7.1 Basic Structure of the Human Body

What is Anatomy?

The study of the structure of organisms.

What is Physiology?

The study of how living organisms function.

What is Pathophysiology?

The study of how diseases occur.

What are congenital diseases?

Diseases acquired through birth.

What are inherited diseases?

Diseases that are genetically passed down.

What are infectious diseases?

Diseases acquired from a living organism/bacteria.

What are degenerative diseases?

Diseases caused by a dysfunction or structure of body tissue or organs.

What is diagnosis?

The identification of the cause and what you have.

What is etiology?

The cause of a disease.

What is prognosis?

The prediction of what is to happen regarding a disease.

What is a cell?

A microscopic structure.

What is a cell membrane?

An outer protective covering of a cell.

What is cytoplasm?

A semi-fluid within a cell.

What is an organelle?

A cell structure that helps a cell perform a specific function.

What is the nucleus?

A mass located in the cytoplasm of a cell, which is the “brain” of the cell and cell control center.

What are nucleolus?

The bodies found within the nucleus.

What is chromatin?

Found in the nucleus, it is made of deoxyribonucleic acid, RNA, and proteins that forms chromosomes in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells.

What are genes?

Segments of DNA that provide the instructions for building specific proteins, which are essential for an organism's structure and function.

What is a genome?

An organism's complete genetic instructions, stored as DNA.

What is a centrosome?

The main microtubule-organizing center in animal cells, crucial for organizing the cytoskeleton and for cell division. Its primary functions include organizing microtubules to form the mitotic spindle during cell division, which separates chromosomes, and forming the basal bodies of cilia.

What is mitochondria?

The powerhouse of the cell and a rod-shaped organelle.

What is the Golgi apparatus?

A stack of membrane layers.

What is the endoplasmic reticulum?

A fine network, tubular structure, found in the cytoplasm.

What are vacuoles?

Membrane-bound organelles located in the cytoplasm and surrounded by a membrane.

What are lysosomes?

Oval bodies found in the cytoplasm.

What are pinocytic vesicles?

Small, membrane-bound sacs that a cell forms to ingest fluid and small dissolved particles from its external environment.

What is mitosis?

A form of asexual reproduction (cell division).

What is meiosis?

A process of cell division that occurs in sexually reproducing organisms to produce gametes, or sex cells (sperm and egg).

What are stem cells?

Unspecialized cells that are capable of becoming specialized cells.

What is tissue?

A cell that gets together and performs a particular function, filled with 60-99 percent of water.

What is dehydration?

The lack of fluid in tissue.

What is edema?

Swelling caused by fluid.

What is epithelial tissue?

Tissue that covers the surface and is the main tissue in the skin.

What is connective tissue?

The support fabric of organs/body parts.

What is nerve tissue?

Tissue composed of neurons that control and coordinate body activities.

What is muscular tissue?

Tissue composed of fibers, characterized by power and excitability.

What are organs?

Body parts that are two or more tissues which perform special functions.

What are systems?

Organs/body parts which are together to perform a particular function.

What are human organisms?

Systems that work together to create a miracle called a body.