Table of Contents
Introduction
Task 1
1.1 Outline the main anatomical features in each of the body systems with identifying main functions of ANY THREE systems
1.2 Discuss Cellular metabolism and relate to growth hormone function
Task 2
2.1 Explain the normal body responds to his everyday physical activities (Exercising)
2.2 Discuss how body responses are explained by cellular and tissue structure and physiology
2.3 Explain how his body will coordinate its internal activities: Discuss homeostasis with feedback loops designed to lower or raise relevant parameters – (Maintaining the blood glucose level).
Task 3
3.1 How routine measures are recorded (ethical consideration: dignity, individual rights and privacy) and what are their uses in health and social care?
3.2 Assess how these routine measures provide the GP with information about the body functioning of this person
3.3 Examine how such information about the body functioning may inform care planning for this person
Task 4
4.1 Explain how her age may have affected her body structure and functioning. (Nervous and Respiratory system)
4.2 Assess the impacts of the above mentioned conditions on her body structure and functions
4.3 Relate the effects of her medical conditions including infection to the routine care of this lady
Conclusion
References
Introduction
Task 1
1.1 Outline the main anatomical features in each of the body systems with identifying main functions of ANY THREE systems
In this assignment report, it will be expected to discuss regarding the
main anatomical features of important systems of the human body, how the
cellular metabolism is related to hormone functions of the body that influence
the growth in human body, in the first part of the report. In the second part,
it will be focusing on body responses, the explanation for those body responses
in cellular level and how the body coordinates the internal activities, of a 25
year old full time student. The third part of the report will focus on the
health measurement, routine measures, the use of the routine measure and how
the information of the routine measures can inform about the body function of a
65 year old man with several health issues. The final parts will analyze the
effects of aging on body structure and functioning and how care planning is
designed for a lady of 85 years old.
Respiratory system is one of the important systems of the human body.
The cells in the human body generate energy with the help of oxygen hence
oxygen is an essential gas for all the cells in the human body. Further, the
carbon dioxide gas that is built up in the cells as a result of energy
generation, needs to be eliminated from the body to the environment. The
respiratory system has been designed for the purpose of extracting oxygen from
the atmosphere, distribute them to the cells and organs through blood
circulation and eliminate carbon dioxide from the body.
Figure
1: Respiratory system
In the basic anatomy of the human respiratory systems, the nose, nasal
cavity, oral cavity, pharynx, trachea, larynx, left lung and right lung are the
main anatomical parts. The primary function of the respiratory system is
pulmonary ventilation which facilitates gas exchange between the circulating
blood and the lungs where the atmospheric air comes in and goes out. Pulmonary
ventilation is performed through contraction of the respiratory muscles and the
negative pressure system. External respiration is when the gas is exchanged
from the Alveoli to the blood in capillaries around the alveoli whereas
internal respiration happens when the oxygen in the oxygenated blood is
exchanged to the body cells (Odya
and Norris, 2017).
Figure 2: Digestive system
Source: https://s3.amazonaws.com/user-media.venngage.com/856033-b8cef3447a39c80c3e353fc76e9e1652.jpg
The digestive system is a system that is specially designed to extract energy and nutrition’s from the food and beverages, absorb them and provide energy to the body organs for their functions and growth. There are many organs and glands belonging to the digestive system which are located along the digestive tract and as accessory organs near to the digestive tract. The digestive tract is a tube shaped system with organs mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, the rectum and the anus. Further to the organs of the tract, the accessory organs of the system include tongue, salivary glands, gallbladder and the pancreas (Smith, 2017).
When a person eats food or a drink, the food items are broken down in to small parts and in to the molecular level using the mechanical functions, enzymes and other substances secreted by the digestive system and then they are absorbed to the body. Eating food, chewing them with teeth are part of the mechanical breakdown process where as stomach acid and other substances from gallbladder, liver and stomach help the chemical breakdown of the food (Smith, 2017). At the end of the breakdown, the substance level nutrients such as carbohydrate, protein, fat and vitamins are absorbed to the body through blood vessels.
