B2 KEEPING HEALTHY

MICROORGANISMS
Infectious a disease that can be caught. The microorganism that causes it is passed from
one person to another through the air, through water, or by touch.
Infections are caused by some microorganisms that invade the body. Microorganisms are
viruses, bacteria, and fungi.
When disease microorganisms get inside the body, they reproduce very quickly. This causes
symptoms the ill feelings you get when you are unwell. Symptoms of infectious diseases
can be caused by:
1. Damage done to your cells when the microorganisms reproduce
2. Poisons (toxins) made by microorganisms.
People normally stay fit because:

Most microorganisms do not cause human diseases.

Your body has barriers that keep most microorganisms out.

Size

Virus

Bacterium

Fungus

20-300 nm

1000-5000 nm

50 000+nm

Flu, polio,
common cold,
AIDS, measles

Tonsillitis, TB, plague,

cystitis

Athletes food, thrush,

ringworm

Appearance

Examples of
diseases
caused

Bacteria can reproduce rapidly inside the body

In ideal conditions in a sealed container bacteria cant keep up their fastest growth. Food
starts to run out, or waste products kill them off.
Lag phase growth gets going
Log phase fastest increase in growth, bacteria divide every 20 minute
Stationary phase steady phase, growth of new bacteria equals death of old bacteria.
Death phase more bacteria die that are made.

IMMUNE SYSTEM
The parts of the body that fight infections are called the immune system. White blood cells
are an important part of your immune system.
Antibiotics antimicrobial chemicals that kill bacteria and fungi but not VIRUSES!
WHITE BLOOD CELLS

One type of white blood cell makes antibodies (specialised proteins) to label
microorganisms. Some antibodies remain in the blood as long-lived memory cells, ready to
fight again. This means that the body reacts faster the second time the pathogen returns,
the body destroys the invaders before you become ill - immune to the disease. A different
type digests the pathogen (cause the disease) -phagocytes. All cells have antigen markers
on the outside that are unique to that type of cell. The antigen markers on microorganisms
are foreign to the body.

A person infected twice by

a disease microorganism.
Their white blood cells
make antibodies much
faster the second time.
Phagocytosis

Summary
of
blood

of the role
white
cells.

Viruses have high mutation (a change in the DNA of an organism. It alters a gene and may
change the organisms characteristics) rate. The body will need to make a different antibody
to fight a virus.

VACCINATIONS
Vaccinations make use of the bodys own defence system. They kick-start your white blood
cells into making antibodies. So you become immune to a disease without having to catch it
first

Vaccines can improve the

health by protecting you from
disease. They are tested to
make sure that they are safe to use. But it is never completely safe because people are
genetically different, so they react differently.
Doctors decide that a treatment is safe to use when:

The risk of serious harmful effects is very small

The benefits outweigh any risk

To stop large outbreaks of a disease, almost everyone in the population must be vaccinated.
Why does the

government
encourage

vaccinations?

Almost nobody who has a vaccine notices any harmful effects

Harmful effects from the MMR vaccine can be mild, or produce a serious allergic
reaction
Some children who catch measles are left severely disabled
Measles can be fatal

For society as a whole, vaccination is the best choice. People often perceive the risk of
vaccination to be greater than the risk of measles.

SUPERBUGS
Microorganisms can be killed by antimicrobial chemicals. Some only inhibit their
reproduction. The persons immune system destroys those remaining.
A tiny change in one gene a mutation can turn a bacteria cell into a superbug. Just one
superbug wont do much damage. But if it reproduces rapidly, it could produce a large
population of bacteria, all resistant to an antibiotic.

The risk of antibiotic-resistant superbugs developing increases if:

1. People taking antibiotics they dont really need
2. People not finishing their course of antibiotics.
If course is finished, all bacteria is killed. But if you stop taking the antibiotics because you
feel better, the bacteria that survive will reproduce quickly because there is no competition
for space and food from other bacteria.
How can we stop the superbugs?

Create new antibiotics

Have better hygiene in hospitals to reduce the risk of infection
Only prescribe antibiotics when a person really needs them
Make sure people understand why it is important to finish all their antibiotics (unless
side-effects develop)

DRUG DEVELOPMENT

Stage

Testing

One

Drug is tested on human cells

grown in the laboratory

To find out

Two

Drug is tested on animals

Three

Drug is tested on people (human

trials or clinical trials)

How safe the drug is for

human cells
How well it works
against the disease

If the drug works as well

in whole animals as it
does on cells grown in
the lab

Gives scientists more

data about the
effectiveness and safety
of the drug
Carried on healthy
volunteers checks
safety
Then tested on people
with the disease to test
for safer and
effectiveness
Long-term human trials
ensure safety (no
adverse side-effects)
and that the drug works

Double blind trials

It is important to be certain that a drug really does have positive effects, rather than people
feeling better simply because they expect to feel better if they take a medicine. This is
called the placebo effect.
Double blind trials aim to minimise the placebo effect. Some patients are given the drug while
others are given a placebo (control group). A placebo is designed to appear exactly the same as
the drug itself, but it does not actually contain any of the drug. The doctors and patients are not
told who have received the drug and who have received the placebo until the trial is over.
Taking placebo would not increase risk of disease but taking the new drug may bring other risks
or increase chance of getting better.

Many doctors do not like giving a placebo to patients with a disease because they feel the
patient will not benefit from taking a fake drug and will not get better. They do not think this
is fair to the patient.
It may seem unfair to the control group because they may miss benefits of the new drug.

If the trial shows that the risks are too great it will be stopped
If the trial shows that the drug has benefits it will immediately be offered to the
control group

Blind trials
Doctor is told which patients are being given the drug. This may be because they need to
look very carefully for certain unwanted harmful effects. The patient does not know.
Open-label trials
Both the patient and doctor know the treatment. This happens when there is no other
treatment and patients are so ill that doctors are sure they will not recover from the
illness. No placebo. The drug may extend their lifespan or be a cure!

