Prompt #5: Observing Community

I am in a class called Frontiers in Physiology at MSU and we learn about topics and careers in physiology. I am saying this because this class is similar to a physiology club that could be found on campus. Instead of joining a club, I took this class because we are learning and discussing topics that would be discussed in a club and it is a way to get ahead and learn about career paths and ways to be successful with my major and chosen career path.

I like taking this class because I am with people who have similar goals as I do and we are all aiming for the same kind of career path. I feel as if this class creates a community that makes it easier to relate with people because we all have similar interests. This class represents itself by making it sound like a good starting point for college students looking to go into the medical field.

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This class is described as “an introduction to the field of physiology and recent trends in physiological research, including an overview of biomedical careers. Campus and Internet resources to achieve academic success and career goals.” At first, with how the class was displayed, I thought it might be boring or I might not like it. I just wanted to take it because I figured it would give me more information and help me a little more when it came to learning about my career path. I was right for doing this, because it has been really helpful!

The point of this article is: if there is any kind of class or something relating to your major or that can help you with your career in the future, you should take it. Even if it looks like you might not enjoy it at first, you wouldn’t want to pass on taking the class and regret it later. It is important to do anything you can to advance in your career or schooling, even taking classes or joining clubs! Anything you can do to educate yourself even more or make connections is a good place to start.

"MSU RO: Course Descriptions." MSU RO: Course Descriptions. Michigan State University, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

Open Post #5: Strength Training or Endurance Exercise: Which is the Right Way to Work Out?

I read an article that talks about whether strength vs. endurance matters during exercise if you are trying to lose weight. According to a study, the most effective way to lose body mass by exercising actually isn’t either strength training or endurance exercise; the type of exercise is less important than scientists once believed.

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A study was done where a group of people was split up into three subgroups. One group was put on a diet and did strength training, another group was put on a diet and did endurance exercise, and another group was put on a diet and did a combination of strength training and endurance exercise. Everyone in these groups followed the same diet plan and exercised for the same amount of time.

It was found that after the interval of time where the subjects dieted and exercised, they all lost an equal amount of weight. Strength training and endurance exercise made no difference in loss of body weight. I learned that, even though I’ve always heard that one is better than the other, you can do both types of exercising and see the same results. This is a good thing because some people don’t like strength training and some don’t like endurance exercise, so they can choose which kind of exercise they want to do without worrying about losing more weight another way.

Working out and exercising has become such a big trend nowadays; it seems like everyone is always at the gym! It is good to know that there are many ways to lose weight, so there is something for everyone if they just put in a little effort.

Check out the article below!

"Strength vs. Endurance: Does Exercise Type Matter in the Fight Against Obesity?" American Physiological Society. American Physiological Society, 23 Apr. 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2016. http://www.the-aps.org/mm/hp/Audiences/Public-Press/2015/17.html

Prompt #4: Considering Delivery and Style

I have found a scholarly article and a blog post about blood types and I will be comparing them. The source of the information you find online can be a huge factor in whether an article is trustworthy or not.

The first article I found was a blog post titled "Blood Types". It explains what blood types are used for and what types there are. It also presents a video and some pictures to help explain the concept of blood types. This information was delivered in a way that was easy to understand because there were bullet points of information and pictures that were appealing to to the eye.

The second article I found was a scholarly article called "The Nature of the Principal Type 1 Interferon-Producing Cells in Human Blood". This article was very detailed and used a lot of scientific words. It gave more specific information about blood types and the kinds of sicknesses that can be associated with them. This article was also an article that explained research of a certain hypothesis rather than just displaying information about blood types.

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These two articles are both helpful in discovering information about blood types, but which one can be trusted?

The answer is the scholarly article. The scholarly article is from a more trusted source because the source is an official science journal and the people who wrote it are scientists or researchers that found this information on their own. The blog post cannot be 100 percent trusted because they took that information from somewhere else and they could've changed it however they wanted to. They also did not cite where any of their information came from, so they could've just made the whole thing up. 

It is important to be aware of what kind of articles and sources you are using when researching information, especially for school-related projects. If these sources aren't reliable or trustworthy, they won't be useful to you at all.

