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Thyroid

The young narrator describes their large, impoverished family who are full of laughter despite often going hungry. In contrast, their wealthy neighbor's children are sickly despite having plenty of food. The rich man accuses the narrator's family of stealing the "spirit" of his family's food. At the absurd trial, the narrator's father pays the rich man back with coins collected from friends, maintaining the jingling of coins equals the "spirit" of the food. The judge rules in favor of the poor father.

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Christine Joy Guinhawa Dalisay
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42 views

Thyroid

The young narrator describes their large, impoverished family who are full of laughter despite often going hungry. In contrast, their wealthy neighbor's children are sickly despite having plenty of food. The rich man accuses the narrator's family of stealing the "spirit" of his family's food. At the absurd trial, the narrator's father pays the rich man back with coins collected from friends, maintaining the jingling of coins equals the "spirit" of the food. The judge rules in favor of the poor father.

Uploaded by

Christine Joy Guinhawa Dalisay
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The young narrator begins by describing his large family.

Though they are poor they are full of mischief and laughter. The children are all strong and healthy even though they often go hungry. In contrast, their rich neighbors children are thin and sickly although they are given plenty of good food, which their impoverished neighbors enjoy smelling over the fence. Consequently, the rich man brings a charge against the narrator's family for stealing the spirit of his familys food. The absurd case goes to court, and the narrators father agrees to pay back the rich neighbor. He does this by collecting coins from all his friends present in his hat, then shaking the hat full of coins. Being charged to pay for the spirit of food which his family supposedly got from its smell, he maintains that the jingling of the coins is a fair equivalent. The judge rules in the poor fathers favor, and the rich man is forced to depart with no other payment than the spirit of the money the poor man collected.

How Your Thyroid Works "A delicate Feedback Mechanism" Your thyroid gland is a small gland, normally weighing less than one ounce, located in the front of the neck. It is made up of two halves, called lobes, that lie along the windpipe (trachea) and are joined together by a narrow band of thyroid tissue, known as the isthmus. The thyroid is situated just below your "Adams apple" or larynx. During development (inside the womb) the thyroid gland originates in the back of the tongue, but it normally migrates to the front of the neck before birth. Sometimes it fails to migrate properly and is located high in the neck or even in the back of the tongue (lingual thyroid) This is very rare. At other times it may migrate too far and ends up in the chest (this is also rare). The function of the thyroid gland is to take iodine, found in many foods, and convert it into thyroid hormones:thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3).Thyroid cells are the only cells in the body which can absorb iodine. These cells combine iodine and the amino acid tyrosine to make T3 and T4. T3 and T4 are then released into the blood stream and are transported throughout the body where they control metabolism (conversion of oxygen and calories to energy).Every cell in the body depends upon thyroid hormones for regulation of their metabolism. The normal thyroid gland produces about 80% T4 and about 20% T3, however, T3 possesses about four times the hormone "strength" as T4.

The thyroid gland is under the control of the pituitary gland, a small gland the size of a peanut at the base of the brain (shown here in orange). When the level of thyroid hormones (T3 & T4) drops too low, the pituitary gland produces Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH)which stimulates the thyroid gland to produce more hormones. Under the influence of TSH, the thyroid will manufacture and secrete T3 and T4 thereby raising their blood levels. The pituitary senses this and responds by decreasing its TSH production. One can imagine the thyroid gland as a furnace and the pituitary gland as the thermostat. Thyroid hormones are like heat. When the heat gets back to the thermostat, it turns the thermostat off. As the room cools (the thyroid hormone levels drop), the thermostat turns back on (TSH increases) and the furnace produces more heat (thyroid hormones).

The pituitary gland itself is regulated by another gland, known as the hypothalamus (shown in our picture in light blue). The hypothalamus is part of the brain and produces TSH Releasing Hormone (TRH) which tells the pituitary gland to stimulate the thyroid gland (release TSH). One might imagine the hypothalamus as the person who regulates the thermostat since it tells the pituitary gland at what level the thyroid should be set.

Regulation of thyroid hormone levels TSH stimulates the thyroid gland to secrete the hormones thyroxin (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). TSH production is controlled by thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), which is manufactured in the hypothalamus and transported to the anterior pituitary gland via the hypothalamo-hypophyseal portal system, where it increases TSH production and release. Somatostatin is also produced by the hypothalamus, and has an opposite effect on the pituitary production of TSH, decreasing or inhibiting its release. The level of thyroid hormones (T3 and T4) in the blood has an effect on the pituitary release of TSH; when the levels of T3 and T4 are low, the production of TSH is increased, and, on the converse, when levels of T3 and T4 are high, TSH production is decreased. This effect creates a regulatory negative feedback loop.
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