WHEN DID THE

HEART BECOME A
SYMBOL OF LOVE?
During the times of the ancient Greeks, love was often
identified with the heart through lyrical poetry in
verbal conceits. An example of this is the Greek poet
Sappho who agonized over her own “mad heart” 
pleading for love.
Greek philosophers like Aristotle, more or less believed
that the human heart was the center of all emotions,
particularly that of love. The connection between the
heart and love was common.
The heart is a pump, usually beating about 60
to 100 times per minute. With each heartbeat,
the heart sends blood throughout our bodies,
carrying oxygen to every cell. After
delivering the oxygen, the blood returns to the
heart. The heart then sends the blood to the
lungs to pick up more oxygen.
Respiratory
Adaptations
Some respiratory adaptations to extreme conditions such as
low-oxygen environments:
 
Animals that inhabit high altitudes have larger hearts and
lungs, and hemoglobin with a high affinity for binding oxygen.
 
Many diving animals have unusually high hematocrits (ratio
of the volume of packed red blood cells to the volume of
whole blood) and also muscles with high amounts of
myoglobin (an oxygen-binding protein found in muscle cells)
At higher altitudes, the
percentage of oxygen in the air
is lower.
At higher altitudes, the
amount of oxygen in a single
breath is less.
Certain natives of Tibet, Ethiopia, and the
Andes have been living at these high
altitudes for generations and are protected
from hypoxia as a consequence of genetic
adaptation. It is estimated that at 4,000
meters (13,000 ft), every lungful of air
only has 60% of the oxygen molecules
that humans at sea level have
Researchers discovered in 2010 that
Tibetans have several genes that help
them use smaller amounts of oxygen
efficiently, allowing them to deliver
enough of it to their limbs while
exercising at high altitude. Most notable
is a version of a gene called EPAS1,
which regulates the body's production of
hemoglobin.
This gene encodes a
transcription factor involved
in the induction
of genes regulated by
oxygen, which is induced
as oxygen levels fall.
At least five mutations in the EPAS1 gene
have been found to cause familial
erythrocytosis, an inherited condition
characterized by an increased number of red
blood cells and an elevated risk of abnormal
blood clots. When familial erythrocytosis
results from EPAS1 gene mutations, it is
often designated ECYT4
 Respiratory problems and impact on public health
 
The lung is the internal organ most vulnerable to infection and injury from the
external environment because of its constant exposure to particles, chemicals
and infectious organisms in ambient air.
Globally, at least 2 billion people are exposed to the toxic smoke of biomass fuel,
typically burned inefficiently in poorly ventilated indoor stoves or fireplaces.
One billion people inhale polluted outdoor air, and 1 billion are exposed to
tobacco smoke. Although respiratory impairment causes disability and death in
all regions of the world and in all social classes, poverty, crowding,
environmental exposures and generally poor living conditions increase
vulnerability to this large group of disorders.
Respiratory diseases impose an immense worldwide health burden. Five of
these diseases are among most common causes of severe illness and death
worldwide
 
Pneumonia is an infection
that affects one or both
lungs. It causes the air sacs,
or alveoli, of the lungs to fill
up with fluid or pus. Bacteria,
viruses, or fungi may cause
 pneumonia. Symptoms can
range from mild to serious
and may include a cough
with or without mucus (a
slimy substance), fever, chills,
and trouble breathing
The main cause of emphysema is
smoking, but other causes
include air pollution and
chemical fumes. Symptoms
include shortness of breath,
coughing and fatigue. Your
healthcare provider can diagnose
emphysema through imaging
and breathing tests. Treatment
includes quitting smoking and
taking medications.
Under normal circumstances, the cells of your body die when they are old or
damaged. But there are times when they overgrow and multiply
inappropriately, leading to tumors and other complications. This condition is
known as cancer. In lung cancer, abnormal cell division occurs in the lungs
resulting in tumors and lumps.
Typically, this cancer manifests itself through persistent cough, blood in the
cough and shortness of breath. Your risk of lung cancer increases if you smoke
or are exposed to a gas called radon and toxic substances such as asbestos or
diesel.
The global prevalence of lung cancer is quite alarming. In 2018 alone, around
2.1 million new cases of this cancer were diagnosed worldwide, which accounts
for 11.6 per cent of the world’s total cancer burden. Globally, the mortality rate
is the highest in North America and Europe. In India, one in 68 males develops
lung cancer. Lung cancer is one of the five most common cancer in India. More
than 40% of patients are diagnosed with advanced lung cancer where cancer
has been spread.
REGULATION OF
BODY FLUIDS
How do plants and animals regulate body
fluids?

Osmotic pressure forces water into the

cytoplasm, while diffusion and active transport
control the flow of water and electrolytes.
Higher plants use the stomata on the underside
of leaves to control water loss
Osmoregulation is the active regulation of
body fluids and ion balance in an organism.

