Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Pituitary Gigantism and Acromegaly~Research

Recently I watched a video on Edmodo about Pituitary Gigantism and Acromegaly. Pituitary Gigantism is caused when there is a tumor on your pituitary gland that triggers a surge that causes excess growth hormones. This is what leads to the huge size of Pituitary Giants.
The excess growth hormones produce large internal organs. Pituitary giants have organs that are two times the normal volume of regular organs. Their organs are the right size for their bodies though becuase their bodies are two times the normal volume also.
The only organ that is the same size as the average human is the brain. This is because the excess growth hormaone makes the walls of the skull grow thicker. This gives the brain extra protection but it makes the cavity stay the same size. This prevents the brain from growing any bigger then the size of an average human.
Usually when you see a Pituitary Giant you associate their size with a lot of strenth. They do have a lot of muscle mass and have big muscles but giants are not as strong as they look. The excess growth hormones also cause an excess of salt in the muscle tissue. The salt makes the muscles swell up with water making the muscles bigger but not stronger. Their muscle development is also affected by the way their bones grew. In their extreme growth sometimes the nerves on one side of a muscle grow faster then the other side. This cause the bone to curve and it causes the muscles to be like rubber bands that are to long and to slack. In the end the muscles are weaker. Pituitary giants have bodies that are "wired" differently then the average person and this can also affect their muscle power. The excess of growth hormone causes problems with the peripheral nervous system. This makes a change on the way the skeletal muscles move. Their peripheral nerves span out from the centeral nerves of the brain and the spinal column. These nerves cause electrical impulses at very very high speeds(more than 200 miles per hour!) that cause the muscles to contract. These peripheral nerves are made of long cells that are surrounded by a protective insulation, think of electrical wires. In pituitary gigantism the excess growth hormone causes the inflimation to swell up. This restricts the movement of the nerve impulses and restricts the movement of the skeletal muscles. Their muscles lose strength and don't work like they usually would. Regular activities, like walking, can be tiring because of the excess growth hormone that gives them their size also makes them more tired.
Sometimes these hormones never stop. Sometimes surgery, radiation, therapy,and drugs can be used to get the excess growth hormone under control and stop the growing in pituitary giants. If the growth hormone doesn't get under control their bones still grow. The bones don't grow taller though. The bones grow thicker. This is called Acromegalic Gigantism. Once the body can't get any taller the bones start growing larger and becomemore prominent. The obvious signs of this are usually in the skull. Acromegaly causes a more prominent forehead, makes the eyebrow bones bulge, and causes more prominent cheekbones. It also causes the lower jaw to grow and push the bottom teeth out past the upper teeth. It can also cause a broader nose, thicker lips, and a larger tounge with a lower voice. Many giants have a male sounding voice. They can become winded very easily.

After doing further research I learned that most cases of Pituitary Gigantism can be helped with pituitary surgery. This surgery is known to usually cure most cases. The next choice of treatment for most people is medication. The most effective medications known are somatostatin analogs. These reduce the release of growth hormone. There is also a medication known as Dopamine agonists. These have not been proven as effective the other though. Sometimes radiation has been used as cures.

To see the video that taught me A LOT follow this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebhf1qKVA9A

To read the article I read follow this link:
http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/gigantism/overview.html

Monday, December 19, 2011

EMG Lab

To start off our unit on the Muscular System we had an EMG lab. EMG is a graphical recording of electrical activity within the muscles. When the muscles are activated by nerves it results in changes in ion flow across cell membranes. This generates electrical activity. In this lab we were trying to create a graph that represented the electrical activity of a muscle and how much energy was used when a muscle would contract. So for our experiment we did a chewing activity to evaluate the muscles in the jaw when chewing different types of food.



Hypothesis:
If our group tests the muscles in the jaw while someone chews different foods then the harder foods will make the muscles work more and will generate more electrical activity on the graph because your muscles in the jaw work harder to chew harder foods then they do to chew softer foods.

Materials:
Eater (to eat the different foods)
Different types of food
EKG probe and electrode tabs

Experiment:
After setting up the computer we hooked our "Eater" Sierra up to the probes. We put a probe on her upper jaw and lower jaw. First we set up a baseline by having Sierra clench her jaw 30 seconds. Then we gave Sierra different foods that were varying hardness to chew slowly. Sierra would rest her jaw for 5 seconds then start chewing the food until swallowing. The clenching data was used to compare to the other foods that were chewed. The foods Sierra tried were barbeque chips, a carrot, chocolate chip cookies, a banana, celery, beef jerky, and pudding. We also had her drink Dr. Pepper.



DATA:



Data Analysis:
From the data we collected you can see that the different foods caused higher and lower electrical activity. The clenching of the jaw we used as average jaw activity at 0.5 mV. The food that caused the highest amount of electrical activity was the pudding at 2.2 mV. We think this is because when people chew they normally don't open their mouth very much but when people eat pudding they tend to open their mouth wider. The food that caused the lowest amount of electrical activity was the chocolate chip cookie at 0.3 mV. Along with the cookie the Dr. Pepper also created electrical activity at 0.3 mV. The other foods rated everywhere between these two. The celery came the closest to the baseline at 0.6 mV.


Conclusion:
After our experiment we concluded that our hypothesis was not always true. Foods that are harder tended to make our jaw work harder but it is not always the case. Sometimes the way your mouth chews depends on the texture of the food. Something sticky and creamy like pudding can make your mouth open wider which causes more electrical activity. Our graph and analysis prove this.

Reflection:
I really enjoyed this lab. It was a really good way to start off the muscular system! I liked this lab because it made me think about muscles that I never really think about. I never thought about the jaw working in that way. Our group worked very well together to finish our project. I really enjoyed this lab because of how much fun we had doing it. It was also a good idea to call the lab a "Potluck!" I think our experiment was a great success and a lot of fun!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Muscle Anatomy

To learn about the Musclular System our class split into different groups and picked one of three things to research: Muscle Anatomy, Sliding Filament Theory(FUN FACT: This is how we think muscles contract!), and Neuromuscular Junction.

Well Ali, Madison, and I all got together to create a poster about the structure of a muscle (muscle anatomy). We all worked together to research the muse anatomy(on our IPads by the way!) Something I learned while making this poster....I have a little talent in drawing! Well I hope you enjoy our poster!




Monday, December 5, 2011

Skeletal System

So I attempted another prezi! I tried to make this one a little more interesting and use different things like colors and turning my words. Hope you enjoy!



Here's the link to my prezi:













I wanted to take this time to do a little self anaylsis. I have been really proud of myself this quarter. For the most part I have stayed caught up with my blogs. I didn't let logs pile up and have to rush getting them done at the end of the semester. The most I got behind was getting this blog done. I have also been studying for my quizzes this year, unlike last year in Biology. I have not gotten under a 95% on any of my quizzes this year. I am getting better at using Anatomy class time for Anatomy work. I can still be better at using my time better but I am doing better then I was last semester.( this is a tongue twister I know!) My goal is to get an A for this semester. I think this is possible because I am understanding things better. The notes on the Ipad have really helped me! I feel like it gives me a direction on what information I need to provide. Last year I was always nervous that I wasn't writing the right information that Mr. Ludwig wanted. LJHS something to think about, I think you should supply Ipad's for all of Mr. Ludwig's classes. Just something for our school to think about....