SCIENCE NOTES MODULES 1-4

RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

Respiratory system is made up of the organs in the body that helps us to breathe. Just remember that the word
respiration is linked to breathing. Now let’s discuss the different parts of respiratory system.

Parts of Respiratory System:

NOSE/ NOSTRILS - It is where the air enters.

NASAL PASSAGES – It is where the air is made warm, damp, and clean of unknown particles.

TRACHEA - A large membranous tube reinforced by rings of cartilage, extending from

the larynx to the bronchial tubes and conveying air to and from the lungs.

the windpipe.

LUNGS - Pair of spongy, air-filled organs located on either side of the chest.

DIAPHRAGM - It plays a major role in breathing, as its contraction increases the volume.

of the thorax and so inflates the lungs

BRONCHI- The two branching tubes that connect the trachea to the lungs.

BRONCHIOLES – are hairlike tubes that connect to the alveoli.

ALVEOLI - The air sacs that allow gas exchange in the lungs.

The air we breathe goes through the nose, nasal passages, and then through the trachea or windpipe, which separates
into two branches, called bronchial tubes or bronchi, one entering each lung. The bronchi subdivide many times inside the
lungs, analogous to the branching pattern of grapes, finally becoming hair like tubes called bronchioles. In the last part of
the terminal bronchioles are tiny bubble-like bunch of structures called alveoli or air sacs. Oxygen is necessary for life to
exist. Without it, the cells in the body would not be able to release the energy in food for power, and they would die within
minutes. When you inhale air, respiratory system gets oxygen. When you exhale, carbon dioxide is released.

When you breathe in, or inhale, the diaphragm muscle contracts. Inhaling moves the diaphragm down and expands the
chest cavity. Simultaneously, the ribs move up and increase the size of the chest cavity. There is now more space and less
air pressure inside the lungs. Air pushes in from the outside where there is a higher air pressure. It pushes into the lungs
where there is a lower air pressure. When you breathe out, or exhale, the diaphragm muscle relaxes. The diaphragm and
ribs return to their original place. The chest cavity returns to its original size. There is now less space and greater air
pressure inside the lungs. It pushes the air outside where there is lower air pressure.
CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

The circulatory system is the life support structure that nourishes your cells with nutrients from the food you eat and
oxygen from the air you breathe. It can compare to a highways, avenues and lanes connecting all the cells together.
Sequentially, the community of cells sustains the body to stay alive. The circulatory system functions with other systems
to deliver materials in the body. It circulates vital elements such as oxygen and nutrients. At the same time, it also
transports wastes away from the body.

There are the three major parts of the circulatory system, with their functions:

HEART - pumps the blood throughout the body.

BLOOD VESSELS - carries the blood throughout the body.

TYPES OF BLOOD VESSELS

ARTERIES - carry oxygenated blood away from the heart to the cells, tissues and organs of the body.

VEINS - carry deoxygenated blood to the heart.

CAPILLARIES - the smallest blood vessels in the body connecting the smallest arteries to the smallest veins; the actual
site where gases and nutrients are exchanged.

BLOOD - carries the materials throughout the body.

TYPES OF CIRCULATION

PULMONARY CIRCULATION - movement of blood from the heart to the lungs, and back to the heart

CORONARY CIRCULATION - movement of blood through the tissues of the heart

SYSTEMATIC CIRCULATION - movement of blood from the heart to the rest of the body, excluding the lungs.

