Digestive System

This system processes food into absorbable units and eliminates indigestible wastes, by taking in food, breaking it down into nutrient molecules, absorbing these molecules into the bloodstream, and then ridding the body of the indigestible remains.



The digestive tract can be viewed as a "disassembly line" in which food becoems less complex at each step of processing.

The digestive system involves 6 essential activities:

1. Ingestion- taking food into the digestive tract via the mouth.
2. Propulsion- food moves through the alimentary canal, includes swallowing, which is initiated voluntairly.
3. Mechanical digestion- physically prepares food for (chemical) digestion by enzymes, this includes chewing, using tongue to mix food and saliva, churning food in the stomach, and mixes the food with digestive juices. It increases the efficiency of absorption by repeatedly moving the food mass over the intestinal wall.
4. Chemical digestion- complex food molecules are broken down to their chemical building blocks.
5. Absorption- a mixture of digested end products with vitamins, minerals and water from the GI tract through mucosal cells by active transport into blood or lymph.
6. Defecation- ridding the body of indigestible substances in the form of feces from the anus.

• The small intestine is the major absorption site.
• A muscle called peristalsis pushes the food down to the esophagus.
• The small intestine is 3 grown men tall and 2 fingers wide.
• A typical person harbors more than 400 distinct species of bacteria within the colon.

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/yrdd/

Urinary System

Female Urinary System


Male Urinary System



The Urinary System is the system primarily responsible for water, electrolyte, and acid-base balance and removal of nitrogenous wastes.


Links to Urinary System:
http://library.thinkquest.org/5777/urin1.htm

http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/body/pg000128.html


Questions:

1. Name the "tube" that leads from the kidneys to the bladder.
2. ____ % of urine is water.

Interesting Facts

• Your bladder can stretch to hold up to a pint of urine.
• Blood pressure regulation is an important function of the kidneys.
• Nephron is the "functional unit" of the kidney
• The ancient Romans used urine as a bleaching agent for cleaning clothes.
• Urine has historically been used as an antiseptic. In times of war, when other antiseptics were unavailable, urine, the darker the better, was utilized on open wounds to kill bacteria.

Reproductive System

The Reproductive System is the organ system that functions to produce offspring.

Link for female reproduction system:
http://www.healthsquare.com/fgwh/wh1ch17.htm

Link for male reproduction system:
http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/guide/male-reproductive-system


Questions
(Answers at bottom)

1. Name the 3 external structures of the male reproductive system.
2. Where does conception occur?
3. Each month the uterus goes through a cyclical change, first building up its inner lining to receive a fertilized egg, then, if conception does not occur, shedding the unused tissue through the vagina. What is this process called?

ANSWERS:

Reproductive questions-

1. Penis, scrotum, and testes

2. Fallopian tubes

3. Menstruation

Urinary questions-

1. Urethra

2. 96%

Respiratory questions-

1. True

2. False

Endocrine questions-

1. Hormones

2. Hypothalamus, pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenals, pineal body, or reproductive.

Integumentary questions-

1. Epidermis

2. Protection, escretion, body temperature regulation, Vit D synthesis

3. Stratum Lucidem

4. Papillary layer and reticulum layer

Muscular questions-

1. Gluteus maximus

2. Skeletal

3. Smooth, cardiac and skeletal

Skeletal questions-

1. Red blood cells

2. Joint

3. 8