Janet Rae-Dupree

To successfully study anatomy and physiology, you'll want to understand all the Latin and Greek roots, prefixes and suffixes. Also, make sure to get a good foundational knowledge of anatomic cavities, anatomic positions (standard positions when looking at an anatomical drawing), and anatomic planes.Latin and Greek in anatomy and physiologyScience, especially medicine, is permeated with Latin and Greek terms.

Atoms tend to arrange themselves in the most stable patterns possible, which means that they have a tendency to complete or fill their outermost electron orbits. They join with other atoms to do just that. The force that holds atoms together in collections known as molecules is referred to as a chemical bond. There are two main types and some secondary types of chemical bonds:Ionic bondIonic bonding involves a transfer of an electron, so one atom gains an electron while one atom loses an electron.

What’s the best way to tackle anatomy and physiology and come out successful on the other side? Of course, a good memory helps plenty, but with a little advance planning and tricks of the study trade, even students who complain that they can’t remember their own names on exam day can summon the right terminology and information from their scrambled synaptic pathways.

When studying histology you should know that muscle tissue is made up of fibers known as myocytes. The cytoplasm within the fibers is called sarcoplasm, and within that sarcoplasm are minute myofibrils that contain the protein filaments actin and myosin. These filaments slide past each other during a muscle contraction, shortening the fiber.

Perhaps because of its unique job of both protecting the outer body and lining internal organs, epithelial tissue has many characteristics that distinguish it from other tissue types. Epithelial tissues, which generally are arranged in sheets or tubes of tightly packed cells, always have a free, or apical, surface that can be exposed to the air or to fluid.

Human osteology, from the Greek word for “bone” (osteon) and the suffix –logy, which means “to study,” focuses on the 206 bones in the adult body endoskeleton. But osteology is more than just bones; it’s also ligaments and cartilage and the joints that make the whole assembly useful. The skeletal system as a whole serves five key functions: Protection: The skeleton encases and shields delicate internal organs that might otherwise be damaged during motion or crushed by the weight of the body itself.

Connective tissues connect, support, and bind body structures together. Unlike other types of tissues, connective tissues are classified more by the stuff in which the cells lie — the extracellular matrix — than by the cells themselves. In most cases, the cells that produce that matrix are scattered within it.

Skeletal muscle power is nothing without lever action. The bone acts as a rigid bar, the joint is the fulcrum, and the muscle applies the force. Levers are divided into the weight arm, the area between the fulcrum and the weight; and the power arm, the area between the fulcrum and the force. When the power arm is longer than the weight arm, less force is required to lift the weight, but range, or distance, and speed are sacrificed.

The hard part of the fingernails and toenails contains a tough protein called keratin. Human nails (which actually are vestigial claws) have three parts: a root bed at the nail base, a body that’s attached to the fingertip, and a free edge that grows beyond the end of the finger or toe. Heavily cornified tissue forms the nails from modified strata corneum and lucidum.