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Published:
March 20, 2017

Anatomy & Physiology For Dummies

Overview

Learn about the human body from the inside out

Some people think that knowing about what goes on inside the human body can sap life of its mystery—which is too bad for them. Anybody who's ever taken a peak under the hood knows that the human body, and all its various structures and functions, is a realm of awe-inspiring complexity and countless wonders. The dizzying dance of molecule, cell, tissue, organ, muscle, sinew, and bone that we call life can be a thing of breathtaking beauty and humbling perfection.

Anatomy & Physiology For Dummies combines anatomical terminology and function so you'll learn not only names and terms but also gain an understanding of how the human body works. Whether you're a student, an aspiring medical, healthcare or fitness professional, or just someone who's curious about the human body and how it works, this book offers you a fun, easy way to get a handle on the basics of anatomy and physiology.

  • Understand the meaning of terms in anatomy and physiology
  • Get to know the body's anatomical structures—from head to toe
  • Explore the body's systems and how they interact to keep us alive
  • Gain insight into how the structures and systems function in sickness and health

Written in plain English and packed with beautiful illustrations, Anatomy & Physiology For Dummies is your guide to a fantastic voyage of the human body.

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About The Author

Erin Odya is an anatomy and physiology teacher at Carmel High School in Carmel, Indiana, one of Indiana’s top schools.

Maggie Norris is a freelance science writer living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sample Chapters

anatomy & physiology for dummies

CHEAT SHEET

The human body is a beautiful and efficient system well worth study. In order to study and talk about anatomy and physiology, you need to start from an agreed-upon view of the human body. Anatomical position for the human form is the figure standing upright, eyes looking forward, upper extremities at the sides of the body with palms turned out.

