NURSING PRACTICE: KNOWLEDGE AND CARE

Section1: True /False statements

The next set of statements are either true or false. Decide whether the statement is True or False and provide your rationale below. Word count 50 words (5 points each)

1. The pulmonary vein carries oxygenated blood to the heart

True/ False

Provide your rationale below

Rationale

The statement is true because there are four pulmonary veins in the human heart which carry the oxygenated blood from the lung to the left atrium of the heart (Khan & Sharma, 2019). There are two right and two left pulmonary veins that open into the left atrium of heart. after the blood-oxygenation in lung alveoli, the oxygenated blood enters into these four pulmonary veins and then transported to the left atrium of heart

2. Arteries contain valves to maintain the pressure in the vascular system

True/ False

Provide your rationale below Word count 50 words (5 points)

Rationale

This statement is true because there are four valves in heart that are involved in maintaining perfect balance between the systolic and diastolic pressure in the vascular system (Jain et al. 2020). the pulmonic valve is located between the pulmonary artery and the right ventricle which opens towards the pulmonary artery thereby pushing the blood to the pulmonary artery from the right ventricle when the pressure in high in the right ventricle. Aortic valve is located at the junction of the aorta and the left ventricles which opens towards the aorta, thereby managing the blood pressure in the left ventricles by pumping out the blood from the left ventricle to the aorta.

3. Bile is stored in the Pancras

True/ False

Provide your rationale below Word count 50 words (5 points)

Rationale

The statement is false because bile is produced by the liver and t stored in the gall bladder. From the gall bladder the bile is then transported to the intestine. Pancreas is not involved in production and storage of bile (Ozougwu, 2017).

4. The pulmonary vein delivers oxygenated blood to the lungs

True/ False

Provide your rationale below Word count 50 words (5 points)

Rationale

The statement is true because pulmonary vein is the only vein that carries the oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left atrium of heart (Kroeker, 2018). during the pulmonary circuit, the blood with depleted oxygen level is transported to the lung through aorta and then the oxygenated blood enters into the left and right pulmonary veins which transport the oxygenated blood into the left atrium of the heart.

PART 2: SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

Make sure you read the question and ensure you keep within the word count guidance.

Question 1. The endocrine system

Name 4 hormones that are produced by the pituitary gland or are stored or released by the gland and describe their function. Word count 200 words. (10 marks)

1. Thyroid Stimulating hormone [TSH]:

Source: secreted from the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland

Function:

This hormone plays crucial roles in stimulating thyroid gland to release the two thyroid hormones Thyroxine (T3) and Triiodothyronine (T4) (Linsler et al. 2017).

2.Growth hormone [GH]:

Source: secreted from the anterior pituitary gland

Function:

• GH is involved in stimulating the Special liver cells to produce the somatomedin-C that plays crucial roles in systematic growth of the body tissues (Berczi, 2019).
• GH is involved in formation of protein from amino acids in the tissues thereby supply the sufficient proteins that are needed for systematic body growth. GH is also associated with the transportation of amino acids into the tissue cells.
• GH is involved in releasing the fatty acids from the adipose tissues thereby using them for energy production.
• It is associated with maintaining proper nutrient level inside the body after taking meal

3. Adreno corticotropic hormone [ACTH]:

Source: secreted from the anterior pituitary gland.

Function:

The main roles of ACTH is to stimulate the adrenal cortex for production of the glucocorticoids such as cortisol to perform the metabolism of the carbohydrates

4.Follicle stimulating hormone [FSH]:

Sources: anterior lobes of the pituitary gland

Function:

This hormones plays crucial roles in growth, maturation and secretion of the ovarian follicles in case of women and also in production, growth and secretion of sperm in men.

