Biology 48 - Home / Announcements - Spring 2013

NOTICE: Please come appropriately prepared for the Nutrition Lab on Tuesday May14th:

Nutrition Lab (#24)
This is a fun lab and a nice end to the semester. Please come prepared with the following for completion of the lab activities:

A. Record Your Personal Diet
Prior to attending lab, using the handout provided keep a record of ALL of the foods that you eat during a 24 hour period. Keep track of both what you eat and how much you eat. Keep in mind that it is important to be as accurate and thorough as possible. It is also important that the 24 hour period that you choose reflects a typical day, for the most accurate evaluation of your diet.

B. Record Your Activities
During the same 24 hour period keep a record of all of all of your activities. Make a list of specific and purposeful exercise (i.e. running, swimming, weightlifting and walking) that you completed for the same 24-hour period, using the handout provided. The list is for your personal use, so make it as accurate as you can.

C. Prepare a Pot-Luck Dish
Prepare a pot-luck dish to share with the class. Read through the information in this handout and think about how you can prepare a “healthy” dish. As an example, think about how you could make a nutritionally balanced dish without a using large amount of saturated fats.
Regardless of whether you choose to prepare a nutritionally balanced dish or not, be creative! Family favorites and foods from different cultures are always encouraged. You only need to bring enough food to feed 3-4 people. All serving utensils and flatware will be provided, along with juice, tea, and coffee.

Food Allergy Warning: Please make note of whether your dish contains nuts, gluten (wheat), eggs, milk, fish or shell fish, pork, soy, or other ingredients that some individuals may not be able to eat.You will be provided with a label to place with your food where you can indicate possible allergens/ restricted ingredients present in your pot luck dish.

D. Pot-Luck Dish Nutritional Analysis (analysis to be completed in lab)
Bring a list of all of the ingredients used to prepare your pot-luck dish. Use this information to prepare a nutritional analysis of the dish you prepared. You can use the Diet Analysis plus computer program to prepare the nutritional breakdown during lab. Your analysis should include your name, the name of the dish, the ingredients, food allergy warning (see above), serving size, carbohydrate, fat and protein content per serving, and Calories per serving. Post your analysis with the dish you prepared on the back counter.

Use the attached form to record and present your analysis - pot-luck_data.doc or pot-luck_data.pdf

PS - Your contribution to the pot-luck plus nutritional analysis of your pot-luck dish is a "Bonus Point" activity.

1. Grip Test for Muscle Strength and Endurance

2. Trunk Flexibility

3. Body Composition (Fat Content - caliper and impedence methods)

4. Harvard Step Test for Aerobic Fitness

NOTICE: Please come appropriately prepared for lab on Tuesday May 7th (all activities require roughly 24 hours of advanced preparation).

If you are a subject in the RENAL LAB EXERCISES (#21) follow this timeline:

A. Be sure to maintain a "normal" state of hydration during the 24 hour period prior to the lab.

B. Stop ALL food and fluid intake 2 hours before the lab begins.

C. Approximately 1 to 1 1/2 hours before the start of the lab, void (empty the bladder) completely, noting the exact time.  Discard the urine.  Your bladder should now be empty.  DO NOT void again until the lab begins. This is the control period and will establish a preloading urine flow rate and composition.

D. At the start of the lab your will void completely again (noting the exact time then visit the "bar" to ingest a test volume (fluid load) of either water or isotonic saline.  The test volume to be consumed is 10 milliliters per kilogram of body weight (10 ml / kg).  This need only be done once. 

Get a printable pre-lab handout from the downloads page here.

If you are a subject in the ENDOCRINE LAB EXERCISES (#22) follow this timeline:

A. Subjects must be fasted for 6 to 12 hours prior to the test and should be in good health. DO NOT eat or drink beverages (other than water) during the 6 to 12 hour period prior to the start of the lab.

B. At the start of the lab (prior to consuming the "test" drink) subjects will need to test their blood sugar levels and collect a urine sample. Go to the products web site to view the tutorial for using the blood glucose meter: http://www.onetouch.com/onboarding/tour_ultramini

      Click "How to Test" for a tutorial on using the meter to test a blood sample

C. After the blood sugar test visit the "bar" to ingest a test volume (fluid load) of either water or 50 mg Glucose.

Get a printable pre-lab handout from the downloads page here.

NOTE: If you were not present to sign-up as a subject you will default into the Renal Lab (#21) group - please follow the instructions for Lab #21 above.

Note: In addition to scheduled lab activities on Mar 19th, we will be participating in a health survey conducted by Health Services. No preparation is necessary.

Health Services will be conducting the National College Health Assessment (NCHA) survey to look at self-reported health behaviors and needs of West Valley College students. We will implement the NCHA again this spring as part of a California community college consortium of over 20 colleges. Our class has been randomly selected to participate.

Data collection, by implementation of this survey in the selected classes, is scheduled during lab on Mar 19th . We realize that class time is valuable and we believe that the survey data will be exceptionally valuable in our efforts to learn how we can support and strengthen student performance and retention. This is also an opportunity for students to do self-reflection about their health and lifestyle choices. To assist in the data collection process a West Valley College Health Services staff person will administer the surveys in your class.

We appreciate your support in implementing this exciting national survey. The results are certain to be useful in our effort to support and encourage students to engage in positive health behaviors, optimizing their retention and success at West Valley College.