CIRCULATION
The heart is a bag of muscle. The heart is a double pump, tubes carry the blood around the
circulatory system.
How blood circulates
Blood enters the right-hand side of the heart from the
lower chamber, which pumps it to the lungs to pick
then flows back into the upper chamber on the lefthand side of the heart, then into the left lower
chamber. There it is pumped to the rest of the
oxygen. There are valves
and lower chambers to make sure blood flows
in the right direction.
Heart Attack

body. It flows into the right

up oxygen. The blood

body to deliver
between the upper

Blood brings oxygen and food to cells- makes energy. Without energy the heart would stop.
So heart muscle cells must have their own blood supply.
Sometimes fat can build in the coronary arteries. A blood clot can form on the fatty lumo.
If this blocks an artery, some heart muscle is starved of oxygen. The cells start to die. This is
an heart attack.
Heart dieseas any illness of the heart. Heart attacks are not normaly caused by an
infection. The genes, lifestyle, or most likely both, affect whether you suffer from a heart
attack. There are may risk factors. The risk increase the more of these risk factors you are
exposed to.

When arteries become clogged up with

fatty deposits, it is more difficult for
the blood to be pumped around the
body. The heart has to work harder and will
have to beat faster.
Pulse rate measure how hard your heart is
working. A more accurate way is taking your
blood pressure (measures the pressure of
the blood on the walls of the artery).
Blood pressure is measured in millimeters
of mercury, mmHg. There are two
measurements:

systolic pressure heart beats,

and
diastolic

the higher measurement when the

pushing blood through the arteries,
pressure - the lower measurement
when the heart rests between
beats

A young, fit
about 120
pressure is
70 mmHg.

person may have a blood pressure of

over 70, which means their systolic
120 mmHg, and their diastolic pressure

High
heart

blood pressure increases the risk of a

attack. Narrowing of the arteries raises
heart rate and blood pressure, and so
do drugs (i.e. Ecstasy and cannabis).
Lifestyle disease a disease that is not
caused by microorganisms. They are
triggered by other factors, i.e. smoking,
lack of exercise, diet etc. It is harder to
find the causes of lifestyle diseases, like

heart disease.

HOMEOSTASIS
Keeping conditions inside the body the same is homeostasis. For example, keeping the
correct levels of water and salt, controlling the amounts of nutrients and getting rid of waste
producs i.e. urea and carbon dioxide.
All control systems have:
1. receptor detects the change (stimuli)

2. processing center receives the

information and coordinates response
3. effector produces an automatic response
Negative feedback any change in the system
results in an action that reverses the change.
Negative feedback systems reverse any change to
the systems steady state.
Changes are coordinated by both nervous and
hormonal communication systems.
Water Homeostasis keeping a steady water level
(balancing water inputs and water outputs).
Kidneys have two jobs:
1. water homeostasis
2. excretion- getting rid of toxic waste
These two jobs are linked because you need water
to flush out all the waste products.
Getting the water level in cells right is important to maintain the correct chemical
concentration levels for cell activity. The concentration of your blood plasma determines how
much water your kidneys reabsorb, and how much you excrete in urine. The concentration of
your blood can become higher than normal because of:

excess sweating because of increased exercise levels

not drinking enough water
eating salty food

These cases, increase ADH production, kidneys reabsorb more water, making less urine.
Drugs
Alcohol suppresses ADH production. This causes the kidneys to produce a greater volume of
dilute urine. It can lead to dehydration causing dizziness, headaches, and tiredness. Long-term
dehydration can have effects on kidneys, liver, joints, and muscles. Severe dehydration can
cause low blood pressure, seizures, increased heart rate, and loss of consciousness.
Ecstasy increases ADH production. This causes the kidneys to reabsorb water, reducing the
volume of urine. It can result in the body having too much water (causing seizures-fatal,
Concentration Concentration increase in blood pressure and heart
rate, increasing the risk of a heart
of blood
of blood
attack and brain damage) and affects
plasma fallsplasma risesthe bodys temperature control.
more water
less water

Pituitary
gland
secretes
Kidney
reabsorbs
Urine volume
Urine
concentratio
n

Less ADH

More ADH

Less

More

Decreases
Decreases

Increases
Increases

Negative Feedback

The more concentrated the plasma, the more ADH is released into the blood. When

the ADH reaches the kidneys, it causes them to reabsorb more water. This keeps more
water in the body and produces concentrated urine.
When the plasma is more dilute, less ADH is released into the bloodstream. This allows
more water to leave the kidneys (kidneys reabsorb less), producing dilute urine.

IDEAS ABOUT SCIENCE

Repeats
A scientist may take a set of measurements, or
make some observations, and draw conclusions
from them. If the scientist can repeat this
activity, and get similar data, this provides
more evidence to support those conclusions.
The conclusions are therefore more likely to be valid.

Peer review
Scientists report their work in scientific journals and at
conferences. Before publication, the work is checked
and evaluated by other experts. This process is
known as 'peer review'.
When scientists report their work, other scientists
can see what they have done and try to repeat it.
If these other scientists obtain similar data, it
provides more evidence to support the conclusions
that have been published.
Scientific findings are only accepted once they have been
evaluated critically by other scientists.
Correlation
Correlation does not prove a cause and the outcome might be caused by some other factor, e.g.
ice-cream sales increase as hay fever increases, but ice-cream does no cause hay fever.
Even when evidence exists that a factor is correlated to an outcome, scientists look for a causal
mechanism. E.g. smoking increases the effect of heart disease because of the effects of nicotine
on the body. Nicotine is the mechanisms.