Owl Pellet dissection

Today in class we dissected an owl pellet to look at the bones of the owl's prey. My partner and I believe that the organism that the owl ate was a rat. We came to this conclusion through the following steps. First we examined the organism's teeth. Our packet said that if the organism has teeth, the organism is not a bird. Then we examined the teeth and there is a gap between the front teeth or back teeth (as seen in the pictures).

there is a small gap between the front teeth and back teeth

Finally we measured the length of the skull and it was greater than 25mm. Our skull was 32 mm. These pieces of evidence led us to believe that the organism was a rat.

















3 ways that human bones are similar to the ones we found in the dissections is that the bones are hard. They do not break easily, similar to human bones. The organism also had many of the same bones as we do, such as a cranium, mandible, humerus, femur, and more. Another similarity is that the organism had many ribs just like humans do.
3 differences between the organism and humans is that the shape of the skull is different. There tail bone area is also different from that of humans because rats have a tail and humans do not. The last difference is the size of the bones, humans have much larger bones because the size of our body is much bigger than that of a rat.

Unit 5 Reflection

In this unit, I learned a lot of surprising things about our digestive systems and metabolism. The first interesting fact I learned was that our small intestine is actually the longest part of our digestive tract! I always thought that the small intestine was very small, because of its name. In class we measured out the length of our whole digestive tract and it spanned the length of the ceiling in our classroom. The reason why our alimentary canal is able to fit in our bodies is by folding itself and making itself more compact.

Another thing I learned about was diabetes and that there are two types of diabetes. Type one diabetes is when a person can't produce insulin and is usually diagnosed at a young age. Type 2 diabetes can be acquired and it is caused by insulin resistance. We read a chapter of a book explaining stress's effect on diabetes and the reading concluded that stress makes a diabetic's cells more insulin resistant. From this reading I also learned that stress can make people eat less or more; I am hyperphagic which means that when I am stressed I tend to eat more because of the glucocorticoid's effect on my body.

During this unit we also learned about metabolism and made a poster of one of the states. Our group did the starvation state and it helped us focus on one state and explain it to the rest of the class.
A couple things I still have questions about is how we can change the rate of our metabolism and why our stomach makes noises when we are hungry.

In my previous post I talk about my New Year's Goals for myself: http://nimishaapblog.blogspot.com/2016/01/new-years-goals-for-second-semester.html . Looking back on these goals, I did not do that well on making sleep a priority. I have been staying up pretty late because of my work load but I am managing my time fairly well; it's just a busy month. Through out this next unit I will focus more on getting things done earlier instead of waiting until the last minute.

Digestive system lab

1) In our lab we measured out the theoretical length of our digestive system using string. Through the lab I realized that my digestive system is a lot longer than I thought it was. I did not know that my small intestine was longer than my large intestine because of its name.

2) My height is 1.6 m, so my digestive system is about 5 times longer than my height. I think our digestive tracts fit inside of our bodies because it is able to fold and compress.

3) I think it may take around 8 hours for food to move through our entire digestive system. According to Mayo Clinic, it takes 6-8 hours for food to move through our digestive system. Some factors that influence the time it takes is how much you chew your food and probably how long you wait before your next meal.

4) Absorption is when your large intestine take in water and nutrients. Digestion is defined as breaking down of food into smaller pieces. This process starts with the mouth and includes the stomach and small intestine.

5) I want to learn about how some diseases can effect our digestive system.

New Year's Goals for second semester

1) I will manage my time better this semester.

To achieve this goal, I will start my homework when it is assigned and ask questions when they come up rather than waiting until right before the test. I will start studying for tests 2 days earlier, and if its a larger test maybe start studying the weekend before.

2) I will be healthier by sleeping more every night this semester.

To achieve this goal, I will finish the things I need to do as fast as possible and not waste time after doing them. I will not stay up too late if it is not worth it. If I have stayed up too late during the week, I will sleep in on the weekend and make sleeping a priority.

Heart Dissection videos

Sheep Heart Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wj5pZnbVCY&feature=youtu.be

Cardiac cycle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cruHmQiTAA&feature=youtu.be

Sheep heart dissection

 The purpose of the pericardium is to protect the heart and to anchor the heart to its surrounding.
By comparing arteries and veins, arteries had a thicker wall than veins, and veins had valves to help the blood flow against gravity.
The function of the auricle is to expand the blood capacity of the atrium.
In our sheep heart, the ventricles and atria were collapsed, but we could see that the ventricles were smaller than the atria. The atria had thinner walls than the ventricles.

The anchoring of the heart valves by chordate tendinae and the papillary muscle is important in the heart's function because if there weren't chordate tendinae and papillary muscles, valves would  not shut. If the valves did not shut, the heart would not work properly.
The function of the semi-lunar valves is to prevent back-flow from ventricles to the aorta and pulmonary trunk.

If valve disease occurs on the right side of the heart, it results in swollen feet because blood is pooling in their feet because if the valve is not working, blood will not move forward and will be pulled down due to gravity. If valve disease occurred of the left side of the heart, the person might have decreased blood flow and a lack of oxygen

The right side of the heart is smaller than the left side of the heart, because the left side of the heart needs more muscle to be able to pump blood to the body.

 
  

Unit 3 Reflection

This unit was all about how the circulatory system works and the different parts of the circulatory system. There was also a section on the respiratory system. 
The cardiovascular system works by our heart pumping oxygen and nutrients and our body receiving that blood through blood vessels (veins and arteries). 

Cardiovascular health issues are heart attacks and cardiac arrests. They can be caused by atherosclerosis, a fatty buildup in our arteries. An ischemic stroke is caused by a blood clot in the brain and a hemorrhagic stroke is caused by an aneurysm in the brain (when a blood vessel in the brain bursts). 
To improve your cardiovascular health, you can exercise more, eat less food with high amounts of LDL and omega 6, and consume less alcohol. 

sheep heart from the dissection 

I wanted to learn more about blood cells, white blood cells especially, but I think that will be covered when we talk about the immune system. I am also confused about whether or not the human heart has auricles like the sheep heart did. 

In this unit, I studied a lot more for the tests and temp checks, so I learned more material than in pervious units. Another success of this unit was how well my group worked together; we really helped each other learn how the blood A weakness I had this unit was not staying on top of my journal work so i had to do a lot of table of contents work the night before, which could have been avoided. I had a lot of trouble understanding the treatments for strokes and cardiovascular disease section because it was a lot to memorize and I could not relate to it. 

The goal I made for my self for this unit was to start studying earlier and I did pay more attention to that and I did much better on my test for this unit. For the rest of the semester I want to focus on keeping up my study habits and organizing my notebook more.