Lesson two Basic phenomena of living organisms The protoplasm: the stuff of life What are all organisms

made up of? All organisms, whether plants or animals, are made up of a specific material called protoplasm. This is the stuff of life. The word itself from the Greek protos and plasma means the first thing formed. This protoplasm is made of units that have a distinct form. These units are called cells. What is known abut this inconceivably complex, self-renewing substance called protoplasm? It is an organization of a hundred million chemical compounds, every compound a molecule with a specific task all in action. The parts are atoms, ions, electrons. And they do not stand still. Movement is their life, and movement in the world of atoms is unimaginably swift. If an atom leaps from one compound to another which we call a chemical reaction the leap is performed in less than a millionth of a second. Therefore, the modern biophysicist does not count in seconds but in nanoseconds or thousandths of the millionth part of a second. All events in the world of atoms unroll with atomic speed and protoplasm is an organization of atoms unimaginable in number and in velocity of action. Can we see protoplasm with the naked eye? Oh, no. We must have an instrument that magnifies a hundred million times in order to be able to see all its fine details. What was one of the most spectacular inventions of the beginning of the 20th century? In 1924, Louis de Broglie discovered that electron particles behaved like waves, as does light. It turned out that their wave length is one hundred thousand times shorter than the wave length of ordinary light. As a result, electron microscopes were invented, a stream of electrons taking the role of light beams and magnetic fields serving as lenses. With the electron microscope magnifications up to two hundred thousand times are common and, with photographic enlargements we now view specimens magnified over one million times. This has literally opened up a new field of investigations inside the cell. 4. What is a human cell like? A human cell, greatly magnified as seen in an electron microscope, has a nucleus in the centre filled with chromatin granules and a dark mass the nucleolus. During cell division the chromatin and the nucleolus condense into the chromosomes. Surrounding the nucleus is the dark wreath of the Golgi body. At the top of the cell is the centrosome with strands radiating from it. To the left, seen as black and white specks, are the microsomes and just below them the considerably larger mitochondria. At the bottom are the lysosomes. 6. What are the main substances protoplasm is made of? 5. 3. 2. 1.

Protoplasm is composed of protein, carbohydrates, fats, inorganic salts, possibly hormones, vitamins, and water closely associated. What are the properties of the protoplasm distinguishing living from non-living matter? The following physiological properties of protoplasm may be used to distinguish living from non-living matter: 1) auto regulation (the ability to control all life process); 2) contractility; 3) irritability (the ability to respond to stimuli); 4) conductivity; 5) metabolism (the sum of all the chemical processes going on within a cell tissue, or organ); 6) growth occurs by intussusception, on building up of new material by combinations of smaller molecules, such as the formations of proteins from aminoacids. Growth in living matter is described as an increase in numbers accompanied by an increase in mass. 8. Are there many other properties by means of which we attempt to judge whether matter is living or non-living? Yes, there are many such properties: a) adaptation (the ability of the cell to modify its behaviour in accordance with a change in environment); b) reproduction; c) spontaneity; d) rhythmicity (the repeated occurrence of events in a regular sequence, for example heart beats and breathing) and e) memory (the ability to profit from previous experience by adjustment of their behaviour). They help us to judge whether matter is living or non-living. 7.

Is it easy to say whether life does or does not exist? In some cases, it is very difficult to say whether life does or does not exist. The viruses have not yet been definitely classified as living or non-living; they are ultramicroscopic infective agents that cause various diseases. What is known about viruses? A virus is little more than genetic material wrapped in a sac of protein and its life cycle is extremely simple. First, a virus approaches its victim, which may be a bacterial cell, or any other type of cell, attaches itself to it, and injects its hereditary material into it. Inside the cell the injected chromosomes proliferate, exploiting the protoplasm of their host. From the exhausted cell hundreds of new parasitic viruses are disseminated. This power of reproduction seems, however, to be the only living characteristic of the virus. 10.

9.