Plants have no specific osmoregulatory organs

however, they have stomata below their leaves
that regulate the amount of water loss. In
contrast to humans, kidneys play a great role
in osmoregulations
Transpiration Pull

This is thought to be the

major force that allows
water to be transported
throughout a plant. Water
is transpired by a plant
via stomata, which means
water concentration in
these areas will be
especially low
Higher plants use the stomata on the underside of leaves to control water
loss. Plant cells rely on vacuoles to regulate cytoplasm osmolarity. Plants that
live in hydrated soil (mesophytes) easily compensate for water lost from
transpiration by absorbing more water. The leaves and stem of the plants
may be protected from excessive water loss by a waxy outer coating called
the cuticle. Plants that live in dry habitats (xerophytes) store water in
vacuoles, have thick cuticles, and may have structural modifications (i.e.,
needle-shaped leaves, protected stomata) to protect against water loss.
Plants that live in salty environments (halophytes) have to regulate not only
water intake/loss but also the effect on osmotic pressure by salt. Some
species store salts in their roots so the low water potential will draw the
solvent in via osmosis. Salt may be excreted onto leaves to trap water
molecules for absorption by leaf cells. Plants that live in water or damp
environments (hydrophytes) can absorb water across their entire surface
Osmoregulation is the active regulation of the osmotic pressure of bodily
fluids to maintain the homeostasis of the body's water content; that is it
keeps the body's fluids from becoming too dilute or too concentrated.
Osmotic pressure is a measure of the tendency of water to move into one
solution from another by osmosis. The higher the osmotic pressure of a
solution the more water wants to go into the solution. Pressure must be
exerted on the hypertonic side of a selectively permeable membrane to
prevent diffusion of water by osmosis from the side containing pure water.
Animals in all environments (aquatic and terrestrial) must maintain the
right concentration of solutes and amount of water in their body fluids;
this involves excretion: getting rid of metabolic wastes and other
substances such as hormones which would be toxic if allowed to
accumulate in the blood via organs such as the skin and the kidneys;
keeping the water and dissolved solutes in balance is referred to as
osmoregulation.
REGULATION OF BODY FLUIDS
Key terms related to the regulation of body fluids:
Internal environment – the fluid environment that bathes the cells
(extracellular fluid) composed of the interstitial fluid and blood.
Osmolarity – solute concentration expressed in milliosmoles per
liter of solution (mOsm/L).
Osmosis – the movement of water from a region of higher
osmolarity to a region of lower osmolarity across a selectively
permeable membrane
Osmoregulation – the regulation of water and ion balance
Excretion – the elimination of metabolic wastes including
nitrogenous wastes produced from the breakdown of proteins; this
process also helps in the regulation of water and ion balance.
Transportation in animals is the combined effort of the circulatory system, and
the excretory system.
The process of removal of waste out of the cells is called excretion.
The nitrogenous waste, excess sugar in the blood, excess salts, undigested
wastes, and carbon dioxide are the substances to be excreted from the body.
The lower organisms like amoeba, hydra, paramecium excrete the nitrogenous
waste by the process of diffusion through the cell membrane, as they lack special
excretory organs.
The human excretory system constitutes kidneys, ureter, urinary bladder,
urethra.
Kidneys are the main excretory organ which regulates the balance of water and
minerals in the body. They absorb minerals in the blood and eliminate the
nitrogenous waste from the blood in the form of urine.
 
Types of animals based on the osmolarity of their body fluids in relation to
the environment:
Osmoconformers – allow the osmolarity of their body fluids to match that of
the environment;
A. These include most marine invertebrates with body fluids that are generally
hyperosmotic to their surroundings
B. Because their bodies are isosmotic to seawater, they consume little or no
energy in maintaining water balance
 
Osmoregulators – keep the osmolarity of body fluids different from that of the
environment;
A. These include most marine vertebrates, birds, mammals
B. Either they discharge water in hypotonic environment or they take in water
in a hypertonic environment
 
Three types of nitrogenous wastes excreted by animals:
Ammonia – the primary nitrogenous waste for aquatic invertebrates, teleosts, and larval
amphibians
A. It is readily soluble in water but is also highly toxic
B. It can be excreted from the body only in dilute solutions.
 
Urea – produced by mammals, most amphibians, some reptiles, some marine fishes, and
some terrestrial invertebrates A. It is formed by combining ammonia with bicarbonate ion
(HCO3 ) and converting the ̄ product into urea
B. Although its formation requires more energy compared to ammonia, it is about 100,000x
less toxic than ammonia
C. Its excretion requires only about 10% as much water compared to ammonia
 
Uric acid – excreted by birds, insects, and terrestrial reptiles
A. It is relatively nontoxic but more energetically expensive to produce than urea
B. It is largely insoluble in water and it is excreted as a semisolid paste or precipitate with
very little water loss
 
Characterize the mammalian urinary or excretory system:
 
The mammalian urinary system consists of two kidneys, each with a ureter, a
tube leading to a urinary bladder (for storage), with an open channel called
urethra leading to the body surface.
 
