Chapter 1

Question 1

What is the difference between anatomy and physiology? How do these two sciences support each other?

Answer 1

Anatomy is the study of the structure, physiology is the study of the function. These approaches are complementary and never entirely separable. Together they form the bedrock of the health sciences. Physiology lends meaning to anatomy, and conversely anatomy is what makes physiology possible. This unity of form and function is an important point to bear in mind as you study the body.

Question 2

Inspection

Answer 2

Simply looking at the body’s appearance, as in performing a physical examination or making a clinical diagnosis from surface appearance. Physical examinations also involve touching and listening to the body.

Question 3

Palpation

Answer 3

Feeling structure with the hands, such as palpating a lymph node or taking a pulse.

Question 4

Auscultation

Answer 4

Listening to the natural sounds made by the body, such as the heart and lung sounds.

Question 5

Percussion

Answer 5

Examiner taps on body, feels for abnormal resistance, and listens to the emitted sound for signs of abnormalities such as pockets of fluid or air.

Question 6

Dissection

Answer 6

Deeper understanding of the body, carefully cutting and separating tissues to reveal relationships.

Question 7

Cadaver

Answer 7

Dead human body

Question 8

Comparative anatomy

Answer 8

Study of multiple species in order to examine similarities and differences and analyze evolutionary trends.

Question 9

Exploratory surgery

Answer 9

Opening the body and taking a look inside to see what is wrong and what could be done about it.

Question 10

Medical imaging

Answer 10

Methods of viewing the inside of a body without surgery.

Question 11

Radiology

Answer 11

Branch of medicine concerned with imaging.

Question 12

Gross anatomy

Answer 12

Bodily structure that can be seen with the naked eye, observed without magnification.

Question 13

Histology (microscopic anatomy)

Answer 13

Approach used to see individual cells in the body. Process involves taking tissue specimens, thinly slice and stain them, and observe them under the microscope.

Question 14

Histopathology

Answer 14

The microscopic examination of tissues for signs of disease.

Question 15

Cytology

Answer 15

Study of the structure and function of individual cells

Question 16

Ultrastructure

Answer 16

Refers to fine detail, down to the molecular level, revealed by the electron microscope

Question 17

Comparative physiology

Answer 17

Study of how different species have solved problems of life such as water balance, respiration, and reproduction

Question 18

Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes

Answer 18

Philosophers who are credited with putting science on the path to modernity, inventing new habits of scientific thought.

Question 19

Scientific method

Answer 19

Refers less to observational procedures than to certain habits of disciplined creativity, careful observation, logical thinking and honest analysis of ones observations and conclusions

Question 20

Inductive method

Answer 20

Process of making numerous observations until one feels confident in drawing generalizations and predictions from them. First prescribed by Francis bacon.

Question 21

Hypothetico-deductive method

Answer 21

Most physiological knowledge was obtained by this method. Involves a hypothesis

Question 22

Hypothesis

Answer 22

An informed conjecture that is capable of being tested and potentially falsified by experimentation or data collection

Question 23

Falsifiability

Answer 23

Means that if we claim something is scientifically true, we must be able to specify what evidence it would take to prove it wrong. If nothing could possibly prove it wrong, then it is not scientific.

Question 24

Experimental design

Answer 24

Doing an experiment properly involves several important considerations:

• sample size
• controls
• psychosomatic effects
• experimenter bias
• statistical testing

Question 25

Peer review

Answer 25

Critical evaluation by other experts in the field. Mechanism for ensuring honesty, objectivity and quality in science.

Question 26

Scientific fact

Answer 26

Information that can be independently verified by any trained person

Question 27

Law of nature

Answer 27

Generalization about the predictable ways in which matter and energy behave

Question 28

Theory

Answer 28

An explanatory statement, or set of statements that concisely summarizes the state of knowledge on a phenomenon and provides direction for further study.

Question 29

Body's structural hierarchy

Answer 29

The organism is composed of organ systems, organ systems are composed of organs, organs are composed of tissues, tissues are composed of cells, cells are composed partly of organelles, organelles are composed of molecules, molecules are composed of atoms

Question 30

Organism

Answer 30

Single, complete individual

Question 31

Organ system

Answer 31

Group of organs with a unique collective function, such as circulation, respiration or digestion.

