Sacral Efferent Pathways are Sympathetic, Not Parasympathetic
Arecent report in the journalScience proposed abig change in how we understand the sympathetic and parasympathetic pathways of the autonomic nervous system (ANS).In a nutshell, the new model stipulates that the outflow (efferent pathways) are divided into a cranial division and spinal division —not the craniosacral andthoracolumbar divisions that we learned (and that exist in all A&P textbooks):Current model:Craniosacral division (parasympathetic outflow)Thoracolumbardivision (sympathetic outflow)New model:Cranial division (parasympathetic outflow)Spinaldivision (sympathetic outflow)The authors lay out embryological ...
Source: The A and P Professor - November 27, 2016 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
Checking Our Attitudes About A & P Students "These Days"
Ever been part of aconversation among faculty about "students these days"and how unmotivated they are, or how they lack the skills or knowledge that you'd like them to have? Yeah, me too.Today in my dailyNuzzel newsletter, I shared an excellent article from Faculty Focus that does a great job ofexposing the dangers of such conversations. Dangers to students, dangers to our academic institutions, and dangers to ourselves as educators. Although the author, Maryellen Wiemer, admits that occasional venting to a trusted colleagues helps us put things in perspective, she also points out the many harms that outright chr...
Source: The A and P Professor - November 15, 2016 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
Sex-Gender Differences in Medical Research
We are only very slowly recognizing themany biological and medical differences between males and females (and masculine/feminine)—besides the obvious ones related to reproduction. There are divergent patterns in the anatomy and physiology of perhapsevery body system. However, in medical research male and female subjects are often grouped together in a way that obscures those divergent patterns.Two "viewpoint" articles in theJournal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)today focus a light on this issue and point the way to improved —more clinically useful—medical research. Links to both articles are listed below....
Source: The A and P Professor - October 30, 2016 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
Autophagy Discovery Garners Nobel Prize
The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine toYoshinori Ohsumi for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy.OverviewThis year's Nobel Laureate discovered and elucidated mechanisms underlyingautophagy, a fundamental process for degrading and recycling cellular components.The word autophagy (aw-toh-FAY-jee) originates from the Greek wordsauto-,meaning "self", andphagein, meaning "to eat". Thus, autophagy denotes "self eating".This concept emerged during the 1960's, when researchers first observed that the cell could destroy its own content...
Source: The A and P Professor - October 2, 2016 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
Cumulative Testing Enhances Learning
One of the most effective enhancements I've ever made to my human anatomy& physiology course was switching tocumulative testing. What I mean by that is instead of testing on each topic once, then moving on to a test on the next topic, I started testing my students on all the covered topics (thus far in the course) in each successive test.I've always had a comprehensive exam at the end of the course —and eventually added a comprehensive midterm exam, too. I found that adding that midterm helped my students relearn what they'd forgotten during the first half of the semester—making thembetter prepared for the com...
Source: The A and P Professor - September 4, 2016 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
Student Success Increases When They Debrief After Tests
A new study published inAdvances in Physiology Education adds additional evidence of the effectiveness that studentsdo better when they take the time to analyze their tests immediately after taking them.In my blogThe A&P Student, I published an article in October of 2009 that outlines an easy and effective way for A&P students to "debrief" after each test and exam so that they can bothclarify misconceptionsand gaininsights into possible weakness in test preparation.Thenew research confirms thatBy having students focus on missed questions coupled with addressing deficiencies in their test preparation strategies...
Source: The A and P Professor - August 7, 2016 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
What About That Negative Blood?
Every once in a while, I get an A&P student who expresses the concept of a negative Rh blood type as "having negative blood"—along with the connotation that having this blood type has a negative health impact.We do not ordinarily think about red blood cell types such as A, B, AB, O, Rh+/-, or others, as being "bad for you" or even "good for you" healthwise. We most often think of them simply as different "flavors" of RBCs present in the human population.Oh yeah, there are specific situations in which have a particular blood type can have significant health consequences. If you need an organ or tissue transplant—esp...
Source: The A and P Professor - February 17, 2016 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
Where did Zika virus come from and why is it a problem in Brazil?
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. (Source: The A and P Professor)
Source: The A and P Professor - January 27, 2016 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
Engaging Students on the First Day of Class
When I was an undergraduate—back in the olden days—the first day of every class was always the same. The professor would come in a few minutes after the published start time, hand out a stack of syllabi still fresh with the fumes of the spirit duplicator solvent, and tell us about all the course policies and procedures (anticipating that we would not really read the syllabus). Perhaps there would be a few questions answered. Possibly, we'd get a content-based lecture that first day, but more often we'd just get an early release from class.When I started teaching college, I did the same thing. I thought that this was ho...
Source: The A and P Professor - January 5, 2016 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
Are Learning Styles Real?
Years ago, I posted an article here entitled Learning Styles that pointed to and summarized advice to A&P students that I gave at my blog The A&P Student. A recent article in a science magazine purporting to debunk the notion of learning styles prompts me to revisit this concept. There have been many, many articles claiming to debunk the concept of learning styles, but this most recent one concisely states the concern.The myth-busting article claims that teaching strategies tailored to student learning styles do not improve learning, and implies that learning styles are thus useless. Perhaps I'm overstating that im...
Source: The A and P Professor - November 9, 2015 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
Water Intoxication Case in Hiker
While emphasis is often placed on keeping athletes and outdoor enthusiasts properly hydrated, too much water can be just as dangerous. Exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH), a form of water intoxication, results in an extreme, and potentially fatal, sodium imbalance.In the latest issue of Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, investigators detail the case of a hiker who died as an illustration of the potential danger of endurance exercise and excessive water intake lowering serum sodium to a dangerous level. There have been several deaths from EAH associated with various sports. This is one of few reported fatalit...
Source: The A and P Professor - October 5, 2015 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
Noisy A&P Classrooms and Labs
I'll never forget the feedback a dean gave me a few years ago when he visited my (then) new A&P supplement course. The feedback was memorable because it seemed to miss the whole point (learning outcomes) of the course!Should A&P students always be quiet?I was very happy with the way that day's class went. Meant to be an informal coaching and collaboration course to provide supplemental support for my human anatomy and physiology students, we had more fun than usual that day. Held in a teaching lab with about 22 students, we started with questions submitted on index cards as the students entered the room. They freel...
Source: The A and P Professor - September 24, 2015 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
Noisy A & P Classrooms and Labs
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Source: The A and P Professor - September 23, 2015 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
Dissolving Microneedle Vaccinations
Researchers recently demonstrated that a flu vaccine delivered using microneedles that dissolve in the skin can protect people against infection even better than the standard needle-delivered vaccine.The new microneedle patch is made of dissolvable material, eliminating needle-related risks. Not to mention the sea change it may mean for patients with severe needle anxiety! I suspect this approach may also be more tolerable for many patients than oral and nasal vaccination methods. It is also easy to use without the need for trained medical personnel—making it ideal for use where healthcare resources are limited.“...
Source: The A and P Professor - July 14, 2015 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
There May Not Be a Single Language Comprehension Center in the Brain
A recent paper in the journal Brain, a journal of neurology, challenges the long-held notion that the sensory speech area of the left temporal lobe of the cerebrum—often called the Wernicke area—acts as the center of language comprehension.Wernicke areaThe report describes research that leads one to the conclusion that although the Wernicke area (pictured) apparently has a role in understanding individual words, the task of sentence comprehension is accomplished by a complex network of diverse areas of the cerebrum. These include, "temporoparietal components of Wernicke’s area, Broca’s area, and [the] dorsal premot...
Source: The A and P Professor - June 26, 2015 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
