The human body (Coursework Sample)

The human body
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Arteriosclerosis and vascular system
Arteriosclerosis generally refers to the thickening and hardening of arteries. It is a cardiovascular disease that results from a chronic inflammatory disease, which causes injury to endothelial cells in the vascular wall. Atherosclerosis leads to heart attack since the heart has to work extra hard to pump blood so as to overcome the great resistance from blocked arteries. The heart is responsible for pumping bloods to various parts of the body. The blood contains oxygen water and micronutrients needed by the body and also the waste materials that need to be excreted from the body (WebMD).
Arteries refers to cardiovascular vessels that are responsible for transporting oxygenated bloods from the heart to other parts of the body with the exception of pulmonary and umbilical arteries. Capillaries refer to the smallest blood vessels in the body system that forms part of microcirculation. They have a very thin epithelial wall which is approximately one cell thick. They provide a connection between arterioles and venules thereby permitting the exchange micronutrients, oxygen, carbon dioxide, water and waste materials between the blood systems and surrounding tissues. Veins refer to the blood vessels that are responsible for transporting deoxygenated blood from other parts of the body to the heart except the pulmonary and umbilical veins. Veins are less muscular than arteries (WebMD).
Vertebrates have a closed circulatory system, that is, blood is enclosed within vessels while invertebrates have an open circulatory system. Circulatory system is more efficient due to the pressure generated by the close system and that oxygenated blood does not mix with deoxygenated blood.
The lymphatic system is a part of the circulatory system that does the work of transporting lymphatic bloods to various parts of the body. Lympatic fluids contain water and blood cells. The lymph is responsible for filtering unwanted materials from the blood. Interference with the normal drainage system of the lymph leads to a lymphatic vascular disease referred to as lymphedema.
Cigarette smoking
Cigarette smoking has serious health effect due to the presence of a chemical compound called nicotine in the production of carbon monoxide. Nicotine has the effect of increasing the heart rate and blood pressure in humans. Carbon monoxide has high affinity for oxygen thereby decreasing the amount of oxygen available for tissues. Cellular respiration refers to the process by which the body breakdown food nutrients to generate energy. The respiratory system facilitates cellular respiration by providing the necessary compounds such as oxygen and removing the unwanted compounds like carbon dioxide. Nicotine is also a carcinogenic compound. Smokeless cigarette has been reported to reduce lung cancer due to low amount of nitrosamine content (Price, 2008).
The pituitary gland
The pituitary gland is responsible for producing growth hormones that regulates the growth and development of the body. Gigantism is caused by excessive production of growth hormones while dwarfism is caused by insufficient production of growth hormone. Dwarfism can be reversed by administering growth hormones while gigantism is hard to treat since it is caused by overproduction. Gigantism when excessive productions of growth hormones occur the period of growth. Excessive production of growth hormone result from tumor cells in the pituitary. Excess production of growth hormone...