Unit 6 Reflection

In this unit I learned about bones, which provide our body with support and the ability to move around. The skeleton system is divided into bones, joints, cartilage, and ligaments. There are two types of bone, compact an spongy. The microscopic characteristics of the bone include the cells, blood vessels, and the matrix. The types of bones cells are osteoblasts(bone-builders), osteoclasts (bone-breakers), and osteocytes (muture bone cells capable of dividing), which work together in the process of bone remodeling, The harvesian system is the organized system of interconnecting canals and blood vessels in the bone. Bones can be classified by their shape: long, short, flat, and irregular.
There are many disorders of the skeletal system that affect different types or parts of bones. Arthritis is inflammation  of the joints and there are more than 206 types of arthritis. Osteoporosis is a condition in which bones have lost minerals especially calcium, which is most common in elderly people. Scoliosis is caused by excessive lateral curvature of the vertebral column. Lordosis is the excessive curvature of the lumber spine and Kyphosis is the excessive curvature outwardly of the thoracic spine. Rickets is the softening/weakening of the bones in children, caused by a lack of Vitamin D.
Ossification is the process by which bones with the help of epiphyseal disks grow longitudinally. As we grow bone forms faster than it breaks. Minerals in the bone like calcium is necessary for maintaining pH of the blood and body fluids. Bone remodeling is needed because it allows injured bone to be replaced, and it maintains homeostasis of blood levels, and maintains skeleton by replacing old bone with new bone. Hormones like PTH and calcitonin are responsible for regulating vitamin D, vitamin K, and calcium levels and effects in the the bone. You can keep your bones healthy regularly exercising, and drinking a lot of milk because milk contains calcium which needed to make your bones strong.
There are three types of bone fractures: complete, incomplete, and closed. More specific types of complete bone fractures are compound, comminuted, and oblique. Bone repair starts with bleeding/inflammation and after 48 hours a procallus forms. Chrondroblasts and osteoblasts arrive next to start to form cartilage and bone around the procallus.
A joint is the point of connection between elements or of a skeleton. Three functional classifications of joints include synarthoses, amphiarthroses, and diarthoses. Three structural classifications are fibrous, cartilagenous, and synovial.




This unit was relatively easy to understand because of the physical functions of bones. I would have like to know more about how bones interact with other organs and systems of the body. For example if a fracture punctured the skin could there be a greater chance of an infection sourced at the bone?   I really enjoyed the owl pellet lab which allowed me to tinker with real life bones. As a student I think Iam doing by best to stay on track and not get too lazy with schoolwork and homework. Checking on my New Year's Goals I feel like I am getting more sleep and eating more protein and vegetables but I haven't been able to exercise as often as I intended to. I hope that once my dance classes start in March, I'll be able to get more fit.

Here is youtube video about a journalist who goes to talk to a orthopedic specialist about how to speed up the healing process of bone remodeling after a fracture:

Owl Pellet Lab

In this lab we dissected an owl pellet. An owl pellet is a compact, hard clot that consists of the bones, teeth, fur, claws, feathers, beaks, and other parts of a prey animal that cannot pass through the digestive system of an owl, usually a barn owl. The possible organisms that one might find in an owl pellet are mice, shrews, voles, rats, and birds.

After dissecting our owl pellet, we concluded that the bones most resemble a vole skeleton. Although moles and voles are very similar the bones we concluded that the bones belonged to that of a vole because the scapula had a more defined corner rather than a round edge. The pellet was 4.7cm long and 2.6cm wide. We found a lot of small bones in the pellet that were most likely the voles's phalanges, carpals, metacarpals, tarsals, and metatarsals. There were a lot of little long bones which were most likely the voles's many ribs. There were also many small short and cubodial irregular looking bones that were the voles's vertebrae.

The first major difference between a human skeleton and a vole skeleton when looking at the picture of the whole skeleton is the skull. The cranium is less spherical and more curved forward. Also the teeth that were attached to the mandible and maxilla were more incisor like which is very different than the teeth of a human. Also the eye socket in the crium is to the side versus a human eye socket is more towards the front of the skull. Otherwise the scapula (the shoulder blades), the clavicle (the collarbone), and the vertebrae looks very similar to that of a human's.

The vole's skeleton in the picture is oriented like a human skeleton but it should rather be oriented sideways because a vole's whole vertebrae is more curved than a human's.

I really enjoyed this lab because it was a fun and relaxing task to carve away the fur and feathers away from the bones in the owl pellet form. I had to do it with care because the bones were fragile and could break easily. I really learned a lot from this experiment because it was cool to work with real life bones than fake ones. I even took home the bones.

Pictures: