Kleinknecht V. Gettysburg College

Facts

Drew Kleinknecht, a Gettysburg College lacrosse player, succumbed to cardiac arrest during practice. Since the season was yet to begin, student trainers were absent, while no coach had CPR certifications. Phones weren’t easily accessible. A student trainer arrived, but since Drew was breathing, she avoided CPR. CPR was executed when Drew stopped breathing on the arrival of the head athletic trainer. Drew perished on the way to the hospital.

Issues

The Kleinknechts established three questions of law: the institution was mandated to ensure safety and health measures to the school’s endeavors, Kleinknechts believe the institution’s actions were unjustifiable and noncompliant, and the institution’s belief of its exoneration by the Good Samaritan Law.

Rules

Gardner v. Consolidated Rail Corp was used to prove the institution’s innocence in anticipating a healthy athlete having a heart attack and first aiders’ unaccountability for any catastrophe caused by execution or exclusions in the render.

Analysis

Kleinknecht triumphed over Gettysburg College. Rulings indicated that the university and its athletes had a distinct connection, a beneficial contract. Finally, all three accounts were held in favor.

Conclusion

The district court’s decision was overturned by the appellate court on all three rulings, citing that the institution was responsible for the medication of its recruits in school events. Furthermore, findings indicated that colleges cannot get the required certification. Thus, they couldn’t get immunity.

Opinion

I hold on to the innocence of the institution. Drew was to obtain a physical from his physician prior to playing, which he did and was okay. Autopsy reports indicate no heart problems, hence eliminating the possibility of cardiac arrest. It was an unfortunate event that the college had no prior knowledge of. Also, people around him tried to help.

Evaluation Of Homeostasis Within The Human Body

1.0 Executive Summary

The concept of homeostasis is key in comprehending the human body’s work. Homeostasis refers to the process of keeping things in constant. The word homeostasis originates from the Greek words: “Romeo and stasis,” which means similar and stable, respectively. Thus, homeostasis is a biological word that regulates and manages the internal environment of the human body and tends to maintain a steady, relatively regular condition of properties (Modell et al., 2015, 256). This concept argues that all living things maintain a constant and stable internal environment which helps in reserving the constant conditions of life. Homeostasis is a process constantly happening to our bodies. For instance, we eat, drink, work, and engage in a lot of activities, yet our body composition remains stable and the same.

The concept of homeostasis was introduced by French physiologist known as Claude Bernard. He stated that no all-important mechanism consists of one object, which helps in preserving and maintaining steady conditions of life. Therefore, this one object is homeostasis, which regulates the process by which biological systems try to preserve steadiness while changing to situations that are crucial for survival. Homeostasis is a vital biological system since if it succeeds, life continues, and if it fails, death prevails. For instance, body size is an example of the homeostasis process in our bodies. Thus, no matter how much we consume, our bodies can’t install or overnight (Modell et al., 2015, 261). Therefore, this process helps human bodies to keep a certain amount of fluid at a regular level regardless of the amount of fluid we consume.

2.0 Introduction

Homeostasis plays an important role in the human body. For the body environment of human beings to live and function it entirely depends on body cells. Therefore, homeostasis keeps the internal body environment under control, thus enabling the cells to function and live. Thus, without appropriate body conditions, a certain process in the body will not function properly. For the homeostasis processes to work, endocrine systems play an important part. The endocrine system consists of all the glands in the human body that make up hormones. If the endocrine system is not healthy, the chemical messengers in our body will not function properly, leading to health-related issues (Kambe et al., 2015 777). Thus, the endocrine system involves homeostasis, for it maintains chemical body reactions are well. Endocrine systems help in controlling how the body functions. To understand how homeostasis, the paper looks into examples of homeostasis within the human body, i.e., body temperature, maintenance of healthy blood pressure and glucose level in the human body (Kambe et al., 2015, 756). Thus, for the human body to remain healthy, body temperature, blood pressure, and glucose in the body must maintain a constant and stable level. Homeostasis plays an important role in regulating and preserving the constant internal environment of the body. Also, for the human organ system to be maintained healthily, there are key organs. Human organs work together for the body to fully function. Therefore, the paper discusses the role of homeostasis within the human body, the interaction of the endocrine system and homeostasis and examples of homeostasis within the human body. Also, the explanation of how organ systems work, as well as the explanation of the endocrine system, helps in controlling body functions.

3.0 Importance of Homeostasis within the Human Body

To keep our body’s health at the highest level, there must be a sense of balance between energy acquisition and utilization. Therefore, oversupply can affect the body system as well as undersupply. Thus, the significance of homeostasis within our body includes the following:

3.1 Homeostasis importance to cells

Cells depend on the human body to function and live. Also, living cells rely on the movement of chemicals around the body. Chemicals in our body are transported into and out of cells. The processes of transporting chemicals such as oxygen and carbon dioxide and dissolving are done through diffusion and osmosis (Kambe et al., 2015 265). Diffusion and osmosis rely on the body’s fluid and salt balance, and homeostasis is responsible for keeping the body’s water and salt at a balance level. Also, homeostasis helps the body to maintain its stable and constant body temperature. Body temperature is essential to enzymes that facilitate chemical reactions that keep the cell alive.

3.1.1 Diffusion

Diffusion is the movement of particles in and out of the cell from the more concentration side to an area with more space, i.e., an area of low concentration. Homeostasis maintains constant body conditions for this process to take place. For example:

3.1.1.1 Diffusion in lung

In the lungs, the blood continuously takes in the oxygen from the area of high concentration, i.e., alveolar air spaces, this because there high concentration of oxygen in alveolar space. The oxygen diffuses to the alveolar walls into the blood. The circulation spreads the oxygen in the blood effectively.

3.1.2 Osmosis

Osmosis is the movement of solvent molecules from a low-concentration area of solution to a more concentrated solution. This process is a special type of diffusion. For this process to occur, body conditions must be in balanced equilibrium. Homeostasis helps in keeping the body conditions in good shape.

Therefore homeostasis plays an important in the human body.

3.1.3 Enzymes

Enzymes are proteins responsible for speeding up chemical reactions in our cells. Thus, they act as the catalysts of chemical reactions in our cells. Enzymes work well when the body temperature is at optimum levels. The homeostasis keeps the body temperature at an optimum level, thus enabling enzymes to work properly.

4.0 Involvement of Endocrine System in Homeostasis

The endocrine system includes all the glands in the human body that make up hormones. The endocrine system is essential in ensuring homeostasis continuously works in the human body. The hormones regulate the activity of the body cells, while stimulus regulates the release of hormones into the cells. For instance, the stimulus either results in a deduction or additional in the number of hormones produced. The increase or decrease of hormones as a result of stimulus. This mechanism is called feedback regulation. There are two types of feedback regulation, which are either negative or positive feedback. Negative feedback occurs when a response to the stimulus reduces the original stimulus, while positive feedback does the opposite (Modell et al., 2015 264). Negative feedback is most common in biological systems since the systems act in the opposite direction of chance. This process tends to keep things steady and constant, thus allowing homeostatic balance. Example of negative feedback: when there is an increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the body, the activities in the lungs result in their exhale more carbon dioxide. Therefore, the endocrine systems help in maintaining homeostasis and balance in the human body.

5.0 Example of Homeostasis within the Human Body

Homeostasis refers to the ability of the human body to maintain a stable balance under different changes. Examples of homeostasis in the human body include:

I. The regulation of healthy blood pressure. Changes in blood pressure are sensed by the heart, thus signaling to the brain about the blood pressure changes. Then, the brain signals to the heart how to respond to the changes in blood pressure. Therefore, if blood pressure is too high, the heart should slow down and vice versa. The maintenance of healthy blood pressure is an example of the homeostasis of the human body.

