Guia Biology in healthcare

1.1 Characteristics of living things

♦ They are made of one or more cells: Some organisms are single-celled, and others are multi-celled. Cells are the
fundamental unit of all living beings. Examples: Single-celled--> Bacteria; Multi-celled--> Animals
♦ Have a metabolism: Obtaining energy and nutrients is essential for carrying out our metabolic reactions.
Chemical reactions transforming molecules to sustain life.
Example: Birds acquire energy and nutrients from food
♦ Maintain homeostasis: Is the maintenance of internal conditions within a relatively constant change. Example: A
lizard increases its internal temperature by basking on a rock
♦ Response to stimuli: Living beings can perceive and react to changing conditions outside themselves. This ability
enables them to adjust and respond to change.
Example: When temperatures drop, monarch butterflies migrate to warmer climates.
♦ Possess Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as their genetic material: All living forms have DNA, it’s a molecule
with genetic information which is required to control various processes to stay alive and pass genetics to the
offspring. Example: Blood is something that contains DNA
♦ Grow: The information for increasing the size and development of organisms is encoded in genes.
Development is the set of changes that occur in an organism until it reaches adulthood.
Examples: DNA is the molecule that has the information that controls these characteristics
♦ Reproduce: Is when an individual transmits information to their offsprings, generating new living beings with the
same characteristics. Examples: Sexual reproduction (2 parents, better); Asexual reproduction (1 parent faster)
♦ Evolve: This is how a population of organisms change over time to adapt better to their development in the
environment. Example: Humans through history
1.2 History of microscope, the cell theory
Seneca (I B.C.) discovered that using a transparent spherical container filled with water, it was possible to observe small,
faint, large, and clear impressions.
This idea led to the creation of simple magnifying glasses in the year 1000, which today are considered the first
microscopes.
Al-Haytham (1021 AD) published his Book of Optics, in which light is related to vision and the formation of images,
and the functioning of lenses is described.
Hans and Zacharias Janssen (late 16th century) made the first compound microscope (a microscope with more than
one lens
Objects were magnified between 3 and 9 times.
Robert Hooke (1665) designed a microscope composed of three lenses. The instrument consisted of four tubes inside a
15 cm long cylinder. He used a small biconvex ocular lens at the top, then a flat-field convex lens, and finally another
biconvex lens at the end of the tube. He passed the light generated by an oil lamp through a flask filled with water, which
allowed him to diffuse the light and illuminate the sample. With this microscope, Hooke was able to magnify samples 20 to
50 times their actual size.
He could see a regular arrangement of similar small structures, imperceptible to the human eye, which he called cells (, as
they reminded him of the cells or rooms where monks slept in monasteries.
Today we know that Hooke observed the cell walls surrounding lifeless plant cells, he made them visible and described for
all to see through his detailed illustration of this tiny world published in his book Micrographia, published in 1665.
Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1667) designed a simple microscope (it had only one lens) that allowed him to magnify objects
200 to 300 times their original size.
He observed the wool of sheep, the sting of bees, the encephalic mass of a fly's head, the hair of a hare, etc. He also found
tiny life forms, which he called "animacula" (which were bacteria and protozoa) swimming in the water droplets of ponds.
He was the first to describe the various forms of bacteria found in pepper water or by scraping white matter stuck to teeth.
He observed blood and spermatozoa, which enabled him to see individual cells and recognize them as living units, although
he did not call them cells per se.
The microscope
The optical microscope is an instrument made up of mechanical system, which includes a series of components that give
stability to the microscope and a optical system, which comprises a series of elements that generate the magnified image.
-Mechanical system:

• Base: final part of the microscope, it provides balance and stability.

