Macromolecules and House Case

9/10/13

     We started Friday's class, 9/6/13, with a quiz on graphing. I did ok on this quiz, but I did mess up on the part which asked for some standardized variables, and the part that involved naming the graph. All in all, I got a 2 on the quiz, which is something I can live with.

     After the quiz, Mr. Quick taught us about macromolecules. He taught us that there is a BiLayer, made up of phosphate and lipid, called Phospholipid. We learned that the lipid is Hydrophilic, likes water, and the phosphate is Hydrophobic, afraid of water. We learned that the combination of imbedded proteins and carbohydrates is called a Glycoprotein. Glycoproteins and Glycolipeds, which contains carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, both act as functions, and can communicate by chemically talking. We also learned about how proteins act as transportation systems, and allows water to travel through. Proteins also allow other things to pass through, and can even help pull things through. Proteins can sense the things that touch them, and communicate it through to the other side to find out if it should be allowed to pass through or not.

     We also review a bit of Osmosis and Diffusion, and how they can both be controlled by the selectively permeable cell membrane (security wall). We also learned that active transport needs energy, and that Facilitated Diffusion needs help, which it receives from either a channel or a carrier.

     The rest of the class we did the House Case. Anthony, Calvin, and myself volunteered to be the doctors for this case. We wrote on the board the symptoms that the 18 year old high school cross-country runner had, which included headaches, vomiting, tiredness, and confusion. We put some tests that we would run on the patient, which included checking his vitals and temperature, blood tests, and brain scans. These are all shown below. 

Kidney Test not seen in picture, is off to right.

      Then we came up with all of the possible diagnosis, and began asking Mr. Quick some questions. Some notable answers were that he was unsure if he had diabetes, said that he drank alcohol on the weekends, and that he drank three gallons of water during cross country practice. All of the diagnosis are shown below.

     After getting back the results from some tests, we eliminated some diagnosis in class, seen as crossed out in the above picture. The remaining ones were Dehydration, Over hydration/Hypernatremia, Heat Exhaustion/Stroke, Gastroenteritis, Sleep Deprivation, and Migraine. With only these left, and the others already eliminated during class, I got started. The results said that his Serum/Blood Na level was 125 meq/L, and I found that a normal Serum/Blood Na level is between 135-145 meq/L. I also found that a low Serum/Blood Na level, which is seen is this patient, occurs when there is an increase in water intake. The next results were the Serum Osmolality, and it said that his was decreased. I found out that a decrease in Serum Osmolality can be a result of drinking too much water. The next test was a Urinalysis, and it showed that his Specific Gravity had decreased. This is once again, this would be caused by an excess intake of fluids. The last result shows that that the patients blood pressure was slightly elevated, which can be caused by an increased amount in water intake. With the findings in all of these tests, and the fact that he admitted to drinking 3 gallons of water, it is pretty clear that the patient suffered from over hydration, otherwise known as Hypernatremia.