The Respiratory System

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The Respiratory System
By Jenny, Priti, Lindsay
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Functions of the System

• The main function of the respiratory system is
  rather simple in concept to bring in oxygen from
  the atmosphere and get rid of carbon dioxide from
  the blood.You breathe in oxygen rich air and you
  breathe out carbon dioxide rich air. When you
  breathe in the oxygen rich air, it goes through
  the nasal cavity where dust and dirt are swept up
  by tiny hairs. Since oxygen and carbon dioxide
  are gases, the process of bringing one in and
  excreting the other is called gas exchange.
• While the intake of oxygen and removal of carbon
  dioxide are the primary functions of the
  respiratory system, it plays other important
  roles in the body. The respiratory system helps
  regulate the balance of acid and base in tissues,
  a process crucial for the normal functioning of
  cells. It protects the body against
  disease-causing organisms and toxic substances
  inhaled with air.
• The respiratory and circulatory systems work
  together to deliver oxygen to cells and remove
  carbon dioxide in a two-phase process called
  respiration.
• The first phase of respiration begins with
  breathing in, or inhalation. Inhalation brings
  air from outside the body into the lungs. Oxygen
  in the air moves from the lungs through blood
  vessels to the heart, which pumps the oxygen-rich
  blood to all parts of the body. Oxygen then moves
  from the bloodstream into cells, which completes
  the first phase of respiration.

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Functions of the System Cont.

• In the cells, oxygen is used in a separate
  energy-producing process called cellular
  respiration, which produces carbon dioxide as a
  byproduct.
• The second phase of respiration begins with the
  movement of carbon dioxide from the cells to the
  bloodstream. The bloodstream carries carbon
  dioxide to the heart, which pumps the carbon
  dioxide-laden blood to the lungs. In the lungs,
  breathing out, or exhalation, removes carbon
  dioxide from the body, thus completing the
  respiration cycle.

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Problems and Diseases
Bronchitis
Tuberculosis

• Inflammation of the bronchi (air passages
  connecting the windpipe with the sacs of the
  lung).
• Symptoms are fever, coughing, spitting, and a
  severe cold. This could continue for months and
  return each year.
• Cigarette smoking and environmental pollution are
  the main causes of bronchitis.
• Also caused by various infections which damage
  and weaken the bronchial walls
• The best treatment for bronchitis is prevention
  which means no smoking. Various antibiotics are
  also given.
• Bronchitis is a preventable disease rare in
  non-smokers. Infants and children generally get
  it more often than adults.

• The disease is caused by Mycobacterium
  tuberculosis, a rod- shaped bacterium.
• Symptoms of TB include coughing, chest pain,
  shortness of breath, loss of appetite, weight
  loss, fever, chills, and fatigue.
• Children and people with weakened immune systems
  are the most susceptible to TB. Half of all
  untreated TB cases are fatal.
• Vaccines, such as the Bacillus Calmette Guerin
  (BCG) are the most effective in preventing
  tuberculosis.
• Ventilation systems lessen the chance of
  infection by dispersing the bacteria. Ultraviolet
  lighting also reduces, but does not eliminate,
  the threat of infection by killing TB bacteria in
  confined spaces.

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Problems and Diseases Cont.

• WHAT IS PNEUMONIA?
• Pneumonia is a serious infection or
• inflammation of your lungs. The air sacs
• In the lungs fill with pus and other liquid.
• Oxygen has trouble reaching your blood.
• If there is too little oxygen in your
• blood, your body cells can't work
• properly. Because of this and spreading
• infection through the body pneumonia
• can cause death.
• CAUSES OF PNEUMONIA
• Pneumonia is not a single disease. It can
• have over 30 different causes. There are
• five main causes of pneumonia
• Bacteria
• Viruses
• Mycoplasmas
• Other infectious agents, such as fungi
• including pneumocystis

• WHAT IS EMPHYSEMA?
• Emphysema is a condition in which
• there is over-inflation of structures
• in the lungs known as alveoli or air
• sacs. This over-inflation results from
• a breakdown of the walls of the
• alveoli, which causes a decrease in
• respiratory function (the way the
• Lungs work) and often,
• breathlessness.  
• CAUSES OF EMPHYSEMA
• The elastic fibers in the lung allow
• the lungs to expand and contract.
• When the chemical balance is
• altered, the lungs lose the ability
• to protect themselves against the
• destruction of these elastic fibers.
• This is what happens in
• emphysema.

