GUEST POST: 7 Excellent Open Courseware Collections To Learn About The Human Body

The human body is a fascinating and intricate construction, and there are many reasons to learn more about it. You may want to know how it works so that you can better understand your own, and thereby make the best decisions possible in regards to good health and maintenance. You may want to understand how it works so that you can move into a profession that works to restore it to health. You may just be curious. Whatever the reason, these 7 excellent open courseware collections to learn about the human body are a great place to begin or to continue your study of the human body.

General Human Anatomy

General Human Anatomy takes a general look at the structure of the body and all its systems. This is a cursory examination of the human body as a structure provided by UC Bekeley and is the perfect start to any study of the human body.

Human Anatomy

Human Anatomy, provided by Emory University, takes the investigation a step farther examining the systems of the human body. It takes a look at the organization of the nervous system and the physical anatomy of each portion of the body. Focuses include the upper and lower extremity, the vertebrae and spinal cord, the head, the neck, the abdomen, and the thorax.

Human Growth And Development

Tufts University's Human Growth and Development takes a look at the human body throughout the lifespan. The development of bodily and cognitive skills during the lifespan can be better understood when you are aware of the progression of physical growth that happens concurrently.

Cell-Matrix Mechanics

Cell-Matrix Mechanics, courtesy of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will teach you about the physical processes of the development of cells and tissues. This will include a look at the growth process both as it occurs naturally with aging and as it occurs with healing after damage to certain tissues.

A Clinical Approach To The Human Brain

A Clinical Approach to the Human Brain, also from MIT, is a collection that will explain how the human brain works both when it is healthy and when it is not. The resources talk about the actual anatomy of the brain and all of its workings. Neurons, synapses, and neurotransmitters are all covered.

Sensation And Perception

MIT's Sensation and Perception is an essential courseware collection. The human body functions in response to its environment, and the senses provide the information that allows the body to avoid danger and to make choices. These resources will cover how signals are received and then transformed into usable information in the body.

Cellular Neurobiology

Cellular Neurobiology, a final contribution from the Mass Institute, will focus on the functioning of the nervous system. It will cover the physical processes at work in synaptic transmission, neurodevelopment, and the way that information is filtered and processed.

The human body is a wonderfully complex construct. These courses will teach you much about its overall functioning while still leaving so much more to learn as you get into specific systems. Everyone should take some time to learn about the human body because everyone has one. If you know about its functioning then you will learn more about how you can keep it working at peak efficiency, and make the best, most informed decisions for the only body you will ever have in this life.

About the Author:
Mary Ward is a freelance author and writes about medical career topics, such as how to select among ultrasound technician schools, tips for job advancement, and more.

An amazing medical sentence...

What the hell.

“I do not know where family doctors acquired illegibly perplexing handwriting nevertheless, extraordinary pharmaceutical intellectuality counterbalancing indecipherability, transcendentalizes intercommunications incomprehensibleness”.

This is a sentence where the Nth word is N letters long.

e.g. 3rd word is 3 letters long, 8th word is 8 letters long and so on.

EAT LESS LIVE MORE YET MORE STUDIES AND REPORTS ABOUT LOW CALORIE DIETS AND LIVING LONGER AS WELL AS MORE DRUGS THAT MAY WORK LIKE RESVERATROL

I have written before about the observation that some animals that are on a low calorie diet seem to live longer. Two more reports about ways to live longer were released recently. One report asked do monkeys who eat less live longer? The second report talked about the drug rapamycin, which seemed to prolong life in mice, described as an antibiotic and immunosuppresant I am more familiar with it as a coating for stents that are placed in clogged heart arteries. Could rapamycin be acting in an analogous fashion to resveratrol?

Dieting Monkeys Offer Hope of Living Longer

Rapamycin extends life in mice, raising hopes of life-prolonging drug for humans

Hamburgers in Orbit NYT Shoots Down Copacetic Image of Hamburger

Can Eating Less Food and Consuming Fewer Calories Help People Live Longer?..Research Suggests Inverse Correlation Between Number of Calories and Length of Life..

Should Ponce De Leon Just Have Gone on A Diet? Key to Longevity: Not Fountain of Youth But Fork of Youth? The Calerie Study Searches for The Key

An expanding volume of scientific research seems to imply that eating fewer calories and eating less is associated with living longer. It has been reported for many years that chronic calorie restriction without nutritional defiencies increases the length of life.
Calorie restriction seems to help prevent some age-related chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in a variety of animals.Is this true in humans?

