In this unit, we learned about diabetes, the endocrine system, the digestive system, and the lymphatic system. Instead of learning mostly about the anatomy and physiology of the structures in these systems, we learned about how the structures in these systems interact with other systems in the body and with different kinds of hormones in the body. One of the main themes of this unit was hormones, and how changes in levels of hormones can affect the body's systems. After we learned about the basic anatomy and physiology of the digestive system, we learned about what the body does with the nutrients absorbed from food and how hormones regulate how these nutrients are stored through the Fed State, Fasting State, and Starving State. When learning about fuel metabolism, we primarily focused on insulin, glucagon, adrenaline/noradrenaline, and cortisol. Then, we proceeded to learn about diabetes and its causes, and how it is related to the malfunction of insulin production.; we learned about the differences between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is mostly genetic and is caused by a complete inability to produce insulin. On the other hand, Type 2 is not genetic and is induced by insulin resistance. Furthermore, we learned about the endocrine system and and how hormones were secreted or stopped through a chain reaction through many glands but starting at the brain. Lastly, we learned about the basic anatomy and physiology of the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is somewhat like a separate circulatory system that helps to absorb lipids and aids immunity.
I thought that this unit was one of the hardest units that we had ever learned, as it required lots of detail and the learning of new terms, especially for the different kinds of hormones and the glands that they came from. There were so many new terms to learn and many of the glands and hormones sounded similar to each other, so I easily confused the terms. However, this task was made easier after watching this video on YouTube: it is a crash-course video on hormones in the human body. It was also difficult to connect the themes we learned in this unit to other units, since I usually forget some of the material learned in the previous few months. However, I felt that learning about the different fuel metabolic states was relatively easier because we also received a reading packet that made the content easier to understand.
For the fuel metabolism subject, I read an article called "Stress, Metabolism, and Liquidating Your Assets", that went into detail about what the hormones specifically do to the body and how stress and change the hormonal balance in the body. I also conducted a Digestive System Lab (http://jhan496.blogspot.com/2016/01/digestive-system-lab.html) , for which we measured the approximate lengths of our digestive systems.
Relating to this unit, I want to learn more about how genetics affect one's hormonal and digestive health, as I have read articles stating that genetics can determine the type of gut bacteria a person has; I want to know the extent to which genetics control one's hormonal control, and how much can be controlled by environmental factors.
From my New Years Goals (http://jhan496.blogspot.com/2016/01/new-years-goals.html), I feel like I have been improving in my effort to not slack off in this class. Even though I do have classes with a harder workload, I have been making sure to turn in everything despite absences in order to maintain a clean gradebook. I have also been making progress on my cello piece, and I am planning to maybe play this piece in another competition in late spring.
1. In this lab, I measured the approximate lengths of the major components of my digestive system: mouth esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. I used colored ribbon for all components except for the small intestine, and instead used regular yarn for the small intestine. From this lab, I learned that the small intestine is the longest component of the digestive system by far, since it is approximately my height multiplied by four! My small intestine measured around 660 cm, which is very long; I was surprised that all of that could fit inside of my intestinal cavity. Below is my data table from the lab:
Digestive Organ
Color and Length (cm)
Mouth
red, 11.7cm
Esophagus
blue, 45.7cm
Stomach
pink, 19.0cm
Small Intestine
yarn, 660.4cm
Large Intestine
green, 165.1cm
TOTAL
901.9cm
2. The length, in meters, of my digestive system is approximately 9.02 meters, but my height is only about 1.65 meters; the length of my digestive system is significantly longer than my height. I think that my digestive system is able to fit in my abdomen because the small and larger intestines are coiled on top of each other, so they are somewhat squeezed in a tight space within my abdomen.
3. On average, I think that it takes about 4-6 hours for food to move through the entire digestive system. After looking it up just now, it takes approximately 6-8 hours for food to move through the entire digestive system. My guess was significantly shorter than the actual time it takes to digest food. The time it takes to digest food is influenced by the the concentration of the the food eaten; for example, whether the food is made mostly of fat, or just carbohydrates, etc. Furthermore, the amount of exercise and the level of metabolism of an individual can also influence the time it takes to digest food.
4. Digestion is different from absorption because digestion is the act of actually breaking the food down into simpler forms, so that it is possible for the body to absorb nutrients from the food. The main organs that are involved in digestion are the mouth and the saliva in the mouth, the stomach, and the duodenum of the small intestine. On the other hand, absorption is the act of absorbing the nutrients from the food, and no further breakdown of the food occurs. The main organs involved in absorption are the jejunum and ileum of the small intestine and the large intestine.
5. I want to learn the reason why the small intestine is so much longer than the large intestine, and also why the larger intestine is much wider than the small intestine. Furthermore, I also want to learn how ulcers are assuaged once they appear in the stomach wall.
For this semester, I will pay more attention to this class and not slack off on this class's schoolwork. Because Anatomy is not my hardest class, it was difficult spending lots of time on my other harder classes and leaving little time for this class. As a result of my slacking off, my grades gradually decreased. In order to reach my first goal, I will do the following:
1. Complete my homework on time.
2. Complete all of my classwork in the time given during class to do so.
3. Make a comprehensive study guide for each test.
4. Do not skip studying for any chapters, despite the feeling that the test may be easy.
For this semester, I will also play my current cello piece, Elgar in E minor, with full confidence and master. I have been working on this piece since the beginning of the school year, and I can mostly play the piece well. However, there are still some parts of the piece that are very technically difficult, and I cannot shift fast enough to those positions. In order to reach my second goal, I will do the following:
1. Prepare for my shifts earlier to prevent delay in the first note after the shift (especially in cadenza).
2. Track all of the tenuto markings and notice the differences between tenutos on different notes (how they change the mood of the piece).
