Homeostasis, Cell Biology, Hand Washing Questions-Answers

Homeostasis

Question one:

List examples of internal and external variable factors.

Examples of external variable factors include: change in temperature, pressure, osmotic pressure and contact with bacteria or toxins. Internal factors include pH value, nervous system, endocrine system, the immune system.

Question two:

Describe non-physiological (behavioral) responses to an increase or decrease in environmental temperature.

In the event that temperature increases: humans may react non-physiologically through the removal of warm clothes, some may take cold drinks, while in some cases people may move to shades. When the temperature decreases, humans react through wearing heavy clothes, taking warm drinks and increasing physical activity. In some cases, people may move to warmer places like moving indoors and going closer to fireplaces (Starr, 2010, p. 83).

Question three:

Identify and describe the skin responses that would occur when an increase in environmental temperature or an increase in heat production due to exercise occurs.

Skin plays a crucial role in the loss of excess heat from the human body. Heat loss occurs through radiation and conduction. Several processes occur on the skin when heat increases, they include: the erector pili muscles relax hence causing the hair on the skin surface to flatten, thus trapping less air between them is reducing insulation and leading to more heat loss. Blood vessels vasodilate allowing more blood into the skin surface, heat loss occurs by radiation and conduction. The sweat glands produce sweat, which evaporates absorbing latent heat of vaporization causing the cooling effect to the body (Starr 2010).

Question four: Cell Biology:

Each cell performs 8 necessary life functions. List each function (e.g. cell: cell membrane. Nucleus, cytoplasm).

Cells have several functions. The cell nucleus consists of chromosomes where most of DNA replication and RNA synthesis takes place. The mitochondria help in energy synthesis. The rough endoplasmic reticulum has ribosome on its surface and secretes proteins into the cytoplasm while smooth endoplasmic reticulum lacks ribosome, but plays a role in calcium release. The Golgi apparatus packages proteins and lipids. The ribosome is a complex of RNA and protein molecules, and their function is to synthesize proteins from amino acids. The lysosomes contain enzymes that get rid of worn-out tissues while the vacuoles act as stores for food, waste, and storage of excess water. Finally, yet importantly, the cell membrane, semipermeable in nature encloses the entire cell organelles and allows selective movement of substances in and out of the cell (Sherwood, 2012, p. 47).

Hand Washing

Question one:

How does this article relate to your skills session? Who is the intended audience?

The article tests the ability to read an article, understand it, and analyze various arguments portrayed by the author. The intended audience would be the health workers, as the author has concentrated only on the research carried out on how nurses and doctors undertake their hand washing.

Question two:

What is the central point or argument that the author is trying to communicate?

The author may be trying to bring out the fact that the research on the handwashing may not be adequate. The author goes on to validate this point by saying that only eight of the forty-eight researches carried out, considered the importance of the technique and three out of the eight did not assess it thoroughly. The research also took place on a small scale and a different setting, thus it is hard to compare the findings (Gould 2008).

Question three:

What evidence is used to support the discussion? Is it valid and current?

The evidence used to support the discussion would be the research carried out by various researchers. The author has cited various researches in the article. The evidence may not be valid and current as today many people are using alcohol-based products, although it may not be included in the official guidance.

Question four:

Is the article well structured? What does the author’s language tell about their attitude towards the topic?

The article may be well structured. The author has presented the ideas in a systematic order by starting with a summary; then the body analyzing in detail all the facts and finally summing up the article with an informative conclusion. Based on the tone of the language the author has used, the attitude is didactic and judgmental. In the article, the author tries to educate the reader on the importance of decontamination of hands in the health sector while attempting to explain that conclusive research may be lacking on the issue.

Question five:

What have you learned?

Lessons learned from the passage include that hand washing would be crucial, especially in the health sector to prevent the passing of germs from one patient to the other by doctors and nurses. There may be a lack of documentation and researches on this issue, and therefore, more researches on the issue would be needed. Any episode of hand washing, however, perfunctory or brief, is better than none at all.