Lesson seven The respiratory system 1. What are the two processes included together under the designation of respiration? The intake of oxygen, either free or combined and output of carbon dioxide makes up the physiological process known as respiration. According to the evidence at present available, it is only within living cells that the respiratory oxygen is consumed and the carbon dioxide formed. The mere conveying of oxygen from the surrounding air or water to these cells and of carbon dioxide from them to the air or water is, however, in itself a complex process in the higher animals. 2. Are there special respiratory organs in all the more highly organized animals? Yes, there are special respiratory organs: the lungs in the higher vertebrates; the gills in fishes; the tracheae in insects; and various rudimentary forms of lungs or gills in other higher invertebrates. 3. By what is air brought into the lungs? Air is brought into the lungs by the movements of breathing. Oxygen from this air passes through the delicate lining membrane of the air cells of the lungs into the blood, where it enters into loose chemical combination with the haemoglobin of the red corpuscles. In this form it is conveyed onwards to the heart, and thence through the arteries to the capillaries, where it again parts from the haemoglobin, and passes through the capillary walls to the tissues, where it is consumed. Carbon dioxide passes out from the tissues into the blood in a corresponding manner, enters into loose combination as bicarbonate, and possibly in other ways, in the blood, and is conveyed by the veins to the lungs, whence it passes out in the expired air. 4. In what way is the breathing regulated? The breathing is regulated from a nervous centre situated in the medulla oblongata, which is the lowest part of the brain. If this centre is destroyed or injured the breathing stops and death rapidly results. From the respiratory centre rhythmic efferent impulses proceed down the motor nerves supplying the diaphragm, intercostals and other respiratory muscles. Afferent impulses through various nerves may temporarily affect the rhythm of the respiratory centre. Of these afferent impulses by far the most important are those which proceed up the vagus nerve from the lungs themselves. 5. What is called the respiratory quotient? The respiratory quotient (the R Q) is the ratio between the volume of carbon dioxide formed and that of oxygen used up. The R Q varies for different classes of foodstuffs. Ranging from 0.80 to 0.85, the R Q value for protein oxidation is less than that for carbohydrates (1.0) but greater than for fats which is found to be much less than 1.0, usually about 0.7. 6. Can you tell anything about the anatomy of the respiratory tract?

The respiratory tract consists of the nasal cavities, the pharynx, the larynx, the trachea, the bronchi and the lungs. The respiratory tract begins at the nostrils or nares which open into the nasal cavity or nasal fossa. The entire nasal cavity is lined with mucous membrane containing many goblet cells and numerous blood vessels. a) What is the nose like? The nose is like the palazzi of Italy; on the outside they appear to be modest and inside they are filled with striking and admirable features. The nose is a deep cavity with labyrinthine passages and many side caves. In passing through this passage and its caves the air is subjected to a sevenfold control and conditioning: 1. Dust filtering; 2. Wet cleaning; 3. Heating; 4. Humidification; 5. Purification; 6. Odour detecting; 7. Sound resonating. b) What is the inside of the respiratory tube covered with? It is covered with the ciliated epithelium which consists of cylindrical cells with hairs or cilia. The hairs wave rhythmically like ears of corn in the wind, their motion brushing microscopic particles of dust upward out of the respiratory tube and back up into the nose. The ciliated epithelium is a carpet sweeper that works day and night without pause. Seen through a microscope the cornfield of the ciliated epithelium in motion is an impressive sight. c) What is the pharynx? The pharynx is the cavity which serves as a passage both for food and for air. It is divided into nasopharynx, oropharynx and laryngopharynx. d) What is the larynx made up of? The larynx is made up of nine cartilages held together by the laryngeal ligaments. The larynx is commonly called the voice box as the vocal cords are inserted into it. As air is forced out of the lungs, the edges of the vocal cords are set into vibration, thus producing sound. e) Does the larynx alone produce song or speech? The larynx does not produce song or speech; it is only a trumpet. Song and speech are the result of the use of the trumpet together with a whole orchestra of other instruments lips and tongue, diaphragm and nose and the control exercised by our hearing and brain. f) How many groups of muscles are there in the larynx? There are two main groups of muscles in the larynx; one group acts on the vocal cords to change tension of the cords and in this way control pitch of the sounds or to close the glottis and the other group acts to fold the epiglottic cartilage down over the larynx while swallowing. g) Why is the larynx of the throat of the male called Adams apple? The Adams apple, the pomum Adami, which is a projection formed by the thyroid cartilage in the male human neck is explained in romance folklore dating back no farther than

