Heart anatomy

Accompanying the variations in heart anatomy are variations in function as well. In a series of 182 normal young men8 it was found that the heart rates ranged from 45 to 105 beats per minute. The pumping capacities of normal hearts vary from 3.16 to 10.81 liters of blood per minute.9... 

Human heart anatomy diagram [Internet] [cited 10 November 2009]. Available from http //www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hhw/hhw anatomy.html. 

Nelson TR, Pretorius DH, Sklansky M (1996) Three dimensional echocardiographic evaluation of fetal heart anatomy and function acquisition, analysis, and display. J Ultrasound Med 15 1-9... 

Analytical models of the heart are a reality. They are based on detailed descriptions of cardiac tissue architecture and anatomy, including the coronary vasculature. In sihco cardiac tissues possess realistic passive mechanical properties, and both electrical and mechanical activity can be simulated with high accuracy. Descriptions of key components of cellular metabolism have been introduced, as have models of drug-receptor interactions. 

FIGURE 4-2. Coronary artery anatomy with sternocostal and diaphragmatic views. (Reproduced from Talbert RL. Ischemic heart disease. In DiPiro JT, Talbert RL, Yee GC, et al, (eds.) Pharmacotherapy A Pathophysiologic Approach. 6th ed. New York McGraw-Hill 2005 263, with permission.)... 

In Sussex, a tradition is to take an elder twig, tie it in three or four knots and carry it in one s pocket to protect the bearer from rheumatism. Elder twigs have also been used as an amulet to help prevent epilepsy. According to Anatomie of an Elder, "In the month of October, a little before the full moon, pluck a twig of the Elder and cut the part out between two joints. Cut into nine pieces, tie them up in a linen cloth and bind above the heart with thread. Tighten until the thread breaks, remove the amulet with an instrument and bury in the ground, so nobody can touch it."... 

It seems inevitable in view of our discussion on variations of anatomy and of heart outputs that normal individuals should have circulatory peculiarities. An extreme case of what may be a circulatory peculiarity has been called to my attention. This individual continually has a problem of cold feet he uses a heating pad under his working desk, carries one around with him and on social occasions sits near an electric outlet, plugs it in, and attempts to be comfortable. It seems likely that this individual suffers because of unrecognized... 

FIGURE 19-1 Biochemical anatomy of a mitochondrion. The convolutions (cristae) of the inner membrane provide a very large surface area. The inner membrane of a single liver mitochondrion may have more than 10,000 sets of electron-transfer systems (respiratory chains) and ATP synthase molecules, distributed over the membrane surface. Heart mitochondria, which have more profuse cristae and thus a much larger area of inner membrane, contain more than three times as many sets of electron-transfer systems as liver mitochondria. The mitochondrial pool of coenzymes and intermediates is functionally separate from the cytosolic pool. The mitochondria of invertebrates, plants, and microbial eukaryotes are similar to those shown here, but with much variation in size, shape, and degree of convolution of the inner membrane. 

My son, here you have the whole process of our work in your hands, without any disruption and without any superfluity and summarized by a competently written eloquence. Therefore, prepare your heart, that you may find favour in God s eyes. For it is a gift of God and it contains the secret of the indivisible unity of the Holy Trinity. O most precious of all sciences, you are the theatre of the whole nature and its anatomy, the earthly astronomy, the troth of God Almighty, the proof of the resurrection of the dead, the example of the remission of sinners, the unmistakeable proof of the future Last Judgement and the mirror of eternal bliss. Truly, no science is more exalted than this one for this one science contains all sciences, without being included in one of them itself. 

In 1997 David Berliner, an anatomy professor turned entrepreneur, reported that when tiny amounts of a synthetic steroid were put on the VNO of men it made them relaxed and their heart rate and breathing rate slowed down. Clearly the VNO is not as inactive as we imagine. And searches for a human genome by a team at The Rockefeller University in New York in 2000 revealed that we still have five potentially functional genes that we share in common with the VNO pheromone receptors of mice. A human sex attractant may yet be developed and maybe sooner than we imagine because a great deal is being discovered about sexual chemistry - see box. 

In a review of 114 cases, coronary anatomy, defined either by angiography or autopsy, was normal in 38% of chronic cocaine users who had had a myocardial infarction (23). The authors of another review concluded that the vast majority of patients dying with cocaine toxicity, either have no pathological changes in the heart, or only minimal changes (24). There can be a delay between the... 

Figure 5.8. The conduction system of the heart, a Anatomy, b Electrical rhythm in the sinoatrial node (top), atrioventricular node (center), and the heart muscle (bottom). The dotted line inb (center) represents the own rhythm of the AV node that normally gets overridden by the faster sinoatrial rhythm (solid line).

In a review of 114 cases, coronary anatomy, defined either by angiography or autopsy, was normal in 38% of chronic cocaine users who had had a myocardial infarction (20). The authors of another review concluded that the vast majority of patients dying with cocaine toxicity, either have no pathological changes in the heart, or only minimal changes (21). There can be a delay between the use of cocaine and the development of chest pain (44). The results of a study of 101 consecutive patients admitted with acute chest pain related to cocaine suggested that it commonly causes chest pain that may not be secondary to myocardial ischemia (45). The use of intranasal cocaine for therapeutic purposes (to treat epistaxis) was associated with myocardial infarction in a 57-year-old man with hypertension and stable angina (46). 

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