Assignment 12

Answer two of the first five questions and three from questions 6 through 12.  Due date is next class period.

1. David Bloom, a reporter from MSNBC while reporting on the war in Iraq, developed a clot in the femoral vein of the left lower limb. A portion of the clot broke loose and he died. Where is the blood flow likely to carry the embolus? What symptoms are likely? What do you think precipitated this event and what other situations are likely to contribute to a similar event?

2. When a person strains to lift  a heavy object, intrathoracic pressure increases. What do you think will happen to the rate of venous blood returning to the heart during such lifting? Why?
3. Cirrhosis of the liver, a disease commonly associated with alcoholism, obstructs blood flow through the hepatic blood vessels. As a result, the blood backs up, and the capillary pressure greatly increases in the organs drained by the hepatic portal system. What effects might this increasing capillary pressure produce, and which organs would it affect?
4. This question is for you smokers in class. Cigarette smoke contains THOUSANDS of chemicals including nicotine and carbon monoxide. Nicotine constricts blood vessels. Carbon monoxide prevents oxygen from binding to hemoglobin. How do these two components of smoke affect the cardiovascular system?
5. The results of a routine physical examination of a young adult male indicate the following: systolic blood pressure = 120 mm Hg, diastolic pressure = 80 mm Hg, and pulse rate = 75 pulsations per minute. What is the clinical meaning of systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, and pulse? What question would you ask the young man if the systolic blood pressure was 100 mm Hg,  diastolic pressure = 60 mm Hg, and pulse rate = 55 pulsations per minute?

6. What complications might arise for patients who have multiple perfusions (blood transfusions)  over a long period of time?

7. Some parents keep their preschoolers away from other children to prevent them from catching illnesses. How might these well-meaning parents actually be harming their children?

8. Prior to the 1960s most children had their tonsils removed because of recurrent cases of tonsillitis. What causes tonsillitis? Discuss the purpose of the tonsils.

9. Develop a table comparing T-cells and B-cells  including origin, site of development, and differences between humoral and cell-mediated immunity. Divide the T-cells further listing the types and functions of each type.

10.  Discuss the nonspecific defense mechanisms, which would be activated and violated following a situation in which a barefoot child has stepped on a rusty nail, which pierced the skin.

11. Prepare a square that describes the differences between active and artificial, natural and passive acquired immunity.

12. Briefly compare and contrast the different cases of immunoglobulins describing function, size, location, and when elevated.

13. While on safari in Africa, you are bitten by a mosquito carrying the parasite Wuchereria bancrofti. Should you be concerned? What disease could you get? How does the disease affect the lymphatic system?