EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF CARDIORESPIRATION
- Improve your knowledge of the heart, lungs, and blood
- Improve your personal self-care or assist others in improving theirs
- Anyone who works in health, fitness, or sport and needs to better grasp cardiorespiratory science should take this course.
In order to teach students how the cardiovascular and respiratory systems work together to keep the body alive, a range of relevant topics will be covered. Together with the physical laws and biological processes that describe how and why the cardiorespiratory system functions in the manner it does, monitoring and regulatory mechanisms governing cardiorespiratory functions are also explored. Students will get a solid understanding of breathing and blood flow by studying gas exchange, cellular energy production, cardiomyocyte contraction, alveolar anatomy and function, gas laws, blood physiology, and cellular oxygen demand.
Lesson Structure
There are 7 lessons in this course:
- The Science of Blood
- The Functions of Blood
- Components of Blood
- Blood Typing
- Blood Cells
- Haematopoiesis; Erythropoiesis, Leukopoiesis, Lymphopoiesis
- Blood Cell function; Erythrocytes, Neutrophils, Eosinophils, Basophils, Thrombocytes etc
- The Immune Response
- Haemostasis
- Clotting Mechanism
- Haemodynamics
- Circulatory Networks
- Blood Testing
- Full Blood Count
- Cross Matching
- Blood Cultures
- Arterial Blood Gas
- Biochemical and Metabolic Tests
- INR
- Blood Disorders; Red & White Blood disorders, Blood Clotting, Poisoning
- Lymphatic System
- Blood Pressure
- Factors Affecting Blood Pressure; cardiac output, peripheral resistance, blood volume
- How Blood Pressure is Measured
- The Cardiac Cycle
- Heart Muscle Cell Contraction
- Electrical Control of the Heart Muscle Cells; Sinoatrial Node (SA Node), Atrioventricular n ode (AV Node), Bundle of His (Atrioventricular bundle), Purkinje Fibres
- Blood Pressure Problems
- Systolic hypertension, Diastolic hypertension and Hypertension
- Distribution of Blood Flow
- Regulating Heart Rate and Blood Pressure
- Sensors
- Problems with Heart Rate; variations, and other conditions including Myocardial infarction and Cardiac Tamponade
- Electrocardiograms and their Interpretation
- Pulmonary Ventilation
- The Respiratory System
- Respiratory Epithelium
- The Lungs
- Lung Anatomy
- Alveoli
- Airway Anatomy
- Nasal and oral cavities
- Pharynx
- Epiglottis
- Larynx
- Trachea
- Bronchi and bronchioles
- Physiology of Breathing; Equilibrium, Pressure, Inspiration, Expiration
- Physiological Measures of Lung Capacity and Function; Total Lung Capacity, Tidal Volume, Vital Capacity, Forced Vital Capacity, IRV, ERV, Functional Residual Capacity, MV, VO2 Max, etc
- Effect of Exercise on Pulmonary Ventilation
- Gas Exchange & Transport
- Gas Exchange in the Human Body
- External Respiration
- Oxygen Transport
- Internal Respiration
- Haemoglobin
- Carbon Dioxide Transport
- Biochemistry of Gas Exchange; Boyle’s Law, Charles’ Law, Dalton’s Law, Henry’s Law, etc
- Factors Affecting Gas Exchange; Partial pressure Gradients, Gas Solubility, Membrane thickness, etc
- Compliance
- Respiratory Control
- Blood Flow & Gas Transport
- Blood Flow; Volume, Target
- Gas Transport
- Arterial-Alveolar Gradient
- Oxygen Transport
- Factors Effecting Oxygen Release by Haemoglobin
- The Bohr-Haldane Effect
- Cellular Respiration
- Energy Production; anaerobic and aerobic
- Blood Flow During Exercise and Rest
- Cardio Respiratory Control
- Cardio Respiratory Control and the Nervous System
- Input Sensors
- The CV Centre
- High Brain Centres
- Baroreceptors and Chemoreceptors
- The Respiratory Centre
- Starling’s Law
- Capillaries
- The Control of Heart and Lungs During Exercise
- Cardio Respiratory Disease
- Cardiac Diseases and Injuries
- Chronic Heart Failure
- Congestive Heart Failure
- Myocardial Infarction and Ischemia
- Cardiovascular Diseases
- Coronary Heart Disease
- Atherosclerosis
- Aneurysm
- Vasculitis
- Venous thrombosis
- Varicose veins
- Causes of Cardiovascular Disease; lifestyle, diet, obesity, genetics, smoking, hypertension, etc
- Respiratory Disease
- Asthma
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
- Emphysema
- Cystic Fibrosis (CF)
- Effects of Cardio Pulmonary Disease
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school’s tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
How You Plan to Act
- Use physical formulas to illustrate how gases flow within the body.
