. It pumps blood throughout our body, bringing food and oxygen to wherever it's needed. How does it do this? Like any other muscle, it contracts and relaxes. Plus, there's a valve system that helps a lot. There are two primary parts to the pump system: the atrium and the ventricle. Blood flows into the atrium, and then the ventricle. And then it leaves the heart for its primary destination.
There are two halves to the heart, with its own atrium and ventricle. There's even a piece of the heart called the septum that divides these halves! One side pumps used blood to the lungs to get cleaned and get an oxygen refill, and the other side sends oxygen-rich blood throughout our body.
How does the heart keep the blood going forwards instead of backwards and mixing things up? It's the valves! The valves open to let blood in, but close to keep the blood from taking a backwards trip. In fact, our heartbeat is actually the sound of the two valve sets closing... first the bigger set, and then the smaller set. Defective valves can be replaced via surgery... man-made valves for this purpose is made from pig fat. Sounds disgusting, I know, but it's a still-cool way of using stuff.
The heart, believe it or not, has its own mini-blood system that brings it blood and nutrients. You've got to remember that the heart is a muscle that works 24/7 without any breaks, so the stuff is needed. Now, the passages can get blocked... usually by a blockage of blood vessels called a blood clot. The muscle stops receiving what it needs, and dies... and that causes trouble. This problem is extremely well-known, especially by its name of heart attack!
The heart has a lot of blood vessels attached to it, whether the blood is being sent in or out. One of these is the atora (sp?), which is very strong! It can stand high pressure from the blood! This makes some sense, since it's one of the primary blood vessels.
Did you know that your heart has a skin too? It's true! The heart has a skin called the parcardium (sp?). This skin is a little different from our normal skin. It's two "bags" over the heart! Still, it's cool!
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Medical Central: Organs
Today's topic is on a important set of parts within the body. So important and so interconnected, that if one goes "off" permanently, we die! Today we talk about... organs!
Organs
Before the last post, I mentioned that our Skin is an organ. But what's an organ? It's a part of the body that has at least two tissues combined... like muscle and nerve tissue. Usually, these tissues band together for a single purpose, and then they're called an organ.
We've got lots of organs. I mentioned Skin before, and some of the better-known ones are the heart, kidneys, and the stomach. There are some less-well-known ones, like the pancreas (while makes stuff for digestion) and the gallbladder (makes bile, which helps in digestion). The nutrient-absorbing intestines are organs too. Some organs, like the liver, multitask (though the liver primarily does digestion). Though some are really only doing one thing (the heart pumps blood which gives us energy, for example). Some organs even have similar jobs (the spleen and the kidneys are both cleaners, for example). Some do their jobs in interesting ways... the spleen, for example, cleans blood by removing no-longer-active cells. One famous organ is in charge of keeping other organs on the go... you know what I'm talking about: the brain!
Organs work together in systems. These are called "organ systems" usually do one big thing, with their own organs. The skeletal systems, the respiratory system, the circulatory system, and the digestive system are some examples of organ systems. However, these systems can't work alone. They all need each other to keep going!
Even if one organ's lights go out... good-bye person! However, technology has gotten so advanced, that we can either replace many of the organs, or assist them in their jobs so that they don't go out (and, therefore, we don't go out). Organs that are being used as replacements are kept and transported in special containers that keep the organ cold and sterile (AKA, germ-free and clean!). And these replacement organs can now be kept outside of the body for long periods of time if everything's done right! For example, now a replacement kidney can be kept outside of the body for days if everything's done right! Wow!
Organs
Before the last post, I mentioned that our Skin is an organ. But what's an organ? It's a part of the body that has at least two tissues combined... like muscle and nerve tissue. Usually, these tissues band together for a single purpose, and then they're called an organ.
We've got lots of organs. I mentioned Skin before, and some of the better-known ones are the heart, kidneys, and the stomach. There are some less-well-known ones, like the pancreas (while makes stuff for digestion) and the gallbladder (makes bile, which helps in digestion). The nutrient-absorbing intestines are organs too. Some organs, like the liver, multitask (though the liver primarily does digestion). Though some are really only doing one thing (the heart pumps blood which gives us energy, for example). Some organs even have similar jobs (the spleen and the kidneys are both cleaners, for example). Some do their jobs in interesting ways... the spleen, for example, cleans blood by removing no-longer-active cells. One famous organ is in charge of keeping other organs on the go... you know what I'm talking about: the brain!
Organs work together in systems. These are called "organ systems" usually do one big thing, with their own organs. The skeletal systems, the respiratory system, the circulatory system, and the digestive system are some examples of organ systems. However, these systems can't work alone. They all need each other to keep going!
Even if one organ's lights go out... good-bye person! However, technology has gotten so advanced, that we can either replace many of the organs, or assist them in their jobs so that they don't go out (and, therefore, we don't go out). Organs that are being used as replacements are kept and transported in special containers that keep the organ cold and sterile (AKA, germ-free and clean!). And these replacement organs can now be kept outside of the body for long periods of time if everything's done right! For example, now a replacement kidney can be kept outside of the body for days if everything's done right! Wow!
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Medical Central: Swimming & Exercise
I mentioned last time that skin is waterproof. Well, the body has some other devices that have to be put into action when swimming... or other stuff!
Swimming & Exercise
Everyone knows we have to exercise to get fit. But how come? The body is a machine... an amazing machine extremely well-put together! But, while it does fine on a day-to-day basis, training can make it work better. The different components will work together smoother, and the muscles themselves will get stronger.
Also, healthy eating will increase the muscles' strength and efficiency. Why? Muscle make energy from oxygen and glucose... which explains why the heart beats faster during exercise time (to transport these items more quickly). But exercise can help make longer-lasting energy supplies, and if the lung muscles are strengthened, they can expand to take even more air (and therefore, oxygen) when needed!
Back to the "machine" part. The body parts can work together in many different ways, and those ways can sometimes be complicated. Take swimming, for example! Our feet can act as flippers... but that starts with an action from higher up our leg! And the hips roll in response to the movement of our arms! And even the propelling motion of our arms are controlled by two different muscles... the deltoid (sp?) shoulder-muscle and one in our arm! The muscle pulls as much as possible, and then it comes back, making a propeller motion.
Plus, there are other factors. The body has to be streamlined in order to get through water less and push against it less. And little kicks are better than big ones! Plus, the head rolls in rhythm with the arms, coming up for air when the arm is down, and going down when the arm comes up (you know, to get out of the way!).
And a lot goes into diving, too! Certain feet have to push off, then the arms off the block, and then the body has to be streamlined too! And the hip has to be hinged in order to enter the least amount of water possible, so there's less resistance! Wow... you've got to be impressed with professional swimmers! And that's just swimming... hurdle jumpers can do some pretty impressive stuff as well. And all those other professional athletes! They can do some amazing stuff too!
Developments can happen over long spaces of time as well... meaning generations! People are healthier and stronger (can run faster and jump higher) than hundreds of years ago. This is due to better food and better exercise gear. But scientists believe that someday we'll hit our stopping point... and won't be able to get faster or jump higher or stronger, even throughout generations.
Swimming & Exercise
Everyone knows we have to exercise to get fit. But how come? The body is a machine... an amazing machine extremely well-put together! But, while it does fine on a day-to-day basis, training can make it work better. The different components will work together smoother, and the muscles themselves will get stronger.
