Project #1: Dylan Long & Brian Birkmire

Toxoplasmosis: An infection disease that is caused by contact with a parasitic organisms called Toxoplasm gondii. It can be either acquired or be present at birth. “The congenital type is a result of a maternal infection during pregnancy that is transmitted to the fetus and involves lesions of the central nervous system. These lesions may lead to blindness, brain defects and more serious conditions. The disorder may be most severe when it is transmitted to the fetus during the second through sixth month of pregnancy.” WebMD.


A. Skeletal System

  1. The skeletal system is the internal framework that supports the body and cradles its organs. The skeletal system is responsible for the body’s various movement abilities. The skeletal system is responsible for fat storage.

  2. At a microscopic level, the bone is extremely complicated structure. It is filled with various different types of passageways and tunnels, carrying nerves, blood vessels, and other nutrients for the bone cells among other characteristics.

  3. In embryos, the skeletal system is primarily comprised of hyaline cartilage. It does not contain any nerves or blood. Once the baby is born and becomes a small child, the cartilage will be almost fully replaced by bone. This process of bone formation is called ossification. Once cartilage has concreted itself at certain spots and joints in the skeletal system, bones begin to both lengthen and widen simultaneously, eventually growing into full adult-sized bones.

  4. Fracture types: Comminuted, Compression, Depressed, Impacted, Spiral, and Greenstick.The healing process is a 4 step process. In order, the steps towards a bone healing are: Hematoma formation, fibrocartilage callus formation, bony callus formation, bone remodeling.

  5. A newborn infant’s skull is very flexible, and can contort to the birth canal if necessary during birth. The adult skull is hardened and cannot slide or move around. The fontanels are the gaps that are first in our skulls when the major parts of our skull are still sliding around.

  6. The spine serves as the axial support for the body. It extends from the skull to the pelvis, where it transmits the weight of the body to the lower limbs. Before a human born, the spine instead consists of 33 bones called vertebrae. Vertebrae are designed to minimize shock while offering the spine maximum flexibility.

  7. The three main types of joints are synarthroses, amphiarthroses and diarthroses. Those joints are in order from least movable to most movable.


B. Nervous System
  1. The nervous system is the master controlling and communicating system of the human body. From head to toe, your body is aligned and connected with nerves. Every thought, act, or emotion is reflected by the nervous system.

  2. The general function of the nervous system is to communicate what you see (sensory input) with what you do correctly (motor output.) For example, when you see a stop sign while driving, your sensory input then processes through the brain the memory and meaning of what you see, resulting the motor output of using your muscles to brake the pedal. This means that the nerves in your eyes communicated with the nerves by your muscles to make you put your foot on the pedal and stop.

  3. Central nervous system is the system responsible for integrating sensory information and responding to that

  4. The tree-like structures that comprise neurons are called dendrites, and they are enabled to function and interact by synapses.

  5. Exteroceptors - Near the surface of the skin and are responsible for tactile sensations such as; touch, pain, temperature, and also for vision, hearing, smell, and taste.

    1. Interoceptors - Respond to stimulations internally like organs and blood vessels

    2. Proprioceptors - These are responsible for stimulations within the skeletal muscles; ligaments, tendons, and joints.

  6. A nerve impulse is a hit or miss situation. When it happens, it’s either over the entire axon or doesn’t happen at all. (this one is long lol)

  7. Reflex arc - the pathways in which reflexes occur. Reflexes are quick, rapid, involuntary responses to stimuli.

  8. Cerebral Hemispheres: Divided into two parts, the left and right hemispheres. Each hemisphere is made of an outer gray matter, cerebrum, and an inner white matter. In mammals, the hemispheres are connected by the corpus callosum, a bundle or large nerve fibers. Smaller commissures, the anterior commissures, posterior commissures, and the hippocampal commissure also join the hemispheres and are present in other vertebrates along the spinal cord. These commissures transfer information between the two hemispheres to coordinate local functions.