Figure 3: Nervous system
The nervous system is made of two main parts which are the Central Nervous System and the Peripheral Nervous System. The signal receptors of the nervous systems identifies different kinds of signals from the outer and inner environment of the body, transmit them to the brain, process the signals in the brain and provide appropriate signals to the body organs as response to the signals. The Central Nervous System is comprised of the brain and the spinal cord. Spinal cord is made of afferent and efferent nerves. The afferent nerves take signals from the body organs and transmit them to the spinal cord, which are then communicated to the brain. After processing the signals that were produced from the body organs, the efferent nerves communicate the brain responses to the organs of the body as feedback impulses (Noback, 2005).
The other part of the nervous system which is the peripheral nervous system is consisted of autonomic and somatic nervous system. Somatic nervous system is designed for controlling the voluntary movements of the body through glans, skeletal muscles and reflexes. The autonomic nervous system includes the involuntary reactions that control the visceral functions which are below the consciousness.
The cellular metabolism process can be identified as a set of chemical reactions happening within the cells, which are essential for maintaining and performing the functions of the body, such as growth. The cellular metabolism breaks down chemicals and produce energy that is essential for the activities performed by humans for synthesizing new cells for growth of the human body and for repairing the cell that have been damaged.
The cellular metabolism occurs in different metabolic pathways. The synthesize of new cells with the help of energy produced during cellular metabolism help to maintain homeostasis of the body. The growth in human body, increase of weight, increasing muscle mass and repairs in the bodily organs happen with the energy produced in cellular metabolism (Raiti and Tolman, 2013).
The anabolic category of metabolic reactions helps the production and secretion of enzymes, acids and amino acids which are the building blocks that makes up protein that are used as a main content of cells, muscles and organs. The catabolic category of metabolic reactions helps breaking down cells and energy is produced through breaking down of chemical bonds (Raiti and Tolman, 2013). This released energy is used as an energy source for bodily functions.
The pituitary gland in the brain produces and sec creates the growth hormone which is a protein type of hormone that stimulates the growth of the human body. The growth hormone, which commonly known as GH is a controller of many complex chemical processes of the body, that stimulates metabolism and help growth of the body. When the growth hormone is released, it stimulates secretion of chemicals from the organs such as liver and thyroid glands which increase the speed of growth and synthesize of bones, muscles and cartilages. The muscle development happens through the influence of protein synthesize where amino acids are bond together to make protein. The digestive and metabolism process of the body is also influenced by the growth hormone where proteins, lipids and carbohydrates digested and produced more energy for cellular metabolism and providing more building blocks such as amino acids for growth and development. Digestion of carbohydrates provides energy and help to maintain the blood glucose level (Raiti and Tolman, 2013). Therefore it can be seen that the overall growth and function of the body are controlled with hormones where hormone can speed up or slow down the said functions in the body.
Exercising can be performed in many forms such as running, jogging, swimming, rowing or weight lifting where is requires a large number of muscle movements and stress on muscles and joints of the body. When the person exercises, the body responds to the activities in different ways in order to facilitate exercising without getting tired easily and without damaging the muscles and tissues while exercising. When a muscle or a group of muscles is being used heavily while exercising, it will require more energy from the body in order to keep doing the activities without getting lagging. In extreme conditions where the muscle cannot be fed and maintained, the activities will be shut down by the body. When the boy starts jogging in the morning, the blood circulation speed will be increased from the normal level. This will be achieved by increasing the heart beating speed and pumping blood more efficiently and speedily. This helps circulation of oxygenated blood in the body and the muscles that are used in running such as the leg muscles, and results the muscles getting more oxygen and energy for continuous working of the muscle. Further, with the increased circulation speed, the de-oxygenated blood in the leg muscles get transported to the lungs faster for oxygenation thus improving the process of gas exchange. This helps to create more ATP which is the source of energy used for contraction and expansion of the muscles in leg (Bassett, 2011).
As a support for the function, the lungs also start working harder and faster which increase the rate of breathing of the boy so that blood near the lungs could be oxygenated more efficiently and the carbon dioxide build up in the blood can be eliminated from the body more efficiently. The breathing rate becomes higher than the breathing rate when the boy is resting in order to compensate the higher energy requirement.
