Anatomy & Physiology for Dummies

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.

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.

Introduction 1

About This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Locating Physiology on the Web of Knowledge 5

Chapter 1: Anatomy and Physiology: The Big Picture 7

Scientifically Speaking 7

How anatomy and physiology fit into science 8

Anatomy, gross and otherwise 10

A Little Chat about Jargon 11

Creating better communication 11

Establishing precise terminology 11

Looking at the Body from the Proper Perspective 13

Getting in position 13

Dividing the anatomy 15

Mapping out your regions 15

Casing your cavities 19

Organizing Yourself on Many Levels 21

Level I: The cellular level 23

Level II: The tissue level 23

Level III: The organ level 23

Level IV: The organ system level 23

Level V: The organism level 24

Chapter 2: What Your Body Does All Day 27

Transferring Energy: A Body’s Place in the World 28

Building Up and Breaking Down: Metabolism 28

Why your cells metabolize 29

How your cells metabolize 30

Staying in Range: Homeostasis 33

Maintaining a constant temperature: Thermoregulation 34

Swimming in H2O: Fluid balance 35

Adjusting the fuel supply: Blood glucose concentration 35

Measuring important variables 36

Growing, Replacing, and Renewing 37

Growing 37

Replacing 37

Repairing parts 39

Healing wounds 39

Lasting parts 40

Chapter 3: A Bit about Cell Biology 43

The Functions of Cells 43

Building themselves 44

Building tissues 45

Transforming energy 45

Making and transporting products 45

Communicating 46

Seeing the Inside of Eukaryotic Cells 46

Containing the cell: Cell membrane 48

Controlling the cell: Nucleus 51

Cytoplasm 51

Internal membranes 52

Powering the cell: Mitochondria 52

The protein factory 53

Lysosomes 54

Building Blocks That Build You 54

Joining together: The structure of macromolecules 54

Polysaccharides 55

Lipids 55

Proteins 56

Nucleic acids 57

Genes and Genetic Material 58

Traiting you right 59

Gene structure 59

Synthesizing protein 60

The Cell Cycle 62

Cells that divide, cells that don’t 62

Interphase 64

DNA replication 64

Mitosis 64

Organizing Cells into Tissues 67

Connecting with connective tissue 67

Continuing with epithelial tissue 68

Mixing it up with muscle tissue 70

Getting nervous about nervous tissue? 70

Part 2: Sizing Up the Structural Layers 71

Chapter 4: Getting the Skinny on Skin, Hair, and Nails 73

Functions of the Integument 74

Structure of the Integument 75

Touching the epidermis 75

Exploring the dermis 79

Getting under your skin: The hypodermis 81

Accessorizing Your Skin 81

Now hair this 81

Nailing nails 82

Nothing’s bland about glands 82

Your Skin Saving You 84

Controlling your internal temperature 85

Your skin is sensational 85

Your skin is self-healing 86

Pathophysiology of the Integument 86

Skin cancer 86

Dermatitis 87

Alopecia 87

Nail problems as signs of possible medical conditions 88

Chapter 5: Scrutinizing the Skeletal System 89

Reporting for Duty: The Jobs of Your Skeleton 90

Checking Out the Skeleton’s Makeup 90

Caring about connective tissue 90

The structure of a bone 93

Classifying bones 94

Bone Growth and Remodeling 95

The Axial Skeleton 96

Keeping your head up: The skull 97

Setting you straight on the curved spinal column 99

Being caged can be a good thing 101

The Appendicular Skeleton 102

Wearing girdles: Everybody has two 103

Going out on a limb: Arms and legs 105

Joints and the Movements They Allow 110

Categorizing the types of joints 110

Knowing what your joints can do 111

Pathophysiology of the Skeletal System 113

Abnormal curvature 113

Osteoporosis 113

Cleft palate 114

Arthritis 114

Fractures 115

Chapter 6: Muscles: Setting You in Motion 117

