Second+Semester

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=Introduction=

This portfolio was designed to provide what I have learned through my second semester with the integration of technology into the classroom. All projects included the use of technology such as PowerPoint and the Internet. Most projects would appear here at this wiki while other assignments included the use of a blog. This wiki plans to explain all that I have learned through the year with the work I have done in it.

=Muscle History=

In this assignment, students were asked to research four specific anatomists who forged important scientific discoveries paired with works of art that they commissioned or did themselves. A PowerPoint presentation was to be prepared showing a piece of artwork from the anatomists along with the changes in scientific history that they made.



The purpose of the illustrations were to properly display what each anatomist found during the dissections that they performed. Without widespread media, the only way for them to do such was to illustrate it at the time. Their findings and what they saw were recorded in the drawings accompanied with text to describe them. Each artists held this same intention.

Andreas Versailius's //De Humani Corporis Fabrica'//s illustrations mostly convey emotions as well as anatomical information. Most of the drawings within the book were symbolic. In an early illustration of a human skull, the skull rests on top of a dog's jaw bone because Galen's incorrect theory about the human jaw came from his dissection and study of a dog. Also, Versailius's illustrations start from a a skeleton. They later begin at a human body with muscles completely exposed and from there the illustrations continually peel away layers to reveal more. As they continue to do so the human body begins to collapse until the very end where it leans against a wall to symbolize the body as a structure, a perfect building, now in ruins without everything. Da Vinci's illustrations, especially the Vetruvian Man, were primarily for scientific purposes only without much of the same symbolism and allegories that Versailus's contain. His sketches and drawings of the human body are clearly for the use of teaching and showing.

The illustrations from Eustachi's research have the same purpose as Da Vinci's. His drawings are mostly of the dissected bodies in simple poses. Rulers also accompany them so that structures and such can be found with a key or letter correspondence.

Gray's illustrations though are the most straightforward. His drawings are within a text book and have the same feeling. They are truly from a text book rather than an art book. Each illustration conveys its purpose as solely to be used as counterparts to the text in //Gray's// //Anatomy//.

The illustrations most likely do not display the cadaver as he truly appeared in full detail but rather to only a certain degree. While the illustrations were to be used to convey important anatomical information and discoveries through the dissection of bodies, they were not intended to be portraits. More differences than similarities exist between the illustrations and cadavers because altercations probably had to have been made in order to neatly and concisely display the information. Although, enough similarities have to exist because the illustrations were based upon the dissections. The illustrators took liberties probably in order to present what they wanted in the most tasteful, neat, and organized way possible.

=Anatomy Apprentice=

Students were to work in a group to research a certain disorder or disease in the "Anatomy Apprentice" project. After research was completed, groups were to complete a PowerPoint presentation for the class to take notes on. The point of the project was to have a group of students teach the rest about a specific topic. My group was assigned the crippling disease multiple sclerosis. Specifically I was to research the causes of multiple sclerosis.

This is is the information that I collected:

**__Causes__** While the cause (etiology) of MS is still not known, scientists believe that a combination of several factors may be involved. Studies are ongoing in the areas of immunology (the science of the body’s immune system), epidemiology  (that looks at patterns of disease in the population), and genetics  in an effort to answer this important question. Understanding what causes MS will be an important step toward finding more effective ways to treat it and—ultimately—cure it, or even prevent it from occurring in the first place. The major scientific theories about the causes of MS include the following:   It is now generally accepted that MS involves an autoimmune process —an abnormal response of the body’s immune system that is directed against the myelin  (the fatty sheath that surrounds and insulates the nerve fibers) in the central nervous system (CNS—the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves). The exact //antigen//, or target that the immune cells are sensitized to attack, remains unknown. In recent years, however, researchers have been able to identify which immune cells are mounting the attack, some of the factors that cause them to attack, and some of the sites, or receptors, on the attacking cells that appear to be attracted to the myelin to begin the destructive process. Ongoing efforts to learn more about the autoimmune process in MS—what sets it in motion, how it works, and how to slow or stop it—are bringing us closer to understanding the cause of MS.
 * __    Immunologic__

MS is known to occur more frequently in areas that are farther from the equator. Epidemiologists—scientists who study disease patterns—are looking at many factors, including variations in geography, demographics (age, gender, and ethnic background), genetics, infectious causes, and migration patterns, in an effort to understand why. Studies of migration patterns have shown that people born in an area of the world with a high risk of MS who then move to an area with a lower risk before the age of 15, acquire the risk of their new area. Such data suggest that exposure to some environmental agent that occurs before puberty may predispose a person to develop MS later on. Some scientists think the reason may have something to do with vitamin D, <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'">which the human body produces naturally when the skin is exposed to sunlight. People who live closer to the equator are exposed to greater amounts of sunlight year-round. As a result, they tend to have higher levels of naturally-produced vitamin D, which is thought to have a beneficial impact on immune function and may help protect against autoimmune diseases like MS. The possible relationship between MS and sunlight exposure is currently being looked at in a Society-funded epidemiological study in Australia. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'">.
 * __Environmental__

<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> Since initial exposure to numerous viruses, bacteria and other microbes occurs during childhood, and since viruses are well recognized as causes of demyelination and inflammation, it is possible that a virus or other infectious agent is the triggering factor in MS. More than a dozen viruses and bacteria, including measles, canine distemper, human herpes virus-6, Epstein-Barr, and Chlamydia pneumonia have been or are being investigated to determine if they are involved in the development of MS, but none have been definitively proven to trigger MS. <span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> __Infectious__

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">  While MS is not hereditary in a strict sense, having a first-degree relative such as a parent or sibling with MS increases an individual's risk of developing the disease several-fold above the risk for the general population. Studies have shown that there is a higher prevalence of certain genes in populations with higher rates of MS. Common genetic factors have also been found in some families where there is more than one person with MS. Some researchers theorize that MS develops because a person is born with a genetic predisposition to react to some environmental agent that, upon exposure, triggers an autoimmune response. Sophisticated new techniques for identifying genes may help answer questions about the role of genes in the development of MS. This is the PowerPoint presentation that my group created for the project:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> __Genetic__

media type="custom" key="823905"

Through the project no only did students learn specifically about a single disorder such as addiction or multiple sclerosis, they were also taught by peers on the disorders that they were assigned. At first the portion of the assignment where students were to teach the class for five minutes did not seem like it would work too well. A quiz over the material taught was administered. While, of course, a group will have more research and knowledge on one of the topics, each group learned about all of them.