Research Paper on Parts of the Digestive System

Introduction

According to Barclay, the digestive system begins at the mouth and ends in at the rectum (2). The parts of the digestive system in order include:

1. Salivary glands
2. Pharynx
3. Esophagus
4. Stomach
5. Small intestine
6. Large intestine
7. Rectum

Parts of Abdominopelvic Cavity

Abdominopelvic cavity is divided into nine distinct parts. These parts include umbilical region, right lumbar, hypogastrium, left iliac region, right iliac region, left lumbar, right hypochondrium, left hypochondrium, and epigastric region (Zhang et al., pp. 137-141). These parts of the abdominopelvic cavity have various organs found within the regions. Some of the organs in each part are tabulated in table 1 below.

Table 1 showing various organs found in different parts of the abdominopelvic cavity

Parts of the abdominopelvic cavity	Examples of organs
Umbilical region	Parts of the stomach, lower parts of the right and left kidneys, parts of the pancreas, a section of colon
Epigastrium	Spleen, duodenum, stomach, liver, adrenal glands
Hypogastrium	Urinary bladder, Sigmoid colon
Right hypochondrium	Parts of the liver, small intestine, gallbladder, right kidney
Right lumbar region	Gallbladder, liver, right colon
Right iliac fossa	Appendix, Cecum
Left lumbar region	Descending colon, left kidney
Left iliac fossa	Descending colon, sigmoid colon
Left hypochondrium	Liver, small intestine, gallbladder, right kidney

The Action of the Sympathetic Nervous System

The sympathetic nervous system regulates homeostatic mechanisms in the body. For instance, it causes an increased heart rate as well as force of contraction to the heart. To the pupil, the sympathetic nervous system causes dilation. It is imperative to note that this system activates sweat secretions in the sweat glands. Lastly, the sympathetic nervous system increases the rate of respiration by widening bronchial air passages.

Chemoreceptors

Nurse and Piskuric explain that these are sensors with the human body that detect various changes in pH, Carbon dioxide, and oxygen (2). These receptors are classified on the basis of their anatomical location. For this reason, there are two types of chemoreceptors: central and peripheral

Baroreceptors

These are mechanoreceptors that are found in the aortic arch and carotid sinus. They serve the purpose of sensing pressure changes by responding to changes that occur as a result of tensions within the walls of arterial blood vessels.

Nociceptors

These are nerve endings that transmit signals causing pain perception in response to a damaging stimulus. The three common stimuli that cause excruciating effects to body tissues include thermal, chemical, and mechanical stimuli.

Babinski ReflexIt is a reflex determines the adequacy of the central nervous system. This reflex is obtained when outside of foot sole is stimulated which causes the big toes to extend while fanning the remaining toes. This reflex is common in newborn babies who have immature neurological system. Babinski reflex is important as far as children are concerned. This reflex is useful as it enables belly crawling in children, thus aiding them to walk.

12 Cranial Nerves

Below is a list of all the 12 cranial nerves:

1. Olfactory
2. Hypoglossal
3. Optic
4. Accessory
5. Oculomotor
6. Vagus
7. Trochlear
8. Glossopharyngeal
9. Trigeminal
10. Vestibulocochlear
11. Facial
12. Abducens

Functions of Cranial Nerve III, VIII, and X

Cranial nerve II is called oculomotor. Its function is to move the eyelid and eyeball to adjust the lens and pupil of the human eye. The VIII cranial nerve, vestibulocochlear, has vestibular nerve which helps in maintaining equilibrium and cochlear nerve which is used for hearing. Finally, X cranial nerve, vagus, contains motor fibers which arouse voluntary muscles to cause coughing, swallowing, and speech. Moreover, vagus has sensory fibers which are helpful in monitoring blood pressure and levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen (Davis et al., pp.14-19).

Eye Ball Layers

These are tissues covering the eye and perform distinct functions to the human eye. These layers include cornea, iris, retina, and sclera. Retina has rods and cones. Rods aid in visual recognition of objects while cones aid in color recognition.

Description of Glaucoma, Cataracts, Presbycusis, and Tinnitus

Glaucoma

This is a collection of related disorders of the eye causing optic nerve damage that conveys information to the brain from the eye. In most cases, glaucoma exhibits no symptoms, a condition that makes it dangerous.

Cataracts

This is characterized by clouding of the lens of the human eye, making reading and driving difficult. Some of its symptoms and signs include yellow color, sensitivity to glare, double vision, and blurred vision.

Presbycusis

This is hearing loss due to natural aging whose major symptoms include unclear high pitch sounds.

Tinnitus

This is a perception of ringing or noise in human ears. This is a common problem that affects most people. Its symptoms are usually phantom noises such as ringing, roaring, buzzing, and so on that takes place in the ear. The condition is majorly caused by a damaged ear cell.

Inner Ear Parts

According to Stamper and Tiffany, parts of the inner ear include semicircular canals, cochlea, and vestibule (172). The cochlea contains nerves that aid in hearing by transforming sound vibrations into neural signals. On the other hand, labyrinth is a system consisting of fluid-filled sacs and tubes that aid in balance and hearing.

Works Cited

Barclay, Alfred E. The digestive tract. Cambridge University Press, 2015.Davis, Matthew C., et al. "The naming of the cranial nerves: a historical review." Clinical Anatomy 27.1 (2014): 14-19.

Nurse, Colin A., and Nikol A. Piskuric. "Signal processing at mammalian carotid body chemoreceptors." Seminars in cell & developmental biology. Vol. 24. No. 1. Academic Press, 2013.Stamper, Greta C., and Tiffany A. Johnson. "Auditory function in normal-hearing, noise-exposed human ears." Ear and hearing 36.2 (2015): 172.

Zhang, Y., Zhu, J., Wang, C., Tu, R., Jiang, J., & Lu, W. (2013). Multimodality treatment of two cases of intracardiac leiomyomatosis with enormous mass in the abdominopelvic cavity. Expert review of anticancer therapy, 13(2), 137-141.