An intracellular chemical signal can be produced in the cell membrane. Once it is produced, where does it go?

Robert Hooke discovered the first cells in the mid-eighteenth century. The cell theory is a theory because it is supported by a significant number of experimental findings. The cell theory took many years to be developed because microscopes were not powerful enough to make such observations.

This theory, or in-depth explanation, about cells consists of three parts:

• All living things are composed of one or more cells.
• Cells are alive and represent the basic unit of life.
• All cells are produced from pre-existing cells.

Blood continually flows in one direction, beginning in the heart and proceeding to the arteries, arterioles, and capillaries. When blood reaches the capillaries, exchanges occur between blood and tissues. After this exchange happens, blood is collected into venules, which feed into veins and eventually flow back to the heart’s atrium. The heart must relax between two heartbeats for blood circulation to begin.

Two types of circulatory processes occur in the body:

Systemic circulation

• The pulmonary vein pushes oxygenated blood into the left atrium.
• As the atrium relaxes, oxygenated blood drains into the left ventricle through the mitral valve. 3. The left ventricle pumps oxygenated blood to the aorta.
• Blood travels through the arteries and arterioles before reaching the capillaries that surround the tissues.

Pulmonary circulation

• Two major veins, the Superior Vena Cava and the Inferior Vena Cava, brings deoxygenated blood from the upper and lower half of the body.
• Deoxygenated blood is pooled into the right atrium and then sent into the right ventricle through the tricuspid valve, which prevents blood from flowing backward.
• The right ventricle contracts, causing the blood to be pushed through the pulmonary valve into the pulmonary artery.
• Deoxygenated blood becomes oxygenated in the lungs.
• Oxygenated blood returns from the lungs to the left atrium through the pulmonary veins.

The autonomic nervous systemis responsible for activities that arenonvoluntaryand under unconscious control. This system controls glands and the smooth muscles of internal organs, heart rate, breathing, and digestion. The autonomic nervous system is further divided into the following:

• Sympathetic nervous system: The sympathetic nervous system focuses on emergency situations by preparing the body forfight or flight. (Sympathetic = Stress)
• Parasympathetic nervous system: The parasympathetic nervous system controls involuntary processes unrelated to emergencies. This system deals with “rest or digest” activities. (Parasympathetic = Peace)

Thesomatic nervous systemprimarily controlsvoluntaryactivities such as walking and riding a bicycle. Thus, this system sends information to the CNS and motor nerve fibers that are attached to skeletal muscle.

The duodenum is the first part of the small intestines, located between the stomach and the middle part of the small intestines (jejunum). Once food has mixed with acid in the stomach, it moves into the duodenum, where it then mixes with bile from the gallbladder and digestive juices secreted from the pancreas. In the duodenum, absorption of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients begins.

Autotrophs are organisms that use basic raw materials in nature, like the sun, to make energy-rich biomolecules. Minerals are naturally inorganic.

Autotrophsare organisms that make energy-rich biomolecules from raw material in nature. They do this by using basic energy sources such the sun. This explains why most autotrophs rely on photosynthesis to transform sunlight into usable food that can produce energy necessary for life. Plants and certain species of bacteria are autotrophs.

Autotrophs, such as plants, use carbon dioxide (CO2) during photosynthesis to create chemical energy in the form of sugar molecules (like glucose) for growth.

Because this is a positive correlation, if the nutrient concentration increases or decreases, plant height will either increase or decrease accordingly.

While analyzing data, scientists tend to observe cause-and-effect relationships. These relationships can be quantified using correlations.Correlationsmeasure the amount of linear association between two variables. There are three types of correlations:

Positive correlation:
As one variable increases, the other variable also increases. This is also known as a direct correlation.

Negative correlation:
As one variable increases, the other decreases. The opposite is true if one variable decreases. A negative correlation is also known as an inverse correlation or an indirect correlation.

No correlation:
There is no connection or relationship between two variables.

