[A&P2] Dissected Cat Figures - Urinary and Reproductive Systems

Folks —

The link above is for a survey put together by Pearson Education, the publisher of our textbook. They are looking for feedback from students on how they use the book and/or the different “extras” that come with it.

This is neither required nor is it “official” course business, but people who take the survey will be entered into a contest to win an 8-GB iPod Touch!

Here’s what’s on tap for this week:

Tuesday (2/16):

• We’re going to start the second half of the cardiovascular system.
• I think the blood vessels (at least blood vessel physiology) is one of the more difficult topics in A&P2. You’ll see that there are lots of factors that regulate blood pressure and we’ll have lots of moving parts to keep in check.
• We’ll spend the next two weeks on blood vessels. We’ll get through most of the anatomy (there isn’t much) on Tuesday. That will leave about three days for physiology.

Wednesday (2/17):

• In lab, we’ll do our postponed lab on EKGs (Lab 14).
• I’ll lecture for about 10 min on EKGs, and then we’ll do the lab. Please review last week’s e-mail re: physical activity during lab.

Thursday (2/18):

• On Thursday, we’ll pick up where we left off on Tuesday.
• I’ll probably demo a little of Interactive Physiology so you can appreciate its helpfulness.

That’s it. Enjoy your Presidents Day and I’ll see you on Tues.

From Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: Here’s the clip where Steven Spielberg teaches you about the intrinsic conduction system of the heart. Probably best to avoid if you’re squeamish.

Hope you’re enjoying the weekend. Here’s what is on tap for this week:

Tuesday (2/9):

• We’re almost done with heart anatomy. All we have left is to discuss how cardiac muscle fibers contract. Then, we’re on to heart physiology, which will take up the rest of the week.
• What’s due: your System Assignment for the Endocrine System

Wednesday (2/10):

• In lab, I’ll talk about EKGs (electrocardiograms) and then you’ll be doing Lab 14 on cardiovascular physiology.
• In the lab, you’ll pick one of your group members to be the test subject. You’ll then take a “resting” EKG of your test subject. You’ll then devise a hypothesis that addresses how you think the EKG will change following exercise. Your test subject will engage in some physical activity. It might be a bad day to come in wearing inappropriate footwear or, shall we say, poorly-secured blouses. (The easiest physical activity to do in the lab are jumping jacks, so I think you get the gist of what I’m saying :-) ).
• There will be a short lab report (it’s already included in your “orchid” handouts) that will be due no later than next week’s lab (2/17).

Thursday (2/11):

• We’ll continue with and hopefully finish heart physiology. Once we finish the heart, we’ll continue with two weeks of blood vessels.

I think that’s it. Enjoy the rest of Sunday and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Here’s a better version of the “anatomically incorrect” drawing of the heart we did in lab today. It’s what I was trying to copy out of my notes!

Good morning, folks —

I’m certainly looking forward to sending you these weekly messages when it’s 70° out than what we’ve got today!

Here’s what is up for this week:

Tuesday (2/2):

• I hope we’ll finish up the Endocrine System and maybe just barely begin the Cardiovascular System. The C.V. System is to A&P2 what the Nervous System was to A&P1; we’ll spend a few weeks here. I generally schedule about four weeks for the Cardiovascular System, broken up as follows: (1) Heart Anatomy, (2) Heart Physiology, (3) Blood Vessel Anatomy, and (4) Blood Vessel Physiology and Capillary Dynamics.
• I will probably announce the due date of the Endocrine System Assignment in class on Tuesday. I predict it will be due next Tuesday (2/9), following my usual policy of giving you a week to get them in.

Wednesday (2/3):

• We’ll be doing Lab 13: Heart Anatomy. I’ll probably have to cover a little bit of some of the lecture material, but it won’t be too long. I may also postpone some of the slides so we can just deal with the dissection. (My only fear in postponing slides is that we purchased new cardiac muscle slides with GREAT intercalated discs. I’d like you to see them before the A&P1 students destroy them!)

Thursday (2/4):

• Thursday will be all heart, all day. I want to make sure you’re up to speed by Valentines Day! ;-)

That’s it. Enjoy your day while I toil away in the office.

Is this what I sound like in class?

A&P2: The Awful Truth

Click the link above for the syllabus for Spring 2010. For those of you in my A&P1 class in the fall, you won’t find much different here, just seven new topics!