Question 32

Organ

Answer 32

Structure composed of two or more tissue types that work together to carry out a particular function. Organs have definite anatomical boundaries and are visibly distinguishable from adjacent structures.

Question 33

Tissue

Answer 33

Mass of similar cells and cell products that forms a discrete region of an organ and performs a specific function.

Question 34

Cells

Answer 34

Smallest units of an organism that carry out all of the basic functions of life; nothing simpler than a cell is considered alive. Cell is enclosed in a plasma membrane composed of lipids and proteins. Most cells have one nucleus, an organelle that contains DNA

Question 35

Organelle

Answer 35

Microscopic structures in a cell that carry out its individual functions. Examples include mitochondria, centrioles, and lysosomes.

Question 36

Molecule

Answer 36

Organelle and other cellular components are composed of molecules, such as proteins, fats and DNA (macromolecules). Molecule is a particle composed of at least two atoms.

Question 37

Atom

Answer 37

Smallest particle with unique chemical identities. Make up molecules.

Question 38

Reductionism

Answer 38

Theory that a large, complex system such as the human body can be understood by studying its simpler components.

Question 39

Holism

Answer 39

Complementary theory to reductionism that there are emergent properties of the whole organism that cannot be predicted from the properties of its separate parts - human beings are more than the sum of their parts.

Question 40

Characteristics of life

Answer 40

Organization (living things exhibit a far higher level), cellular composition (living matter compartmentalized into one or more cells), metabolism (sum of all chemical reactions in the body), responsiveness and movement (ability of organisms to sense and react to stimuli), homeostasis (ability to maintain internal stability), development (any change in form or function over the lifetime of an organism), reproduction (produce copies of themselves, passing on genes to offspring), evolution (genetic change from generation to generation)

Question 41

Metabolism

Answer 41

Sum of all chemical reactions in the body

Question 42

Anabolism

Answer 42

Process where relatively complex molecules are synthesized from simpler ones

Question 43

Catabolism

Answer 43

Process where relatively complex molecules are broken down into simpler ones

Question 44

Excretion

Answer 44

Separation of wastes from the tissues and their elimination from the body

Question 45

Homeostasis

Answer 45

the body's ability to detect change, activate mechanisms that oppose it, and thereby maintain relatively stable internal conditions

Question 46

Development

Answer 46

Any change in form or function over the lifetime of the organism. Involves two major processes: Differentiation and growth.

Question 47

Differentiation

Answer 47

The transformation of cells with no specialized function into cells that are committed to a particular task

Question 48

Growth

Answer 48

an increase in size

Question 49

Reproduction

Answer 49

Living things can produce copies of themselves, thus passing their genes on to new, younger containers (offspring)

Question 50

Evolution

Answer 50

All living species exhibit genetic change from generation to generation and therefore evolve.

Question 51

Mutations

Answer 51

Changes in DNA structure

Question 52

Dynamic equilibrium

Answer 52

(balanced change), in which there is a certain set point or average value for a given variable (such as 37°C for body temperature) and conditions fluctuate slightly around this point

Question 53

negative feedback

Answer 53

A self-corrective mechanism that underlies most homeostasis, in which a bodily change is detected and responses are activated that reverse the change and restore stability and preserve normal body function.

Question 54

feedback loop

Answer 54

feedback mechanisms alter the original changes that triggered them (temperature, for example). Three common components of a feedback loop are a receptor, an integrating center and an effector

Question 55

vasodilation

Answer 55

the widening of blood vessels

Question 56

vasoconstriction

Answer 56

narrowing of the blood vessels in the skin

Question 57

receptor

Answer 57

Component of a feedback loop. A structure that senses a change in the body

Question 58

integrating (control) center

Answer 58

Component of a feedback loop. Example is the cardiac center of the brain, is a mechanism that processes this information, relates it to other available information (for example, comparing what the blood pressure is with what it should be), and “makes a decision” about what the appropriate response should be.