Also, healthy eating will increase the muscles' strength and efficiency. Why? Muscle make energy from oxygen and glucose... which explains why the heart beats faster during exercise time (to transport these items more quickly). But exercise can help make longer-lasting energy supplies, and if the lung muscles are strengthened, they can expand to take even more air (and therefore, oxygen) when needed!
Back to the "machine" part. The body parts can work together in many different ways, and those ways can sometimes be complicated. Take swimming, for example! Our feet can act as flippers... but that starts with an action from higher up our leg! And the hips roll in response to the movement of our arms! And even the propelling motion of our arms are controlled by two different muscles... the deltoid (sp?) shoulder-muscle and one in our arm! The muscle pulls as much as possible, and then it comes back, making a propeller motion.
Plus, there are other factors. The body has to be streamlined in order to get through water less and push against it less. And little kicks are better than big ones! Plus, the head rolls in rhythm with the arms, coming up for air when the arm is down, and going down when the arm comes up (you know, to get out of the way!).
And a lot goes into diving, too! Certain feet have to push off, then the arms off the block, and then the body has to be streamlined too! And the hip has to be hinged in order to enter the least amount of water possible, so there's less resistance! Wow... you've got to be impressed with professional swimmers! And that's just swimming... hurdle jumpers can do some pretty impressive stuff as well. And all those other professional athletes! They can do some amazing stuff too!
Developments can happen over long spaces of time as well... meaning generations! People are healthier and stronger (can run faster and jump higher) than hundreds of years ago. This is due to better food and better exercise gear. But scientists believe that someday we'll hit our stopping point... and won't be able to get faster or jump higher or stronger, even throughout generations.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Medical Central: Skin, Nails, & Hair... Oh My!
Today, we get to the surface of things... That's right! Today's subject is the Skin, which includes Nails and Hair.
Skin, Nails, and Hair
Now, it might surprise some of you to see these three things grouped together. Other than being on the surface of us, they don't seem like they have much in common. BEEP! Wrong! All these three things are made of a protein called keratin. And what we see is the dead part of the object. Now we covered some similarities, let's chop down to the more personalized parts.
Skin! We all know it. But did you know that it is an organ? The biggest organ in the body? And it can sure multitask! It keeps our body at a healthy temperature of around 95.8 degrees Farenheit (sp?), keeps water out of our bodies (yep, it's waterproof!), keeps the water we have inside our bodies in, keeps dirt and germs out, keeps all our organs, bones, and stuff inside, allows us to feel, sends the brain messages on what we feel, protection... That's a ton of stuff!
And remember how I said it was big? An adult's skin, when laid out, could cover a bed! And such a big thing is heavy too... an average person's can be over ten pounds heavy! Whoa! And skin can change sizes... when you grow, it grows. When a woman gets pregnant, the tummy-area skin grows over the bump, and then shrinks again. When you gain weight or big muscles, the skin grows.
Skin comes in different colors. Why? It's because of a chemical skin makes call meratin (sp?). It's anti-sunburn protection. Skin may make Vitamin D from sunlight, but too much sunlight causes sunburns or even skin cancer! Part of the skin's natural protection is making this chemical, which darkens the skin. That's how you tan. Some people naturally have darker skin, and therefore, better protection, but they still have to be careful.
Skin is made of layers. The top is called the epidermis, and the next one down is called just the dermis. Then there's a fatty layer which cushions the skin and has a lot of blood vessels and stuff.
The skin has a lot of stuff for its multiple jobs. It grows hair, which is major in temperature control. It has tons of nerve endings, for its touching job. It has blood vessels and muscles (connected to hairs to help with jobs, since they have to stick up to catch and keep warm air [cold weather] and then flatten in warm weather). And there's sweat glands, which release sweat, which cools you down (since evaporation takes heat, and sweat-evaporation takes body heat-energy, which in turns cools us down since it's taking heat away). In other words... a lot of stuff!
Hair grows out of hair follicles. It's almost all over our bodies, and in a variety of sizes from so-tiny-need-magnifying-glass-to-see to the clearly-visible hairs on our heads. There are a few places where there's none... but only a few. Humans have thousands of hair follicles. And the base of different hair types is different per type of hair (for example, curly hair has a kidney-shaped base). Typically, healthy hair is thick and shiny.
Hair follicles are party responsible for zits (pimples)... inside the follicle is a gland that makes and releases subum (sp?), a chemical that's meant for cleaning hair. But when the gland does an overdose job, the follicle's pore is blocked, and nothing can get out. This includes the oil, and bacteria. This in turn makes a swelling (a red bump), which is then called a zit. These overdose jobs happen a lot in the teenage years, when the extra hormones bouncing around tells the gland to make even more of this oil.
Nails! The nail's job is protection from bumping (helps when you stub your toe!). It's also handy for other stuff, like scratching itches, opening envelopes, and prying stickers off surfaces. The Nail is hard, primarily because the top is dead. But there's a living nail base which produces the keratin. Why is this area pink? Because of the blood vessels inside and flowing to the nail base! There's also a flap of skin underneath for protection (the crescent, white part), and a fold of skin helps protect the nail base and root.
Since nail and hair bits that can be seen are dead, that means we can't see them. So it's the only things on our body we cut often. But if we don't, they'll keep growing longer and longer (and nails that grow super-long not only curl up, but look gross!). For some folks, hair and nail keeping are parts of their personalities. There's products for dying and making hair shiny, and coloring nails. Stuff like this has been made and used since Ancient Egyptian days! And millions of hair-and-nail products are sold today! Yikes!
Skin, Nails, and Hair
Now, it might surprise some of you to see these three things grouped together. Other than being on the surface of us, they don't seem like they have much in common. BEEP! Wrong! All these three things are made of a protein called keratin. And what we see is the dead part of the object. Now we covered some similarities, let's chop down to the more personalized parts.
Skin! We all know it. But did you know that it is an organ? The biggest organ in the body? And it can sure multitask! It keeps our body at a healthy temperature of around 95.8 degrees Farenheit (sp?), keeps water out of our bodies (yep, it's waterproof!), keeps the water we have inside our bodies in, keeps dirt and germs out, keeps all our organs, bones, and stuff inside, allows us to feel, sends the brain messages on what we feel, protection... That's a ton of stuff!
And remember how I said it was big? An adult's skin, when laid out, could cover a bed! And such a big thing is heavy too... an average person's can be over ten pounds heavy! Whoa! And skin can change sizes... when you grow, it grows. When a woman gets pregnant, the tummy-area skin grows over the bump, and then shrinks again. When you gain weight or big muscles, the skin grows.
Skin comes in different colors. Why? It's because of a chemical skin makes call meratin (sp?). It's anti-sunburn protection. Skin may make Vitamin D from sunlight, but too much sunlight causes sunburns or even skin cancer! Part of the skin's natural protection is making this chemical, which darkens the skin. That's how you tan. Some people naturally have darker skin, and therefore, better protection, but they still have to be careful.
Skin is made of layers. The top is called the epidermis, and the next one down is called just the dermis. Then there's a fatty layer which cushions the skin and has a lot of blood vessels and stuff.
The skin has a lot of stuff for its multiple jobs. It grows hair, which is major in temperature control. It has tons of nerve endings, for its touching job. It has blood vessels and muscles (connected to hairs to help with jobs, since they have to stick up to catch and keep warm air [cold weather] and then flatten in warm weather). And there's sweat glands, which release sweat, which cools you down (since evaporation takes heat, and sweat-evaporation takes body heat-energy, which in turns cools us down since it's taking heat away). In other words... a lot of stuff!
