Question

Additional Critical Thinking Questions

1. You are the captain of a miniature submarine that is being sent on a voyage through the body. Your assignment is to plot the course taken by molecules of oxygen from the atmosphere to the heart and the reverse course taken by molecules of carbon dioxide from the heart to the atmosphere. Diagram and explain how you would organize the course.

2. A five-year-old child threatens to hold his breath until he dies if his mother does not buy him an ice cream cone. Would you advise the mother to let the child hold his breath or to give in to his demand? Your advice should be based only on any possible physiological damage to the child.

3. You have been asked to assist an 80-year-old resident of a nursing home who is hyperventilating. You want to be sure she does not faint and lose consciousness. What are you going to do to help this individual?

4. A tracheotomy is an operation to make an opening in the trachea if there is an upper respiratory obstruction of airflow. Explain how ventilation is possible via this opening and why you don’t need to use your nose or mouth to bring air into your lungs.

5. Asthma is an obstructive disease characterized by inflamed airways that lead to decreased diameter of the airways. Based on your knowledge of airway resistance and mechanics of breathing explain the effect of asthma on inspiration and expiration. Which of these, expiration or inspiration, will be more greatly affected by this disease?

Answer 1

Airway resistance is increased at low lung volumes due to reduced airway diameter and at high gas-flow rates due to turbulent flow (e.g., during forced expiration). Diseases in which airway narrowing occurs, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, increase airway resistance....

Airways tend to close early during expiration, and hyperinflation results. ... Most asthmatics complain of greater difficulty during inspiration than expiration, due to the uncomfortable work of breathing necessary to ventilate hyperinflated, abnormally stiff, or noncompliant lungs...

In asthma, the markedly increased airway resistance (airflow obstruction) contributes to the characteristic physiologic and clinical changes observed during active or symptomatic periods. The airway obstruction is diffuse and nonuniform in distribution, resulting in ventilation–perfusion inequalities and hypoxemia. Airways tend to close early during expiration, and hyperinflation results. Although breathing at high lung volumes tends to maintain open airways, this response demands increased muscular work of breathing to provide adequate ventilation, which is increased secondary to stimulation of airway receptors and hypoxia. Most asthmatics complain of greater difficulty during inspiration than expiration, due to the uncomfortable work of breathing necessary to ventilate hyperinflated, abnormally stiff, or noncompliant lungs

The tube is inserted through a cut in the neck below the vocal cords. This allows air to enter the lungs. Breathing is then done through the tube, bypassing the mouth, nose, and throat...

It typically takes one to three days to adapt to breathing through a tracheostomy tube. Talking and making sounds also takes some practice. This is because the air you breathe no longer passes through your voice box. For some people, covering the tube helps them talk.

Alternately, special valves can be attached to the tracheostomy tube. While still taking in air through the tube, these valves allow air to exit the mouth and nose, permitting speech.

Note:- dear student please post the questions seprarately as due to constrain of time we have been asked todo only one question but i habe answered three.