BIO 201 Ch 01

Anatomy is the study of structure.

Physiology is the study of function.

Auscultation is listening to the body's natural sounds (heartbeat, breathing).

Percussion is when the practitioner taps on the body to feel for abnormal resistance, and listens to the emitted sound for pockets of air or fluid.

Comparative anatomy examines multiple species for structural commonalities and differences.

Radiology is the branch of medicine concerned with imaging.

Gross anatomy are those structures we can see through inspection, dissection, and imaging.

Histology is when we view sliced and stained tissue samples via microscope.

Histopathology is the microscopic examination of tissues for signs of disease.

Cytology is the study of the structure and function of individual cells.

Ultrastructure refers to fine detail, down to the molecular level, revealed by the electron microscope.

Galen was physician to the Roman gladiators.  He wrote the first medical text, and warned against dogmatic thinking.

Robert Hooke improved the compound microscope by adding an ocular lens and an objective lens.  He was the first to see cells.

Bacon and Descartes, fighting philosophers, both argued for science to be a public, cooperative enterprise, without secrets.

Bacon said the inductive method was to make numerous observations until confident enough to draw generalizations and predictions.

Anatomy is inductive, since we describe a "normal" structure based on the observation of many bodies.

A theory is an explanatory statement derived from facts, laws, and confirmed hypotheses.

Schleiden and Schwann proposed Cell Theory, that all things are made of cells.

Selection pressures are natural forces which favor some individuals reproductively (climate, predators, disease, competition).

Vestigial organs (Darwin) are evolutionary leftovers.  We get goosebumps because our ape ancestors would get fluffy to keep warm.

Reductionism (Aristotle) says you can understand complex things by breaking them down.  Holism states organisms have "emergent properties" which make the whole more than the sum of their parts.

Organs on the patient's left usually include the spleen, pancreas, sigmoid colon, and most of the heart.

Organs on the patient's right usually include the appendix, gallbladder, and most of the liver.

Situs inversus means organs usually on the right are on the left.  This is safe only when situs inversus is complete. 

Dextrocardia is a selective right-left reversal of the heart.  This is safe if no (other) situs inversus exists.

Situs perversus is when a single organ occupies an atypical position (ex., kidney in pelvic cavity).

• Characteristics of life include:
• 1. Organization
• 2. Cellular composition
• 3. Metabolism
• 4. Responsiveness
• 5. Homeostasis
• 6. Development
• 7. Reproduction
• 8. Evolution

Metabolism includes anabolism (synthesis), and also catabolism (digestion/desynthesis).

Development includes both differentiation (generalized cells become specialized), and also growth (increase in cell size).

Reference man is a healthy male, age 22, 70kg living at 20c temp, eating 2800 kcal daily. 

Reference woman is healthy female, age 22, 58kg living at 20c temp, eating 2000kcal daily.

Homeostasis is the body's ability to detect change, activate mechanisms that oppose it, and thereby maintain relatively stable internal conditions.

Internal states (ex,. temp) have some set point (body temp avg 30 c), but is actually always higher or lower.

Negative feedback is the mechanism which brings internal states back towards the set point of homeostasis. 


A feedback loop occurs when the negative feedback changes what triggered it in the first place.

Vasoconstriction is narrowing of the blood cells in the skin, which serves to retain warm blood deeper in your body and reduce heat loss.