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Articles from
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Atoms tend to arrange themselves in the most stable patterns possible, which means that they have a tendency to complete or fill their outermost electron orbits. They join with other atoms to do just that. The force that holds atoms together in collections known as molecules is referred to as a chemical bond. There are two main types and some secondary types of chemical bonds:Ionic bondIonic bonding involves a transfer of an electron, so one atom gains an electron while one atom loses an electron.
Biology is a very special application of the laws of chemistry and physics. Biology follows and never violates the laws of the physical sciences, but this fact can sometimes be obscured in the complexity and other special characteristics of biological chemistry and physics.Following is a review of some of the principles of chemistry and physics that have special application in anatomy and physiology.
Glucose, the fuel of all cellular processes, is distributed to all cells dissolved in the blood. The concentration of glucose in the blood must be high enough to ensure that the cells have enough fuel. However, extra glucose beyond the immediate needs of the cells can harm many important organs and tissues, especially where the vessels are tiny, as in the retina of the eye, the extremities (hands and, especially, feet), and the kidneys.
Life expectancy beyond the reproductive years is dependent to a great extent on genes. The developments of senescence (growing old) are gradual and diffuse. Body parts don't work quite as well as they used to, and they just keep getting worse. For some people, this is a brief stage of life after a long, healthy middle age.
Medical and crime shows have made body cavities all too familiar, and anatomically speaking, these spaces are very important, providing housing and protection for vital organs. The following list identifies the cavities and subcavities of the human body: Dorsal cavity: Bones of the cranial portion of the skull and vertebral column, toward the posterior (dorsal) side of the body Cranial cavity: Contains the brain Spinal cavity: Contains the spinal cord, which is an extension of the brain Ventral cavity: Anterior portion of the torso; divided by the diaphragm into the thoracic cavity and abdominopelvic cavity Thoracic cavity: The chest; contains the trachea, bronchi, lungs, esophagus, heart and great blood vessels, thymus gland, lymph nodes, and nerve,.
Growing up, growing old, and just living every day, you're building new parts and replacing old ones. From conception to early adulthood, your body was busy making itself: everything from scratch.But the job wasn't finished when you were fully grown. Complex living tissues and organs almost all require replacement parts at some time, and many require them all the time.
If you're talking anatomy and physiology, you're talking about the human body and its organs. The 11 systems in the following table provide the means for every human activity — from breathing to eating to moving to reproducing: System What the System Includes What the System Does Integumentary Skin and i
You may not think about the planes of your body much, but you have them nonetheless, and if you're talking anatomy, knowing the names of the planes comes in handy. (Too bad sagittal and transverse don't lend themselves to song as easily as rain and Spain do.) The main planes and their subplanes are in the following list: Sagittal: The plane that runs down through the body, dividing the body into left and right portions.
When you're talking anatomy in a scientific way, everyday words such as front, back, side, above, and below just aren't precise enough. Instead use the terms in the following list: Anterior or ventral: Toward the front of the body Posterior or dorsal: Toward the back of the body Superior: A part above another part Inferior: A part below another part Medial: Toward the midline (median plane) of the body Lateral: Away from the midline of the body; toward the sides Proximal: Toward the point of attachment to the body Distal: Away from the point of attachment to the body Deep: Toward the inside of the body Superficial: Toward the outside of the body Parietal: A membrane that covers an internal body wall Visceral: A membrane that covers an organ Also remember that right and left are that of the patient, not the observer.
The human body is a beautiful and efficient system well worth study. In order to study and talk about anatomy and physiology, you need to start from an agreed-upon view of the human body. Anatomical position for the human form is the figure standing upright, eyes looking forward, upper extremities at the sides of the body with palms turned out.
The 280 days, usually expressed as 40 weeks, are the human gestational period (length of pregnancy). This period is divided, again by convention, into three trimesters, though nothing specific marks the transition from one to the next.Officially, by convention, Day 1 of a pregnancy is the first day of the woman's previous menstrual period.
All metabolic reactions in all organisms require that the temperature of the body be within a certain range. Because humans are homeotherms or "warm-blooded," you maintain a relatively constant body temperature regardless of the ambient temperature. You do this by regulating your metabolic rate. The large number of mitochondria per cell enables a high rate of metabolism, which generates a lot of heat.
Your body's reactions that convert fuel (specifically glucose) to usable energy (ATP molecules) include glycolysis, the Krebs cycle (aerobic respiration) and anaerobic respiration, and oxidative phosphorylation. Together, these reactions are referred to as cellular respiration.These are complex pathways, so expect to take some time to understand them.
Human birth is a commonplace miracle: from a single infinitesimal cell to a human baby in less than ten months. The following sections give a brief overview of how it happens. Free-floating zygote Following is a description of the events leading to the fertilization of a secondary oocyte and implantation of the blastocyst in the uterus from the point of view of the zygote, from the fusion of the haploid genomes of the parent gametes to implantation in the uterus.
Although they're astoundingly varied, cells are also remarkably alike. All cells, at least all eukaryotic cells, are alike. Plants, animals, and fungi are eukaryotes (organisms made up of eukaryotic cells), and all their cells, in all their enormous complexity and variation, are fundamentally alike.Yes, your skin cells, your kidney cells, and your bone cells are fundamentally similar to the leaf cells and root cells of a carrot; the cells of a mold, mushroom, or yeast; and the single cell of microorganisms called protists that live in water and soil.
The organs of the female reproductive system are concentrated in the pelvic cavity. Many of the female reproductive organs are attached to the broad ligament, a sheet of tissue that supports the organs and connects the sides of the uterus to the walls and floor of the pelvis. Ovaries The ovaries are two almond-shaped structures approximately 2 inches (5 centimeters) wide, one on each side of the pelvic cavity.
One way to think of human development is as the unfolding in real time and space of a program for generating a unique biological organism. The program is launched when a new zygote comes into existence. All zygotes are created the same way and then proceed down the path of development encoded in their own species-specific and individual-specific DNA.
Terms that indicate direction make no sense if you're looking at the body the wrong way. You likely know your right from your left, but ignoring perspective can get you all mixed up. Stand up straight. Look forward. Let your arms hang down at your sides and turn your palms so they're facing forward. You are now in anatomical position.
A watery environment is a requirement for a great proportion of your body's metabolic reactions (the rest need a lipid, or fatty, environment). The body contains a lot of water: in your blood, in your cells, in the spaces between your cells, in your digestive organs, here, there, and everywhere.Not pure water, though.
Taxonomy is the science that seeks to classify and organize living things, expressed as a series of mutually exclusive categories. The highest (most inclusive) category is domain, of which there are three: Archea, Eubacteria, Eukaryota. Each of these domains is split into kingdoms, which are further divided until each individual organism is its own unique species.
Anatomy and physiology are concerned with the level of the individual body, what scientists call the organism. However, you can't merely focus on the whole and ignore the role of the parts. The life processes of the organism are built and maintained at several physical levels, which biologists call levels of organization: the cellular level, the tissue level, the organ level, the organ system level, and the organism level (shown).
To describe or talk about human anatomy, you need to start from an agreed-upon view of the human body. Anatomical position for the human form is the figure standing upright, eyes looking forward, upper extremities at the sides of the body with palms turned out.
The anatomical regions (shown) compartmentalize the human body. Just like on a map, a region refers to a certain area. The body is divided into two major portions: axial and appendicular.The axial body runs right down the center (axis) and consists of everything except the limbs, meaning the head, neck, thorax (chest and back), abdomen, and pelvis.
Almost all the structures of anatomy are built of cells, and almost all the functions of physiology are carried out within cells. A comprehensive list of cell functions would be impossible, but you can group cell functions into a few main categories. Building cells Cells arise from other cells and nowhere else.
Jargon is a set of words and phrases that people who know a lot about a particular subject use to talk together. Anatomists and physiologists use jargon, much of which is shared with medicine and other fields of biology, especially human biology.Scientists try to create terminology that's precise and easy to understand by developing it systematically.
Even when your outside is staying still, your insides are moving. Day and night, your muscles twitch and contract and maintain "tone." Your heart beats. Your blood circulates. Your diaphragm moves up and down with every breath. Nervous impulses travel. Your brain keeps tabs on everything. You think. Even when you're asleep, you dream (a form of thinking).
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