Thought Exercise

This chapter is intended largely as a survey of the biological system in which our physical studies occur. The following exercises may be useful for students who are unfamiliar with much of the basic content in biological studies to help review the chapter content. Because the answers are essentially a recap and reorganization of the chapter content itself, answers are not given in this manual. 

1 Use a graphical organizer (see Chapter 1) to write a systems analysis of 

2 Extend your systems analysis to various subsystems of the cell including (1) the cytosol, (2) the ribosome (3) mitochondrion (4) cell membrane (5) nucleus. 

3 Are the sub-systems described in Question 2.2 the same for the prokaryotic cells and for the eukaryotic cells  

4 Graphical organizers can be useful in describing changes that occur in complex systems. Use a change organizer to summarize the phenomenon of the rusting of the earth that occurred around 2 billion years ago. 

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Some students confuse retrosynthesis with a reverse reaction, especially in the case of aldol reactions, because aldol reaction are reversible. Retrosynthetic analysis of an aldol product is a thought exercise used to figure out which aldehydes or ketones must be combined to make the target. A reverse aldol reaction is an actual reaction in which the product is hydrolyzed, using water and a catalyst, back into the aldehydes or ketones that were used to make it. 

In the building industry there was much emphasis in the early 1960s on the allplastics house although the raw material suppliers who sponsored their design probably thought of them primarily as publicity exercises. As the plastics industry has matured it has been realised that it is better to emphasise those applications where plastics are preferable to traditional materials and this... 

The lactic acid is taken up by mitochondria in muscle cells and burned as fuel. Athletes can exercise with more intensity and for longer periods than most people not because they break down lactic acid faster, as previously thought, but because their muscles contain more mitochondria that absorb more lactic acid, allowing the muscles to produce more energy. 

Kishi and coworkers used a commercial NO-selective microelectrode to monitor the effect that exercise has on platelet-derived NO [110], This study used 23 healthy male non-smokers who underwent treadmill exercise. Blood samples were taken from the subjects before and directly following exercise and blood platelets isolated. The study showed that NO concentration and platelet levels were increased following exercise. This increase in NO concentration is thought to play a role in the prevention of exercise induced platelet activation in humans. 

Because the compressibility index can be thought of as a measure of the likelihood of arch formation and the ease with which arches will fail [44], and because it can be rapidly completed, it appears to be a useful measure of flow. Obviously, exceptions will occur, and caution should be exercised in its interpretation. As we will dicuss, the compressibility index values reported in Tables 2 and 3 and Fig. 4 are quite consistent with shear cell characterization. 

Deficiency of the muscle-specific myoadenylate deaminase (MADA) is a frequent cause of exercise-related myopathy and is thought to be the most common cause of metabolic myopathy. MADA catalyzes the deamination of AMP to IMP in skeletal muscle and is critical in the purine nucleotide cycle. It is estimated that about 1-2% of all muscle biopsies submitted to medical centers for pathologic examination are deficient in AMP deaminase enzyme activity. MADA is 10 times higher in skeletal muscle than in any other tissue. Increase in plasma ammonia (relative to lactate) after ischemic exercise of the forearm may be low in this disorder, which is a useful clinical diagnostic test in patients with exercise-induced myalgia... 

Mutations in the SERCA1 pump of skeletal muscle lead to Brody s disease, in which there is delayed muscle relaxation, particularly after exercise, leading to cramps. It is thought to be due to reduced efficiency of the SERCA1 pumps reducing the rate at which Ca2+ can be removed from the cytoplasm (Odermatt et al 2000). 

The following six assumptions that professionals have about clients may cause distress in the therapeutic relationship if not challenged. After each commonly held belief is a realistic way to view the concern. When you notice yourself holding one of these errant assumptions about your client, follow this exercise to remind you of the reality of the situation, using the statement of reality to challenge the related errant expectation. See Chapter 5 for more information on challenging errant thoughts and assumptions. 

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