Section 2: The Blood

Question 2: In order to prevent bleeding, the body uses a variety of methods to prevent blood loss. Describe the processes involved. Word count 200 words. (10 marks)

Series of methods are used by the body to prevent the blood loss which are as follows:

Vascular construction:

During this phase the constriction of the blood vessels occurs immediately after any injury. After the injury is taken place there occurs a local myogenic reflex that causes the vascular spasm or vascular constriction (Gupta et al. 2019). Here as the blood vessels are made up of smooth muscles in their wall so the reflexes cause the narrowing the of the blood vessels thereby reusing the blood flow through the damaged blood vessels.

Platelet plug formation:

Platelets activation and aggregation into the injured site forms the plug before the process of blood clotting. Platelets are formed from the fragmentation of huge megakaryocytes and play important roles in sealing the tiny holes in the blood vessels (Repetto & De Re, 2017). When any torn occurs in the blood vessels, the platelets are attracted towards the injured site and attach to the inner wall of the blood vessels then swelled up and extended outwards thereby sealing the gaps in damaged blood vessels.

Blood clotting:

Blood clot is the long-lasting plug that is formed through the platelets mesh and the fibrin. The fibrin in the protein that is formed through the fibrinogen with help of thrombin and is associated in reinforcing platelets plug to attach to the fibrin thereby forming a mesh network. This clot then pulls and retracts the edges of torn vessels by attaching to its wall to make the gaps closer and seal them.

Question 3: Discuss the role of the sympathetic nervous system in preparing the body for stressful and exciting situations.

Word count 200 words. (10 marks).

Sympathetic nervous system is the part of the autonomous nervous system which is involved in mediating as well as regulating the reflexes and rection of body while it experiences any exiting situation of stress. Under this existing and stressful situation, the sympathetic nervous system becomes activated thereby producing an immediate response which is known as the “fight or flight response” (Sata et al. 2018). This response is mediated by the secretion of huge amount of epinephrine from adrenal gland that is associated with initiating some changes inside the body system to maintain homeostatic condition such as increasing the heart rate, initiating vasodilation of the skeletal muscles, enhancing the cardiac outputs, papillary dilation, gastrointestinal vasoconstriction, piloerection and bronchodilation. All these changes inside the body system are made to prepare the body for dealing with the danger or stress. The function of the sympathetic nervous system is associated wit developing appropriate hormonal response to the exciting and stressful situation. In case of the human, while body experiences the chronic stress, the sympathetic nervous system is activated which then causes long term production of “fight or flight” response. During this long terms response, the constant secretion and production of the catecholamines occurs which then triggers the physiological consequences that are developed to maintain proper homeostasis in to the body.

PART 3: LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS

Long answer Section 3.1

Discuss the structure of the respiratory system and the processes involved in the defence against infection. Word count 500 words (25 marks).

Respiratory system consists of the following structures:

Entire respiratory tract is categorised into two major parts such as:

• Upper respiratory track
• Lowe respiratory track

Upper respiratory track:

This part in composed on nose, the mouth, larynx pharynx and trachea (Edwards et al. 2019)

Nose: This is the external opening in the respiratory system through which air enters into the body.

Oral cavity or mouth: Mouth is the external component of a respiratory track which assists body to inhale the air from outside.

Pharynx: It is the funnel like structure that is situated next to the mouth that acts as the passage between the mouth and oesophagus.

Larynx: This is next respiratory component that is connected to the trachea.

Trachea: It is a tube-like structure that connects larynx to the next part, bronchi.

Lower respiratory track:

This part consists of the following structures:

Trachea: It is the tube that makes connection between the throat and the bronchi

The Bronchi: There are two bronchi that derive from the end of trachea. One bronchus goes to left lung and the other goes to right lung. Inside the lung there is further division of each bronchi into different bronchioles.

The bronchiole: These are the small tubes that are located at the end of the branches of the bronchi. These bronchiole ends into the pulmonary alveolus

Pulmonary alveoli:

There are the tiny sacs at the ends of the bronchi. These structures are surrounded by the one-layer membrane with the several blood vessels, in which gaseous exchange takes place.