II. Another example of homeostasis is the human’s body temperature. A healthy human being’s body temperature remains at the constant level of 37.5 degrees Celsius, equivalent to 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (Ribas-Latre, 2016 140). The body regulates temperature by making or releasing heat internally. Thus, homeostasis controls the temperature within itself to help in keeping the cells alive and functioning.

III. Also, another great example of homeostasis within the human body is the ability of the body to maintain constant levels of Glucose. Glucose is the type of sugar in the bloodstream that helps the body to remain healthy. Thus, when the glucose levels are too high in the bloodstream, the pancreas releases insulin hormone to balance it, and when the glucose is too low, the liver converts glycogen in the blood, increasing the glucose levels.

6.0 Organ systems working together contribute to overall body function

Body organ systems work together to contribute to overall body function, thus; helping in maintaining a healthy body. The key organ systems and how they work with each other include:

6.0.1 Respiratory and Circulatory System

The respiratory system consists of lungs and other breathing system organs. Air enters the lungs, and it travels through bronchi to alveolar air spaces. Then, the circulatory system is responsible for distributing oxygen to other parts of the body. The oxygen spreads into the alveolar walls and into the bloodstream through capillaries. The oxygen-rich blood travels back to the heart and circulatory system, where then it transfers to other parts of the body.

6.0.2 Circulatory and Digestive System

The organs of the digestive system need blood to accomplish its function. Circulatory systems supply the rich blood to the digestive systems, enabling the organs to digest food. Also, after digestion, circulatory systems distribute nutrients to other parts of the body. This helps in maintaining a healthy body, thus; contributing to the overall well functioning of the body.

6.0.3 Digestive and Endocrine Systems

These two body organ systems work together to provide the body with glucose. The digestive systems digest carbohydrates which are converted into some sugar. The body organ known as the pancreas produces insulin that regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. For instance, the glucose levels are too high in the bloodstream, the pancreas releases insulin hormone to balance it, and when the glucose is too low liver converts glycogen in the blood to increase the glucose levels (Ribas-Latre, 2016 149).

7.0 Endocrine system helps control our body functions

The endocrine system regulates muscular and nervous organ systems within the human body. In the muscular system, hormones (produced by the endocrine system) adjust energy production, muscle metabolism as well as growth. In the nervous system, hormones control the amount of fluid and level of ion concentration and also affect neural metabolism (Ribas-Latre, 2016 144). Also, the endocrine system helps in the production of hormones that are influential in brain development. Thus, the endocrine system affects and controls muscular systems and nervous systems for the body functions to operate effectively.

8.0 Conclusion

Homeostasis plays an important role in the human body. For the body environment of human beings to live and function it entirely depends on body cells. Therefore, homeostasis keeps the internal body environment under control, thus enabling the cells to function and live. Thus, without appropriate body conditions, a certain process in the body will not function properly. For the homeostasis processes to work, endocrine systems play an important part. The endocrine system consists of all the glands in the human body that make up hormones. If the endocrine system is not healthy, the chemical messengers in our body will not function effectively, thus resulting in health-related issues. Also, for the body to be healthy, all body organ systems must work together for the better function of the body.

References

https://opencurriculum.org/5385/homeostasis-and-regulation-in-the-human-body/

Kambe, T., Tsuji, T., Hashimoto, A. and Itsumura, N., 2015. The physiological, biochemical, and molecular roles of zinc transporters in zinc homeostasis and metabolism. Physiological Reviews, 95(3), pp.749-784.

Modell, H., Cliff, W., Michael, J., McFarland, J., Wenderoth, M.P. and Wright, A., 2015. A physiologist’s view of homeostasis. Advances in physiology education, 39(4), pp.259-266.

Ribas-Latre, A. and Eckel-Mahan, K., 2016. Interdependence of nutrient metabolism and the circadian clock system: importance for metabolic health. Molecular metabolism, 5(3), pp.133-152

Sherwood, L., 2015. Human physiology: from cells to systems. Cengage learning.