WEEK 4: Ominous Osseous
Lena T -
Hello again! Nice to see you back for my Week 4 blog post!
This week I have collected 9 surveys! Additionally, I also mass-produced another 20 surveys this week for my inventory. I have been researching more about bone health, bone formation, bone stages, bone classifications, and different type of treatments for Osteoporosis. I would like to start at the very basics from the hyaline cartilage (basically our skeletal system as a fetus) up into when the bones stop lengthening to give me a foundation how hormones, different cell functions, and communication play into maintaining bone homeostasis.
As promised from Week 3, I will go into factors that go into bone development based on Hole’s Human Anatomy and Physiology and Pearson Human Anatomy and Physiology. (This is a very simplified rundown)
- Nutrition:
- Vitamin D: necessary to absorb the Calcium, however, it is very scarce in natural foods
- Vitamin A: necessary for Osteoblast and Osteoclast activity (can be found in leafy green vegetables)
- Vitamin C: required for collagen synthesis, deficiency in Vitamin C inhibits bone development, osteoblasts cannot produce enough collagen in the extracellular matrix causing bones to be abnormally slender and fragile (can be found in citrusy fruits)
- Sunlight:
- sunlight is important because Vitamin D is so scarce in natural food (except eggs and milk fortified with Vitamin D), an inactive form of Vitamin D also forms when dehydrocholesterol, produced by skin cells or obtained in a diet and carried through the bloodstream to the skin, is exposed to ultraviolet light. The inactive form of Vitamin D is then processed in the liver or kidney to become an active form of Vitamin D
- Hormones:
- Androgens in males and Estrogen in females help maintain bone health and normal density by restraining osteoclasts (cells that break down bones) and promoting bone depositing
- overtime, when we age our hormones plummet, as a result most elderly adults have poor bone health due to lack of hormone to maintain normal density of bone
- my only concern is… everyone gets old, and everyone’s hormones starts to decrease, why do some get Osteoporosis, and some don’t?
- Pituitary gland secretes hormones that stimulate division of cartilage cells
- Thyroid hormone (thyroxine) stimulates cellular metabolism and osteoblast activity (bone building cell)
- Parathyroid hormones stimulate increase in number and activity of osteoclasts (break down of bones)
- Osteoclast can only turn into our enemy when it outnumbers the osteoblasts, which means the bone is being eaten away faster than it can be replaced
- Androgens in males and Estrogen in females help maintain bone health and normal density by restraining osteoclasts (cells that break down bones) and promoting bone depositing
- Other factors according to Pearson Human Anatomy and Physiology:
- petite body form
- insufficient exercise
- poor diet in Calcium and proteins
- abnormal Vitamin D receptors
- smoking (reduces estrogen)
- hormone-related conditions like hyperthyroidism and diabetes mellitus
- males with prostate cancer (they are taking androgen-suppressant drugs)
As for treatment for Osteoporosis, I have been looking into recent progresses in treatments as well as reviews. There were a variety of articles Ms. Bradford and I found online, and I would like to update you guys on it next time on my findings!
This week I bothered one of our friendly Physician’s Assistant at our clinic to show me how he prepares joint injections! I even got to help put on the band-aid on the patient~ I know the band-aid part doesn’t sound quite as eventful, but watching the whole injection part brings me a little more insight on how needles are disposed and kept sterile even while I’m holding it for the PA. I notice a multi-step procedure to follow to keep the skin clean before using the needle, as well as using an alcohol pad to clean the tip of the solution before inserting the needle. (Nothing to do with Osteoporosis, simply a nice shadowing opportunity during my internship here at the clinic)
Next week I will be shadowing at the Flexcare Infusion Center from 8am to 12 pm and hopefully I absorb information left and right and share it all with you.
I look forward to what next week brings! Until next time guys!!
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