The kidneys serve as specialized organs for osmoregulation and excretion; they
are composed of the following:
A. Renal capsule – the outer coat of connective tissue;
B. Cortex – the zone near the capsule consisting of blood vessels and
nephrons;
C. Medulla – inner zone also consisting of blood vessels and nephrons;
D. Nephrons – the functional units of the kidney where urine is formed; and
E. Renal pelvis – central cavity in the kidney where urine coming from the
nephrons is channeled before going to the ureter
 
Each kidney contains about 1.3 M nephrons, approximately
80 km long if connected end to end.
About 1,600 liters of blood pass through the kidneys each
day (300x the blood volume); approximately 180 liters
become filtrate but only about 1.5 liters of urine get
excreted.
More than 99% of the water and almost all sugar, vitamins
and other organic nutrients are reabsorbed across the
tubule epithelium
 
Animals utilize an excretory system to control the amount of water
that is lost to the environment and maintain osmotic pressure.
Protein metabolism also generates waste molecules which could
disrupt osmotic pressure. The organs that are responsible for
osmoregulation depend on the species. Marine invertebrates with
body fluids that are generally hyperosmotic to their surroundings
are called osmoconformers because they allow the osmolarity of
their body fluids to match that of the environment. Marine
vertebrates, birds and mammals, on the other hand are
osmoregulators, because they keep the osmolarity of body fluids
different from their environment
Osmoregulation is the active regulation of the osmotic pressure of an 
organism's body fluids, detected by osmoreceptors, to maintain the 
homeostasis of the organism's water content; that is, it maintains the 
fluid balance and the concentration of electrolytes (salts in solution which
in this case is represented by body fluid) to keep the body fluids from
becoming too diluted or concentrated. Osmotic pressure is a measure of
the tendency of water to move into one solution from another by osmosis.
[1]
 The higher the osmotic pressure of a solution, the more water tends to
move into it. Pressure must be exerted on the hypertonic side of a
selectively permeable membrane to prevent diffusion of water by osmosis
from the side containing pure water.
Osmoregulation is the process of maintaining
salt and water balance (osmotic balance) across
membranes within the body. The fluids inside
and surrounding cells are composed of water,
electrolytes, and nonelectrolytes. An electrolyte
is a compound that dissociates into ions when
dissolved in water.
Osmoconformers are marine organisms
that maintain an internal environment
which is isotonic to their external
environment. This means that the
osmotic pressure of the organism's cells
is equal to the osmotic pressure of their
surrounding environment
Homeostasis refers to the relatively stable state inside the body of an animal.
Animal organs and organ systems constantly adjust to internal and external
changes in order to maintain this steady state. Examples of internal conditions
maintained homeostatically are the level of blood glucose, body temperature,
blood calcium level. These conditions remain stable because of physiologic
processes that result in negative feedback relationships. If the blood glucose or
calcium rises, this sends a signal to organs responsible for lowering blood
glucose or calcium. The signals that restore the normal levels are examples of
negative feedback. When homeostatic mechanisms fail, the results can be
unfavorable for the animal. Homeostatic mechanisms keep the body in dynamic
equilibrium by constantly adjusting to the changes that the body’s systems
encounter. Even an animal that is apparently inactive is maintaining this
homeostatic equilibrium. Two examples of factors that are regulated
homeostatically are temperature and water content. The processes that
maintain homeostasis of these two factors are called thermoregulation and
osmoregulation.
Homeostasis
The goal of homeostasis is the maintenance of equilibrium around a specific value of
some aspect of the body or its cells called a set point. While there are normal
fluctuations from the set point, the body’s systems will usually attempt to go back to
this point. A change in the internal or external environment is called a stimulus and is
detected by a receptor; the response of the system is to adjust the activities of the
system so the value moves back toward the set point. For instance, if the body
becomes too warm, adjustments are made to cool the animal. If glucose levels in the
blood rise after a meal, adjustments are made to lower them and to get the nutrient
into tissues that need it or to store it for later use.
When a change occurs in an animal’s environment, an adjustment must be made so
that the internal environment of the body and cells remains stable. The receptor that
senses the change in the environment is part of a feedback mechanism. The stimulus
—temperature, glucose, or calcium levels—is detected by the receptor. The receptor
sends information to a control center, often the brain, which relays appropriate
signals to an effector organ that is able to cause an appropriate change, either up or
down, depending on the information the sensor was sending.
Excretory System
The human excretory system functions
to remove waste from the body through