The Lungs:

These are the paired organs that are situated inside the thorax at the right and left sides. there are small sac like structures insides each lung which are known as the alveoli. Alveoli are located at the terminals of bronchi.

Defence system of body against infection:

While any pathogen enters inro body, there develops the immune response against the pathogen. The entre process of protecting against the invaders such as viruses, bacteria and other pathogens is known as the body’s defence mechanism. Lymphocytes are the most active WBCs that play major roles in producing antibodies against the specific antigens.

After entry of pathogens into body, the protein on the top surface of the pathogen which is known as antigen is detected by the receptor on B cells. B cell has the specific receptors for particular antigen. Therefore, the B cell receptor [BCR] then bind to the specific antigens of the pathogen through lock and key process. after binding to the antigen, the activation of B cells occurs through the T cell dependent (TD) activation process which. During this process the T cells bind to the B7 receptor presented on the surface of Antigen Presenting Cells [APC]. Here B cell acts as the APC and after binding to the T cells, cytokines are released at the binding sites which acts on the antigens to destroy them. On the other hand, after activation B cells are matured and involved in antibody production, which then attacks the specific antigen to engulf and kill the pathogen.

Question 3.2

There are 3 different types of White blood cell. Describe their function and role in fighting infection. Word count 500 words (25 marks).

There are three major categories of the White blood Cells such as:

• Granulocytes
• Lymphocytes
• Monocytes

White blood cells [WBC] plays important roles in developing and regulating both the adaptive and innate immune response against the pathogens that enter into body. following are the important function of the three above-mentioned types of WBC in fighting infection.

Granulocytes: These are of tree types

Basophils:

Basophils act as the active part of the innate immune response against the pathogen. They are activated when any pathogen enters into the body (Zheng et al. 2018). It works in association with other WBC subtypes such as T and B cells, monocytes and neutrophils, thereby protecting the body against the harmful affect of the invaders.

basophil does not act on the infection that a person already had in the past, rather it works on the infection that attack first time the body. That is why it is stated that basophil is active part of the innate immunes system but not of the adaptive immune system.

Eosinophils:

Eosinophils are involved in fighting against the parasites or virus that enter inro the body. These WBC play importance roles in functioning as the Antigen Presenting Cells [APC] thereby is associated with activation of B cells and T cells to produces the particular antibodies for specific antigens.

Neutrophils:

Neutrophils are the part on the body’s innate immune system. Neutrophils are the first line of defenders that are the first cells that respond to invaders such as virus and bacteria. As the first line of defenders the neutrophils first recognise the pathogen that enters into the body and then send the signal to the other WBC subtype to initiate their function.

Lymphocytes

There are three kinds of lymphocytes such as :

B cells

T cells

Natural Killer Cells

B cells

B cells are the B lymphocytes that are the potential immune component of body’s immunes system. Unlike the other subtypes of the lymphocytes such as T cells and the natural killer cells, only B cells have the B Cell Receptor [BCR] on its surface which assist it to act as the Antigen Presenting cells [APC].

While any pathogen enters into body from outside, B cells recognise the antigen thereby binding to the antigen at the B cell receptor site [BCR]. Through this binding, the B cell gets activated and then matured. The matured B cells then secrete the cytokines and specific antibodies that kill that antigens.

T cells:

T cells plays an important role in developing the specific immune system in the body against a pathogen. There are different types of T cells which perform different roles in infection prevention, such as cytotoxic T cells, helper T cells, regulatory T cells and memory T cells.

Cytotoxic T cells are involved in direct function on any pathogen by destroying the cells through releasing the cytotoxin. Helper T cell or CD4+ T cells are associated with taking part in activation of B cells and antibody production through binding to APC.

Natural killer cells;

These cells can recognise the cancerous or infected cells in the circulation thereby attaching to them and killing them by releasing the cytotoxins.

Monocytes:

These WBCs are considered as the garbage truck of body’s immune system. It is involved in migrating to the body tissues and then cleaning up the dead parts of pathogens.

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Reference list:

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