the 15th century as a choking effect of the fruit of temptation in Adams throat. It is a very early mistranslation of Hebrew tappuach ha Adam which, correctly means nothing more than male bump. The mistranslators excuse (whosoever he was) is that a single Hebrew word means bump and apple and the Hebrew word for man came to be the proper name Adam. h) What is the trachea? It is a tube containing 15 to 20 incomplete C shaped rings of hyaline cartilage which serve to keep the trachea open and permit free passage of the air. The bifurcation of the trachea forms the primary bronchi which continue to divide into smaller and smaller branches, called bronchioles. From the terminal bronchioles two or more respiratory bronchioles lead directly to the alveolar ducts. These ducts finally terminate in alveolar air sacs, the walls of which are made up of many alveoli. The alveoli or air cells are the functional respiratory units of the lungs. 7. What is known about the mechanics of respiration? The act of respiration is primarily a dilatation of the thorax and the part played by the lungs is, as Galen knew, a purely passive one. 8. How is dilatation of the thorax effected? It has been pointed out that the rib planes decline from the horizontal in two directions, viz. from behind forwards and from the antero-posterior medial plane outwards: a glance at fig. 4 will make this double sloping clear to the reader. It has been moreover explained that the diaphragm arches upwards into the thorax. This being the structure of the thorax, the enlargement of its cavity is brought about 1. by raising the rib planes until they approach the horizontal, and 2. by depressing the diaphragm. 9. What are the troubles in the mechanism of respiration? Ordinary quiet breathing movements take place without ones being aware of them. This type of breathing is known as eupnea. Dypnea is a laboured breathing and apnea means temporary cessation of breathing. Hyperpnea is an increase in depth of breathing. Polypnea or tachypnea means an increase in rate of breathing. 10. What is meant by the Cheyne-Stokes respiration? Cheyne-Stokes respiration is characterized by a period of hyperpnea followed by one of apnea, each lasting about 30 seconds. It is the result of a serous malfunction of the brain caused by serious diseases. Abnormal oxygenation conditions are repeated over and over again and they are the explanation of period breathing. 11. By what means may the rate and depth of respiration be controlled? The rate and depth of respiration may be controlled by means of a double mechanism, nervous and humoral. The nervous mechanism constitutes of unconditioned and conditioned reflexes. A very important part is played in the regulation of respiratory movements by the impulses arising in the lungs themselves. During inspiration, the vegal terminations of the alveolar walls being distended discharge the impulses which inhibit the activity of the respiratory centres and thus the inspiratory musculary contraction ceases, and expiration occurs. During expiration, the mentioned pulmonary terminations are no longer stimulated, and they do no