- Recognize the importance of oxygen to cells
- Look into the elimination of carbon dioxide from the body.
- Learn about the role that carbon dioxide plays in blood chemistry.
- Recognize how aerobic and anaerobic energy production occurs in cells, as well as how the body’s
- cardiorespiratory system manages the waste products produced by these processes.
- Learn about homeostasis, equilibrium, diffusion, osmosis, and the significance of each for gas exchange.
- Practically test topics with items you can find in your house.
- analyse results from simple experiments to increase understanding of course topics
- Study how fitness and exercise affect the condition and operation of the cardiorespiratory system.
- Electrocardiograms to be interpreted
- Learn how various ailments, illnesses, and disease processes affect cardiorespiratory function.
How is the Activity of Heart Muscle Cells Regulated?
The bundle of His, the atrioventricular node, and the sinoatrial node are responsible for the electrical control of the heart.
node Sinoatrial (SA Node)
Just where the superior vena cava enters, at the top of the right atrium’s wall, is where the sinoatrial node is located. It is made up of modified cardiomyocytes, which unlike regular cardiomyocytes do not contract but instead move electrical impulses significantly more quickly. The action potential that causes heart muscle contraction is started by the cells of the sinoatrial node. Action potentials are set off without the help of the nervous system; nevertheless, the nervous system and brain’s feedback affects the speed and force of contractions. The heart’s natural pacemaker, the sinoatrial node, is crucial. Your heart will beat as frequently as the cells of the sinoatrial node depolarize and initiate an action potential.
By depolarizing the cardiomyocytes there, the electrical impulses (action potentials) from the sinoatrial node cause both atria to contract in unison. The atrioventricular node receives the impulse after that.
Cardiovertebral Node (AV Node)
Along the wall of heart tissue that separates the two atria, the atrioventricular node is located on the right atrium’s lower wall. It also consists of mutated cardiomyocytes that cannot contract. Its job is to maintain the sinoatrial node’s electrical impulse. As a result, the cardiomyocytes in the ventricles are not triggered to contract until the atria have fully contracted. This makes sure that before the ventricles constrict, they are filled with blood. The bundle of His, also known as the atrioventricular bundle, is the next place the electrical impulse goes. The atrioventricular node can take over as the heart’s main pacemaker when the sinoatrial node is injured.
Package of His (Atrioventricular bundle)
The septum, which separates the ventricles, contains the bundle of His, which is situated directly inferior to the AV node. It serves to give very quick transmission of the electrical impulse from the AV node to the Purkinje fibres as it branches as it moves down the septum. The bundle’s ability to perform this role is owing to the changed cardiomyocytes’ non-contractile state.
Fibers of Purkinje
They represent the heart’s electrical conduction system’s terminal end. They extend up and around the outside walls of both ventricles from the septum’s base. They are composed of modified cardiomyocytes, just like the rest of the conduction system. (The term “fibre” here refers to muscle fibres, not nerve fibres, or cells.)
The electrical impulse that began in the SA node is transmitted to the ventricular cardiomyocytes by the cells of the Purkinje fibres, resulting in a coordinated contraction of both ventricles.