The Human Heart

Do you know how big your heart is? Take a look at your fist.
The heart is a hollow muscle, as seen in picture on the
right, which is just as big as your fist. It has four chambers
with specific tasks to do: two ventricles and two atria. The
atria are the receiving chambers of the heart, accepting
blood from the body (right atrium) and from the lungs (left
atrium). The ventricles are the pumping chambers, moving
blood to the lungs (right ventricle) and into the body (left
ventricle) The heart has two pumps. Each pump has two
chambers, the upper and lower chambers. The upper
chamber is the atrium that receives blood coming in from
the veins. The lower chamber is the ventricle that forces
the blood out into the arteries. There is a valve between
each atrium and ventricle to prevent the blood from
flowing backwards. The valves are like one-way doors that
keep the blood moving in only one direction. Valves control
movement of blood into the heart chambers and out to the
aorta and the pulmonary artery.
Circulatory system delivers and transport oxygen and nutrients to different cells in our body. It also collects waste materials
like carbon dioxide in which to be released through exhalation. There are three parts of circulatory system namely: blood
vessels – serves as the highways and avenues in which blood flows, heart – pumps the blood throughout the body and
lastly, blood – carries the materials like oxygen and nutrients. There are three types of blood circulation found in humans
namely: systemic, pulmonary and coronary circulation. The heart is a hollow muscular organ, about the size of your fist,
which is located in the center of your chest between the lungs. It is a double pump that pumps on the left and right sides.
Every side is divided into two chambers, the atrium, and the ventricle, each of which has left and right portion, totaling to
four chambers altogether. The top chamber is the atrium (plural: atria). The bottom chamber is called the ventricle. The
valve acts as a one-way door, allowing blood to flow either forward into the next chamber, or out of the heart.

What is a cigarette?

A cigarette is a thin cylinder roll of shredded or ground tobacco that is wrapped in paper or another substance.

What chemical is in cigarette?

Cigarette contains psychoactive material, a substance that changes brain function and result in alterations in perceptions,
mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior, typically tobacco and other substances that are added for flavor and to make
smoking more pleasant. The smoke from these products is a complex mixture of chemicals produced by burning tobacco
and its additives. Tobacco smoke is made up of thousands of chemicals, including at least 70 known to cause cancer.

Some of the chemicals found in tobacco smoke include: • Nicotine (the addictive drug that produces the effect people
are looking for and one of the harshest chemicals in tobacco smoke) • Hydrogen cyanide • Formaldehyde • Lead • Arsenic
• Ammonia • Radioactive elements, such as uranium (see below) • Benzene • Nitrosamines • Polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs)

How does cigarette smoking affect our body? Cigarette smoking has harmful effect in our body. Because of its chemical
content many disease can be brought by smoking especially in the respiratory and circulatory system. When we smoke
cigarette, we inhale and exhale the fumes from the burning tobacco.

Effects of smoking on the respiratory system

The respiratory diseases caused by smoking are chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, cough, colds, tuberculosis, lung
cancer and other respiratory infections.

Chronic bronchitis is a type of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). This is the inflammation (swelling) and
irritation of the bronchial tubes. These tubes are the airways that carry air to and from the air sacs in your lungs. The
irritation of the tubes causes mucus to build up. This mucus and the swelling of the tubes make it harder for your lungs to
move oxygen in and carbon dioxide out of your body.

People who smoke have a higher risk in lung cancer than those non-smokers. Smoking causes lung cancer by damaging
the cells that line the lungs. When you inhale cigarette smoke, which is full of cancer-causing substances (carcinogens),
changes in the lung tissue begin almost immediately.

Emphysema is a type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease where the air sacs in the lungs are damaged and stretched
due to smoking, this result in a chronic cough and breathing difficulty.

Effects of smoking on the circulatory system

High blood pressure (also called hypertension) happens when your blood moves through your arteries at a higher pressure
than normal. Many different things can cause high blood pressure. If your blood pressure gets too high or stays high for a
long time, it can cause health problems. Uncontrolled high blood pressure puts you at a higher risk for stroke, heart disease,
heart attack, and kidney failure.
Coronary heart disease is also known as coronary artery disease. CHD tends to develop when cholesterol builds up on the
artery walls, creating plaques. These plaques cause the arteries to narrow, reducing blood flow to the heart. A clot can
sometimes obstruct the blood flow, causing serious health problems.