longer transmit inhibitory impulses and the respiratory centre starts discharging new impulses to the inspiratory muscles. 12. How is the chemical control of respiration carried out? This control is mainly due to the O2 and CO2 concentration modifications in the blood irrigating the respiratory centres. 13. What do you think it would happen to a person who was deprived of air? He would become asphyxiated, wouldnt he? We can live without food for many days or weeks at a time, but without oxygen life is impossible for more than a few minutes. This applies not only to the body as a whole but to some individual cells. Each cell must receive the oxygen it needs or it will deteriorate and die. Oxygen starvation leads to many serious disorders. The lungs and the circulatory system are functioning every moment of our life to keep the cells of the body constantly supplied with oxygen. 14. What old Hindu practice imposed the breathing exercises? The Yoga practice imposed the Bandhas which may be translated roughly as breathing exercises. These exercises, according to the Hindu sages, could destroy old age and death, conferring even miraculous powers such as: perpetual youth, invulnerability of wrinkles and grey hair, freedom from disease etc. The ancient Sanskrit text considered the breath as the most obvious manifestation which is setting the whole engine in motion. 15. For what can the old Hindu word prana be substituted nowadays? Prana may be substituted for electrical impulse. If we do so, we find thet the oldest Yoga principle of neurology are now endorsed in the modern theory of nerve action. Centuries before the recognition of electrical force by scientist, the old Hindu sages, the Yogins, had evolved a theory of nerve-impulse transmission which has won acceptance from modern medical investigators. These Hindu sages thought to have discovered how to control and adjust the nervous system by the so-called Yoga practice. Lesson eight Nutrition and elimination 1. What task does the digestive system perform? The digestive system performs the essential task of breaking up food into its chemical building units; otherwise food cannot be absorbed through the intestinal wall and pass into the blood and lymph of the body. 2. What happens to the bolus, this nutritive cartridge, formed in the mouth?

At first the bolus must pass a dangerous crossing the opening of the trachea, or windpipe. It passes the movable cartilage known as the epiglottis. Thereafter is thrust along by peristaltic waves until it reaches the stomach. 3. What are the functions of the stomach? The stomach works mechanically through its muscles fibres and chemically through its glands. Its basic function is the further moistening of the food, churning and grinding it and partly dissolving it in the gastric juice, which contains hydrochloric acid and the proteindigesting enzyme pepsin. a) How long does food stay in the stomach? The length of time that food stays in the stomach depends on the digestive powers of the stomach conditioned by acidity and enzymes. b) On what does the protection against the stomach digesting itself depend? The stomach depends against being digested by its own juices on the layer of mucus coating the stomach surface and also its blood supply. When these fail, ulcer forms. 4. Where does food enter after passing out of the stomach exit? The food enters the intestine tract made up of the small and the large intestines thirty-feet long. The small intestine is much the longer section about twenty five feet in length. It is confined in a tight space and although the loops intertwine they manage not to become enlarged. Food moves slowly from loop to loop to allow to be mixed and chemically decomposed. It may take hours before the food undergoes the process of absorption through the four million villi. These villi are in constant motion like the fingers of sea anemones, dipping into the digestive broth, sucking up molecules from it, and making them part of the body. Yesterday meat, eggs or milk; today human blood and tissue! 5. What is the most important segment of the small intestine and why? The duodenum merits special attention because there the main glands of the digestive system, the liver and pancreas, empty their secretions for they attack on the three types of nutritional substances: starches, proteins and fats. 6. What is the most effective of the digestive glands? The pancreas is the most effective of the digestive glands. Its various enzymes break down the starches into glycogen, the glycogen into maltose and the maltose into glucose. It breaks the proteins first into polypeptides, then peptides and even into amino acids a tremendous task! although the enzymes coming from intestinal glands help the final formation into amino acids. The pancreatic lipase splits the complex molecules of fats into glycerine and fatty acids. The pancreas tissue is interspersed with islets of a hormonal tissue, which produce insulin and glucagon. 7. Why is liver considered one of the busiest organs of the body? Liver has several, entirely different functions. a) It serves a filter from the intestines upward toward the heart in the systemic circulation. The portal vein divides into millions of blood vessels among the liver cells inside the liver. The liver cells swarm around the blood from the intestines

b) c) d) e) f)

and filter it. This blood contains the amino acids and the carbohydrates and the multitude of other ingredients of all the foods we take in. The liver cells test all the imports and decide whether to admit or reject them. The liver becomes the storehouse of digested food. It also detoxifies them. The liver is an enormous chemical factory for the metabolism of carbohydrate, protein and fat. The liver produces the bile, the digestive juice. The bile drips through the biliary channels into a sac, the gall bladder. The bile remains in the gall bladder for hours and in time may form concretions or stones. Most persons do not even know that they carry these dubious gems.

