The most relevant thing here is to realize that all of the biological functions in our body generate heat and our skin is like the radiator in a car which is used to help cool our engine. At birth, we have a certain ratio of skin, in terms of surface area, to our mass or weight.
If we gain weight then our area of skin does not increase at a rate equal to our weight. For instance, a 30% gain in body weight may only result in a 10% increase in skin.
Remember - our skin is like a radiator in a car. Heat generated from biological processes in our body is dissipated via our skin but if our weight out paces our skin surface area (as is the case if we're overweight) then our heart will compensate by beating faster so it can circulate more blood and increase the amount of heat dissipated. This is one reason we put extra strain on our heart if we are overweight.
Spinal Analysis -
we all dressed up in our gowns today and took turns being doctor and patient - we checked out the acromion process on our patients (that's the bony part at the end of our collar bone) and got used to finding a few things on our patients - mainly it was just our first exposure to being exposed in front of all our classmates - everyone seemed to enjoy the class and it beats the heck out of being tethered to a chair all day :)
Gross Anatomy 1 -
We spent 3 hours in lecture and another hour for our first test - I scored a 100% on the first test :)
It was kind of a gimme type test (as long as you studied) but still a very nice way to start out.
The class was just fascinating - we're basically learning the exact engineering of the human body and I do mean exact. we are currently in the process of learning every bone, bone landmark, muscle, action, nerve intervention, origin, insertion and all the names of all the blood vessels for the lower extremities - basically every thing from the hips down :)
We saw a heart from a cadaver today that had a triple bypass on it.
We meet our cadavers on Thursday and since we've had a few more students join our class, the teacher is giong to take another cadaver out of the freezer for us.
A filet mignon is actually the psoas major muscle from a cow. In the human body this muscle starts at our 12th thoracic vertebrae and the other end connects down on our hip. It's a deep muscle in the human body and if we do a straight leg sit up then that is the muscle we are going to use.
The thigh muscles are absolutely fascinating - the four muscles that make up the quadraceps all come together to share the same tendon right above the knee cap then run over the knee cap and end at the top of the lower leg - when those muscles contract, the lower leg kicks out - it was just great to be learning exactly where all those muscles start and end up.
Per our Biochemistry book - there really isn't a lot of definitive scientific evidence about the benefits of anti-oxidants but one thing which does appear to prolong life is calorie reduction. basically, the less we eat, the longer we may live. If the longevity benefits of rats could be directly applied to humans then we're looking at a human lifespan of about 180 years.
and even though the antioxidant approach hasn't been fully proven there's still positive aspects of simply taking vitamins to ensure no deficits of needed nutrients.
Cell Biology -
We have to buy another book that wasn't on our list - it's a cool looking book and we're going to be able to use it for four of our classes - it's a big Microbiology book that sells for $172.95 at the bookstore. I copied down the ISBN number and ordered it online for only $136, including express shipping. :)
just those four classes today - i've got a lot to do and learn - i'm *very* tired but need to get prepped for our Biochem lab tomorrow -
All in all, this is a GREAT job - classes ended today at 2:40 p.m. :)
I made it to school early enough to get in a little workout - hit 315 for 8 reps on the bench press :)
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