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Asthma

• WHAT IS ASTHMA? Asthma is a lung disease. It can
  be life threatening. Asthma is chronic. In other
  words, you live with it every day. Asthma causes
  breathing problems. These breathing problems are
  called attacks or episodes of asthma.
• AN ASTHMA ATTACK Doctors are not exactly certain
  how you get asthma. But they do know that once
  you have it, your lungs react to things that can
  start an asthma attack. For instance, when you
  have asthma, you might get an asthma attack when
  you have a cold (or some other kind of
  respiratory infection). Or, you might get an
  attack when you breathe something that bothers
  your lungs (such as cigarette smoke, dust or
  feathers). When this happens, three changes take
  place in your lungs
• Cells in your air tubes make more mucus than
  normal. This mucus is very thick and sticky. It
  tends to clog up the tubes.
• The air tubes tend to swell, just as skin
  swells when you get a scrape.
• The muscles in your air tubes tighten.
• These changes cause the air tubes to narrow.
  This makes it hard to breathe.
• Asthma attacks may start suddenly. Or they may
  take a long time, even days, to develop. Attacks
  can be severe, moderate or mild.

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What Our System Looks Like

• This system includes the lungs, pathways
  connecting them to the outside environment, and
  structures in the chest involved with moving air
  in and out of the lungs.
• Air enters the body through the nose, is
  warmed, filtered, and passed through the nasal
  cavity. Air passes the pharynx. The upper part of
  the trachea contains the larynx. The vocal cords
  are two bands of tissue that extend across the
  opening of the larynx. After passing the larynx,
  the air moves into the bronchi that carry air in
  and out of the lungs.
• Bronchi are reinforced to prevent their
  collapse and are lined with ciliated epithelium
  and mucus-producing cells. Bronchi branch into
  smaller and smaller tubes known as bronchioles.
  Bronchioles terminate in grape-like sac clusters
  known as alveoli. Alveoli are surrounded by a
  network of thin-walled capillaries. Only about
  0.2 µm separate the alveoli from the capillaries
  due to the extremely thin walls of both
  structures.

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More Diagrams

• Ventilation is the mechanics of breathing in
  and out. When you inhale, muscles in the chest
  wall contract, lifting the ribs and pulling them,
  outward. The diaphragm at this time moves
  downward enlarging the chest cavity. Reduced air
  pressure in the lungs causes air to enter the
  lungs. Exhaling reverses theses steps.
• The lungs are large, lobed, paired organs in
  the chest (also known as the thoracic cavity).
  Thin sheets of epithelium (pleura) separate the
  inside of the chest cavity from the outer surface
  of the lungs.The bottom of the thoracic cavity is
  formed by the diaphragm.

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New Technology
A University of Pittsburgh researcher who has
developed a device that functions like a
temporary set of of lungs told a group of heart
and lung transplant surgeons today that such
technology could have a tremendous impact for the
nearly 750,000 patients with emphysema, chest
trauma or acute respiratory distress, about
150,00 of whom die each year. April 27, 2001
researchers from the university of Pittsburgh led
to the development of the Hattler Respiratory
Catheter. Its designed that it can effectively
carbon dioxide and oxygen in patients with
comprised lungs, allowing their own lungs to rest
and heal. The intravenous devise is inserted
through a vein in the leg and positioned in the
main vein that returns blood to the heart. The
artificial will also help people suffering from
chronic obstructive lung disease, in which lungs
are damaged. The artificial lung will take over
the job of putting fresh oxygen in blood for up
to two weeks. A lung transplant is donated from
a human who has been declared brain-dead but
remains on life-support. Tissue matches must be
made to assure the patients best chance of
fighting off rejection of the transplanted
tissue. While the patient is deep asleep and
pain-free, an incision is made through the
sternum. Tubes are used to re-route the blood to
a heart-lung bypass machine to keep the blood
oxygenated and circulating during the surgery.
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Factoids

• Your lungs contain almost 1500 miles of airways
  and over 300 million alveoli.
• Every minute you breathe in 13 pints of air.
• Plants are our partners in breathing. We
  breathe in air, use the oxygen, and release
  carbon dioxide. Plants take in carbon dioxide and
  release oxygen. Thank God!
• People tend to get more colds in the winter
  because were indoors more often and in close
  proximity to other people. When people sneeze,
  cough and breathe germs go flying!

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Bibliography
http//www.lungusa.org http//www.eb.com180/ http
//tmx.com/fun/roadmap/respirat.htmFrost, Helen
. The Respiratory System. Mankato,
MN Pebble Books, 2001. Stille, Darlene R.
The Respiratory System. New York Children's P,
1997. Sebel, Peter . Respiration, the breath of
life . New York Torstar Books, 1985.
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THE END