8. What is the last part of the digestive tract? The large intestine is the last part of the digestive tract. The final section is the rectum. In contrast to the labyrinthine maze of the small intestines, the large intestine has a relatively fixed shape. It begins as the caecum and ends as the rectum. It is the waste-receiver of the body. There, bacteria, microscopic fungi, yeast cells and algae thrive undisturbed by acids and enzymes. In the colon an entirely new process begins: the fermentation of the indigestible residue of food by several hundred million micro organisms. 9. Is there a purpose for these micro organisms in the colon? Metchnikoff, the discoverer of the wandering cells of the blood, believed that they were parasites of decay producing toxins or poisons that hasten the aging of the body and that mankind would be infinitely better off if we could get rid of them. Other biologists proved that such organisms produce some beneficial vitamins, and protect against invasion by dangerous microbes. 10. If we had to choose one of the most remarkable creations in the human body what would it be? It would be the extraordinary pair of organs, the kidneys, which filters waste products out of 180 quarts of blood fluid every twenty-four hours. Each human kidney is composed of a million filters called glomeruli attached to a million long, twisted tubules. As the filtrate flows through the tubules, the cells of the tubular wall reabsorb over ninety-nine per cent of the water and send it back into the blood stream. Water is the vehicle of almost all metabolic processes. About a quarter of an hour after we drink a liquid, some of it appears as urine in the bladder. To get there it puts a burden not only on the kidneys but on the heart and the liver as well. The heart must pump every gulp of fluid, the liver must do work of screening, and the kidneys must do the job of filtering the urine. 11. Can a trained investigator see many significant things in the urine the kidney produces? Yes, he can see any kidney disorder. If he examines the urine microscopically, dead cells normally shed from the walls of the bladder or of the urethra are seen. If the filter sheds whole rows of cells, if protein is lost in the urine or if phagocytes are visible, the investigator knows that the kidney is ill and the patient may be suffering from nephritis, an inflammation of the kidney. The trained investigator can even tell whether the inflammation is recent or chronic.

12. What do the kidneys filter? They filter about a hundred compounds the end products of metabolism. The most conspicuous are the nitrates, the ashes of the amino group NH 3, which characterize the amino acids, the chain links of the proteins. The chemical group NH 3 appears in the urine as urea. The human body produces approximately thirty grams of urea daily. Lesson 8 Passive voice (1) Form: be + past participle Agent and instrument The person who performs an action in a passive sentence is called the agent, introduced by by. The agent may or may not be mentioned. E.g. My purse was found (by one of the cleaners). An object which causes something to happen is called an instrument, introduced by with. E.g. He was hit on the head with a hammer. Transitive and intransitive verbs Only verbs with an object (transitive) can be made passive. E.g. Active Voice: They sent the letter. Passive V: The letter was sent. Active Voice: They arrived late. (intransitive, cannot be made passive) Verbs with both direct and indirect objects can be made passive in two ways: E.g. AV: They sent me the letter. PV: I was sent the letter. IO DO The letter was sent to me. Verbs with object and complement (nume predicativ) Some verbs which are transitive can have a noun or an adjective which describes their object. E.g. AV: We elected Jim class representative. DO complement PV: Jim was elected class representative. Like and love Some verbs which are transitive cannot be made passive in some uses. E.g. AV: I like this place. Other verbs: become, get, have, lack, let, resemble, suit, etc. Contexts 1.The passive can change the focus of interest in a sentence: E.g.: United were beaten by Arsenal. (we are more interested in the United) 2. Impersonal statements: 3. Unknown agent: Students are asked not to smoke.

My bike has been stolen!

4. Obvious agent:

Mr Jones will be arrested.

5. Generalized agent: Bicycles are widely used in the city. 6. Unimportant agent: I was advised to obtain a visa in advance.