Interesting (Physiology) Tid-bits.

As I study Physiology--with a mug of cocoa in hand--for my exam tomorrow, I came across some interesting things to share:

- The vagal nerve supplies the heart and the gut, and as a result, when some women experience heart attacks, it feels like a bad case of indigestion.

- Sour foods (e.g. citrus fruits, vinegar) are important for blood acidity as they provide H+ ions, while salty foods are important for blood electrolyte levels as they provide Na+ and Cl- ions.

- Tonic Receptors: these receptors continue to fire action potentials until the stimulus (that the receptor is responding to) has stopped. At first they fire more frequently, then their rate decreases slightly and maintains this reduced rate until the stimulus is gone. Example: when you get a paper cut, you feel the pain sharply at first, then it decreases slightly, but the pain does not go away until the cut is healed (or fairly healed).

- Phasic Receptors: these receptors fire initially, but then turn off as they adapt to the stimulus. Example: when you turn the light on, you see and recognize the new light; however after these 2 seconds, you are no longer consciously aware that the light is on. When the light is later turned off, the phasic light receptors would fire again, letting you know the light is off, but again they would stop stimulating as you become used to the darkness.

- Respiration depends on a pressure gradient and not necessarily on the inspiration and expiration muscles.

- Sound wakes you when sleeping as the temporal lobe (i.e. sound region) of the brain is located close the the reticular formation of the brain, which is responsible for keeping you asleep.

- The lung is responsible for filtering out blood clots. As blood travels through the vessels of the lung, it eventually reaches the smallest vessels: the alveoli. If there is a clot in the blood, it will get stuck in the alveoli. The clot-containing alveoli is then degraded (and it is okay to sacrifice alveoli for clot removal because we have millions of them).

Tea Party
If one thing is learned from my blog entries this semester, it's that herbal tea is a great addition to the diet.

Recently a bunch of my family members sat down together to enjoy a cuppa herbal tea. Also this week, Tony bought himself a box of tea to sip. I'm so proud. Here's tea you, my loyal readers!