The blood supply to the organs such as the brain, ears and eyes will be increased so that the person can be kept more focused on alert on the activity he is doing in order to prevent injuries and prevent any accidents from causing to him. Activities such as food digestion that is happening inside the digestive system may be slowed down to reduce the power wastage and provide more energy to the working muscles.
The bodily responses to exercising activity such as increased breathing rate, heart rate increasing and other muscle responses happen from cellular and tissue level structure of the body. The cardiac muscles which are the building blocks of the heart can be self-stimulated and therefore when the boy starts to engage in exercising activity, the cardiac muscles can increase the rhythmicity of the muscle contraction on their own and increase the heart rate as and when required. The ability to self- generate electro signals support this function of increasing and decreasing the heart rate. When the leg muscles need more oxygenated air, the signals are informed to the pacemaker cells of the cardiac tissue which control the rhythm of the contraction (Lenk, 2011). The pacemaker cells will increase the heart beating pace will be increased resulting higher volume of blood pumped in and out of the heart.
The lung muscles and other supporting muscles are made of smooth muscles which are a type of involuntary muscles that work on the commands given by the central nervous system. The intercostal muscle will make rapid contractions which will increase and decrease the ribcage more often. At this time, the diaphragm will also contract and increase the chest volume resulting higher chest volume and the atmospheric air get pulled in to the lungs in a higher volume than it happens when the body is resting. When the leg muscles signal the nervous system regarding the increased need of energy and gas for their contractions, the nervous system will respond by signalling the lungs to work faster resulting rapid breathing (Bassett, 2011). The blood vessel walls which are made of smooth muscles will also be expanded and increase the radius of the vessels in order to facilitate higher blood volume to be circulated.
The blood glucose provides energy to the muscles in a speedy manner as glucose can be easily broken down and energy can be released. When exercising, maintaining the blood glucose is an essential activity for the human body. The constant blood glucose level of a grown adult is said to be between 70 and 100 mg/dL. This range is maintained in the body with the help of insulin and glucagon which are two important hormones of the human body.
When the blood glucose level drops below the normal rate as happens when engaging in strenuous activities such as exercising or fasting for a considerable time period, the pancreas will start secreting glucagon hormone through the alpha cells. Glucagon hormone will inform the liver to convert the glycogen existing in the liver to glucose and release them to the blood stream. This glycogen will be converted to glucose and added to bloodstream increasing the blood glucose level. The fatty cells will be broken down in to small substances and then added to the blood stream as glucose in order to increase the level of glucose. The body will also make the person feel hunger and thirst so that the person will ingest food where they can be digested and more glucose can be harvested (NHS UK¸ 2017).
In the converse scenario, when the blood glucose level is higher than the normal range, the beta cells located in the pancreas will secrete insulin hormone. Insulin will cause the liver to convert more glucose in to glycogen and store them in the liver. The excess glycogen may be converted in to fat and stored in fatty cells for future use (NHS UK¸ 2017). This will reduce the amount of glucose circulating in the blood stream and reduce the level in to the normal range.
Blood pressure is a measurement of how much force is put on the walls of the arteries from the blood flow. When measuring the blood pressure, the lower and higher number is measured at two occasions where the heart contracts and pumps blood and when the heart is not contracting. The blood pressure is measured using Blood pressure monitors where a cloth is wrapped around the arm of the patient and measures are read by a professional when they identify the higher and lower points of blood pressure. As in the case of person in case study, the hypertension may have caused due to thicker blood vessel walls. In cases of hypertension, the blood pressure may become increased to 120 – 140mmHg. It should be noted that people with hypertension like in the case study, will have higher resting blood pressure.
Heart rate is another essential measurement taken and recorded for assessing health conditions. Heart rate is the number of time the heart completes is pumping cycles within a minute. The heart rate could vary between 60 – 100 times per minute. A provide ay check the heart rate by feeling the pulse under the wrist while checking the time when needed. An increased heart rate may signal about a heart problem which can be figured out with more tests performed (NHS UK¸ 2017).