Atherosclerosis or arteriosclerosis happens when arteries become narrow and hard due to a buildup of plaque around
the artery wall. The changes in a person’s arteries disrupt the flow of blood around the body and increase the risk of
complications, such as heart attack or stroke.

Vascular diseases affect the arteries, veins, or capillaries throughout the body and around the heart. Typical symptoms of
an underlying cardiovascular issue include pain or pressure in the chest, which may indicate angina, pain or discomfort in
the arms, left shoulder, elbows, jaw, or back, shortness of breath, nausea and fatigue, lightheadedness or dizziness and
cold sweats.

Prevention is Better than Cure

As the saying goes Health is Wealth, having a healthy body is the number one priority now a days. Amid the CORONA virus
pandemic, good health is so important that we need to protect and guard with. And with all that happened in our country
and globally, having a good health is a must. Like in our tagalog saying “Bawalang Magkasakit”. Life is so precious. We only
have one life with one body. So we got to take good care of it. Now, how are we going to avoid the disease that may harm
our respiratory and circulatory system? What are the ways to detect diseases in our body? The best way to prevent diseases
in the respiratory and circulatory systems is to have a healthy lifestyle, which includes balanced diet, regular exercise,
adequate rest, proper hygiene, and avoiding vices such as cigarette smoking and alcoholic drinking. Respiratory and
circulatory disease can easily be detected with regular health check-up and physical screening. Perhaps, air pollution can
be discussed as well, which one’s respiratory system.

NON-MENDELIAN INHERITANCE

1. INCOMPLETE DOMINANCE - In incomplete dominance, a heterozygote shows a phenotype that is intermediate

between the two homozygous phenotypes. Neither allele is dominant over the other. An example of incomplete
dominance is flower color in four o’clock plant, like those shown in Figure 1. When a pure red-flowered four o’clock
plant is crossed with a pure white flowered four o’clock plant, the
offspring will produce neither red nor white flowers. Instead, all
flowers will be pink.

In incomplete dominance, it is only the phenotype that is intermediate. The

red and white alleles remain separate and distinct. Half the gametes of the
pink four o’clock carry the allele for red and half carry the allele for white.
Therefore, the genotypic ratio also becomes the phenotypic ratio

Incomplete dominance is a form of intermediate inheritance in which one

allele for a specific trait is not completely dominant over the other allele. This
result in a third phenotype in which the expressed physical trait is a
combination of the dominant and recessive phenotypes

2. CODOMINANCE - Another pattern of inheritance is codominance. This

results when one allele is not dominant over the other. The resulting
heterozygotes exhibit the traits of both parents. good example of
codominance is roan fur in cattle as shown in Figure 2. Cattle can be red
(RR = all red hairs), white (WW = all white hairs), or roan (RW = red & white
hairs together). In codominance, both alleles are expressed equally in the
phenotype of the heterozygote. For example, red cows crossed with white
cows will have offspring that are roan cows. Roan refers to cows with red
hair and white blotches
 3. MULTIPLE ALLELES - Sometimes, even if only two alleles
control a trait, there may actually be more than two types
of alleles available. This will also lead to more than two
phenotypes expressed. Another blood group system in
humans, the ABO system, is an example of a character
governed by multiple alleles. Three alleles are responsible
for this blood system: IA , IB, and i. The ABO blood type is
determined by the presence or absence of two antigens,
A and B. Allele idoes not code for an antigen. There are
four possible blood types. The IA and IB alleles are
dominant over the i allele, which is always recessive.
However, when the I A and I B alleles are inherited
together, both alleles are expressed equally. This also
makes IA and IB codominants of each other.

• In humans, there are four blood types (phenotypes): A, B, AB, O.

• Blood type is controlled by three alleles: A, B, O.

• O is recessive, two O alleles must be present for a person to have type O blood.

• A and B are codominant. If a person receives an A allele and a B allele, their blood type is type AB.