Hair grows out of hair follicles. It's almost all over our bodies, and in a variety of sizes from so-tiny-need-magnifying-glass-to-see to the clearly-visible hairs on our heads. There are a few places where there's none... but only a few. Humans have thousands of hair follicles. And the base of different hair types is different per type of hair (for example, curly hair has a kidney-shaped base). Typically, healthy hair is thick and shiny.
Hair follicles are party responsible for zits (pimples)... inside the follicle is a gland that makes and releases subum (sp?), a chemical that's meant for cleaning hair. But when the gland does an overdose job, the follicle's pore is blocked, and nothing can get out. This includes the oil, and bacteria. This in turn makes a swelling (a red bump), which is then called a zit. These overdose jobs happen a lot in the teenage years, when the extra hormones bouncing around tells the gland to make even more of this oil.
Nails! The nail's job is protection from bumping (helps when you stub your toe!). It's also handy for other stuff, like scratching itches, opening envelopes, and prying stickers off surfaces. The Nail is hard, primarily because the top is dead. But there's a living nail base which produces the keratin. Why is this area pink? Because of the blood vessels inside and flowing to the nail base! There's also a flap of skin underneath for protection (the crescent, white part), and a fold of skin helps protect the nail base and root.
Since nail and hair bits that can be seen are dead, that means we can't see them. So it's the only things on our body we cut often. But if we don't, they'll keep growing longer and longer (and nails that grow super-long not only curl up, but look gross!). For some folks, hair and nail keeping are parts of their personalities. There's products for dying and making hair shiny, and coloring nails. Stuff like this has been made and used since Ancient Egyptian days! And millions of hair-and-nail products are sold today! Yikes!
Monday, December 17, 2012
Medical Central: Muscles
Today's subject is literally connected to the Skeleton... Muscles!!!
Muscles
Like I said above, Muscles are connected to the Skeleton. This is because muscles are what move the Skeleton (and, therefore, the rest of us). They're connected by hard fibers called tendons (the biggest tendon in the body, the Archilles [sp?] tendon in our leg's back, feels like bone, but can bend if pushed hard enough). Tendons also help a weird fact about muscles... muscles that are a good (though reasonable) distance from their targets can still move them! For example? The Deltoid (sp?) muscles is responsible for a lot of shoulder movement, but is directly on the shoulder, but some shoulder movements are controlled by muscles in our back! Since tendons can be long and they "stretch" out from the muscles, it explains this phenonemon (sp?).
Did you think that we had a lot of bones in our Skeleton? Well, get this... there are more than 600 muscles in our body!!! And that's just the controllable skeletal muscles! In fact, there are so many muscles, they take up around 1/2 of our body weight! Yikes! But they do many jobs... some muscles even protect abdonminable (sp?; in abdomen) organs that are in the abdomenal (sp?) cavity. And some of these jobs have different amounts of muscles doing it... making faces can take a lot of muscles! At least 11, but then the numbers can do a good amount of jumping from low to high and back again!
Despite having many jobs, muscles can be divided into three categories... skeletal muscles (the ones we can control), the smooth or involuntary muscles (the ones controlled without us thinking about it; also looks like strings with pointy ends while skeletal apparently have stripes), and the cardiac muscles (AKA, heart muscles). And there's an exception or two... lungs can be controlled by thought, but most of the time, the brain controls it. And sometimes there's not... certain organs controlled by smooth muscles keep on keeping on without any help from our thoughts, and the cardiac muscle keeps its beat no matter what, without rest or a break.
But no matter what, muscles are controlled by our brain in some degree. Smooth (or involuntary) muscles and cardiac muscles are controlled by the brain constantly. And even if we control the movements or actions, it requires the brain to send messages down the nerves in our spine, out the nerve endings, into the muscles, and then the muscles reacting. That may sound long, but flex your finger or roll your eyes. That whole process just happened! Probably even a few times! But it happened in less than a second. Yikes once again!
There are some muscles that will surprise you. You know about the colored ring around the pupil of our eyes. Get this: it's a smooth muscle! The brain is in total control of that one... we have no-go on it! And the esophagus also has a muscles all around its wall that does a lot of pushing after we swallow (in order to get it to our smooth-muscled stomach).
Muscles work by contracting. Muscles are made up of muscle fibers, which are made of even smaller fibers, which are then made of two other kinds of fibers! When they get the signal to work, these two types of fibers pull and get together, making the muscle contract. When the muscle relaxes, they ease off each other (though they stay pretty close to each other).
The relaxing part may have confused you a little. But when the muscles stretches out, they relax. But muscles only pull... never push. So how do they stretch out? Muscles work in pairs! When it's time to stretch, the other set of muscles is contacted, and it pulls. That makes the part of the body move the other way, and the other muscle relaxes. Take the arm for example... when you bend it up, the front of your arm's muscle pulls. When you bend it down, the muscle in the back of your arm pulls on the elbow's end, and the arm's front muscle that was pulling before relaxes and stretches out.
Muscles, of course, need energy. Everyone knows this. Where does it get energy? You know the answer... from the food we eat, and from the air we breathe, of course! Muscles need energy from food and oxygen to go. The energy made is stored in a chemical called ATP in our cells. However, when we are working really hard, this energy can be used up. And while the muscles can make energy without ATPs for a while, it doesn't last long. This process makes lactic acid, and, like any of your would expect from something called "acid", it hurts our muscles! That's when the body screams at us, "STOP! IT'S TIME FOR A BREAK!!! YOU NEED TO REST, RECOVER, AND GET SOME EXTRA OXYGEN!" Of course, you would already be breathing harder and faster at this point to get that extra oxygen, but it's not really helping at this point. That's usually why athletes need rest after their sport... sprinters, who really push it, for example!
Muscles
Like I said above, Muscles are connected to the Skeleton. This is because muscles are what move the Skeleton (and, therefore, the rest of us). They're connected by hard fibers called tendons (the biggest tendon in the body, the Archilles [sp?] tendon in our leg's back, feels like bone, but can bend if pushed hard enough). Tendons also help a weird fact about muscles... muscles that are a good (though reasonable) distance from their targets can still move them! For example? The Deltoid (sp?) muscles is responsible for a lot of shoulder movement, but is directly on the shoulder, but some shoulder movements are controlled by muscles in our back! Since tendons can be long and they "stretch" out from the muscles, it explains this phenonemon (sp?).
Did you think that we had a lot of bones in our Skeleton? Well, get this... there are more than 600 muscles in our body!!! And that's just the controllable skeletal muscles! In fact, there are so many muscles, they take up around 1/2 of our body weight! Yikes! But they do many jobs... some muscles even protect abdonminable (sp?; in abdomen) organs that are in the abdomenal (sp?) cavity. And some of these jobs have different amounts of muscles doing it... making faces can take a lot of muscles! At least 11, but then the numbers can do a good amount of jumping from low to high and back again!
Despite having many jobs, muscles can be divided into three categories... skeletal muscles (the ones we can control), the smooth or involuntary muscles (the ones controlled without us thinking about it; also looks like strings with pointy ends while skeletal apparently have stripes), and the cardiac muscles (AKA, heart muscles). And there's an exception or two... lungs can be controlled by thought, but most of the time, the brain controls it. And sometimes there's not... certain organs controlled by smooth muscles keep on keeping on without any help from our thoughts, and the cardiac muscle keeps its beat no matter what, without rest or a break.
