Unit 15: E.4b “Drugs & the Nervous System”

1) People in the production of smoking– such as CEOs of cigarette brands, corporate employees, factory workers, and suppliers of tobacco itself–are involved because of the money they can earn.  The smoking industry provides jobs and therefore one can argue that the government can benefit from this industry as it is economically productive.

2) On the other hand, there are clear negative externalities associated with smoking.  Firstly, second hand smoking.  Smoking in public could have a negative impact to third party bystanders as they inhale the smoke that comes out of the smoker’s mouth, or even the smoke that rises from cigarette itself, which can harm the lungs of the bystander.  The second issue is the social issue it creates.  It is hard for non-smokers to be around smokers because of the smoke that surrounds that person.  In addition, if one gets lung cancer from smoking, then it causes that person to be less social as he or she may be depressed and/or stressed.  Lastly, economically speaking, if one gets lung cancer through smoking, then it impacts the society in that they will be unable to be employed and therefore there will be a setback in the economy if enough people cannot go to work.

3) As we learned in Economics, there are a number of things that a government can do to correct this type of market failure.  Firstly, they can impose a higher tax rate on cigarettes to reduce the consumption of cigarettes.  Secondly, they can impose smoking bans–making it illegal to smoke–on public sectors to reduce passive smoking.  Thirdly, governments can reduce consumption of cigarettes by imposing more regulations concerning the purchase of cigarettes.  Fourthly, governments can invest in health propagandas to guide consumers away from cigarettes.

Unit 15: E.4a “Neurotransmitters and Synapses”

1) One social problem is suicide, which can be seen in the top right corner. It is a social problem as suicide causes trauma to friends and family. Another problem is mistreatment of others, which is illustrated in the center of the image through the neglected baby and two people wheelbarrowing another person.  Lastly, the final social problem it depicts is that it makes people go insane– this can be seen in the middle left of the image with the man chewing on the bone.

2) Most social problems coming from alcohol still remain today, however, to a lesser extent. Suicide, mistreatment, and the inability to think rationally remains today as an effect of intoxication and heavy drinking.  However, because we (as students) are learning about alcohol and its effects, which helps us to make the healthier decisions.

Unit 15: E.5b “The Human Brain: function”

1a) The cardiopulmonary standard would be possible in practice as there are machines that could easily check if the heart and lung are functioning.

1b) The biological standard would be the most appropriate for ethical or other reasons because the organism is pronounced dead–there is no life in the organism, although there may be working organs, etc.

2) I disagree with “what defines a person is higher brain function.”  It is therefore not reasnoable to distinguish between the death of the body and the death of a person as they are the same–if one dies, the other does too–except in memory.

3) The definition for a “quality of life standard” is problematic because there is no one definition–it differs by people, place, culture, gender, etc.  However, the pros for euthanasia is obviously the fact that it can release an individual from suffering, whether physical or mental.  In contrast, people may argue that it is homicide, as it may have been done without the individual’s consent–such as in the case of old folks who cannot express their thoughts due to their body functions failing.

Unit 15: E.5a “The Human Brain: structure”

1) Evidence obtained from an experiment carried out in a closed environment may be more reliable than evidence from an open environment.  This is because in the nature, there may be other extraneous variables that affect the dependent variable.  Therefore, evidence obtained from natural lesions may be less reliable.

2) Vivisection is

Unit 15: E.2b “Perception: hearing”

Data-based question: garter snakes and prey selection

1a)

Lassen country: <5 = 83%, ≥5= 17%

Humboldt county: <5 = 32%, ≥5= 68%

Santa cruz: <5= 15%, ≥5=85%

1b) As the coastal species are closer to an area with a higher population of slugs, they are able to eat the slugs and thus their chances of survival are higher than the inland snakes.  Hence because they survive, they are selected for and therefore more snakes begin to eat slugs as time goes by.

2)

Unit 15: E.2a “Perception: vision”

Unit 14: 11.1a “Neurons″

Data-based question: ouabain

1) As ouabain concentration increases, Na+/K+ pump function decreases.  It seems to have a negative exponential relationship.

2) At 25% Na+/K+ pump function, oubain concentration is approximately 0.0035 M.

3) Oubain has the potentnial to kill large mammals because it stimulates the heart; therefore, overstimulation of the cardiac muscle can occur.  In specific, we can deduce from the graph that oubain binds to ATPase to inhibit Na+/K+ pump function, causing Na+ to actively transport back into the cell.  This increased Na+ concentration most likely stimulates muscle contraction, making it possible to treat heart failure but also possible to overstimulate the heart.

Unit 13: 11.3 “Excretion 2″

Data-based question: medulla thickness and urine concentration

1) There is a relation between the maximum solute concentration (MSC) of urine and the habitat of the mammal in that as the habitat becomes harsher to retain water, MSC increases.  For example, the desert rodent Salinomys delicates has an MSC (mOsm) of 7440 compared to the beaver who lives in an aqueous environment and has 517 MSC (mOsm). This is fairly logical because as mammals obtain less water, their urine becomes more hyperosmotic, meaning more solutes in their urine.

2)

3a) There is a positive correlation between MSC and the RMT.  Positive linear relationship.

3b) As the overall effect of the loop of Henlé is to create a gradient of solute concentration in the medulla, a thicker medulla could increase MSC and vice versa as the wall on the ascending limb is hydrophobic.

Unit 13: 11.3 “Excretion 1″

Data-based question: blood supply to the kidney

1) Blood flow to the kidney has a much higher rate per 100g of tissue as it has 420 ml/min/100g compared to other organs, which have less than 100 ml/min/100g.

2)

Brain: 0.0108 liter/min/100g.

Skin: 0.0026 liter/min/100g.

Skeletal Muscle: 0.0005 liter/min/100g.

Heart Muscle: 0.087 liter/min/100g.

Kidney: 0.084 liter/min/100g.

3)

Skin: 0.38/2.6 = 15%

Skeletal: 0.18/0.5 = 36%

Heart Muscle:  11/87 = 13%

Kidney: 6.8/84 = 8.1%

4) There is a difference in volume of blood flowing to the organ and the percentage of oxygen in the blood that is consumed between kidneys and other organs because the function of the kidney is to remove substances from the blood that are not needed or are harmful.  To fulfill this role, the kidney must be able to handle large volumes of blood per tissue in order to be efficient at cleaning the blood.

5) Active transport to reabsorb specific substances in the proximal convoluted tubule requires energy as it uses transport proteins and carrier proteins to filter the molecules that the body needs.

6) Cold environments trigger contractions of veins, which reduces blood flow.  Although the body will work to achieve homeostasis by shivering, the blood flow will be lower than that of a person in a warm environment.

Unit 13: 11.1 “Immunology 3″

Chapter 21 questions

1a) Lysozyme non-specific

1b) Phagocytes also non-specific

1c) Memory B-cell specific

1d) Antibodies also specific

2a) 1986

2bi) As we see the prevalence curve drop significantly from 1986 to 2002, there has been significant success in reducing the number of people suffering from the disease.

2bii) As we see the new cases curve very low from the beginning of the surveyed years, we can deduce that there has been early success in reducing new cases.  However, we also see that there is a resurgence in numbers in 1996, which is likely to be caused by  better data gathering methods as the new cases curve decrease up until this point.

3) B

4) B