Anatomy and Physiology For Dummies

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This chapter is about your life as an organism. As Chapter 1 explains, organism is the fifth of five levels of organization in living things. Although the word organism has many possible definitions, for the purposes of this chapter, an organism is a living unit that metabolizes and maintains its own existence . Simply put, the mnemonic is the thing you commit to memory as a means for remembering the more technical thing for which it stands.

Each of these major groups, called a kingdom, has its own characteristic anatomy and physiology. It’s evident at a glance to everyone at the beach that a starfish and a human are both animals, while the alga in the tide pool and the cedar tree on the shoreline are both plants. Obvious details of anatomy (the presence or absence of bright green tissue) and physiology (the presence or absence of locomotion) tell that story. The different forms within each kingdom have obvious differences as well: The cedar must stand on the shore but the alga would die there. The starfish can move from one place to another within a limited range, while humans can (theoretically) go anywhere on the planet and, with the appropriate accoutrements of culture (a human adaptation), survive there for at least a while. (That is, assuming the cedar and the alga keep on photosynthesizing.) Scientists use these differences to classify organisms into smaller and smaller groups within the kingdom, until each organism is classified into its own specie-al group. Then, every time the term comes up in class or in your textbook, add to the running list of notes on that concept. You’ll have references to metabolism at each point it comes up and you’ll be able to analyze its influences across different body systems. Form a study group 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: Why does science have so many funny words? Why can’t scientists just say what they mean, in plain English? Good question, with short and long answers. Creating better communication

This is a simple idea that far too few students practice regularly. Don’t stop at underlining and highlighting important material in your textbooks and study guides: Write it down. Or type it up. Whatever you do, don’t just regurgitate it exactly as presented in the material you’re studying. PDF / EPUB File Name: Anatomy_and_Physiology_For_Dummies_-_Erin_Odya.pdf, Anatomy_and_Physiology_For_Dummies_-_Erin_Odya.epub The test is done and the grades are in. So there was a really tough question or two on the test and you blew it big-time? It’s hardly a missed opportunity — this is where rolling with the punches really pays off. Stop reading for a minute. Stand up straight. Look forward. Let your arms hang down at your sides with your palms facing forward. You are now in anatomical position (see Figure 1-1). Whenever you see an anatomical drawing, the body is in this position. Using this position as the standard removes confusion.

If you’re a visual learner, you may get more out of anatomy and physiology by seeing the real thing in the flesh. If you’re an aural learner, you may learn best in the classroom as the teacher lectures. If you’re a reading and writing kind of learner, you’ll get the most out of our first tip to write stuff down. And if you’re a kinesthetic learner, there’s nothing like touching or holding to commit something to memory. Get a grip on Greek and Latin Ovaries, uterine tubes, uterus, vagina, and vulva in females; testes, seminal vesicles, prostate, urethra, and penis in males Not feeling terribly clever at the moment you need a useful mnemonic? Surf on over to MedicalMnemonics, which touts itself as the world’s database of these useful tools. Discover your learning style It happens time and again in anatomy and physiology: One concept or connection mirrors another yet to be learned. But because you’re focusing so hard on this week’s lesson, you lose sight of the value in the previous month’s lessons. Find your own words. Create your own analogies. Tell your own tale of what happens to the bolus as it ventures into the digestive tract. Detail the course followed by a molecule of oxygen as it enters through the nose. Draw pictures of the differences between meiosis and mitosis.If you keep thinking “It’s all Greek to me,” congratulations on your insight! The truth of the matter is that most of it actually is Greek. So dust off your foreign language learning skills and begin with the basic vocabulary of medical terminology. Connect with concepts It’s the best resource for helping you make anatomy and physiology your minion, with memorization tactics, test-prep suggestions, and hundreds of practice tests. Smooth muscles line the blood vessels and the visceral organs such as the stomach and the intestines. Smooth muscle contractions help move the contents of these structures through the body. Smooth muscle also is found in the body’s airways and the skin. Smooth muscle is not under voluntary control but rather is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. If you examine a sample of any human tissue under a microscope, you see cells, possibly millions of cells. All living things are made of cells. In fact, having a cellular level of organization is inherent in any definition of organism. We discuss the cellular level of organization in some detail in Chapter 3. Level II: The tissue level Suitable for different grades of medical school students, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and nursing or preparing for medical schools students. It is also used as a revision source for doctors in postgraduates.