C100 : Bioscience : External Environments of the Body

1).a It is important to regulate body temperature to ensure that that the body temperature does not fall or increase to a level that may cause harm to a person or affect the cellular functions of the body (Sherwood, 2015).

b) The skin is the organ that acts as a barrier between internal and external environments of the body and it helps an individual to maintain homeostasis by protecting internal environment of the body from undesirable effect. It contributes to homeostasis process by sensing disturbances and triggering defense response. The skin plays a major role in body temperature regulation by means of the sweating process and function of the blood vessels found in the skins. If the body is exposed to hot environmental conditions, the sweating process increases the blood flow to the capillaries. Hence, due to sweating and evaporation of sweat, cooling effect occurs and a person cools off. In addition, if the body is exposed to cold environmental conditions, the blood vessels of the skins contract resulting in shivering and such process triggers harm effect on the person (Romanovsky, 2014). Therefore, cold-induced shivering and hot-induced sweating are the defense response triggered by the skin to maintain body temperature.

2).a Cholesterol plays an important role in the production of hormones. Cholesterol is found in the adrenal glands, ovaries and testes and it helps in the production of steroid hormones like testosterone and progesterone. It also synthesizes bile salts in the liver.

b) LDL helps in the delivery of cholesterol to target cells by the binding to specific LDL receptor and releasing cholesterol in the cell by the process of hydrolysis. HDL is involved in reverse cholesterol transport when excess cholesterol is found in the liver (Hutchins & Heinecke, 2015). It is related to cardiovascular health because cholesterol plays a role in producing hormones and maintaining functions of the body and increase in level of cholesterol results in blockage of arteries and many heart diseases.

c) As the concentration of cholesterol determines the risk of cardiovascular disease, it is recommended to make changes in diet. The dietary recommendation is to reduce excess calories in food and reduce amount of triglycerides consumed. Clients must be recommended to eat healthy food low in saturated fats and trans fats and eat foods cooked with vegetable oils instead on animal fat derived oils. Another recommendation is to include soluble fibres like whole grains and fruits in diet (Stone et al., 2014).

4).a Dark green vegetables like broccoli, asparagus, avocado and beans, peas, citrus fruits and lentils are rich source of Vitamin B9. In addition, pulses, beans, nuts, livers, fish and wholegrains are rich source of iron (Moll & Davis, 2017).

b) Iron rich foods are beneficial to prevent anemia and iron deficiency in non-pregnant individual and it is also helpful in increasing function of the brain and muscles. Many pregnant women are also prone to infection and iron rich source prevents infection in pregnant women. Foods with Vitamin B9 or folic acid are useful for non-pregnant women to prevent heart attacks, prevent ageing and increase production of red blood cells. It also aids in fighting depression and supporting fertility. The benefit of folic acid for pregnant women is that it reduces the risk of birth defects and maintain good spinal development of fetus (Siu, 2015).

c) Deficiency of iron results in anemia and the person with such deficiency may experience unusual tiredness, headaches tongue swelling and breathing problem. In such situation, immediate consultation with physician is necessary to prevent complication in patient (Lopez et al., 2016). Deficiency of Vitamin B9 may result in megaloblastic anemia and many other health consequences. For example, pregnant women are at risk of birth defects and other individuals may also suffer from impaired cognitive ability.

References:

Hutchins, P. M., & Heinecke, J. W. (2015). Cholesterol efflux capacity, macrophage reverse cholesterol transport, and cardioprotective HDL. Current opinion in lipidology, 26(5), 388.

Lopez, A., Cacoub, P., Macdougall, I. C., & Peyrin-Biroulet, L. (2016). Iron deficiency anaemia. The Lancet, 387(10021), 907-916.

Romanovsky, A. A. (2014). Skin temperature: its role in thermoregulation. Acta physiologica, 210(3), 498-507.

Rosenson, R. S., Brewer, H. B., Davidson, W. S., Fayad, Z. A., Fuster, V., Goldstein, J., ... & Remaley, A. T. (2012). Cholesterol efflux and atheroprotection: advancing the concept of reverse cholesterol transport. Circulation, 125(15), 1905-1919.

Sherwood, L. (2015). Human physiology: from cells to systems. Cengage learning.

Siu, A. L. (2015). Screening for iron deficiency anemia and iron supplementation in pregnant women to improve maternal health and birth outcomes: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement. Annals of internal medicine, 163(7), 529-536.

Stone, N. J., Robinson, J. G., Lichtenstein, A. H., Merz, C. N. B., Blum, C. B., Eckel, R. H., ... & McBride, P. (2014). 2013 ACC/AHA guideline on the treatment of blood cholesterol to reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk in adults: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 63(25 Part B), 2889-2934.