Siegal, Frederick P., Norimitsu Kadowaki, Michael Shodell, Patricia A. Fitzgerald-Bocarsly, Kokila Shah, Stephen Ho, Svetlana Antonenko, and Yong-Jun Liu. "The Nature of the Principal Type 1 Interferon-Producing Cells in Human Blood." The Nature of the Principal Type 1 Interferon-Producing Cells in Human Blood. Sciencemag.org, 11 June 1999. Web. 21 Feb. 2016. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/284/5421/1835

Patton, Kevin. "The A&P Student." : Blood Types. N.p., 20 Jan. 2015. Web. 21 Feb.        2016. http://theapstudent.blogspot.com/2015/01/blood-types.html

Open Post #4: Is the Flu Harder on Men Than It Is on Women?

A study has found that because women have higher levels of estrogen in their bodies, they are better protected against the flu virus. Viruses spread through the body by replicating infected cells; how much these infected cells replicate determines how severe the sickness will be. After doing tests on men and women to see how the cells replicate, it was found that the cells in women don't replicate as much as the cells in men do.

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I have learned this information by reading an article (which I will attach at the bottom of this post) titled "Not the Weaker Sex: Estrogen Protects Women Against the Flu, Study Finds". This article caught my attention because I never knew that something such as estrogen could have an effect on the flu virus. After reading this and confirming the fact that it is true that the flu does hit men harder than women, I realized that I have noticed this in my own life. Every time my family gets sick, we usually all get sick at the same time. I would say that most times, my dad and my brother seem to be worse than my mom and I when we're sick. After reading this article, I can say that I am not very surprised that it is true, even though this was an interesting article to read. 


The only questions I have are: Is the level of estrogen in women related to any other sicknesses besides the flu? Or could having higher levels of estrogen be an advantage for anything else that isn't exactly a sickness?

This was a very interesting article and I suggest you read it if you're interested because it has much more detail than I have explained here. Thanks for reading!

"Not the Weaker Sex: Estrogen Protects Women Against the Flu, Study Finds." American Physiological Society. American Physiological Society, 12 Jan. 2016. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.

http://www.the-aps.org/mm/hp/Audiences/Public-Press/2016/2.html

Prompt #3: Writing in the Medical Field

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I recently interviewed a family friend that is a nurse and I asked her about what kind of writing she does for her job in the medical field to get an idea of how writing is used in many career paths. Here are the questions that I asked and a summary of what she said when she responded:

• What kinds of things do you normally write for your job? How do you write them?

Things a nurse normally writes are care plans for patients, patient charts, and paperwork for patients and the hospital. She said she writes them usually with pen and as neat as she can so other people can read what the chart says. This is a common rule throughout different hospitals so everyone can read charts and paperwork without any confusion.

• What are your usual daily responsibilities for your job?

Daily responsibilities for nurses are writing the things mentioned above, taking care of patients, give physical exams to patients and ask them about their medical history and prep them for what they need to be prepped for (depending on what they are in the hospital for). The woman I interviewed is specifically a neonatal nurse, so she takes care of newborn babies and give them constant care as they need it after they are born.

• What are some common misconceptions about your job or field? How do you use writing and communication to work around those misconceptions?

Some common misconceptions about nursing are that it is the easy version of a doctor, all nurses do is basic care for patients and they aren't qualified to do much else, it is easy to get a job in the nursing field, and nurses just do paperwork and other things that doctors don't want to do. Nurses can use writing and communication to work around these misconceptions by showing what they know in their writing and speaking up about what they think a diagnoses could be or if they have any clever suggestions for doctors, other nurses, or anyone in a hospital. Also, any nurse could have a blog or some kind of website or posts that voice their opinion about any of these misconceptions. That way, people on the internet can see what it is like from a nurses perspective to be judged in these ways.

• What other ways of communication do you use for your job?

Other types of communication nurses use for their job are cell phones, pagers, talking in person, phones in the hospital to communicate with other nurses/doctors. These types of communication can be used for many jobs nowadays since technology has become so advanced.

I have discovered that there are many different uses of communication in my field. My field isn't nursing, specifically, but nursing is very similar to the profession that I am looking to go into. This means that the methods of communication for any job in the medical field are either very similar or basically the same. These methods of communication are so important because, without them, staff working around a hospital wouldn't know what is going on with patients, other staff, etc. People within a hospital wouldn't be able to communicate with each other as easily and they could really only talk to each other in person if they wanted to because there would be no advanced technology.

