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    Human Anatomy and Physiology

    The human body is comprised of trillions of cells that display emergent properties to produce a living organism that can produce coordinated movements, participate in intra- and inter- cell electrochemical communication, extract nutrients from food, transport nutrients to corporal regions, fight pathogenic infections and reproduce offspring. Cells conduct all these functions by specializing in a function, and signaling each other to work in conjunction for a desired response. The human anatomy is the morphology of the body including the head, neck, trunk, arms and legs whilst the physiology focuses on organs their associated organ systems.

    Groups of cells that conduct a similar function and structure are called tissues, groups of different tissues form an organ; groups of organs make up an organ system, and finally organ systems that interact with each other form a living organism. Each system conducts homeostasis which is the maintenance of the internal environment by negative or a positive feedback. Negative feedback is the lessening of a specific activity to decrease the associated results, whilst positive feedback is the enhancement of a specific activity to increase the associated results in the internal body.

    There are in total 12 systems, examples are the nervous, digestive, reproductive, musculoskeletal and immune system. Each system has a specific function in controlling organs, like the digestive system controls the alimentary canal which converts food into nutrients that cells can utilize. Systems interact with each other like the nervous system and musculoskeletal system, where the nervous system detects the stimuli and relays messages to the brain which then a response is produced by musculoskeletal system. Examples and functions can be seen in the diagram:

    Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

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    BrainMass Categories within Human Anatomy and Physiology

    Human Nervous System

    Solutions: 59

    Human Nervous System coordinates responses to stimuli in the environment by using the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system.

    Musculoskeletal System

    Solutions: 56

    The Musculoskeletal system is the muscle system and skeletal system working in conjunction to help movement, support and blood flow in the body.

    Digestive Systems

    Solutions: 17

    The digestive system acts to break down larger food compounds down to nutrients that can be absorbed in the intestine and assimilated into cells.

    Reproductive Systems

    Solutions: 27

    Reproduction is a complex process where male and female gametes fuse to form a zygote, once fertilization has taken place the embryo develops in the female’s uterus for a period of nine months before birthing.

    Immune System

    Solutions: 55

    Immunology is the study of the immunity, it explores all aspects of how the human immune system responds to foreign pathogens, defense mechanisms of the body, and also immunological disorders and diseases.

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    Drugs, Smoking and the Autonomic System

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    Function of Tonsils in protecting against pathogens

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    Lymph and Lymphedema

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    Case of Metabolic Syndrome

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