Chicken Dissection Lab

In this dissection, my group and I found and took pictures of all the major muscles underlined in the lab packet we got in class. We also played around with the chicken by moving around the tendons and muscles and seeing how a part of the chicken moves. Muscles and bones work together in tandem meaning that the muscles attach to tendons and ligaments and the tendons and ligaments attach to bones. The muscles pull the bones, causing movement. The major difference when comparing the tendons of the insertion and the tendons of the origin is the flexibility and the amount of red blood nerve vessels found nearer to the origin than the insertion. In this lab, we examined several specific and major muscles to get a better sense of this.

A. Pectoralis major: This is the muscle that runs from the shoulder to the humerus. It pulls the wing ventrally  powering flight.

B. Pectoralis minor: This muscle is directly underneath and runs parallel to the pectoralis major. It lifts the wing dorsally, which is the recovery stroke of the wing in flight. In humans this muscle pulls the shoulder down and forward. 

A. Trapezius: These muscles run perpendicular from the backbone to the shoulder of the bird and pull the shoulder back. 

B. Latissimus dorsi: These muscles are directly distal to the trapeziuses on the bird's and the human's back. In both species they extend or pull the wing or arm.

A. Deltoid: This is the muscle on the center top of the shoulder and help to raise the upper arm or wing.

B. Biceps Branchii: This muscle is located near the uppxer part of the wing or arm. It flexes the wing or arm.

It is called "biceps" because it has 2 origins.

A. Triceps humeralis: This muscle is located in the inferior side of the upper arm or wing. It extends the wing or arm. It is called "triceps" because it has three origins.

A. Flexor carpi ulnaris: This is the largest muscle on the posterior side of the lower wing and it runs from the back of the elbow to the side of the "pinky finger" of humans. It flexes the hand.

B. Branchioradialis: This is the largest muscle on the superior side of the lower wing. It runs from the elbow to the thumb side of the hand. It pulls the hand back.

A. Sartorius: This muscle runs down the front edge of the thigh from the illium to the knee in birds. It flexes the thigh and allows for the crossing of the legs.

B. Iliotibialis, Gluteus maximus (humans): This muscle covers the whole lateral side of the thigh in birds and in humans it runs from the dorsal and lateral sides of the the pelvis to the lateral side of the knee. It extends the thigh and flexes the leg.

C. Biceps femoris: This muscle lies medial to the inferior section of the iliotibilalis. It flexes the leg.

D. Semimembranosus: This muscle is just inferior and medial to the thigh a bird. It extends the thigh.

E. Semitendinosus: This muscle is just anterior and medial to the semimembranosus of the inside of the thigh. It  also extends the thigh.

F. Quadriceps femoris (birds) Rectus femoris (humans): This muscle lies on the inside of the thigh just medial to the sartorius in the bird. It is a group of four muscles, hence its name "quadriceps," which make up the bulk of the front of the thigh in humans. It flexes the thigh and extends the lower leg. 

A. Gastrocnemius: This is the primary muscle of the dorsal and medial sides of the drumstick.  It extends the foot and flexes the lower leg.

B. Peroneus longus: This is the primary superfificial muscle on the lateral side of the drumstick in birds. It is smaller and runs up the lateral side of the lower leg in humans. 

C. Tibialis anterior: This muscle is larger than and directly under the Perneus longus in birds. In humans it runs along the lateral side of the shin bone (tibia) on the very front of the lower leg. It is the muscle that causes pain in the disorder known as "shin splints." It flexes the foot.

"What Happens When You Stretch"

Today for homework I read the article "What Happens When You Stretch," When you stretch, the muscle fiber is pulled out to its full length sacromere by sacromere, and then the connective tissue takes up the remaining slack. When this occurs, it helps to realign any disorganized fibers in the direction of the tension. This realignment is what helps rehabilitate scarred tissue back to health. Proprioceptors are nerve endings that relay all the information about the musculoskeletal system to
the central nervous system. They aide in the perception of one's own body position and movement. The proprioceptors related to stretching are located in the tendons and in the muscle fibers. There are two kinds of muscle fibers fibers: intrafusal muscle fibers and extrafusal muscle fibers.
When muscles contract, they produce tension at the point where the muscle is connected to the tendon. When the tension caused by stretching exceeds a certain threshold, it triggers the lengthening reaction which inhibits the muscles from contracting and causes them to relax.  Another reason for holding a stretch for a prolonged period of time is to allow this lengthening reaction to occur, thus helping the stretched muscles to relax.
When an agonist contracts, in order to cause the desired motion it usually forces the antagonists to relax and this phenomenon is called the reciprocal inhibition. When stretching, it is easier to stretch a muscle that is relaxed than to stretch a muscle that is contracting. You want to relax any muscles used as synergists by the muscle you are trying yo stretch. For example, when you want to stretch your calf, you want to contract the shin muscles by flexing your foot.
The muscle spindle records the change in length (and how fast) and sends signals to the spine which convey this information. This triggers the stretch reflex which attempts to resist the change in muscle length by causing the stretched muscle to contract. Another reason for holding a stretch for a prolonged period of time, is so you can gradually train your stretch receptors to allow greater lengthening of the muscles.
The static component of the stretch reflex persists as long as the muscle is being stretched. The dynamic component of the stretch reflex (which can be very powerful) lasts for only a moment and is in response to the initial sudden increase in muscle length.
That is why when we are young it advised to play money bars which stretches out our arm muscles making us taller. 