the skin as sweat, the lungs in the form
of exhaled carbon dioxide, and through
the urinary system in the form of urine.
All three of these systems participate in
osmoregulation and waste removal
The human excretory system is made
up of the kidneys, ureter, urinary
bladder, and urethra.
The kidneys filter blood and form
urine, which is stored in the bladder
until it is eliminated through the
urethra
The kidneys are a pair of bean-shaped
structures that are located just below
the liver in the body cavity.
All the blood in the human body is
filtered about 60 times a day by the
kidneys. The nephrons remove wastes,
concentrate them, and form urine that
is collected in the bladder
Internally, the
kidney has three
regions—an outer
cortex, a medulla
in the middle, and
the renal pelvis,
which is the
expanded end of
the ureter.
Each of the
kidneys contains
more than a
million tiny units
called nephrons
that filter blood
containing the
metabolic
wastes from
cells.
The renal cortex contains the
nephrons—the functional unit of
the kidney. The renal pelvis collects
the urine and leads to the ureter on
the outside of the kidney. The
ureters are urine-bearing tubes that
exit the kidney and empty into the
urinary bladder
All the blood in the human body
is filtered about 60 times a day by
the kidneys.
The nephrons remove wastes,
concentrate them, and form urine
that is collected in the bladder
1.Blood enters each kidney
from the aorta, the main
artery supplying the body
below the heart, through a
renal artery
2.It is distributed in
smaller vessels until
it reaches each
nephron in capillaries
3.Within the nephron the
blood comes in intimate
contact with the waste-
collecting tubules in a structure
called the glomerulus
4.Water and many solutes present in
the blood, including ions of sodium,
calcium, magnesium, and others; as
well as wastes and valuable substances
such as amino acids, glucose and
vitamins, leave the blood and enter the
tubule system of the nephron
5.As materials pass through the tubule much
of the water, required ions, and useful
compounds are reabsorbed back into the
capillaries that surround the tubules leaving
the wastes behind.
Some of this reabsorption requires active
transport and consumes ATP
6. Some wastes, including ions
and some drugs remaining in the
blood, diffuse out of the
capillaries into the interstitial fluid
and are taken up by the tubule
cells.
7. These wastes are then actively
secreted into the tubules. The
blood then collects in larger and
larger vessels and leaves the
kidney in the renal vein.
The renal vein joins the inferior vena cava,
the main vein that returns blood to the
heart from the lower body. The amounts
of water and ions reabsorbed into the
circulatory system are carefully regulated
and this is an important way the body
regulates its water content and ion levels
The waste is collected in larger
tubules and then leaves the
kidney in the ureter, which leads
to the bladder where urine, the
combination of waste materials
and water, is stored
The bladder contains sensory nerves, stretch
receptors that signal when it needs to be
emptied. These signals create the urge to
urinate, which can be voluntarily suppressed
up to a limit. The conscious decision to
urinate sets in play signals that open the
sphincters, rings of smooth muscle that close
off the opening, to the urethra that allows
urine to flow out of the bladder and the body
Dialysis is a medical process of removing wastes and excess water from the blood
by diffusion and ultrafiltration. When kidney function fails, dialysis must be done
to artificially rid the body of wastes and fluids. This is a vital process to keep
patients alive. In some cases, the patients undergo artificial dialysis until they are
eligible for a kidney transplant. In others who are not candidates for kidney
transplants, dialysis is a lifelong necessity.
Dialysis technicians typically work in hospitals and clinics. While some roles in this
field include equipment development and maintenance, most dialysis technicians
work in direct patient care. Their on-the-job duties, which typically occur under
the direct supervision of a registered nurse, focus on providing dialysis treatments.
This can include reviewing patient history and current condition, assessing and
responding to patient needs before and during treatment, and monitoring the
dialysis process. Treatment may include taking and reporting a patient’s vital signs,
preparing solutions and equipment to ensure accurate and sterile procedures.
Homeostasis is a dynamic equilibrium that is maintained in body tissues and
organs. It is dynamic because it is constantly adjusting to the changes that
the systems encounter. It is an equilibrium because body functions are kept
within a normal range, with some fluctuations around a set point. The
kidneys are the main osmoregulatory organs in mammalian systems; they
function to filter blood and maintain the dissolved ion concentrations of
body fluids. They are made up internally of three distinct regions—the
cortex, medulla, and pelvis. The blood vessels that transport blood into and
out of the kidneys arise from and merge with the aorta and inferior vena
cava, respectively. The nephron is the functional unit of the kidney, which
actively filters blood and generates urine. The urine leaves the kidney
through the ureter and is stored in the urinary bladder. Urine is voided from
the body through the urethra.