Special Senses

  Hello all!!! We are back to our last and final blog for A & P. Today we will be talking about the special senses. For those of you that do not know your special senses are your smell, taste, vision, hearing and your equilibrium. So for our discussion today I decided that I wanted to focus on the tongue and the taste buds.

Taste or gustatory receptors are located on the taste buds. Taste buds are microscopic structures found on the papillae or (bumps) of the tongue.

There are four types of taste cells, and each type is activated by a particular group of chemicals to produce the following four primary taste sensations:

Sweet  Taste cells that respond to sweets are located at the tip of the tongue.

Sour Taste cells that respond to sour are located on the sides of the tongue.

Salty   Taste cells that respond to salty flavors are located on the tips and sides of the tongue.


Bitter   Taste cells that respond to bitter are located  at the back of the tongue.

There really is nothing too special about our taste buds but at the same time we would be lost without them. What if we could not taste all of those delicious foods that we love so much  what would we do. I know that I would be miserable.


Well all I hope that this blog was fun and informational for you. I only had to to this for a class but I actually am glad that I had to do this. Maybe I will keep it up. We will see!!  for now.

Just something in the between time.......

 Hey everyone I have decided to just bring you some randomness today and bring you a bit of pathology. For those of you that do not know what that means that just a talk of diseases.


 So I will give you a brief Medical terminology lesson. How to breakdown the word Pathology. Path= disease and logy = the study of.


Back to our regularly schedule program....... So I have decided to give you a little information on Chlamydia.

 Chlamydia is caused by the bacterium Chlamydia Trachomatis.

Some of the symptoms that are experienced when you have chlamydia are burning sensation when urinating and discharge from he vagina and penis. In most cases symptoms don't show up until 2-3 weeks after exposure.

If you have chlamydia, your doctor will prescribe oral antibiotics, usually azithromycin (Zithromax) or doxycycline. Your doctor will also recommend your partner(s) be treated to prevent reinfection and further spread of the disease. It is so vital that you make sure that you and your partner are completely cured before engaging in sexual intercourse. 

Ok everyone so let's remember it's better to be safe than sorry. Til next time we meet be safe.

The Reproductive Systems

Hey everyone!!! Guess what!? Its that  again....... Today we will be talking about the reproductive system.To be more specific I will be talking about pregnancy. I think that this is my favorite subject. As you know from my introduction that I want to deliver babies so this subject is perfect for me!
So I want to talk about what happens for pregnancy to occur and that are the stages for pregnancy and things that happen after pregnancy.

The definition for pregnancy by Webster is the condition of a woman or female animal that is going to have a baby or babies : the condition of a pregnant woman or female animal. 

 This is a ovum or also known as an egg. Prior to fertilization the female body releases an ovum. The ovum travels through the fallopian tube during ovulation. During sexual intercourse the male deposits his sperm in the vagina (duh I know that) I am sure we all know that much and possibly a little more. For those that don't I will continue on. Once the sperm is deposited it swims to find the ovum.

 Fun fact: When a man ejaculate he only releases about 1.5 to 5.0 mL at a time, However, the amount of sperm is between 40 to 250 million/ml.

  Once the sperm reaches the ovum the first one to penetrate the ovum will release an enzyme to prevent any other sperm from invading the ovum. The nucleus of the ovum contains 23 chromosomes and the sperm contains your other 23 chromosomes that are needed to give you your 46 chromosomes. The cells that are formed from this union is called the zygote. This is your beginning of life.
 Lets get to cooking up this baby!!!! Pregnancy is divided into 3 distinct stages also know as trimesters. There are specific events that occur during each one of your trimesters.

The first stages is he first trimester which covers week 1 to week 12. Now usually during this time your pregnancy is confirmed and you are not showing yet but you are definitely starting to feel pregnant  During this time is when many women start to have morning sickness. I am sure that all of you know that morning sickness is not just sickness in the morning its all day sickness. 