But no matter what, muscles are controlled by our brain in some degree. Smooth (or involuntary) muscles and cardiac muscles are controlled by the brain constantly. And even if we control the movements or actions, it requires the brain to send messages down the nerves in our spine, out the nerve endings, into the muscles, and then the muscles reacting. That may sound long, but flex your finger or roll your eyes. That whole process just happened! Probably even a few times! But it happened in less than a second. Yikes once again!
There are some muscles that will surprise you. You know about the colored ring around the pupil of our eyes. Get this: it's a smooth muscle! The brain is in total control of that one... we have no-go on it! And the esophagus also has a muscles all around its wall that does a lot of pushing after we swallow (in order to get it to our smooth-muscled stomach).
Muscles work by contracting. Muscles are made up of muscle fibers, which are made of even smaller fibers, which are then made of two other kinds of fibers! When they get the signal to work, these two types of fibers pull and get together, making the muscle contract. When the muscle relaxes, they ease off each other (though they stay pretty close to each other).
The relaxing part may have confused you a little. But when the muscles stretches out, they relax. But muscles only pull... never push. So how do they stretch out? Muscles work in pairs! When it's time to stretch, the other set of muscles is contacted, and it pulls. That makes the part of the body move the other way, and the other muscle relaxes. Take the arm for example... when you bend it up, the front of your arm's muscle pulls. When you bend it down, the muscle in the back of your arm pulls on the elbow's end, and the arm's front muscle that was pulling before relaxes and stretches out.
Muscles, of course, need energy. Everyone knows this. Where does it get energy? You know the answer... from the food we eat, and from the air we breathe, of course! Muscles need energy from food and oxygen to go. The energy made is stored in a chemical called ATP in our cells. However, when we are working really hard, this energy can be used up. And while the muscles can make energy without ATPs for a while, it doesn't last long. This process makes lactic acid, and, like any of your would expect from something called "acid", it hurts our muscles! That's when the body screams at us, "STOP! IT'S TIME FOR A BREAK!!! YOU NEED TO REST, RECOVER, AND GET SOME EXTRA OXYGEN!" Of course, you would already be breathing harder and faster at this point to get that extra oxygen, but it's not really helping at this point. That's usually why athletes need rest after their sport... sprinters, who really push it, for example!
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Medical Central: The Skeleton
I read more on the Human Body. This time, the body's primary structure was explored... the Skeleton!
Skeleton
What supports our body, and lets it keep our shape? We pretty much all know the answer... the Skeleton! The Skeleton is our support made of bone. Without it... we'd only be 3/4 of our weight with the Skeleton (since the Skeleton takes up 1/4 of our weight), but we'd also be a goopy (sp?) mass on the floor, and probably wouldn't function well, because the Skeleton supports our organs as well.
But here's some interesting data! The Skeleton takes up 1/4 of our weight! On average, an adult has around 206 bones, though when we're babies, we can have more than 300 bones! Wow! How come this number changes? Well, as we grow, so do our bones. They grow longer and stronger, and some even fuse together!
Just like there are a ton of bones in the body, there are also a bunch of bone types. We all know about the spine. It is made up of 24 vertebrae, of which 7 are in the neck, and there's a primary one that connects to the pelvic (hip) bone. Between each vertebrae is a cartilage (rubbery-like tough substance) disk that absorb shock. We also know of ribs, which protect organs like the heart and lungs. But did you know about the breastbone, which is the ribs' anchor?
And there are a ton of other types... all with different jobs! Their strengths differ too... leg bones, since they hold us up, are the strongest in the body. They are also the longest... the upper bone leg, the femur, is the longest bone in our body! And there are different amounts of bones per job... our lower legs and arms have a double-set of bones, though the lower leg has one bigger bone than the other. And there are some joints that have a whole bunch of bones, like the foot joint, which has 7. And our palm has 5 bones! Talk about more than you would think!
And the bones are sometimes different for each gender. Take the pelvic bone. It supports our abdonmin's (sp?) organs, but there's still a large opening in it. The opening (and the pelvic bone itself) is bigger in females. Why? It's because women give birth to babies! The babies need more room in order to exit the woman's body. So the opening in the pelvic bone is bigger in females than in males.
Bones are hard and sturdy. Why? They're made of calcium, which is a mineral. There are a few other minerals, but calcium's the primary, and most well-known. The calcium comes from blood vessels called oestroplasts (sp?). But we need to help them by getting calcium-rich foods, like certain veggies, into our bodies!
Skeleton
What supports our body, and lets it keep our shape? We pretty much all know the answer... the Skeleton! The Skeleton is our support made of bone. Without it... we'd only be 3/4 of our weight with the Skeleton (since the Skeleton takes up 1/4 of our weight), but we'd also be a goopy (sp?) mass on the floor, and probably wouldn't function well, because the Skeleton supports our organs as well.
But here's some interesting data! The Skeleton takes up 1/4 of our weight! On average, an adult has around 206 bones, though when we're babies, we can have more than 300 bones! Wow! How come this number changes? Well, as we grow, so do our bones. They grow longer and stronger, and some even fuse together!
Just like there are a ton of bones in the body, there are also a bunch of bone types. We all know about the spine. It is made up of 24 vertebrae, of which 7 are in the neck, and there's a primary one that connects to the pelvic (hip) bone. Between each vertebrae is a cartilage (rubbery-like tough substance) disk that absorb shock. We also know of ribs, which protect organs like the heart and lungs. But did you know about the breastbone, which is the ribs' anchor?
And there are a ton of other types... all with different jobs! Their strengths differ too... leg bones, since they hold us up, are the strongest in the body. They are also the longest... the upper bone leg, the femur, is the longest bone in our body! And there are different amounts of bones per job... our lower legs and arms have a double-set of bones, though the lower leg has one bigger bone than the other. And there are some joints that have a whole bunch of bones, like the foot joint, which has 7. And our palm has 5 bones! Talk about more than you would think!
And the bones are sometimes different for each gender. Take the pelvic bone. It supports our abdonmin's (sp?) organs, but there's still a large opening in it. The opening (and the pelvic bone itself) is bigger in females. Why? It's because women give birth to babies! The babies need more room in order to exit the woman's body. So the opening in the pelvic bone is bigger in females than in males.
Bones are hard and sturdy. Why? They're made of calcium, which is a mineral. There are a few other minerals, but calcium's the primary, and most well-known. The calcium comes from blood vessels called oestroplasts (sp?). But we need to help them by getting calcium-rich foods, like certain veggies, into our bodies!
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Medical Central: The Human Body: Cells, Age, and Replacement Tech
Today, read some on the human body, and some of tech that is used (and being trialed and tested) for replacing damaged and not-so-good body parts.
Human Body: Cells, Age, and Replacement Tech
We all know that life is made of cells. Some of us may know that some forms of life, like the bacteria, are made of only one cell. That's the total opposite of human bodies, which have around 10 trillion cells. Yikes! But here's an interesting fact... we all start out life as one cell. Then we grow, and the cells go through mitosis (cell separation) with a special structure inside the body.
The cells aren't all the same... not at all! Cells come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes and functions. Nerve cells have an axon and dendrites which are used to receive and send signals respectively. Smooth muscle cells, which control involuntary muscles and organs (example: stomach), look different and have to "tails" or "tentacles". Sperm cells (an only-male cell) have a tail for swimming around, but they look different and have a different purpose: finding and fertializing (sp?) a female egg cell!