Question 59

effector

Answer 59

(Component of a feedback loop) the cell or organ that carries out the final corrective action.

Question 60

Positive feedback

Answer 60

a self-amplifying cycle in which a physiological change leads to even greater change in the same direction, rather than producing the corrective effects of negative feedback

Question 61

gradient

Answer 61

a difference in chemical concentration, electrical charge, physical pressure, temperature, or other variable between one point and another. If matter or energy moves from the point where this variable has a higher value to the point with a lower value, we say it flows

Question 62

down the gradient

Answer 62

If matter or energy moves from the point where this variable has a higher value to the point with a lower value, —for example, from a warmer to a cooler point, or a place of high chemical concentration to one of lower concentration

Question 63

up the gradient

Answer 63

Movement in the opposite direction (movement from a lower point to a higher point)

Question 64

pressure gradient

Answer 64

pressure gradient; water flows down the hose from the high-pressure point at the tap to the low-pressure point at the open end. Each heartbeat is like that, creating a gradient from high blood pressure near the heart to low pressure farther away; blood flows down this gradient away from the heart (

Question 65

Concentration gradients

Answer 65

A difference in chemical concentration from one point to another, as on two sides of a plasma membrane.

Question 66

electrical gradients

Answer 66

charged particles flow down electrical gradients. Example) Suppose there is a high concentration of sodium ions (Na+) just outside a cell and much lower concentration inside, so the outer surface of the cell membrane has a relatively positive charge and the inner surface is relatively negative (fig. 1.9d). If we open channels in the membrane that will let sodium pass, sodium ions rush into the cell, flowing down their electrical gradient. Because each Na+ carries a positive charge, this flow constitutes an electrical current through the membrane. We tap this current to make our nerves fire, our heart beat, and our muscles contract.

Question 67

thermal gradients

Answer 67

heat flows down a thermal gradient. Suppose there is warm blood flowing through small arteries close to the skin surface, and the air temperature around the body is cooler (fig. 1.9e). Heat will flow from the blood to the surrounding air, down its thermal gradient, and be lost from the body.

Question 68

eponyms

Answer 68

Terms coined from the names of people

Question 69

acronyms

Answer 69

words composed of the first letter, or first few letters, of a series of words

Question 70

anatomical position

Answer 70

A reference posture that allows for standardized anatomical terminology. A subject in anatomical position is standing with the feet flat on the floor, arms down to the sides, and the palms and eyes directed forward.

Question 71

section

Answer 71

an actual cut or slice to reveal internal anatomy

Question 72

plane

Answer 72

an imaginary flat surface passing through the body

Question 73

Three major anatomical planes

Answer 73

sagittal, frontal, and transverse

Question 74

sagittal plane

Answer 74

passes vertically through the body or an organ and divides it into right and left portions

Question 75

median plane

Answer 75

The sagittal plane that divides the body or an organ into equal right and left halves; also called midsagittal plane

Question 76

frontal (coronal) plane

Answer 76

also extends vertically, but it is perpendicular to the sagittal plane and divides the body into anterior (front) and posterior (back) portions.

Question 77

transverse (horizontal) plane

Answer 77

passes across the body or an organ perpendicular to its long axis; it divides the body or organ into superior (upper) and inferior (lower) portions

Question 78

directional terms

Answer 78

Words that describe the location of one structure relative to another

Question 79

anterior

Answer 79

Toward the front of the body

Question 80

posterior

Answer 80

Toward the back of the body or relating to the back. opposite of anterior

Question 81

deep

Answer 81

away from the surface of the body

Question 82

distal

Answer 82

farther from trunk or origin of a structure

Question 83

inferior

Answer 83

downward or below, opposite of superior

Question 84

lateral

Answer 84

away from the midline of the body. opposite of medial

Question 85

medial

Answer 85

toward the midline of the body. opposite of lateral

Question 86

proximal

Answer 86

closer to the trunk or origin of a structure. opposite of distal

Question 87

superficial

Answer 87

toward the surface of the body. opposite of deep.

Question 88

superior

Answer 88

upward or above. opposite of interior