Anatomy & Physiology
The Respiratory System

Instructions

Please read each section/question carefully. Answer questions in complete sentences, and if/when you need to cite outside materials, please use footnotes. All work is to be typed, and may be submitted either by email or in class. This assignment is due no later than midnight Tuesday August 28th. NO LATE PAPERS ACCEPTED.

Short Answer:

What is hyperventilation and what factors contribute to it? Explain how the central and peripheral chemoreceptors regulate the rate of respiration.

How would an obstruction of the airways affect the body's pH?

What is ‘Anatomic Dead Space’, where would it be found?

Asthma is characterized by unusual sensitivity to irritation in the airways. Discuss three ways that asthma affects the conduction passageways of the respiratory tract.

Case Study 1

Jed has pneumonia, which has caused in an accumulation of fluid and dead white blood cells in his alveoli.

Q1: Why might this result in lower blood levels of oxygen?

Case Study 2

Maxine has traveled to Greece for the Olympics, and has encountered a country full of smokers!

Q1: How might the typical Greek citizen’s exposure to tobacco smoke affect the cilia in their lungs?

Q2: Why might this explain why tobacco smokers have an increased incidence of respiratory infections?

Case Study 3

Nine year old Mike is racing his friends in the pool. They decide to see how far they can swim under water. Mike thinks it’s a good idea to hyperventilate before his turn.

Q1: How do you explain to him that this would not give him an advantage, and might even decrease his ability to make it to the other side of the pool?