While cells, the basic building materials of life, are different, there are similarities. Cells all have certain structures (and a lot of them) that help them to live. There's one that supplies energy for the cell, some help clear the area of debris, and some help in the mitosis process. The nucleus holds the chromosomes, and the very center of the nucleus controls a lot of it.
There are two main types of chromosomes: the X and the Y chromosome. While both male and females have the X chromosome, only the females double on the X chromosome, while males have a single Y and a single X chromosome. Chromosomes hold DNA. No matter what cell it is, each cells has a basic copy of DNA that's pretty much the same. And each DNA pattern (kind of like the body's plan) is unique and special to each person.
We all know that different ages means different heights, strengths, and so on. There are even certain actions and abilities that are called "milestones" that help keep track of stuff. Telling age can be pretty easy sometimes... the rate of maturity, what one can do, and even the area around the eyes can tell age! But becoming an adult (after puberty) is usually done by age 20. Cells grow and multiply still, but, unlike past years, they're not for growing... they're for replacing the deal cells that show up. And while excersising (sp?) and healthy living and stuff can improve strength and stuff, no one really grows taller after they are 20.
In fact, many old-age problems come from cells not multiplying as much as they used to... Loss of strength comes from less muscle cells, and the famous memory problems come from loss of brain cells.
Now, leaving the cells arena, we come to technology. We covered Medical Imaging for a long while on this blog, and here's some data on some different Medical tech. We know that certain devices can totally replace body parts... some of the most famous are the robotic (and sometimes just artificial) arms and legs. Some of you know pacemakers, which help the heart keep to a beat. And some of you even know about the other-famous hip replacements (total ones include the ball-and-socket joint).
But there are plenty others. Other joints can have replacements... finger, toe, elbow, and knee joints are examples listed in the book. Some replacements are from other humans, like the well-known kidney replacement. But did you know that corneas can be transferred over and replaced too? And hearts can be transferred over from just-dead people (Repeat: JUST dead, not long-time dead!). And skin grafts, while some are man-made (not with natural stuff), are able to come from the same person!
There are even more radical replacements! There are devices to replace damaged brain cells, not-working inner ears (including electrical translator which sends signals into the brain to let it figure out the sound), artificial hearts (apparently being trialed on humans), and there's even an artificial lung being developed for those with diseased and damaged parts of air-filled areas of the body! And even the well-known robotic arm is jumping up in tech a little... some robo-arms have hands that move (at least the fingers)!
But some tech used for helping is old-fashioned, and has been used as long as anyone can remember... for walking, there's a very famous one. It stills exists in the real world, and not just movies and books. It's the good old walking stick! Hey... it pays to stick with what works sometimes, and it's cool that it's still around, despite all the high-tech solutions out there!
Human Body: Cells, Age, and Replacement Tech
We all know that life is made of cells. Some of us may know that some forms of life, like the bacteria, are made of only one cell. That's the total opposite of human bodies, which have around 10 trillion cells. Yikes! But here's an interesting fact... we all start out life as one cell. Then we grow, and the cells go through mitosis (cell separation) with a special structure inside the body.
The cells aren't all the same... not at all! Cells come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes and functions. Nerve cells have an axon and dendrites which are used to receive and send signals respectively. Smooth muscle cells, which control involuntary muscles and organs (example: stomach), look different and have to "tails" or "tentacles". Sperm cells (an only-male cell) have a tail for swimming around, but they look different and have a different purpose: finding and fertializing (sp?) a female egg cell!
While cells, the basic building materials of life, are different, there are similarities. Cells all have certain structures (and a lot of them) that help them to live. There's one that supplies energy for the cell, some help clear the area of debris, and some help in the mitosis process. The nucleus holds the chromosomes, and the very center of the nucleus controls a lot of it.
There are two main types of chromosomes: the X and the Y chromosome. While both male and females have the X chromosome, only the females double on the X chromosome, while males have a single Y and a single X chromosome. Chromosomes hold DNA. No matter what cell it is, each cells has a basic copy of DNA that's pretty much the same. And each DNA pattern (kind of like the body's plan) is unique and special to each person.
We all know that different ages means different heights, strengths, and so on. There are even certain actions and abilities that are called "milestones" that help keep track of stuff. Telling age can be pretty easy sometimes... the rate of maturity, what one can do, and even the area around the eyes can tell age! But becoming an adult (after puberty) is usually done by age 20. Cells grow and multiply still, but, unlike past years, they're not for growing... they're for replacing the deal cells that show up. And while excersising (sp?) and healthy living and stuff can improve strength and stuff, no one really grows taller after they are 20.
In fact, many old-age problems come from cells not multiplying as much as they used to... Loss of strength comes from less muscle cells, and the famous memory problems come from loss of brain cells.
Now, leaving the cells arena, we come to technology. We covered Medical Imaging for a long while on this blog, and here's some data on some different Medical tech. We know that certain devices can totally replace body parts... some of the most famous are the robotic (and sometimes just artificial) arms and legs. Some of you know pacemakers, which help the heart keep to a beat. And some of you even know about the other-famous hip replacements (total ones include the ball-and-socket joint).
But there are plenty others. Other joints can have replacements... finger, toe, elbow, and knee joints are examples listed in the book. Some replacements are from other humans, like the well-known kidney replacement. But did you know that corneas can be transferred over and replaced too? And hearts can be transferred over from just-dead people (Repeat: JUST dead, not long-time dead!). And skin grafts, while some are man-made (not with natural stuff), are able to come from the same person!
There are even more radical replacements! There are devices to replace damaged brain cells, not-working inner ears (including electrical translator which sends signals into the brain to let it figure out the sound), artificial hearts (apparently being trialed on humans), and there's even an artificial lung being developed for those with diseased and damaged parts of air-filled areas of the body! And even the well-known robotic arm is jumping up in tech a little... some robo-arms have hands that move (at least the fingers)!
But some tech used for helping is old-fashioned, and has been used as long as anyone can remember... for walking, there's a very famous one. It stills exists in the real world, and not just movies and books. It's the good old walking stick! Hey... it pays to stick with what works sometimes, and it's cool that it's still around, despite all the high-tech solutions out there!
Friday, December 14, 2012
Medical Central: The Possible Future Of Medical Imaging
I read more on Medical Imaging. We covered an interesting concept: the possible future of Medical Imaging!
The Possible Future of Medical Imaging
The science of Medical Imaging has been going at a fast rate... and getting much (extremely) faster with developments in technology and the Medical Imaging ways! It started off with X-Rays, and has boomed significantly. It may be possible that soon we'll be using scanners and devices that we see only in sci-fi movies! Devices include extremely tiny robots that can either be endoscopes or surgery-doing devices, VR goggles that can help surgeons in the surgery room, handheld scanners that can see inside the body, and the book even suggests a magnetic device to shut down the pain centers of the brain for a short bit!
Already, advanced imaging is going up. Scientists are working on a way called HUTT, which is an advanced version of Ultrasound, which should even figure out different tissues by just figuring out how the sound changes when it hits stuff in the body! They're even working on better X-Rays... double detectors should be better than single-detectors, and make better images with less X-Rays (according to the book). And open-sided MRI Scanners are already in use, as mentioned in the last post. And work is being done to figure out how to make cheaper and smaller MRI Scanners. There's a device out now that may be the trick, and is smaller and cheaper.
