Objective 68 & 70: How chemical buffers interact to protect against lethal changes in pH & Recognize how the lungs and kidneys interact to protect the body against lethal changes in pH

Understanding the job and function of the kidneys and lungs helped me to achieve this objective.  Knowing already that the lungs help to maintain the body's pH by exhaling carbon dioxide during respiration and the kidneys excrete wastes.  This video helped put it in prospective for the kidneys.

Objective 62: Describe the external and internal gross renal system anatomy

Objective 63 & 66: Describe structure and function of renal corpuscles and renal tubules & 3 basic tasks performed by nephrons and collecting ducts and where it occurs

Since the online lecture was boring me I went on youtube and found this great video that taught me about the nephrons three basic functions. The nephrons functions are filtration, secretion, and reabsorption. The collecting duct job is to collect all materials that have not come back to the blood through tubular membranes. This material will leave the body as pee aka urine. The renal corpuscle handles filtration. The glomerulus filters protein and cells from the blood, and then all other blood components go into the Bowman's capsule. Secretion and reabsorbtion goes down in the tubule. The semi-permeable membranes surrounding the tubule allow certain things to be reabsorbed back into the blood.
 
I found this video on Youtube that was great in describing the structure and functions of the renal corpuscles and renal tubules.  This video also worked well for objective 66.  This video gives good information about the functions of the nephrons and collecting ducts.

Objective 69: How water excess and dehydration affect kidney function

On page 873 figure 25.7 details water excess and dehydration.  I use this to try and relate it to the kidney's function.  I know fluid excess is less common than dehydration. This is because the kidneys are very effective at compensating for excessive fluid intake, by producing more urine. This is one of the main functions of the kidneys. When the kidneys are not functioning properly, however, this usually leads to excessive fluid retention. In the case of dehydration, the volume of fluid in the intravascular space decreases, and blood pressure may fall. This can decrease blood flow to the kidneys, and like any organ with a decreased blood flow; it has the potential to fail to do its job.

Objective 52 & 65: Kidney's involvement in blood pressure and blood volume regulation & State the importance of juxtaglomerular cells in secretion of renin

Since there was no in class lecture on the urinary system.  I basicaly ignored the onine lecture ecause it was boring and making my head hurt.  To help me some what understand objective 52 I used figure 24.12 in my textbook on page 849.  It helped in describing the process that affect blood pressure and blood volume. One way in which the kidneys maintain blood pressure is through the regulation of the volume of blood in the body. As the American Heart Association explains, one of the major roles of the kidneys is maintaining the proper levels of electrolytes (such as sodium and potassium) in the body. The amount of electrolytes in the body influences the amount of fluid in the body. When electrolyte levels are high, the body retains more water, which in turn increases the volume of the blood. More blood volume results in higher blood pressure. That is why the kidneys maintain blood pressure by indirectly controlling the amount of blood in the body.  The kidneys also regulate blood pressure hormonally. In order to do this, the kidneys must directly watch the blood pressure, which they do by measuring the amount of blood flow that the kidneys receive. This is where objective 65 comes in.  The juxtaglomerular cells are special renal cells. These cells are located in the arteries that feed into the kidneys. When blood flow to the kidney is reduced, a hormone called renin is excreted. This system can inadvertently lead to high blood pressure if the arteries leading to the kidney get narrowed because the juxtaglomerular cells will see it as low blood pressure even though blood pressure throughout the body is normal.

Objective 67: Contrast volume and electrolyte content in extra and intercellular fluid compartments

 

By looking at these figures from my textbook I could distinguish the volume of the extra- and intercellular very well in the first pic above.  As you can see any one should be able to establish in figure 1 that body fluid includes water and dissolved solutes and about two-thirds of the body’s fluid is located within cells as intracellualr fluid.  The other one-third, called extracellular fluid, includes interstitial fluid, blood plasma and I believe lymph as well. Fluid balance means that the various body compartments contain the normal amount of water. From the chart on the right you can see the electrolyte content in the blood plasma and the extra- and intercellular fluids.

Objective 51: Kidney Function

Since the teacher was sick or lost her voice, I can not rememeber which one it was.  I really needed to use the internet to learn about the urinary system for myself.  Mainly because I could not take the online lecture because it was boring.  Imagine if I fall asleep in class with the actual teacher there do you really think I will stay awake for an online lecture and think that it is interesting.  The answer is NOOOOOOOOO.  So I went on youtube and found some videos that was very helpful in my learning process of the kidneys and urinary system as a whole.  This video below taught me about this objective.  Learning through watching is better than reading a book.

What I learned from the video and from reading my textbook and sifting through websites is that the kidneys are sophisticated reprocessing machines. Every day, a person’s kidneys processes a great deal of blood to sift out about 2 quarts of waste products and extra water. The wastes and extra water become urine, which flows to the bladder through tubes called ureters. The bladder stores the urine until you have to urinate.  Wastes in the blood come from the normal wear and tear of tissues, such as muscles, and from food. The body uses food for energy and self-repairs. After the body has taken what it needs from food, wastes are sent to the blood. If the kidneys did not remove them, these wastes would build up in the blood and damage our body.

Objective 55: Trace the path of blood flow through the kidneys

Using this diagram helped me to learn the path of blood flow through the kidneys because to me it is straight and to the point.  As you can see the arrows point to the path.  I do not know what else to say cause the proof is in the pudding.  Only thing I had to do was try and memorize mainly the arteries and veins in an acronym.