Science Friday:Audio of Dr. Eric Ravussin on Benefits of Calorie Restriction

Effect of 6-Month Calorie Restriction on Biomarkers of Longevity, Metabolic Adaptation, and Oxidative Stress in Overweight Individuals

Calorie Restriction Extends Life Span— But Which Calories?

Three Physiological Measures Linked To Longevity in Men and

Eat Less, Live Longer? The Quest to Learn Why Slashing Calories Extends Life and

Aging: A Biological Perspective

CALERIE Eat Less Live More

CALERIE Comprehensive Assessment of Long-term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy is an ongoing study with human volunteers that hopes to discover whether people who eat less live longer.

Calorie Restriction for Long Life Paradigm Known for 6o Years

To quote from an article Caloric Restriction in Primates "Dietary caloric restriction (CR) is the only intervention conclusively and reproducibly shown to slow aging and maintain health and vitality in mammals. Although this paradigm has been known for over 60 years, its precise biological mechanisms and applicability to humans remain unknown. We began addressing the latter question in 1987 with the first controlled study of CR in primates (rhesus and squirrel monkeys, which are evolutionarily much closer to humans than the rodents most frequently employed in CR studies). To date, our results strongly suggest that the same beneficial "antiaging" and/or "antidisease" effects observed in CR rodents also occur in primates. These include lower plasma insulin levels and greater sensitivity; lower body temperatures; reduced cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, and arterial stiffness; elevated HDL; and slower age-related decline in circulating levels of DHEAS. Collectively, these biomarkers suggest that CR primates will be less likely to incur diabetes, cardiovascular problems, and other age-related diseases and may in fact be aging more slowly than fully fed counterparts. Despite these very encouraging results, it is unlikely that most humans would be willing to maintain a 30% reduced diet for the bulk of their adult life span, even if it meant more healthy years. "

What is it about Eating Fewer Calories That Increases Longevity also the New England Centenarian Study

So scientists have been trying to determine what if anything is happening in caloric restriction that would prolong life.
See

Molecules Discovered that Extend Life in Yeast, Human Cells and

Eating Less and Living Longer:
Can’t We Find an Easier Way?

plus
Gene That Extends Lifespan In Yeast Points To Paradigm Shift In Longevity Research May Explain Life Extension Via Calorie Restriction




Look at

Study: Lean Diet May Mean Long Life and also

Eat Less Live Longer as well as

Meal Skipping Helps Rodents Resist Diabetes, Brain Damage and also see Fasting Forestalls Huntington’s Disease in Mice and also

Protein Structure Provides Clue to Long Life

New England Centenarian Study

On a related note examine the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University School of Medicine that tries to figure out factors that help people to live longer.

An episode of House...

From GraphJam. Hilarious. All they forgot was the seizures. Why is it that there is at least ONE seizure per episode of House. SA Doc tells me it's a lot more exciting than real life. Even the Baragwanath pit.

Old Time Medicine #8 - You KNOW it works! (46% Alcohol, 100% Opium)

Opium for new-borns

I'm sure this would make them sleep well (not only the Opium, but 46% alcohol!)

Old Time Medicine #7 - You KNOW it works! (Double BILL on the Cocaine!)

A double bill for you today. Amazing that these "medicines" existed. Oh but for the old days eh?


Cocaine tablets (1900)

All stage actors, singers teachers and preachers had to have them for a maximum performance. Great to "smooth" the voice.



Cocaine drops for toothache

Very popular for children in 1885. Not only they relieved the pain, they made the children happy!

Old Time Medicine #6 - You KNOW it works! (Asthma Opium? REALLY?)

Opium? Really?

Awesome.

Old Time Medicine #5 - You KNOW it works! (Paperweight promotion)

A paper weight

A paper weight promoting C.F. Boehringer & Soehne ( Mannheim , Germany ). They were proud of being the biggest producers in the world of products containing Quinine and Cocaine.

Old Time Medicine #4 - You KNOW it works! (Cocaine Wine for Kids...)

Maltine

Produced by Maltine Manufacturing Company of New York . It was suggested that you should take a full glass with or after every meal. Children should take half a glass.