Respiration rate is the number of time a person completes breathing cycles within a minute. A count of how many times the chest rises within a times is taken as the measure of respiration rate. A GP will check for signs of difficulties of breathing that can increase or decrease breathing rate. Respiration rate can be measured with observation of the patient.
An electrocardiogram which commonly known as an ECG can be taken to identify differences and abnormalities in heart beat and pulse generation in cardiac muscles (NHS UK¸ 2017). ECG machine can recognize the electro signals generated by the cardiac muscles and provide a graph like report that a GP can inspect and identify the problems related.
It is essential to protect the privacy of the patient when performing all the tests on a patient and the tests results should be confidential to the GP and relevant professionals. When performing the test, the patient dignity should be protected all times where necessary privacy control should be put in place. For example if a test requires a patient to get undressed such as for an ECG, the patient should be provided with necessary facilities for changing and unnecessary contact should be avoided.
The routine measures can provide a range of different information to the GP regarding the bodily functions and normal functions of the person.
The measurement of blood pressure can provide evidence regarding how the blood circulation happens inside the body of the person and if the circulation is within the normal range. A higher blood pressure may indicate a health problem such as high pressure, stroke or a heart problem which needs to be verified with further tests. The heart rate is also an indication regarding if the heart is working in the normal condition. If the heart rate is higher it shows that the heart is working harder to pump which could indicate a blockage in arteries, a formation of a blood clot or some other problem. If the heart rate or the blood pressure is higher than the normal rate for the person, he will need to be given medicine immediately overcome the problem.
The number of time a person breathes within a minute will show evidence regarding obstructions in the airway or indications regarding heart problems, strokes etc. Difficulties in breathing may have caused due to obstructions in the airway which can be identified by a GP. When a person is having mental problem or extreme excitements, it also may cause difficulties or differences in the breathing rhythm.
A blood report taken to analyze the content of the blood stream may provide evidence regarding the cholesterol level in the blood stream and glucose level which can be used to determine possible heart problems or blockages in arteries.
The person in the case study has been identified to have chest pains and hypertension which are two major health problem indications. With the tests and examinations that were conducted by the GP, the root causes of the symptoms can be identified. For example, the chest pain may cause due to decreased cardiac output or a blockage in the arteries that supply blood to the heart. Hypertension is usually caused by decreased cardiac output where necessary actions will be provided by the doctor. In the cases of hypertension, the GP will provide treatments to stabilize the heart rate and prevent further heart rate increasing. A GP may use medicine that can widen the girth of the arteries so that the blockage can be bypassed (Seifter et al, 2005).
Another part of the care planning may include timely checking of the blood pressure as blood pressure has been identified to be increasing with chest pain. Checking the blood pressure often as required will help to make sure that the person is not going over the normal heart rate and the trend of the blood pressure can be used to identify if the blood pressure is increasing or decreasing with time.
The person should also be provided to rest and reduce extreme movements so that it prevents further increase in heart rate and blood pressure and reduction of blood circulation in limbs (Seifter et al, 2005).
The nervous and respiratory systems suffer a significant amount of changes and get affected in terms of functioning and structure with aging.
The tissue structure in the lungs gets weaken and deteriorated over time and becomes less efficient when a person reaches the age of 85. This happens at a slow pace which cannot be identified within a shorter time. The alveoli in the lungs become weaken and some of them become inactive followed by capillaries becoming decreased and elastin tissues breaking down. This condition is known as loss of pulmonary elasticity where the efficiency of air exchange is decreased in significant amounts.
The mass and strength of the chest muscles and supporting muscles of the ribcage will likely to become weaker and reduced in volume causing the air respiration volumes to be decreased over time. Due to the weakening in muscles, cartilages and bone in the body, the straight posture of the body becomes crooked (Odya and Norris, 2017). These structure changes can cause emphysema, resulting lesser efficiency and functioning of the respiratory system. Due to these conditions, the breathing will become short in this 85 year old woman (Lenk, 2011).
There are sensory receptors in the airways of people which can detect when an alien object enters the airway they are recognized and sent out of the body with the use of cough reflexes. With age, these sensory receptors become weak and they become inefficient in performing their duty. Therefore, the elderly lady is prone to tract infections that may be caused by irritants and debris.
