How the Body Maintains Blood Pressure Homeostasis - Orthostatic Stress Responses Assignment

Physiological adjustments to maintain blood pressure homeostasis

When we stand, we challenge the cardiovascular system with a fall in blood pressure. This places the brain (being the most important organ and highest) at risk of inadequate blood flow. The body has to attempt to maintain homeostasis. There are a range of physiological adjustments that are coordinated largely by the autonomic nervous system, so that blood pressure is restored to the set point.

In this assignment there are 2 parts - the first a group discussion, the second is your individual assignment submitted for marking.The aim is to encourage you to think about and understand these day-to-day issues and to use the published scientific literature and group discussion to understand how the body maintains blood pressure homeostasis.Responses to Orthostatic Stress In this part we shall use the Assignment Briefing session on \to think about and understand the normal response of the cardiovascular system when moving from lying to standing (orthostatic stress).

In preparation for this discussion good students will make their own summary notes on the cardiovascular response to orthostatic stress, using textbooks and other relevant material. This should include information about the major cardiovascular variables including systolic and diastolic blood pressure, cardiac venous return, stroke volume, heart rate and cardiac output. It should note the involvement of the autonomic nervous system and its various reflexes.During the discussion you should be able to answer questions about the cardiovascular response to orthostatic stress, so make sure that you have all the information you need at your fingertips.The session will help you to consolidate your understanding of the body’s normal response to standing and is important preparation for the following written assignment.

Your job is to understand why the weight lifters sometimes blacks out and to draw a simple flow diagram that accurately summarises the relevant series of physiological events that lead to collapse.
To do this you will need to
1. Work out the elements of weight lifting that predispose to the blackout. These are the starting points for your flow chart. We shall discuss these at the Assignment Briefing lecture so that you can start off on the right track.
2. Search the scientific literature to find the relevant information. You will need to use the library electronic resources for this task. If you don’t know how to do so, this is your chance to learn an important skill. The library staff are very happy to show you.

 

Assignments will be assessed on:
1. The relevance, accuracy and depth of the physiological content in the flow chart.
2. The clarity and correctness of the logic linking each box in a sequence.
3. The careful and efficient use of language.
4. The appropriate use of references.
5. Evidence of clear understanding of the factors that cause the weight lifter to faint.

The rules for preparing and submitting this assignment are:
1. It must be in your own work. We use Turnitin to check submissions for text matching to a variety of sources including other submissions.
2. Submit only 1 (one) A4 page. This single page should include references Extra pages will not be included in the assessment.
3. Create a header on the page with your full name and student ID number.
4. It must be submitted as an electronic file through LMS as a pdf file. You should create your assignment using Word or similar programs and convert your assignment to a pdf for submission. Other file types are not acceptable.
5. The file name must begin with your student number followed by your family name.