  • Spinal Cord: A long tube extending from the medulla oblongata to the pelvic region of the spinal column. It is made up of bundles of nerve tissues and support cells for the body. The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system. The spinal cord’s primary function is to transfer neural signals between the brain and the rest of the body. It also contains neural circuits that can independently control reflexes. The cord has three major functions: a conduit for motor information, where the signals travel down the spinal cord, as a conduit for sensory information in the reverse direction, and lastly as a center for coordinating certain reflexes.

  • Diencephalon: The region of the embryonic vertebrate neural tube that helps rear forebrain structures. It is made up of four parts; the thalamus, the subthalamus, the hypothalamus, and the epithalamus. The optic nerve attaches to the diencephalon and it runs through the optic canal to the eye, the optic nerve is responsible for vision.

  • Brain stem: Posterior part of the brain that connects to the spinal cord. In humans, it usually is said to include the medulla oblongata, pons, and part of the midbrain. It provides the the main motor and sensory information to the face and neck by the cranial nerves, and of those twelve nerves there are ten that come from the brainstem. Although it is small, it is very important because this is where the nerve connections of the motor and sensory systems from the main part of the brain pass through to the rest of the body.

  • Cerebellum: Part of the brain that plays a massive role in motor control. It also is involved in cognitive function and language/attention, and regulating fear/pleasuring responses. The cerebellum is not responsible for the actual movement but instead about precise timing, coordination, and precision. It receives information from sensory systems in the spinal cord and finely tunes the motor skills that will be the outcome. Cerebellum damage can cause disorders in fine movement, equilibrium, posture, and motor learning.

9. Well any injuries that have the potential to mess up your brains proper growth can be harmful. Also, any injury that has the chance to puncture nerves can mess the system. For example, if you break your back, sometimes people break a certain spot and the result is paralyzation in their lower body or another body part.


C. Digestive System
  1. The digestive system is the key factor of where our body receives its nutrients and energy. The parts of the system include; the mouth where you intake food and break it down with your teeth and saliva so it’s easier for the body to digest, the esophagus where the food is transferred from the mouth to the stomach, the stomach where the process of digestion occurs when acids (enzymes) break down the crushed food so that the nutrients can be absorbed, the small intestines where the three parted 22-foot muscle tube releases more enzymes to further break down foods from the pancreas and bile from the liver, the pancreas where it secretes enzymes into the first part of the small intestines called the duodenum, the liver where it processes the nutrients absorbed from the small intestines, the gallbladder where it stores bile then releases it into the duodenum to absorb and digest fats, the large intestines (colon) where the broken down matter is passed through as water is extracted and the food and debris/bacteria then gets pushed into the rectum usually once or twice a day, the rectum which is an 8-inch chamber that connects to the anus which receives the stool from the colon and holds it until it’s time to be released, and finally the anus where the muscles help release the waste from your body, and there are two types of muscles doing this (internal/external sphincters) that tell you what’s coming out is either liquid, gas, or solid.

  2. It is released by the salivary glands and it consists of about 99.5% of water and the remaining 0.5% is electrolytes, mucus, enzymes, glycoproteins, and antibacterial compounds that break down the foods by chemical reactions.

  3. The small finger-like tentacles provide a larger surface area for the intestines and while matter passes through, the special cells are able to transport substances into the bloodstream. The villi don’t help with digestion, but instead help with nutrition absorption.

  4. The muscular walls of the stomach churn and mix the contents, almost as if they were a washing machine. Food is typically mixed and churned for 2-3 hours before moving into the intestines. Also, while the process is happening, the stomach walls release enzymes that help break down the food more at a microscopic level.

  5. Amylase: in the saliva and it helps break down carbohydrates

  • Gastric Juice: made up of multiple chemicals including; pepsin which breaks down proteins, and gastric lipase which breaks down certain lipids

  • Pancreatic lipase/amylase

  • Nucleases: helps digest nucleic acids

  • Bile salts: helps digestion of dietary fats

  • Peptidases: break down smaller proteins

  • Sucrase:  this breaks sucrose into monosaccharides.

  • Maltase:  this breaks maltose into monosaccharides.

  • Lactase:  this breaks lactose into monosaccharides.

6. Water, Lipids, Carbohydrates, Proteins, Vitamins & Minerals



Science Q3 BM Scrapbook

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