• Arm: intermediate piece, connects all parts of the microscope.
• Stage: Surface on which the sample is placed, hole in the center
• Stage clips: the stage contains 2 clamps that hold the specimen in a secure position.
• Coarse focusing knob: Adjusts the vertical position of the specimen.
• Fine focusing knob: Makes focusing the specimen more precise by moving the stage slowly.
• Nosepiece or turret: Rotating part on which objective lenses of different magnifications are anchored.
• Tube: Connects the eyepiece and objectives

-Optical system:

• Illuminator: The element that generates the light beam towards the sample.
• Condenser: It concentrates the light rays directed to the sample
• Diaphragm: Regulates the amount of light reaching the sample.
• Objective lenses: Lenses closest to the sample of the observed object.
• Eyepiece lens: It´s close to your eyes and provides a second magnification of the sample.
CELL THEORY
It is based on the observations of various scientists, including:
•Robert Hooke, first to observe a cell.
•Leeuwenhoek, he observed the first living cells.
•Matthias Schleiden observed that all vegetal tissues are made of cells.
•Theodor Schwann observed that all animal tissues are made of cells.
•Rudolf Virchow proved that all cells come from a previous cell.
Their work led to the postulation of a series of propositions known as cell theory.
 POSTULATES OF THE CELL THEORY
All living things are made up of cells.
It is the physiological unit of every living being.
All cells come from another pre-existing cell (ommni cellula e cellula).
The cell contains hereditary material (DNA)
Disease starts in the cell.
1.3 The cell
The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all living beings.
three basic structural features of the cell:

• plasmatic membrane: its function is to surround the cell and acts as a border or boundary with the outside
environment.
• Cytoplasm: mixture of a jelly-like fluid and a variety of structures, called organelles.
• genetic material (DNA): stores the information to make new cells and all internal components.
Cell types:
Prokaryotic cells (unicellular) (meaning before the nucleus) are found only in bacteria and archaea.(pili, capsule, cell
wall, Plasma membrane, Plasmid, Flagelli, Cytoplasm, DNA in the nucleoid, Ribosomes)
Eukaryotic cells (complex) (meaning true nucleus) form the structure of protists, fungi, plants, and animals.
Structure of a eukaryote cell
Cell membrane/Plasma membrane: Its function is to surround the cell and act as a border or limit with the outside.
Nucleus: Hosts the DNA inside and is made of three main parts: Nuclear envelope (membrane formed by 3 lipid
bilayers), chromatin (cellular DNA), nucleolus (ribosome manufacture).
Cytoplasm: Space between the hereditary material and the plasma membrane.
Organelles:
Endoplasmic reticulum (P)(A): Involved in the synthesis of proteins, lipids, and membrane components.

• Rough endoplasmic reticulum: with ribosomes

• Smooth endoplasmic reticulum: without ribosomes
Golgi complex (P)(A): Modifies new polypeptide chains, sorts and package proteins and lipids and makes some
polysaccharides.
Vesicles (P)(A): They transport, store, or disintegrate substances in the cell.
Mitochondria (P) (A): central producer of energy through aerobic metabolism.
Lysosomes (A): Degrade unwanted substances.
Central vacuole (P): Turgor to the cell. It contains water and waste.
Chloroplast (P): Responsible for photosynthesis. Energy into a useful form for the plant cell.
Peroxisome (P)(A): Inactivates toxins, metabolizes lipids, and protect cells from oxidative molecules.
Ribosomes (P)(A): Sites for protein synthesis.
 Cytoskeleton: network of protein fibers spread through the cytoplasm whose function is to support and shape the cell.
Centrioles(A): Anchorage for the cytoskeleton. Structures formed by a set of microtubules.
Cell transport
The cell exchanges materials with its environment, and it does this through the membrane.

The movement of substances by passive transport does not require the supply of energy. Molecules move HIGH TO
LOW concentration.

Passive transport occurs through:

Diffusion: process by which molecules move from a higher concentration to an area of lower concentration.
Osmosis: diffusion of water through a semipermeable membrane that separates two solutions with different
concentrations of solute.
Facilitated dissemination: Requires proteins, channel proteins open and close to allow molecules to pass through.

Active transport requires energy, so the cell spend energy to move substances. Molecules move LOW TO HIGH
concentration.
Endocytosis: the cell needs to acquire very large materials from the extracellular environment, these are engulfed
through the plasma membrane and transported through vesicles.