Functions of the Muscular System 118

Supporting your structure 118

Moving you 118

Poised positioning 119

Maintaining body temperature 119

Pushing things around inside 119

Talking about Tissue Types 121

Defining unique features of muscle cells 121

Skeletal muscle 123

Cardiac muscle 125

Smooth muscle 125

Getting a Grip on the Sliding Filament 126

Assembling a sarcomere 126

Telling the fiber to contract 127

Contracting and releasing the sarcomere 128

Naming the Skeletal Muscles 129

Starting at the top 130

Twisting the torso 132

Spreading your wings 135

Getting a leg up 136

Pathophysiology of the Muscular System 138

Muscular dystrophy 139

Muscle spasms 139

Fibromyalgia 140

Part 3: Talking to Yourself 141

Chapter 7: The Nervous System: Your Body’s Circuit Board 143

Integrating the Input with the Output 144

Nervous tissues 144

Neurons 145

Neuroglial cells 146

Nerves 147

Ganglia and plexuses 147

Integrated Networks 147

Central nervous system 148

Peripheral nervous system 149

Thinking about Your Brain 150

Keeping conscious: Your cerebrum 152

Making your moves smooth: The cerebellum 152

Coming up roses: Your brain stem 153

Regulating systems: The diencephalon 154

Following fluid through the ventricles 154

Blood-brain barrier 155

Transmitting the Impulse 156

Across the neuron 156

Across the synapse 158

Making Sense of Your Senses 161

Touch 162

Hearing and balance 162

Sight 163

Olfaction 164

Taste 165

Pathophysiology of the Nervous System 166

Chronic pain syndrome 166

Multiple sclerosis 166

Macular degeneration 166

Chapter 8: The Endocrine System: Releasing Chemical Messages 167

Homing In on Hormones 168

Hormone chemistry 168

Hormone sources 169

Hormone receptors 171

Grouping the Glands 172

The taskmasters: The hypothalamus and pituitary 173

Controlling metabolism 175

Getting the gonads going 178

Enteric endocrine 180

Other endocrine glands 182

Pathophysiology of the Endocrine System 183

Abnormalities in insulin metabolism 183

Thyroid disorders 184

Androgen insensitivity 186

Part 4: Exploring the Inner Workings of the Body 187

Chapter 9: The Cardiovascular System: Getting Your Blood Pumping 189

Getting Substances from Here to There 190

Carrying Cargo: Your Blood and What’s in It 190

Watering down your blood: Plasma 190

Transporting oxygen and carbon dioxide: Red blood cells 191

Plugging along with platelets 192

Putting up a good fight: White blood cells 192

Looking at Your Blood Vessels 193

Starting with the arteries 193

Cruising through the capillaries 194

Visiting the veins 196

Cardiac Anatomy 197

Sizing up the heart’s structure 197

Examining the heart’s tissues 199

Supplying blood to the heart 200

Cardiac Cycle 201

Generating electricity 201

Moving blood through the heart 204

The heartbeat 205

Physiology of Circulation 206

On the beating path: The circuits of blood through the heart and body 206

Putting your finger on your pulse 208

Going up, going down, holding steady: Blood pressure 208

Not going with the flow 209

Pathophysiology of the Cardiovascular System 210

Cardiac disorders 210

Vascular disorders 211

Blood disorders 212

Chapter 10: The Respiratory System: Breathing Life into Your Body 215

Functions of the Respiratory System 215

Nosing around Your Respiratory Anatomy 216

Nose 216

Pharynx 217

Trachea 219

Lungs 219

Diaphragm 220

Breathing: Everybody’s Doing It 220

Normal breathing 221

Breathing under stress 221

Controlled breathing 222

Gas Exchange 224

The respiratory membrane 224

The trade-off 225

Pathophysiology of the Respiratory System 226

Hypoxemia 226

Airway disorders 227

Lungs 228

Chapter 11: The Digestive System: Beginning the Breakdown 231

Functions of the Digestive System 232

The Alimentary Canal 233

Examining the walls of the digestive tract 233