SEX CHROMOSOMES AND SEX DETERMINATION

Humans have 46 chromosomes in each cell. Observation of the human body cells shows 23 pairs of chromosomes for both
males and females. Twenty- two pairs are somatic chromosomes. The 23rd pair consists of sex chromosomes. Human
males and some other male organisms, such as other mammals and fruit flies, have non-identical sex chromosomes (XY).
Females have identical (XX) sex chromosomes.

If an egg is fertilized by a sperm with a Y chromosome, as shown in Figure 1, the offspring is male. When an egg is fertilized
by a sperm carrying an X chromosome, the offspring is female. Note that there is a 50 percent chance of having a male or
female offspring. The greater the number of offspring, the greater is the chance of getting the expected 1:1 ratio of male
and female.

Sex-Linked Genes

Genes located on the X chromosomes are called X-linked genes. Genes on the Y chromosomes are called Y-linked genes.

Examples of X-linked trait in humans:

1. Hemophilia. A person suffering from hemophilia could die from loss of blood even from a small wound because
the blood either clots very slowly or does not clot at all.
2. Color Blindness. Person with color blindness have difficulty recognizing colors in a normal way. This is also known
as color deficiency. Try to determine the number below in the given illustrations. For a female to become color-
blind, she must be homozygous (XC XC) for the colorblind genes. The trait is, therefore, recessive in females. If a
female has only one X chromosome with the allele for color blindness, she becomes normal but can pass on the
trait to her offspring. She is therefore a carrier of the trait. Since males have only one X chromosome, the gene for
color blindness when present in the male, will always be expressed because it does not have an allele to hide or
prevent its expression. Thus, the male will be color- blind. This is the reason why color blindness is more common
in males than in females.
Example of Y-linked trait in humans:

An example of a Y-linked trait is Hypertrichosis pinnae auris, a genetic disorder in humans that causes hairy ears. Since
the trait is found in the Y chromosome, then only males can have the trait. A father who has the condition will pass it
on to all his sons, and they, in turn, will pass it on to their own sons.

Sex-Limited Traits

Sex-limited traits are generally autosomal, which means that they are not found on the X or Y chromosomes. The genes
for these traits behave exactly the same way that any autosomal gene behaves. The difference here comes in the
expression of the genes in the phenotype of the individual. Sex-limited traits are expressed in only one gender.

Example for female:

1. Milk lactation in cattle. These genes are carried by both males and females, but it is only expressed in females.

Example for male:

1. Beard growth. Usually males are the ones have beard

Sex- Influenced Traits

Sex-influenced traits are also autosomal, it means that there are not carried on the sex chromosomes. These traits are
expressed in both sexes but more frequently in one than in the other sex. One classic example of a sex-influenced trait is
pattern baldness in humans, though the condition is not restricted to males. This gene has two alleles, “bald” and “non-
bald”. The behaviors of the products of these genes are highly influenced by the hormones in the individual, particularly
by the hormone testosterone. All humans have testosterone, but males have much higher levels of this hormone than
females do. The result is that, in males, the baldness allele behaves like a dominant allele, while in females it behaves like
a recessive allele

DNA: The Genetic Material

Scientists now know that the genetic material is DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid). Modern research techniques helped
scientists to answer many questions about DNA and heredity. The work of earlier scientists gave Watson and Crick a lot of
information about DNA. By the end of the 1940’s, scientists had found that DNA consists of long strands of nucleotides
(basic building blocks of DNA).

Components of nucleotides:

1. Pentose sugar called deoxyribose

2. Phosphate group

3. Four Nitorgenous bases:

Thymine (T) is paired with Adenine (A) Guanine (G) is paired with Cytosine (C)

DNA is composed of chains of nucleotides built on a sugar and phosphate backbone and wrapped around each other in
the form of a double helix. The backbone supports four bases: guanine, cytosine, adenine, and thymine. Guanine and
cytosine are complementary, always appearing opposite each other on the helix, as are adenine and thymine. This is critical
in the reproduction of the genetic material, as it allows a strand to divide and copy itself, since it only needs half of the
material in the helix to duplicate successfully.