Chapter 1: Major Themes of Anatomy and Physiology

Vocabulary flashcards covering the introductory concepts of human anatomy and physiology, including structural hierarchy, life characteristics, homeostasis, feedback mechanisms, evolutionary theory, scientific method, and medical terminology rules.

Anatomy

The study of form and structure of the human body.

Inspection

Examining the structure of the human body by looking at surface appearance.

Palpation

Feeling a bodily structure with the hands, such as feeling for a pulse or swollen lymph nodes.

Auscultation

Listening to the natural sounds produced by the body, such as heart and lung sounds.

Percussion

Tapping on the surface of the body to feel for resistance and listen to the emitted sound to detect abnormalities.

Cadaver dissection

The cutting and separation of human body tissues to reveal their structural relationships.

Comparative anatomy

The study of more than one species in order to examine structural similarities and differences, and analyze evolutionary trends.

Hierarchy of complexity

The structural levels of organization in the human body, arranged from organism down to organ systems, organs, tissues, cells, organelles, macromolecules, molecules, and atoms.

Cell

The smallest living unit of structure and function in an organism, composed of organelles.

Organ

A biological structure composed of two or more tissues working together to carry out a specific function.

Metabolism

The sum of all internal chemical change in the body, consisting of anabolism, catabolism, and excretion.

Responsiveness (irritability or excitability)

The ability of an organism to sense and react to stimuli.

Homeostasis

The body’s ability to detect change, activate mechanisms that oppose it, and thereby maintain relatively stable internal conditions.

Reference man

A standard physiological benchmark defined as a healthy male who is $22$ years old, weighs $154\,\text{lb}$, engages in light physical activity, and consumes $2{,}800\,\text{kcal/day}$.

Reference woman

A standard physiological benchmark defined as a healthy female who is $22$ years old, engages in light physical activity, weighs $128\,\text{lb}$, and consumes $2{,}000\,\text{kcal/day}$.

Negative feedback

A primary homeostatic mechanism wherein the body senses a physiological deviation from a set point and activates processes to reverse it, preserving dynamic equilibrium.

Vasodilation

The widening of blood vessels in the skin to release heat when body temperature rises above the set point.

Vasoconstriction

The narrowing of blood vessels in the skin to conserve heat when body temperature falls below the set point.

Positive feedback

A self-amplifying cycle in which a physiological change triggers further change in the same direction, producing rapid change in processes such as childbirth and blood clotting.

Scientific fact

Information that can be independently verified by any trained person.

Law of nature

A generalization about the predictable way matter and energy behave, resulting from inductive reasoning and repeated observations, stated verbally or as mathematical formulae.

Theory

An explanatory statement or set of statements derived from facts, laws, and confirmed hypotheses that summarizes existing knowledge and guides future research.

Natural selection

The principle that individuals possessing hereditary advantages over competitors have greater reproductive success, driving evolutionary change.

Selection pressures

Natural environmental forces that promote the reproductive success of some individuals more than others.

Adaptations

Features of an organism’s anatomy, physiology, or behavior that evolved in response to selection pressures and allow it to cope with environmental challenges.

Psychosomatic effects

The physical effects of a test subject’s state of mind on their physiology, which are controlled in experimental studies using placebos.

Double-blind study

An experimental protocol in which neither the test subject nor the investigator recording observations knows which individuals received the active treatment versus the placebo.

Peer review

A critical evaluation of scientific research conducted by other experts in the field prior to funding or publication to ensure objectivity, honesty, and quality.

Eponym

A term for an anatomical structure or disease named after a person rather than describing its form or function.

Nomina Anatomica (NA)

The anatomical nomenclature system adopted in $1895$ that rejected all eponyms and established unique, standardized Latin names for structures worldwide.

Noun terminals

Standard Latin and Greek singular and plural endings used in medical terminology (such as -a to -ae, -is to -es, and -um to -a).