In the end, without technology, writing, and communication, a hospital setting wouldn't be as efficient as it is now. We need these types of communication for everything, especially nowadays.

Open Post #3: Reasons Why Water Can Be Considered Unhealthy

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As requested, I researched reasons why water may not be completely healthy for you. At first, I didn’t think it was even possible for water to be unhealthy for you, but there are definitely ways. I found some of these facts to be very interesting, and I also found some of them to be fairly obvious.

Things that can make water unhealthy are:

•  Bisphenol A (BPA): this is a chemical that is sometimes found in plastic water bottles and it can cause health risks for children.

•  Not washing your bottle: if you keep your water in a reusable bottle, you must wash it properly. If you don’t, bacteria can form inside the bottle when it is warm.

• Drinking from the shower head: bacteria can also form on shower heads because of the same reasons, so if you drink it, you are possibly drinking bacteria.

• Crystal Light: people think that they are being healthy when drinking Crystal Light because water is the base of this mixed drink. However, Crystal Light is made with artificial sweeteners and just isn’t healthy for you.

•  Drinking too much: when you drink too much water, sodium levels can drop so low that it could result in seizures or a coma.

• Caffeine: if you drink caffeinated water, it can basically lead to an overdose of caffeine. You could be irritable, sleepless, or restless if you drink too much.

From the article I read, I learned that if you aren’t cautious about your water intake, it could lead to bad results. Even the little things you never even thought of could be harmful to your body. The possibility of these results is very surprising to me, especially because I’ve been told water is the best thing I could drink for my whole life! I drink a lot of water myself, so I guess now I should be more careful about it and you should too. Remember to keep your water bottle out of the sun, wash your reusable bottle, and drink only pure water, not anything that adds any artificial flavors. The link to the article I read is below, please take the time to read it!

Klein, Sarah. "6 Things That Make Water Unhealthy." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 9 Oct. 2013. Web. 11 Feb. 2016. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/09/water-unhealthy_n_4065853.html

Open Post #2: What is Physiology?

I’m writing this post because I want to be clear on what physiology actually is just for clarification for my readers. You may not know exactly what physiology is, but hopefully you do after reading this!

Physiology is the study of life and the normal functions of living organisms and their parts. Studying physiology is amazing because we get to learn and see how humans function. Basically, we can understand how we live the way we do because of our bodily functions! Physiology is important because it gives us information on life and how our bodies work. We can learn how our organs work together and interact with each other to perform normal, everyday functions that we may not even think about. Physiology also lets us learn how to identify diseases and find ways to treat or cure those diseases. Without physiology, we wouldn’t know how our own bodies work or how we can improve them.

You may be thinking: “So, physiology is basically just anatomy, right?”, however, that is not the case. Anatomy is the STRUCTURE of living things, while physiology looks at these structures and their FUNCTIONS. Anatomy shows what it is and physiology shows what it does. These are very similar and they relate very closely, but they are slightly different.

Below, you see two different pictures. The picture on the top demonstrates anatomy and the picture on the bottom demonstrates physiology. The one on the top demonstrates anatomy because it only shows where each lobe is and what it is called. The one on the bottom, however, shows where each lobe is, what each is called, and it tells you some of the functions and other mechanisms of each lobe in our brain. Physiology goes into a lot more detail about the functions, but I don't want to bore you with lengthy definitions!

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Photo credit: www.biomed.brown.edu

Physiologists are always working to find new discoveries about the body. They do lots of research in labs, the field, libraries, space, etc. They are always looking for answers and new information on bodily functions, diseases, cell functions, how humans interact, our environment, and many other subjects. However, studying physiology doesn’t mean you have to become a researcher, there are many other career paths that can be taken with a degree in physiology. I’m not going to talk about career paths in this post because it is not the focus, but keep your eyes open for my post about careers in physiology!

Newman, Tim. "What Is Physiology? Anatomy and Biological Systems." Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2016. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/248791.php

"What Is Physiology?" American Physiological Society. American Physiological Society, n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2016.http://www.the-aps.org/mm/careers/ugrad/what-is-physiology