Next is the second trimester. During the second which covers week 13 to week 27. During the second trimester your baby is forming lanugo which is soft fine hair on shoulder,back ,and head. By the second trimester you can start to feel you baby's movement and women start to show their baby bumps.
 Fun fact: During the second trimester your baby starts to have regular sleep and wake patterns.

The last and final stage is the third trimester. During this trimester there is  noticeable  growth , both in mother and fetus. This is the time that your baby is getting in the head down position preparing for birth. The fetus is said to come full term at 40 weeks or 9 months. During the final three months of pregnancy , fetal brain cell divides rapidly and  organs continue to grow.



So in short that is the journey of pregnancy. Awesome right more to come soon. Stay tune

The Respiratory System

So today I have decided to do my blog on The Respiratory System. So the basic that we all know is that the respiratory system is to move air in and out the lungs. Short and sweet right? Well it is slightly more complicated then that. There are a lot of things that are going on in your body that you are not aware of when you take a breath. Well for starts the respiratory system consist of the nose (duh right lol ), next there is that pharynx, the larynx, the trachea , as well as the bronchial tree which include the bronchi , bronchioles, alveoli and finally the lungs.
      OK so first thing first the nasal cavity is simply the hollow space that is behind the nose which is divided into left and right portions by the nasal septum. Your nasal cavity is lined with mucus membrane which helps to warm and moisten the air  and cilia  which is microscopic hair projections that help to trap dust and particles and it also helps to push mucus toward the pharynx, where it is swallowed. Its a line of defense. I suppose that is why some people  have it growing out the wazoo. Too each its own. Now next we got to Pharynx which is simply a passageway to the Larynx.  Now your Larynx is also called your voice box. Your Larynx sits above your Trachea which is also known as your windpipe. So your Larynx move your air in and out your trachea but it also is what produces your sound of your voice. Now your larynx is mostly cartilage and muscle tissue. To be more precise it has three different types of cartilage. The biggest of the three is your thyroid cartilage, the smaller of the cartilage is the epiglottis. Now your epiglottis is a little flap-like structure that helps to block off your respiratory system when eating and or drinking. The third and final cartilage is the cricoid cartilage. Your vocal cords are situated between your thyroid cartilage and cricoid cartilage.


 Interesting Fact: You have 2 types of vocal cord. You have a set of true vocal cords that produce your sound and then you have a set of False cords that do not produce sound.

 Moving right along we are heading to your trachea or also known as your windpipe. It looks something like that without all the color and not so big.

Your trachea extends from your larynx to the bronchi. Your trachea is lined with  Cilia (remember that is hair-like projections that is used as a line of defense against viruses and bacteria),


Another interesting fact: The reason smokers cough a lot is because smoking destroys the cilia in their trachea, so they feel the need to cough more to help to move the mucus to their pharynx.

 Next in our journey through the respiratory system is the Bronchial Tree. ( Looks like the picture below except its upside down)

Now the branches are called the bronchi which is the main stem. Then we have secondary bronchi followed by Tertiary bronchi that branches into bronchioles. So basically the order goes from the bigger part of the branch and each additional bronchi gets smaller. At the end of the bronchioles are alveoli. Alveoli are small thin sacs that are considered working tissue that exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. They look something like this .


Finally we get to the lungs!! So we all know that we have 2 lungs. The right lung is divided into 3 lobes (Upper, middle, lower). And your left lung with is smaller is divided in 2 lobes (upper and lower). Your lungs are what houses your bronchial tree and alveoli.


So lets recap  that is how you breath. I hope you enjoyed and learned from it.



Til next meeting enjoy your weekend!!

Introduction to The Struggle

So I am Alvita Frye- Cousar mother of 4 beautiful little ones and a fifth big boy lol. I am currently in school seeking my Medical Assistant certification. After I complete this certification I plan on continuing my education by getting my nursing degree followed by getting my midwifery degree and then possibly go on to medical school God willing to become a Obstetrician. So I started this blog for my Anatomy and Physiology course to talk about the different systems that we are learning each week. We have about 4 chapters a week and I will pick one that I am interested in to talk to you all about. So hope you will enjoy and learn something new.