The primary function of the respiratory system is to provide oxygen to and remove carbon dioxide from the body. In addition to gas exchange, the respiratory system enables a person to breathe. Breathing, or inhalation, is essential to life. It is the mechanism that provides oxygen to the body. Without oxygen, cells are unable to perform their functions necessary to keep the body alive. The primary muscle of inspiration is the diaphragm. Known as the chest cavity, this dome shaped structure flattens when it contracts. The rib cage moves outward, allowing outside air to be drawn into the lungs. During relaxation, the diaphragm returns to its dome shape and the rib cage moves back to its natural position. This causes the chest cavity to push air out of the lungs.

The respiratory system can be functionally divided into two parts:

• Air-conducting portion: Air is delivered to the lungs. This region consists of the upper and lower respiratory tract—specifically, the larynx, trachea, bronchi, and bronchioles.
• Gas exchange portion: Gas exchange takes place between the air and the blood. This portion includes the lungs, alveoli, and capillaries.

The protein disc that holds two sister chromatids together is what collectively makes a chromosome. A gene is a segment of DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, which transmits information from parent to offspring. A single molecule of DNA has thousands of genes. A chromosome is a rod-shaped structure that forms when a single DNA molecule and its associated proteins coil tightly before cell division.

Chromosomes have two components:

• Chromatids: two copies of each chromosome
• Centromeres: protein discs that attach the chromatids together

Human cells have 23 sets of different chromosomes. The two copies of each chromosome are called homologous chromosomes, or homologues. An offspring receives one homologue from each parent. When a cell contains two homologues of each chromosome, it is termed diploid (2n). A haploid (n) cell contains only one homologue of each chromosome. The only haploid cells humans have are the sperm and eggs cells known as gametes.

Mendel was accurately able to predict the patterns of heredity by studying rules related to genetics. These rules helped shape his theory of heredity. Heredity is the characteristics offspring inherit from their parents.

From experiments with garden peas, Mendel developed a simple set of rules that accurately predicted patterns of heredity. He discovered that plants eitherself-pollinateorcross-pollinate, when the pollen from one plant fertilizes the pistil of another plant. He also discovered that traits are eitherdominantorrecessive. Dominant traits are expressed, and recessive traits are hidden.

Mendel’s Theory of Heredity

To explain his results, Mendel proposed a theory that has become the foundation of the science of genetics. The theory has five elements:

• Parents do not transmit traits directly to their offspring. Rather, they pass on units of information calledgenes.
• For each trait, an individual has two factors: one from each parent. If the two factors have the same information, the individual ishomozygousfor that trait. If the two factors are different, the individual isheterozygousfor that trait. Each copy of a factor, orgene, is called anallele.
• The alleles determine the physical appearance, orphenotype. The set of alleles an individual has is itsgenotype.
• An individual receives one allele from each parent.
• The presence of an allele does not guarantee that the trait will be expressed.

A person can be a universal blood donor or acceptor. A universal blood donor has type O blood, while a universal blood acceptor has type AB blood.

There are several different types or groups of blood, andthe major groups are A, B, AB, and O. Blood group is a way to classify blood according to inherited differences of red blood cellantigensfound on the surface of a red blood cell. The type ofantibodyin blood also identifies a particular blood group. Antibodies are proteins found in the plasma. They function as part of the body’s natural defense to recognize foreign substances and alert the immune system.

Depending on which antigen is inherited, parental offspring will have one of the four major blood groups. Collectively, the following major blood groups comprise the ABO system:

• Blood group A: Displays type A antigens on the surface of a red blood cell and contains B antibodies in the plasma.
• Blood group B: Displays type B antigens on the red blood cell’s surface and contains A antibodies in the plasma.
• Blood group O: Does not display A or B antigens on the surface of a red blood cell. Both A and B antibodies are in the plasma.
• Blood group AB: Displays type A and B antigens on the red blood cell’s surface, but neither A nor B antibodies are in the plasma

In addition to antigens, the Rh factor protein may exist on a red blood cell’s surface. Because this protein can be either present (+) or absent (-), it increases the number of major blood groups from four to eight: A+, A-, B+, B-, O+, O-, AB+, and AB-.