An accident victim with blood group B needs an immediate blood transfusion. Is it safe for the patient to receive blood from individuals with the blood group O? Explain why.
Answer:
Yes. Individuals with blood group O do not have antigen A or B on their red blood cells. They can donate blood to individuals with blood group B because no agglutination will occur.
An individual has a low number of erythrocytes. Explain the effect of this situation on his/her health. Suggest the types of food that should be consumed by the individual to recover from this situation.
Answer:
• Low number of erythrocytes means that there are less haemoglobin to combine with oxygen to form oxyhaemoglobin.
• This means that less oxygen is transported to body tissues for cellular respiration.
• As a result, less energy is produced.
• The individual becomes easily exhausted and looks pale.
• He/She may have anaemia.
• He/She must consume a lot of ferum-rich foods such as spinach.
The human heart has a pacemaker. The heart pacemaker that is damaged can be replaced by an electronic pacemaker. Explain how the electronic pacemaker functions.
Answer:
• The electronic pacemaker functions as a sinoatrial node that triggers the impulse to control and maintain heartbeat.
• The generated electric impulse spreads to both atria and subsequently reaches the atrioventricular node
• Next, the atrioventricular node transmits the rhythmic electric impulse throughout the ventricle and causing the heart to beat and pump blood.
Name one example of nutrient found in blood and how the nutrient can be transported to cells.
Answer:
• One example of nutrient is glucose.
• The heart pumps blood from the artery to blood capillaries.
• The arterial diameter is larger than the capillaries.
• This produces a high hydrostatic pressure that forces glucose to diffuse from the blood capillaries into the interstitial spaces to form tissue fluid.
• The glucose concentration in the fluid is higher than that of the cells.
• Glucose diffuses into the cells via facilitated diffusion.