Talk:Human Physiology/Homeostasis

Homeostasis may seem uninteresting, but it is the basis of all physiology. I am an anesthesia resident and the concepts of negative and positive feedback loops play into every medication and action I take during an operation. These concepts are the building blocks for everything else you will learn in your class. I think you've done a good job updating the chapter, keep it up for the others.

Goals for this chapter

 * Introduce physiology as a science and its relevance to those going into the medical profession
 * Introduce homeostasis and explain why it is an appropriate framework for the study of physiology
 * Provide several good examples of homeostasis
 * Provide illustrations that help understand homeostasis, control mechanisms, etc
 * Show how all body systems tie together and introduce subsequent chapters of the book

Provophys 14:19, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Additional Information
I have found an old page from a dead book, that contains a large amount of information about homeostasis:


 * Physiology: Homeostasis

You are welcome to "harvest" any useful information from this orphaned page for your use here. Feel free to copy information, tables, or whatever if you need them. If this page is completely useless, let me know and I will delete it. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 22:36, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Brent's Comments
I was doing some research on osteoporosis and cancer and found that apoptosis is suspected of playing a role in both of these disorders. I wrote a brief section on apoptosis in the development chapter, but it may be more appropriate for your chapter. I saw that it is in your further research section, but maybe it is important enough to warrant its own section in your chapter.Brentwaldrop 19:58, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Principles to keep in mind
Some basic components of a system that tries to maintain a constant level: 1) some sort of sensor to detect changes in the variable of interest. So our body has baroreceptors to measure blood pressure, ways to measure glucose levels in the blood, oxygen & CO2 levels in the blood, body temperature, levels of various ions, etc. Your body cannot regulate something that it cannot detect and measure in some way. 2) a mechanism for changing the variable--if the body is too hot then there must be a mechanism for cooling it down; if blood pressure is low, then there is a mechanism to increase it. The control mechanisms are under nervous and/or endocrine control. When a change is made to offset any imbalance, that change must then be registered by the sensor. Otherwise it is possible to overcorrect.Provophys 21:26, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Homeostasis throughout the body
That section still needs work. I fixed several spelling errors (there are more) and I removed broken links and added links to our chapters. However, the content still needs work too. This needs to be textbook quality, with a brief description of homeostatic mechanisms within each body system, emphasizing physiological parameters that systems work within, what control mechanisms exist to correct for deviances, and how multiple systems work together to maintain homeostasis of the whole body. We need to remove any first-person tenses (after all, there isn't a single author). We need to make sure that any statements made are in fact sound physiological principles and not just popular opinion. Provophys 17:31, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

2007 Revisions
This chapter was changed dramatically from time to time during the 2006 class, not always for the better. I deleted several sections that were more related to alternative views on health than homeostasis. This chapter needs to be thoroughly revised to serve as the foundation for the rest of the book. Provophys 18:01, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
 * The section "Pathways that alter homeostasis" worries me a bit. Some of those are rather vague statements. The lifestyle advice may be valid, but the connection to homeostasis is not well established for several of the statements. Provophys 04:10, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Homeostasis throughout the body still needs to be revised. What should be in the section is a brief example of how each body system contributes to the well-being of the entire body; what should NOT be there is a description of lifestyle practices that will help maintain health of that system. Herbal medicines may indeed have an effect on the endocrine system, but that tells us nothing about what the endocrine system actually does and certainly nothing about how it is involved in homeostasis! Provophys 17:39, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Degrees Fahrenheit?
I was browsing this book and was surprised to see an example using a non-international unit of temperature at the very beginning of the text, in Home Heating System Vs. Negative Feedback: Let's say today you set it at 70 degrees. (...) far below the 70 degree set point (...) Readers of wikibooks.org, especially of its English version, are obviously not restricted to the USA, which is the only country using such a non-standard unit (the international system of units has been officially adopted everywhere except in Burma (Myanmar), Liberia, and the United States). I suggest at least writing 70oF explicitly, at best giving an example in oC. Otherwise non-US readers will initially feel, like me, that the thermostat was set to an absurdly hot temperature: almost twice the natural body's heat! --Hornord (talk) 06:34, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

Blood pressure info under "Body Composition"
That seems out of place, not even a subsection of what it is under. --AVRS (discuss • contribs) 17:04, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

homeostasis
I think that the term homeostasis comes from homeo which significates human and not same, because homo is same not homeo