• Pinocytosis: Plasma membrane forms a dimple that encloses contents outside the cell and subsequently strangles
at the edge. Se hace un hoyito.
• Phagocytosis: The cell extends part of its membrane and forms pseudopods that envelop the particles. La
membrana celular le da un abracito a la particula
• Receptor mediated endocytosis: binding molecules from the cells environment to molecules on the membrane.
Hoyito con receptor.
Exocytosis: The cell needs to invest energy to release certain substances, which remain enclosed in vesicles that fuse
with the plasma membrane to diffuse their contents out of the cytosol.
Levels of organization
Atom → Molecule→ Organelles→ Cell→ Tissue→ Organ→ System→
Homeostasis
One of the main characteristics that distinguish living beings from non-living is the ability to maintain their
internal conditions despite the conditions of the external environment.
1929 that the physiologist Walter Cannon called the action of these regulatory mechanisms “homeostasis”.
1.4 Health and Illness
The WHO defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of
disease.
Well-being can be broken down into the following points.

• Good performance.
• Provision of sources.
• Lose living.
Functionating: action and effect of functionating
The definition of well-being relates well-functionating to the somatic and psychological activity of the person.
The well functionating is composed of three points:

• Physical functionating
• Mental functionating
• Social functionating
Set of things needed to live well has been represented as the provision of resources.
Well-being: It comprises good physical, mental and social functioning, as well as the provision of resources and a person's
sense of being able to live comfortably.
Disease: The disturbance or deviation from the physiological state in one or more parts of the body, due to generally
known causes, manifested by characteristic symptoms and signs, and whose course is more or less predictable.
Sign:
Sign: indication, a sign of something
Symptom: revealing manifestation of a disease
Affection: The Royal Academy of the Spanish Language equates the term affection as a synonym for disease. Impression
coming from something external causing an alteration or change in it.
disorder or injury that remains after the healing of an illness or trauma and that is a consequence of them.
Aliment: indisposition, discomfort, or illness.
Evolution of the concept of health

Royal Spanish Academy state in which the organic being normally exercises all its functions.
Aristotle The human being tends towards Eudaimonia (happiness), every human being directs their
actions towards the maintenance of health.
Judeo-Christian religious The idea of salvation and healing, state of absence of sin.
jurisdiction
French revolution A right to be assumed by the state.
Industrial revolution The ability to function
World Health state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of
Organization disease or infirmity.
Adolescent health
Adolescent = young person
A young person who produces a whole young person in growth.
The WHO classifies adolescence into 2 stages.
From 10 to 14 years old: “the hardest one”. there are a lot of physical and emotional changes.
From 15 to 19: less painful and more fun.
Risk factors in adolescence
Risk factor: any detectable characteristic or circumstance of a person or group associated with the probability of being
especially exposed to developing or suffering from a morbid process.
types of risk factors
Infectious or transmittable risk factors: caused by viruses or bacteria.
Non transmittable risk factors: do not involve pathogens. (Risk factor that affect most adolescents)
These factors are adolescent pregnancy, addictions, and obesity.
-Pregnancy
complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the second leading cause of death worldwide for young women
between 15 and 19 years of age.
Complications of adolescent pregnancy:
Pre-eclampsia: increased blood pressure during pregnancy and delivery.
Eclampsia: A complication of pre-eclampsia, where seizures occur during labor.
Obstetric hemorrhage: Excessive uterine bleeding caused by over-dimensioning during labor.
-Addictions

• Social media:
They are fundamental to keeping us informed, creating strategic alliances for business.
They use algorithms based on Skinner's box experiments related to its three stages: motivation, skill, and signal.
Motivation force: pleasure, hope, terror, indignation, social acceptance and fear of social rejection.
Skill: using social networks is as easy as pulling a lever.
Signals: specialist recommend turning off any notification.

• Drugs and alcohol

addictions are now recognized as a brain disease, consisting of a neurobiological component and a social affectation.
Drugs modify the structure and chemistry of the brain and, therefore, its functioning.
-Obesity
In 2015, biologist Diego Bohórquez demonstrated how a cell in our digestive system is connected directly with a neuron.
This new system that connects the digestive system with the neurological system has been called the Enteric Nervous
System.
Scientists point out that to sustain a healthy brain metabolism and to guarantee the production of enough serotonin, our
brains require at least 30 micronutrients found mainly in grains and legumes.
Biological changes demand increased micronutrients for healthy development, so we should opt for legumes, vegetable fats,
fat free meats, fruits and vegetables.