Critical Thinking Exercise

Briefly answer the following questions.

1. Jonathan was diagnosed as having acute lymphocytic leukemia, but his parent could not
understand why Jonathan is susceptible for infection when his WBC count was so high. How
could you explain this to Jonathan’s parents?

Answer: The reason why Jonathan is susceptible for infection when his WBC count was so high
is because his white blood cell (WBC) is higher than the normal count of white blood cell. We all
know that white blood cell prevent us from infection but if the white blood cell count was too
high, it can cause problem. Patient’s white blood cell counts can be extremely high at the time
of diagnosis. A healthy person typically has a white blood cell count of 4,000-11,000. Patients
with acute or chronic leukemia may have white blood cell counts ranging from 100,000 to
400,000. To help fight the infection, it begins to produce more white blood cells. Because
infection can cause inflammation and white cells are produced in response, an increase in white
blood cell count can be associated with the inflammatory response.

2. Blood from the ventricle is "squeezed" out of the heart from the apex toward the great
arteries. What features of the heart contribute to this sequence of contraction?

Answer: The main pumping work is done by the myocardium, which relaxes to fill with blood
and then squeezes (contracts) to pump the blood. The term "contractility" refers to how well
the heart muscle squeezes. Your heart relaxes and fills with blood after pumping. The
myocardium is a heart component that contributes to and is responsible for the sequence of
contractions. The heart's four chambers receive and pump blood into and out of the body. The
myocardium, which contains specialized heart muscle tissue, regulates contraction. The
ventricles of the heart then contract, pumping blood throughout the body. While the ventricles
squeeze, the atria refill and prepare for the next contraction. Muscle tissue contracts and
relaxes on its own, allowing the heart to continue pumping blood throughout the body.

3. Discuss why Martina, who has blood type A, cannot receive blood type B during a
transfusion.
Answer: An ABO incompatibility reaction would occur if a person with type A blood received a
transfusion of type B or AB blood. Your immune system attacks and destroys new blood cells
during an ABO incompatibility reaction. For example Martina’s type A blood contains type A
antigens, whereas type B blood contains type B antigens. If these two different blood types
blood were mixed, specifically type A and Type B blood it can start an all out war in the body.
Blood plasma contains antibodies that police the body for anything foreign, including antigens
that that don’t match your blood type and when we inject the wrong antigens, antibodies will
attack by attaching to them, which cause the blood to clump. These clumps clog blood vessels
which disrupt circulation, and can prove fatal. It only takes a few milliliters of the wrong blood
to cause a serious reaction, so it’s important that we all know our blood type.

4. Trace the path of a drop of blood, starting at the right atrium and returning to the right
atrium, through the pulmonary and systemic circuits of the cardiovascular system.

Answer: First of all, blood passes back to the heart from systemic tissues and enters either
through superior vena cavae which is labeled eleven here or by the inferior vena cavae which is
not labeled or shown in this diagram but the essential idea is that blood passes through these
two vena cavae into the right atrium, labeled here too and that right atrium pumps the blood
into the right ventricle through a valve. That right ventricle contracts and sends all that blood
through the pulmonary trunk to the lungs where it becomes oxygenated and that blood then
returns newly oxygenated into the left atrium where it passes from the left atrium directly into
the left ventricle of the heart and the left ventricle contracts and passes blood out through the
aorta to the rest of the body. So that is the sequence of a blood flow through the heart.

Blood flows from the body into the right atrium, then into the right ventricle, and finally
into the pulmonary arteries in the lungs. After picking up oxygen, blood returns to the
heart through the pulmonary veins into the left atrium, then to the left ventricle, and
finally to the body's tissues through the aorta.