Anatomy and Physiology Week 5

This week we had vacation. I went with my family down to Florida for a funeral. It wasn't quite the school break I expected. Hopefully things will get better and all my friends, family, and loved ones can stay safe.

Anatomy and Physiology Week 4

This week we seemed to me to be in a bunch of different places. We discussed the superior and inferior sagittal sinuses, the tentorium cerebelli, the falx cerebelli, which seperates the two hemispheres(right and left), the cerebellum, which is where motor activity is coordinated and multiple muscle contraction, and the falx cerebellum, which seperates the cerebellum hemispheres and we discussed how all skeletal muscle contractions originate from the precentral gyrus. We discussed most all of these while looking at a slide of the human brain so its kind of hard to describe in a blog. One of the main things we discussed both this week and last was the venous blood flow of the head and neck. It goes on one side from the superior sagittal sinus, to the right tranverse sinus, to the right sigmoid sinus, to the right internal jugular, then to the right brachiocephalic then to through the superior vena cava. The opposide side goes through the inferior sagittal sinus, the straight sinus, the left transverse sinus, the left sigmoid sinus, the left internal jugular, the left brachiocephalic, and then the superior vena cava. The right external jugular goes into the right subclavian and then to the right brachiocephalic and the superior vena cava. The left external jugular does just the opposite, going through the left subclavian, the left brachiocephalic, and then to the superior vena cava.

Anatomy and Physiology Week 3

This week we took the Quiz. It was pretty much as expected. The only problem I have is that I memorize the definition of certain things and then when I take the test I have to think of the word that I memorized the definition of. If that makes sense. This week we started talking about the parts that make up the brain. We discussed the midbrain, which is composed of the Corpora Quadrigemina(Superior Colliculi, Inferior Colliculi) and the cerebral aqueduct, also known as the aqueduct of sylvius. We also went over the brain stem, which is composed of the medulla oblangata, the pons and the midbrain. These sections of the brain serve as a relay station and control center. Later we discussed the 3 membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. The brain has the dura mater. It is the outermost layer(actually 2 layers together) and it holds major blood vessels. The middle layer in the brain is the arachnoid. It is weblike and contains no vessels. The innermost, known as the pia mater, has capillary networks throughout. The spinal cord has the same three membranes, the only difference is that the dura mater is only one layer as opposed to the two together around the brain.