The nervous system also gets affected form aging in similar capacities. The neurons in the brain and other parts of the nervous system and those neurons do not get repaired or re-produced to replace the weaker ones. This will reduce the brain capacity up to different extents that will depend from person to person. This will cause the short term memory loss and/ or historical memories to be lost from memory. The efficiency of brain signals and impulses being transmitted from sensors to brain will be reduced. And the sensory organs will become less efficient in grasping the environment signals and identifying them. This will increase the delay in identifying and reacting to signals from the outer environment.
Dementia is another likely to cause at the age of 85 due to aging. Dementia is defined as a progressive declining of cognitive function in the human body due to the reason on reduction of active neurons in the brain. It will make the 85 year old woman difficulties in solving problems, paying attention to things and may cause forgetting of time and place (Lenk, 2011).
With the weakening of the respiratory system in terms of efficiency, it will provide less oxygenated air to the bodily organs which can reduce the activeness and energy of the 85 year old woman. The weakened bones, limbs and joints of the body will cause higher inactiveness, less energy and reduce the ability to perform their daily activities such as preparing food, getting dressed, bathing and washing etc. The elderly will also not be able to engage in any heavy work and exhaustive activities due to the weak body condition.
The elder lady will also have to breathe more time per minute due to the old age as the air intake volume has become decreased and requires a higher breathing rate to provide necessary amount of air to the body organs.
When called or heard a sound, the time taken by the woman to react or respond to it will be increased as the neurons and the nervous system has become weakened. Hands, feet, eyes, ears and skin will become less sensitive so that the elderly woman will less likely to able to read, write and engage in activities that require a huge amount of attention to details. The eye sight will be weakened where she will not be able to read small letter and the ears will become less receptive so that will would less likely to hear small sounds.
In severe cases of dementia, the short term memory could be lost and she will likely to forget day to day activities and things such as taking medicine, having meals or doing small work. In extreme conditions, she will not be able to recognize her family members and people close by.
The elderly lady is identified to suffer from arthritis, type 2 diabetes and infected wounds that taking too long to heal.
Some of the routine care measures taken for arthritis are the use of non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs which are able to provide corrections for swelling and inflation in the areas that are affected with arthritis. With the prescription from a GP, the steroid type of medicines can be used for treating the joints that have been damaged and they can be given as pills or injections. However, the clinical planning should be prepared in a way to avoid side effect and not interfere with other medicines.
As there is an infection in the leg that requires careful attention, the legs should be kept cleaned. They legs need to be cleaned by washing with warm water and keeping the toe nails shortly trimmed in order to avoid infections. When wearing socks and shoes, those should be well cleaned and fit firmly in the legs. Scheduling regular meetings with podiatrist doctor can help to prevent the infection being worse and control the infection (Noback, 2005).
Maintaining a regular healthy diet without consuming too much sugar and easily digested sugar components can help to control the blood sugar level in the blood and provide treatment for diabetes 2. The care planning for diabetes includes taking a healthy diet, sating active by exercising/ working and checking the blood glucose level in regular intervals. If the elderly woman has been prescribed insulin shots, those insulin shots should be taken regularly without overdosing or missing them. When taking and snacking, it is best to avoid foods with high sugar content and too much alcohol. Taking large amounts of foods at one sitting should also be avoided when taking foods while having diabetes (Noback, 2005). The elderly woman should be maintained at a healthy BMI (Body Mass Index) amount as being overweight is also a risk for diabetes.
It was discovered that body anatomy and the parts of the systems of the human body have been designed and developed in order to provide the most efficient and maximum performance for the activities they perform. The body also responds to all external and internal signals and events in the environment and receiving those responses and providing the response differs from event to event. When the responses and the signal coordination become abnormal, the body goes through conditions which are types of illnesses. Both medical and lifestyle changes re prescribed for those illnesses and conditions and care planning is provided to reducing the effects of body illnesses and stay at a healthy and active state.
References
References
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Smith, M. E, (2017), The Digestive System: Systems of the Body Series, Churchill Livingstone; 2 editions