Writing Assignment
Although the first part of the writing assignment, "selecting a topic", is not due until later in the month I recommend that you begin thinking about possible topics now. I also recommend that you begin looking into the available literature to see what type of resources are available on your topic. Remember, you want a topic that you are interested in but that is not too broad (you must be able to explain how things work, i.e. the physiological mechanism). You will need to provide a list of possible topics that must be turned in by Tuesday March 19th, 2013. Review the complete instructions for the Writing Assignment in the course syllabus.

Important dates:
  Topics due by: Mar 19th
  Annotated Bibliography due by: Apr 16th
  Final Paper due by: May 2nd
  Final Acceptance Date: May 9th

To get started researching your potential topics you may find it helpful first to review the libraries tutorial on online literature searching. This resource is available here.

Library: http://www.westvalley.edu/library/
- Select the "Research Guides" link then the "Instructional Videos for Academic Search Premier" link to view the West Valley Library tutorials.
- Academic Search Premier tutorial: Instructional Videos for Academic Search Premire: Basic Search

You may also wish to review the EBSCO tutorials on online literature searching. This resource is available here.
- EBSCO search tutorial: http://support.ebsco.com/training/flash_videos/eds/eds.html
- see more at: http://support.ebsco.com/

Next, get started searching for and reviewing the scholarly articles that support your topic. There are several online databases available through the college library, including Academic Search Premier, PubMed and Access Science, that are appropriate for this assignment. Note: Academic Search Premier is the primary database, the "PubMed" and "Access Science" databases listed under Science, Health and Medicine are more appropriate for access to general information, these are NOT scholarly journal sources.These resources are available here.

Library: http://www.westvalley.edu/library/
- Select the "Find Articles (Databases)" link to access a list of databases available
- Select Academic Search Premier (under Magazines and Scholarly Journal Articles)
- Search the database (Be sure to select the "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" button)

Direct Links:
- Find Articles: http://www.westvalley.edu/library/databases/
- Research/Writing Guides: http://www.westvalley.edu/library/research-guides/
- Tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL3AZ1riCg4&feature=plcp

Welcome to Biology 48 - Human Physiology (5 units)
Lecture 3 hours; lab 6 hours
Prerequisite: Biology 47 and a college Chemistry course.
Recommended preparation: Math 103/103R
Acceptable for credit: University of California, California State University

Get a Head Start | Student Services | Purchasing Course Books

A study of the organ systems of the human body and the physiological principles involved in normal function. Emphasis is on regulatory mechanisms and cellular function. The laboratory includes experiments stressing function of the body systems. Some experiments will be carried out on the students themselves.

First Class Meeting - Tuesday January 29th, 2013
Please DO NOT miss the first days of class! Enrolled students who fail to attend the first days of class may be dropped to make room for students trying to add.

Note: This class includes both lecture and lab. Lecture starts at 7:45am followed by lab every Tuesday and Thursday. Class will meet for the full scheduled lecture and lab on the first day!

Things to do to get a head start:

1. Check that you are prepared for this course - take the Physiology Pre-Test.
2. Read over the Syllabus (green sheet) before coming to class.
3. Read over the Lab Safety Sheet.
4. Download and take the Syllabus Quiz (Answer the questions after reading the syllabus. You will be turning this in during the first or second week of class).
5. Download and complete a Student Information Sheet (You will be turning this in during the first or second week of class). Note: be sure to include a Secret Identity, made up by you and consisting of no more than 11 characters.
6. Read Lab 1 - Introduction: Homeostasis and Appendix A - Metric System in preparation for the first lab meeting. These will be provided as handouts on the first day of class, however, you can download these lab chapters in pdf format to preview (no need to print) from the downloads page.
7. Purchase your books (see below for purchasing options) and start reading (see the syllabus for required books and reading assignments). Copies of the text and lab manual are also available at the reserve desk in the library.
8. Learn your way around campus and the Science & Math building - see the campus map

Note: all of the above documents are available for download in pdf format from the "Downloads" page of this website.

Student Resources
As a registered student you have a host of resources on campus that are available to you, many free of charge. The following is a partial list (for a complete list please refer to the college catalogue or the student services section of the college web page).

Purchasing Course Books:
Several options are available to you.

West Valley Campus Bookstore: You can Purchase all of the books listed in the greensheet directly from the bookstore located on West Valley campus. The bookstore also provides an online service in case you do not want to go there in person (WVC bookstore). You can reserve the books to pick them up later or make arrangements for home delivery. Note: bookstore profits help fund the campus center - purchasing your books from the campus bookstore will help support the campus center.

Ordering online (new or used): I am aware that book prices are exorbitant. If book prices are out of your budget there may be alternatives to buying new copies. One option to save money is to order books online from discount suppliers. The down side is that it can take several days, or possibly weeks, for your books to arrive depending on the vendor, and you will need the "required books" on the first day of class. Consequently, unless you have ordered your books several weeks in advance, this option may better serve you for the purchase of the "optional books" listed in your syllabus. The following online vendors may prove to be good resources:

Other Local Bookstores: A less commonly successful but useful alternate is to search the local new and used bookstores in the area (including other campus bookstores) for the books you need. I have periodically found useful resource books at a significant discount at used bookstores.