Starting with the mighty mouth 234

Pharynx and esophagus: Not Egyptian landmarks 235

Stirring it up in your stomach 236

Moving through the intestines 238

Accessory Organs 240

The liver delivers 241

Pancreas 243

The Breakdown 244

Pathophysiology of the Digestive System 246

Diseases of the oral cavity 246

Disorders of the stomach and intestines 246

Bowel syndromes 248

Diseases of the accessory organs 249

Chapter 12: The Urinary System: Cleaning Up the Act 253

Functions of the Urinary System 253

Structures of the Urinary System 255

Putting out the trash: Kidneys 255

Holding and releasing 257

The Yellow River 259

Composition of urine 259

Filtering the blood 261

Selectively reabsorbing 261

Expelling urine 263

Maintaining Homeostasis 264

Fluid balance and blood pressure 264

Regulating blood pH 265

Pathophysiology of the Urinary System 267

Kidney pathologies 267

Urinary tract pathologies 268

Chapter 13: The Lymphatic System: Living in a Microbe Jungle 271

Functions of the Lymphatic System 272

Loving Your Lymphatic System 273

Lymphing along 273

Structures of the lymphatic system 274

Identifying Immune System Cells 277

Looking at leukocytes 278

Lymphocytes 279

Phagocytizing leukocytes 280

Examining Immune System Molecules 280

Histamine 281

Chemical defense 281

Antigens 281

Antibodies 282

Complement system proteins 283

Immune System Mechanisms 284

Phagocytosis 284

Degranulation 285

Inflammation is swell 285

Adaptive Immunity 286

Cell-mediated immunity 286

Humoral immunity 287

Secondary immunity 289

Immunization 289

Pathophysiology of the Immune System 289

The immune system and cancer 289

Immune-mediated diseases 290

Infectious diseases 292

Part 5: Life’s Rich Pageant: Reproduction and Development 295

Chapter 14: The Reproductive System 297

Functions of the Reproductive System 297

Producing Gametes 298

Meiosis 299

Female gametes: Ova 299

Male gametes: Sperm 301

Determining sex 302

The Female Reproductive System 303

Organs of the female reproductive system 303

Cycling approximately monthly 307

The Male Reproductive System 310

The organs of the male reproductive system 310

Seminal fluid and ejaculation 312

Pausing for Pregnancy 313

Steps to fertilization 313

Implantation 314

Adapting to pregnancy 314

Labor and delivery 316

Pathophysiology of the Reproductive System 318

Infertility 318

Sexually transmitted infections 318

Premenstrual syndromes 319

Endometriosis 319

Cryptorchidism 320

Hypogonadism 320

Erectile dysfunction 320

Pathophysiology of pregnancy 320

Pregnancy loss 322

Chapter 15: Change and Development over the Life Span 323

Programming Development 324

Stages of development 324

Dimensions of development 324

Development before Birth 326

Free-floating zygote to protected embryo 326

Dividing development into trimesters 329

The Human Life Span 331

Changes at birth 331

Infancy and childhood 333

Adolescence 334

Young adulthood 335

Middle age 336

Growing creaky 336

Part 6: The Part of Tens 341

Chapter 16: Ten (Or So) Chemistry Concepts Related to Anatomy and Physiology 343

Energy Can Neither Be Created Nor Destroyed 344

Everything Falls Apart 344

Everything’s in Motion 345

Probability Rules 345

Polarity Charges Life 346

Water Is Special 346

Fluids and Solids 347

Under Pressure 348

Redox Reactions Transfer Electrons 348

Chapter 17: Ten Phabulous Physiology Phacts 349

Unique to You: Hands, Fingers, Thumbs 349

Nothing’s Better than Mother’s Milk 350

It’s Apparent: Your Hair Is Different 350

The Only Thing You Have to Fear Is 351

You Smell Well! 352

Microbes: We Are Their World 353

The Pesky Appendix 354

Talkin’ about Breath Control 355

Taking Your First Breath 355

Is Blood Really Blue? 356

Index 357

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