Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MICROORGANISMS
Infectious a disease that can be caught. The microorganism that causes it is passed from
one person to another through the air, through water, or by touch.
Infections are caused by some microorganisms that invade the body. Microorganisms are
viruses, bacteria, and fungi.
When disease microorganisms get inside the body, they reproduce very quickly. This causes
symptoms the ill feelings you get when you are unwell. Symptoms of infectious diseases
can be caused by:
1. Damage done to your cells when the microorganisms reproduce
2. Poisons (toxins) made by microorganisms.
People normally stay fit because:
Size
Virus
Bacterium
Fungus
20-300 nm
1000-5000 nm
50 000+nm
Flu, polio,
common cold,
AIDS, measles
Appearance
Examples of
diseases
caused
In ideal conditions in a sealed container bacteria cant keep up their fastest growth. Food
starts to run out, or waste products kill them off.
Lag phase growth gets going
Log phase fastest increase in growth, bacteria divide every 20 minute
Stationary phase steady phase, growth of new bacteria equals death of old bacteria.
Death phase more bacteria die that are made.
IMMUNE SYSTEM
The parts of the body that fight infections are called the immune system. White blood cells
are an important part of your immune system.
Antibiotics antimicrobial chemicals that kill bacteria and fungi but not VIRUSES!
WHITE BLOOD CELLS
One type of white blood cell makes antibodies (specialised proteins) to label
microorganisms. Some antibodies remain in the blood as long-lived memory cells, ready to
fight again. This means that the body reacts faster the second time the pathogen returns,
the body destroys the invaders before you become ill - immune to the disease. A different
type digests the pathogen (cause the disease) -phagocytes. All cells have antigen markers
on the outside that are unique to that type of cell. The antigen markers on microorganisms
are foreign to the body.
Summary
of
blood
of the role
white
cells.
Viruses have high mutation (a change in the DNA of an organism. It alters a gene and may
change the organisms characteristics) rate. The body will need to make a different antibody
to fight a virus.
VACCINATIONS
Vaccinations make use of the bodys own defence system. They kick-start your white blood
cells into making antibodies. So you become immune to a disease without having to catch it
first
To stop large outbreaks of a disease, almost everyone in the population must be vaccinated.
Why does the
government
encourage
vaccinations?
For society as a whole, vaccination is the best choice. People often perceive the risk of
vaccination to be greater than the risk of measles.
SUPERBUGS
Microorganisms can be killed by antimicrobial chemicals. Some only inhibit their
reproduction. The persons immune system destroys those remaining.
A tiny change in one gene a mutation can turn a bacteria cell into a superbug. Just one
superbug wont do much damage. But if it reproduces rapidly, it could produce a large
population of bacteria, all resistant to an antibiotic.
DRUG DEVELOPMENT
Stage
Testing
One
To find out
Two
Three
Many doctors do not like giving a placebo to patients with a disease because they feel the
patient will not benefit from taking a fake drug and will not get better. They do not think this
is fair to the patient.
It may seem unfair to the control group because they may miss benefits of the new drug.
If the trial shows that the risks are too great it will be stopped
If the trial shows that the drug has benefits it will immediately be offered to the
control group
Blind trials
Doctor is told which patients are being given the drug. This may be because they need to
look very carefully for certain unwanted harmful effects. The patient does not know.
Open-label trials
Both the patient and doctor know the treatment. This happens when there is no other
treatment and patients are so ill that doctors are sure they will not recover from the
illness. No placebo. The drug may extend their lifespan or be a cure!
CIRCULATION
The heart is a bag of muscle. The heart is a double pump, tubes carry the blood around the
circulatory system.
How blood circulates
Blood enters the right-hand side of the heart from the
lower chamber, which pumps it to the lungs to pick
then flows back into the upper chamber on the lefthand side of the heart, then into the left lower
chamber. There it is pumped to the rest of the
oxygen. There are valves
and lower chambers to make sure blood flows
in the right direction.
Heart Attack
body to deliver
between the upper
Blood brings oxygen and food to cells- makes energy. Without energy the heart would stop.
So heart muscle cells must have their own blood supply.
Sometimes fat can build in the coronary arteries. A blood clot can form on the fatty lumo.
If this blocks an artery, some heart muscle is starved of oxygen. The cells start to die. This is
an heart attack.
Heart dieseas any illness of the heart. Heart attacks are not normaly caused by an
infection. The genes, lifestyle, or most likely both, affect whether you suffer from a heart
attack. There are may risk factors. The risk increase the more of these risk factors you are
exposed to.
A young, fit
about 120
pressure is
70 mmHg.
High
heart
heart disease.
HOMEOSTASIS
Keeping conditions inside the body the same is homeostasis. For example, keeping the
correct levels of water and salt, controlling the amounts of nutrients and getting rid of waste
producs i.e. urea and carbon dioxide.
All control systems have:
1. receptor detects the change (stimuli)
These cases, increase ADH production, kidneys reabsorb more water, making less urine.
Drugs
Alcohol suppresses ADH production. This causes the kidneys to produce a greater volume of
dilute urine. It can lead to dehydration causing dizziness, headaches, and tiredness. Long-term
dehydration can have effects on kidneys, liver, joints, and muscles. Severe dehydration can
cause low blood pressure, seizures, increased heart rate, and loss of consciousness.
Ecstasy increases ADH production. This causes the kidneys to reabsorb water, reducing the
volume of urine. It can result in the body having too much water (causing seizures-fatal,
Concentration Concentration increase in blood pressure and heart
rate, increasing the risk of a heart
of blood
of blood
attack and brain damage) and affects
plasma fallsplasma risesthe bodys temperature control.
more water
less water
Pituitary
gland
secretes
Kidney
reabsorbs
Urine volume
Urine
concentratio
n
Less ADH
More ADH
Less
More
Decreases
Decreases
Increases
Increases
Negative Feedback
The more concentrated the plasma, the more ADH is released into the blood. When
the ADH reaches the kidneys, it causes them to reabsorb more water. This keeps more
water in the body and produces concentrated urine.
When the plasma is more dilute, less ADH is released into the bloodstream. This allows
more water to leave the kidneys (kidneys reabsorb less), producing dilute urine.
Peer review
Scientists report their work in scientific journals and at
conferences. Before publication, the work is checked
and evaluated by other experts. This process is
known as 'peer review'.
When scientists report their work, other scientists
can see what they have done and try to repeat it.
If these other scientists obtain similar data, it
provides more evidence to support the conclusions
that have been published.
Scientific findings are only accepted once they have been
evaluated critically by other scientists.
Correlation
Correlation does not prove a cause and the outcome might be caused by some other factor, e.g.
ice-cream sales increase as hay fever increases, but ice-cream does no cause hay fever.
Even when evidence exists that a factor is correlated to an outcome, scientists look for a causal
mechanism. E.g. smoking increases the effect of heart disease because of the effects of nicotine
on the body. Nicotine is the mechanisms.