They are also working on a way called "optical imaging" in the book, which is similar to Ultrasound and HUTT... except it uses a long electromagnetic wave called infrared light to see inside the body! It can tell different tissues apart the same way HUTT does (except with infrared light). Optical Imaging is actually good for babies, because they're too jumpy to go through and MRI, and are way too sensitive to X-Rays.
Scientists are also working on a device called TMS. TMS uses magnetic waves to stimulate or "turn off" parts of the brain. Scientists think that this can be used to take care of depression. It may also possibly be the thing that will be used in the future as a pain-reliever that's safe, since it may shut down the brain's areas that deal with pain. It can be used to map out the brain, since stimulates areas, and scientists can map out that stimulation (according to book). fMRI and another method is used to check this thing and its effects out.
It may be possible that Medical Imaging jumps up so much, that it may be able to read a person's thoughts! This would be done to seeing certain patterns in the brain, and figuring out what these patterns mean, figuring out the person's thoughts! Some scientists fight against this, though. Why? Apparently, even when two patients are thinking about similar things, their brains will do different signal-patterns!
The Possible Future of Medical Imaging
The science of Medical Imaging has been going at a fast rate... and getting much (extremely) faster with developments in technology and the Medical Imaging ways! It started off with X-Rays, and has boomed significantly. It may be possible that soon we'll be using scanners and devices that we see only in sci-fi movies! Devices include extremely tiny robots that can either be endoscopes or surgery-doing devices, VR goggles that can help surgeons in the surgery room, handheld scanners that can see inside the body, and the book even suggests a magnetic device to shut down the pain centers of the brain for a short bit!
Already, advanced imaging is going up. Scientists are working on a way called HUTT, which is an advanced version of Ultrasound, which should even figure out different tissues by just figuring out how the sound changes when it hits stuff in the body! They're even working on better X-Rays... double detectors should be better than single-detectors, and make better images with less X-Rays (according to the book). And open-sided MRI Scanners are already in use, as mentioned in the last post. And work is being done to figure out how to make cheaper and smaller MRI Scanners. There's a device out now that may be the trick, and is smaller and cheaper.
They are also working on a way called "optical imaging" in the book, which is similar to Ultrasound and HUTT... except it uses a long electromagnetic wave called infrared light to see inside the body! It can tell different tissues apart the same way HUTT does (except with infrared light). Optical Imaging is actually good for babies, because they're too jumpy to go through and MRI, and are way too sensitive to X-Rays.
Scientists are also working on a device called TMS. TMS uses magnetic waves to stimulate or "turn off" parts of the brain. Scientists think that this can be used to take care of depression. It may also possibly be the thing that will be used in the future as a pain-reliever that's safe, since it may shut down the brain's areas that deal with pain. It can be used to map out the brain, since stimulates areas, and scientists can map out that stimulation (according to book). fMRI and another method is used to check this thing and its effects out.
It may be possible that Medical Imaging jumps up so much, that it may be able to read a person's thoughts! This would be done to seeing certain patterns in the brain, and figuring out what these patterns mean, figuring out the person's thoughts! Some scientists fight against this, though. Why? Apparently, even when two patients are thinking about similar things, their brains will do different signal-patterns!
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Medical Central: Medical Imaging--For Other Stuff Too!
Read more on Medical Imaging today, and got some more details on something that has been mentioned before: Medical Imaging can be used for surgery too!
Medical Imaging--Other Uses
Now, some us know that radiation has been used to kill and battle cancers. Radiation kills dividing cells... that's bad for us humans, who have dividing cells. But it's even worse for cancers and their tumors... why? Tumors are made up of very rapidly dividing cells... faster than normal human cells! So a burst of radiation can do more damage to a cancer's tumor than our cells. But you still have to be careful... even these small bursts can have side-effects like the famous hair loss, and even nausea according to the book. And those bursts can still affect other tissues. It can be a tricky problem.
Then comes in Medical Imaging! MRI scans and other scans, like PET, CT, and fMRI, can pinpoint these tumors better. With a better location, the radiation treatment can focus the gamma or X-Rays more onto the tumor and not other tissues... and with less radiation! Talk about safer!
It has been said that endoscopes and some other Medical Imaging techniques can be used in keyhole surgeries. This is not the only way Medical Imaging can be used for surgery. Scans can be made of, say... a patient's brain. This can help the surgeon even before the surgery. But sometimes tissues in the brain and other areas move a bit, so the surgeon needs a little more help. Here comes in a special MRI scanner called an open-side MRI. There's an open area in, where else, the side, where the surgeon can scan. Since it's an MRI, the surgeon needs to use special tools for surgery that are non-magnetic. The MRI scans the brain constantly, and the computer makes and aligns the image as needed, and then feeds the image to a TV screen that's where the surgeon can see it. This helps the surgeon keep track of everything and accomplish the surgery.
The MRI can be mixed with different things, like PET, CT, and fMRI. This helps the surgeon by seeing other things, like different tissues and blood streams (book says major ones). This helps so that the surgeon doesn't damage anything else, even by accident. When working in a major area of the brain, like the movement-controlling and speech controlling areas, this is important, because a mistake can leave a patient paralyzed or speechless for life!
This type of surgery has been primarily used for brain surgery. Studies are being made, however. Maybe one day, they'll be able to do tricky & complicated surgeries in areas like the kidneys and other places!
MRI has been discovered to have a different treatment ability too. MRI creates electrical and magnetic fields. Scientists have discovered that patients suffering from depression that go through MRI scans come out happier because of these fields! No one really knows why, however. But this was a good discovery, however! But MRI Scanners are very expensive. So scientists are making animal tests with a smaller device that makes similar fields (according to the book). They're hoping that this device can eventually be used for a treatment for depression! That's amazing!
Medical Imaging--Other Uses
Now, some us know that radiation has been used to kill and battle cancers. Radiation kills dividing cells... that's bad for us humans, who have dividing cells. But it's even worse for cancers and their tumors... why? Tumors are made up of very rapidly dividing cells... faster than normal human cells! So a burst of radiation can do more damage to a cancer's tumor than our cells. But you still have to be careful... even these small bursts can have side-effects like the famous hair loss, and even nausea according to the book. And those bursts can still affect other tissues. It can be a tricky problem.
Then comes in Medical Imaging! MRI scans and other scans, like PET, CT, and fMRI, can pinpoint these tumors better. With a better location, the radiation treatment can focus the gamma or X-Rays more onto the tumor and not other tissues... and with less radiation! Talk about safer!
It has been said that endoscopes and some other Medical Imaging techniques can be used in keyhole surgeries. This is not the only way Medical Imaging can be used for surgery. Scans can be made of, say... a patient's brain. This can help the surgeon even before the surgery. But sometimes tissues in the brain and other areas move a bit, so the surgeon needs a little more help. Here comes in a special MRI scanner called an open-side MRI. There's an open area in, where else, the side, where the surgeon can scan. Since it's an MRI, the surgeon needs to use special tools for surgery that are non-magnetic. The MRI scans the brain constantly, and the computer makes and aligns the image as needed, and then feeds the image to a TV screen that's where the surgeon can see it. This helps the surgeon keep track of everything and accomplish the surgery.
The MRI can be mixed with different things, like PET, CT, and fMRI. This helps the surgeon by seeing other things, like different tissues and blood streams (book says major ones). This helps so that the surgeon doesn't damage anything else, even by accident. When working in a major area of the brain, like the movement-controlling and speech controlling areas, this is important, because a mistake can leave a patient paralyzed or speechless for life!