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:

Unit 5 Reflection

In this unit, we learned the difference between digestion and absorption. Digestion the chemical and physical breakdown of foods into smaller pieces, which takes place in the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, and small intestine. Absorption is when your body takes in needed nutrients such as water. This takes place in the small and large intestine.
The digestive system starts in the mouth. The food moves down the esophagus through the process of peristalsis. Accessory Organs such as the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas also help in the breakdown of food. The stomach chemically breaks down the food. Waste products leave the body through the large intestine to the rectum and anal canal.
The body uses certain molecules and biochemical pathways to meet its energy demand through the 3 stages of extraction. During the FED state, the body begins to store glucose as glycogen, break down proteins into amino acids, and lipids into fatty acids. The main source of energy during the absorption state glucose and fatty acids. During the starvation state your body begins to dip into the protein reserves stored in muscles.
The endocrine system controls the process involved in movement and physiological equilibrium through hormones secretes by specific organs. Hormones are categorized as steroid hormones and non steroid hormones. Steroid hormones can go into cells directly and change the function of  the cell whereas the non steroid need the help of cAMP to get to the message to the DNA located in the nucleus.
There are two types of diabetes. In Type I the body does not make insulin at all and in Type II the body is insulin resistant.
The major functions of the lymphatic system is immunity, lipid absorption, and fluid recovery. Organs in the lymphatic system include lymph nodes, thymus, lymph vessels and capillaries, tonsils, and spleen.
One of the greatest functions of this unit were the two temp checks which allowed me to stay on top of studying for the test. Another great activity we did for this unit was the digestive tract lab, which allowed me to understand the length of my small and large intestine in a very visceral perspective. One reading that greatly enhanced my understanding of diabetes, metabolism, and the endocrine system was "Stress, Metabolism, and Liquidating your Assets." I especially learned something new about pear-shaped abdominal fat vs apple-shaped abdominal fat.
As for my New Year's Goals, I have not been able to finish a great deal of homework over the weekend but I have been running twice a week which I am proud of. 

How long is your digestive system?

In this lab I made a model of my own digestive system by measuring and cutting  yarn to represent lengths of different parts of the system, and tapping the pieces of yarn together to form one long string.

Digestive Organ	Color and Length (CM)
Mouth	12 cm
Esophagus	22 cm
Stomach	16 cm
Small Intestine	648 cm
Large Intestine	162 cm
Total	860 cm

My digestive system is almost 5.3 times my height but my it is able to fit inside my body because the small and large intestine is folded to increase surface area, which increases the number of reactions needed to break down food. 

I guess it takes 6-8 hours on average for food to move through your entire digestive system. According to MayoClinic, my guess is right in that it does take 6-8 hours on average for food to move through your entire digestive system. There are many factors that influence the time it takes. The complexity of foods, such as the structure and the components of the food, affect the time it takes. For example a juice will digest faster than a salad. Fat takes the longest to digest from of all the possible food macronutrients, because the liver can only produce a certain amount of bile to break down the fats per hour. 

Digestion is the mechanical and chemical breaking down of food into smaller components that can be absorbed into a blood stream. The mouth, pharynx, esophagus, liver , gallbladder, pancreas, and stomach help in the digestive process. 

Absorption takes place in the small intestine where most of the nutrients from ingested food are absorbed. The small and large intestine are responsible for most of the absorption. 

What are some disorders/diseases related to the digestive system other than diabetes? What happens if one of the organs fails to function? What are the chemical components of the fluids (enzymes, such as in bile and amylase) that help breakdown the macromolecules in food?

New Year's Goals

For the last two years I neglected to take care of my physical health. I haven't worked out diligently since my 10th grade P.E. class. Now because I am a second semester senior and I am done with college apps, I will get back into shape. I will do this by running every Friday afterschool at the minimum. If I don't feel like going outside I will do a at home cardio dance routine for 30 minutes minimum. By two months I want to increase it for an hour to two hours. I will also find one other day in the week to workout and by the end of two months I will increase it three days a week, and in three months I will increase it to four days.
Additionally I will try to sleep by 10 to 11 pm everyday and wake up by 5-7 am. 

My second goal would be to finish all written homework on the Sunday before the week starts or Monday. I will watch any podcasts or take notes for Anatomy and Physiology a week ahead so I have a lot of knowledge about the subject when I head into class the day of the lecture. This will allow me to study for upcoming tests/ap tests during the week. Because I don't have any college apps to do anymore I will focus more on school work and scholarships. I will work on finding scholarships on either Thursday or Friday and write any essays on Friday after my workout or Saturday morning.