This type of surgery has been primarily used for brain surgery. Studies are being made, however. Maybe one day, they'll be able to do tricky & complicated surgeries in areas like the kidneys and other places!
MRI has been discovered to have a different treatment ability too. MRI creates electrical and magnetic fields. Scientists have discovered that patients suffering from depression that go through MRI scans come out happier because of these fields! No one really knows why, however. But this was a good discovery, however! But MRI Scanners are very expensive. So scientists are making animal tests with a smaller device that makes similar fields (according to the book). They're hoping that this device can eventually be used for a treatment for depression! That's amazing!
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Medical Central: Combining Stuff!
Read more on Medical Imaging today. We covered something interesting... combining the multiple Medical Imaging ways!
Combining Stuff
We've covered a lot of ways that are used in Medical Imaging. PET, CT, MRI... to name a few. Each of these have really good points... but some have very bad points. PET and CT use radiation, which can be dangerous in over-dosages, and can't ever be used on a pregnant woman. Endoscopes and Ultrasound have different image-quality, image area size, and expense cost for these images. And each of these can see different things... one sees how the body uses stuff, but not structure... another sees this structure... and yet another actually sees these things, not just scan and construct the image! And MRI can cause clastrophobia (sp?), AKA a fear of small and enclosed places. While ways have been made to try and fix these (like an "open" MRI to ease up the clastrophobia [sp?]), there are still some problems to go with the ups.
Scientists, of course, have figured out something cooking figured out ages ago... combining things can make a one big good thing! They have started combining different Medical Imaging ways to see things better and differently. One way is in brain imaging, where PET has been combined with a different scanning technique to see how the brain works... by both seeing structure and how the body uses its systems. While the brain-imaging is mainly used in research, it has been used to figure out some abnormal brain activity for some patients with brain-problems (increasingly, according to the book).
Combining PET with CT helps pick up how well drugs are working. Scientists had been using PET to check for drug-effects on animals for a while, but now are using a combo in order to check on how some drugs effect humans. Take Alheizmer's (sp?) disease, which affects the brain especially in later years. It causes clogging of a substance called alyhmoid (sp?). Scientists have figured out that a certain substance that can be radioactively tagged sticks onto alyhmoid. They use this tagged substance to check to see how certain drugs effect the disease.
Combining Medical Imaging ways have some problems. The brain imaging mentioned above, for example, can't keep up with the constantly changing signals in the brain. The brain can change signals in milliseconds... talk about fast! But that's too fast for a machine to keep up sometimes. But scientists are even figuring out these problems, since combing Medical Imaging ways are great in research and diagnosing problems (according to the book). They combined a method called EEGs (which uses electrodes [electricity conductors] to see how signals work in the brain and keep up with them in the brain according to the book) and MEGs (which does same thing as EEGs, just with magnetism, according to the book) with a different scanning method. Using this, they can keep track of the brain's signals, and see which parts of the brain are active certain things are being done!
But that's just an example... combining different things and Medical Imaging ways even helps keep an eye on structure while seeing which parts of the brain are active or not! That's just plain cool! And that's just for the brain... there are many possiblities (sp?) for combining Medical Imaging ways, and how they help people and doctors (combining Medical Imaging ways can help spot tumors as early as possible too)! And more research is being made too!
Combining Stuff
We've covered a lot of ways that are used in Medical Imaging. PET, CT, MRI... to name a few. Each of these have really good points... but some have very bad points. PET and CT use radiation, which can be dangerous in over-dosages, and can't ever be used on a pregnant woman. Endoscopes and Ultrasound have different image-quality, image area size, and expense cost for these images. And each of these can see different things... one sees how the body uses stuff, but not structure... another sees this structure... and yet another actually sees these things, not just scan and construct the image! And MRI can cause clastrophobia (sp?), AKA a fear of small and enclosed places. While ways have been made to try and fix these (like an "open" MRI to ease up the clastrophobia [sp?]), there are still some problems to go with the ups.
Scientists, of course, have figured out something cooking figured out ages ago... combining things can make a one big good thing! They have started combining different Medical Imaging ways to see things better and differently. One way is in brain imaging, where PET has been combined with a different scanning technique to see how the brain works... by both seeing structure and how the body uses its systems. While the brain-imaging is mainly used in research, it has been used to figure out some abnormal brain activity for some patients with brain-problems (increasingly, according to the book).
Combining PET with CT helps pick up how well drugs are working. Scientists had been using PET to check for drug-effects on animals for a while, but now are using a combo in order to check on how some drugs effect humans. Take Alheizmer's (sp?) disease, which affects the brain especially in later years. It causes clogging of a substance called alyhmoid (sp?). Scientists have figured out that a certain substance that can be radioactively tagged sticks onto alyhmoid. They use this tagged substance to check to see how certain drugs effect the disease.
Combining Medical Imaging ways have some problems. The brain imaging mentioned above, for example, can't keep up with the constantly changing signals in the brain. The brain can change signals in milliseconds... talk about fast! But that's too fast for a machine to keep up sometimes. But scientists are even figuring out these problems, since combing Medical Imaging ways are great in research and diagnosing problems (according to the book). They combined a method called EEGs (which uses electrodes [electricity conductors] to see how signals work in the brain and keep up with them in the brain according to the book) and MEGs (which does same thing as EEGs, just with magnetism, according to the book) with a different scanning method. Using this, they can keep track of the brain's signals, and see which parts of the brain are active certain things are being done!
But that's just an example... combining different things and Medical Imaging ways even helps keep an eye on structure while seeing which parts of the brain are active or not! That's just plain cool! And that's just for the brain... there are many possiblities (sp?) for combining Medical Imaging ways, and how they help people and doctors (combining Medical Imaging ways can help spot tumors as early as possible too)! And more research is being made too!
Friday, December 7, 2012
Medical Central: Endoscopes
Read more on Medical Imaging today. We leave the world of using waves, radioactivity, and other indirect methods (according to book) to look at a more direct method... endoscopes!
Endoscopes
Endoscopes are little cameras on the end of long, flexible tubes. The tubes are glass optical fibers, which have multiple uses, like the Internet or TV or phones, or (the book says) other media sources. But the book says that these things were made originally for medical purposes.
Tubes to see inside the body were developed somewhere in the 19th Century, according to the book. But it was only when the electrical light was made was this invention start going up in popularity, usuage (sp?), and usefulness. Even then, it took a little bit for the flexible tubes, not stiff ones, to come out. And then came the less-than-millimeter-thick ones!
Endoscopes work by using light pulses. There's a light source in the tube (outside the body which is transmitted through the tube, according to book), and the lens does the usual job of focusing. A TV gets the signals and broadcasts the images. Endoscopes are named after their job... like, gastroscopes go down the throat and check out the esogophus and stomach areas.
Endoscopes can look at many things... even ultrathin needlescopes exist which can check inside of blood vessels! How do they look inside? They can be inserted through openings... which include natural ones like the nose, mouth, or rectum, and artificial ones (according to book). The mouth can be a multi-use... both to check the stomach (which multiple wrinkles help it stretch out to receive food) and the lungs area according to the book. This can help check and diagnose different problems, like lung-heart sticking, tumors (of course), ulcers (book says sores in stomach), and even swelling in different areas (like bronchial tubes according to book).
But, despite this, endoscopes have a blind spot... the small intestine. To fix this problem, a different kind of endoscope was developed by Professor Paul Swain of the London Hospital: the "camera in a pill" (formal name: wireless capsule endoscope, according to the book). This camera is barely larger than the average pill. It can travel down the digestive system, and take pictures. Modern developments allow doctors to be able to stop the pill where they need to, because they're more like mini-robots and have things to attach themselves to the walls. But these cameras are small, and send the signals to a receiver, which the book says the patient wears.
Endoscopes
Endoscopes are little cameras on the end of long, flexible tubes. The tubes are glass optical fibers, which have multiple uses, like the Internet or TV or phones, or (the book says) other media sources. But the book says that these things were made originally for medical purposes.
Tubes to see inside the body were developed somewhere in the 19th Century, according to the book. But it was only when the electrical light was made was this invention start going up in popularity, usuage (sp?), and usefulness. Even then, it took a little bit for the flexible tubes, not stiff ones, to come out. And then came the less-than-millimeter-thick ones!
Endoscopes work by using light pulses. There's a light source in the tube (outside the body which is transmitted through the tube, according to book), and the lens does the usual job of focusing. A TV gets the signals and broadcasts the images. Endoscopes are named after their job... like, gastroscopes go down the throat and check out the esogophus and stomach areas.
Endoscopes can look at many things... even ultrathin needlescopes exist which can check inside of blood vessels! How do they look inside? They can be inserted through openings... which include natural ones like the nose, mouth, or rectum, and artificial ones (according to book). The mouth can be a multi-use... both to check the stomach (which multiple wrinkles help it stretch out to receive food) and the lungs area according to the book. This can help check and diagnose different problems, like lung-heart sticking, tumors (of course), ulcers (book says sores in stomach), and even swelling in different areas (like bronchial tubes according to book).
But, despite this, endoscopes have a blind spot... the small intestine. To fix this problem, a different kind of endoscope was developed by Professor Paul Swain of the London Hospital: the "camera in a pill" (formal name: wireless capsule endoscope, according to the book). This camera is barely larger than the average pill. It can travel down the digestive system, and take pictures. Modern developments allow doctors to be able to stop the pill where they need to, because they're more like mini-robots and have things to attach themselves to the walls. But these cameras are small, and send the signals to a receiver, which the book says the patient wears.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Medical Central: Different Medical Imaging Stuff
Read more on Medical Imaging. It covered some different stuff.
Different Medical Imaging Stuff
Lungs are hard to scan with MRI Scanners. Why? They're full of air, which can't react very well to the magnetic stuff. In the 1990's, a scientist figured out a way to fix this little problem. A patient breathes in a lungful of a certain gas... book says a special form of helium or xenon. This is highly reactive to MRI scans, about 100,000 times more so than water according to the book. The patient only holds it for the scans, which is about 10 seconds, according to the book. The book says that this technique is only in early research stages, and it not used in clinics or for medical purposes or by doctors.
Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer caught by woman according to the book. Once women reach a certain age (50 years, according to the book) they're advised to start taking an annual test for breast cancer, according to the book. It's an X-Ray called a mammogram (a contrast medium used for detecting breast cancer is gadolinium according to the book). MRIs do a better job for "breast cancer screening" (according to book), but they're more expensive, and book says they take longer. And sometimes they give out false alarms (book calls it "false positives")... they say that breast cancer's there, but it's not really.
We covered that CT and MRI Scanner images are made by computers. They take a ton of data (information, according to book), and make an image. And then technologist or whoever is working on the thing can have fun with it. There's multiple ways of doing this. For one thing, the person can tell the computer to highlight certain areas and tissues with bright colors (according to book; one example used is tumors). And they can ignore certain areas... and can completely take them away from the image! That's what the book says, anyway. Each image can be especially fitted for what each patient needs and for even just the patient, according to the book. It's amazing how far computers have come, and how they're used even in just medical purposes!
Different Medical Imaging Stuff
Lungs are hard to scan with MRI Scanners. Why? They're full of air, which can't react very well to the magnetic stuff. In the 1990's, a scientist figured out a way to fix this little problem. A patient breathes in a lungful of a certain gas... book says a special form of helium or xenon. This is highly reactive to MRI scans, about 100,000 times more so than water according to the book. The patient only holds it for the scans, which is about 10 seconds, according to the book. The book says that this technique is only in early research stages, and it not used in clinics or for medical purposes or by doctors.
Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer caught by woman according to the book. Once women reach a certain age (50 years, according to the book) they're advised to start taking an annual test for breast cancer, according to the book. It's an X-Ray called a mammogram (a contrast medium used for detecting breast cancer is gadolinium according to the book). MRIs do a better job for "breast cancer screening" (according to book), but they're more expensive, and book says they take longer. And sometimes they give out false alarms (book calls it "false positives")... they say that breast cancer's there, but it's not really.
We covered that CT and MRI Scanner images are made by computers. They take a ton of data (information, according to book), and make an image. And then technologist or whoever is working on the thing can have fun with it. There's multiple ways of doing this. For one thing, the person can tell the computer to highlight certain areas and tissues with bright colors (according to book; one example used is tumors). And they can ignore certain areas... and can completely take them away from the image! That's what the book says, anyway. Each image can be especially fitted for what each patient needs and for even just the patient, according to the book. It's amazing how far computers have come, and how they're used even in just medical purposes!
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Medical Central: Contrast Mediums
Today, read
more on Medical Imaging. This time, we follow something similar to a different
section… using special chemicals (called contrast mediums) to see inside the
body!
Contrast
Mediums
We all know
that X-Rays are primarily used for seeing bones. Early X-Rays could only see bones… the rest were shadow,
and couldn’t be seen. Soon after X-Rays were released, though, contrast mediums
were discovered... somewhere around 1910.
Contrast
mediums are radio-opaque liquids. In other words, they’re liquids that X-Rays
can’t pass through. They were first tested on cavaders, which is another term
for “dead bodies”. Mercury was one of the first tested, but could
only be used on cavaders… since mercury is very poisionous (sp?) to living
humans.
Different
chemicals (book says elements) started being discovered that could be used. Bismuth was one. In
fact, a painkiller called lipidiol (an oily substance, according to the book; book also says accidentally discovered by Jan Sicard, who was French doctor)
was discovered to be a good medium contrast, allowing certain machines to see
in different places, like the uterus, bladder, and spinal canal (books says the
empty area of the spine where the spinal cord is).
Contrast Mediums
can be drunk, like radioisotopes substances. But they can also be injected
directly into the bloodstream. According to the book, a young German hospital doctor
named Werner Forssmann used catheters to inject the contrast (one was foot
long!) mediums into cavaders, but wouldn’t be given permission to use on living
humans. So he used them on himself!
Book says he was reprimanded for this, but was later given a Nobel Prize with
two others. He also proved the safety of these things.
Contrast
Mediums can be used to see different stuff inside the body. The ones that use
this most often are the X-Ray machines and CT scanners, which use X-Rays. But PET
Scanners and MRI can benefit from this too. Contrast mediums allow these
machines to see bloodstreams, the intestines, spinal canal, and the inside of
the heart (coats the inside, so can see holes and stuff if exist). Bloodstreams
took a while to find a good contrast medium for, but one was eventually found (one with a familiar term: book says it was iodine),
and the first bloodstream X-Ray image (called an "angiogram" in book) was made, and more were able to be made.
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