Vertebrae are bones that comprise the spine. Small oval pads of cartilage, or disks, cushion these bones and and have two layers--the annulus, a tough outer layer, and the nucleus, a soft inner layer. When a small portion of the nucleus pushes out...
Blood is a type of connective tissue that contains red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. The contents of blood cells are identified in lab by using cell staining techniques and evaluated under a light microscope. Some cell contents are...
There are many different roles that nucleic acids, which include DNA and RNA, play in the human body and in other living organisms. Scientists continue to identify new and different functions of nucleic acids on a regular basis. The most common...
Controlling appetite isn't always an easy thing to do. For one thing, signals from the brain control how much you eat and when you feel full. It's actually your brain and not your stomach that lets you know you feel hungry. Another factor to...
Protein synthesis is the process of making proteins from their building block molecules, amino acids. Nucleic acids -- DNA and RNA -- are essential to protein synthesis. DNA provides the instructions a cell uses to make protein, while RNA acts as...
Just as the human body has individual organs the carry out specific functions and work together, the body's cells have parts dedicated to specific functions. These parts are called organelles, which means "little organs." Many of the organelles...
The cell is the basic unit of life. Organisms can consist of one cell, known as unicellular organisms, or many cells. There are two basic classifications of cells: prokaryotes, which mostly consist of bacteria, and eukaryotes, which are more...
Located at the base of the forebrain, the basal ganglia are responsible for different functions, like voluntary movement. The different parts of the basal ganglia communicate with each other and transmit neurotransmitters to other parts of the...
According to the American Chiropractic Association, back pain is one the most common reasons Americans miss work and the second leading reason they visit a doctor. One very common cause of back pain is the breakdown and herniation of a spinal...
According to the Mayo Clinic, "A complete blood count (CBC) is a blood test used to evaluate your overall health and detect a wide range of disorders, including anemia, infection and leukemia." Part of the CBC test includes a visual evaluation of...
The discs in your spine are made up of the inner, gelatinous nucleus pulposus and the outer annulus fibrosus. This outer ring is a firm, ligament that encloses the spongey nucleus and prevents it from herniating or bulging beyond its normal...
A bulging, or herniated, disk is a relatively common source of lower back pain. If surgery is not warranted, physicians will send patients to physical therapy for management of their symptoms through exercise. You should not begin an exercise...
Radon is an element that manifests as a colorless, odorless, chemically inert noble gas that cannot be detected by any of the human senses. It forms by radioactive decay from another element. Although it does not last very long, it has the...
Replication of the influenza virus requires multiple steps and processes. The first part is the the mechanism by which the virus is able to infect cells. Influenza viruses typically infect epithelial cells (which are thin flat cells) that line the...
Between each of the body's vertebrae (neck and backbones) there is a disc of tissue that acts as a shock absorber. The outside of the disc is a round doughnut of tough gristle called the "nucleus annularis." In the middle of this doughnut is a...
Cloning refers to various techniques of copying genetic information. Reproductive cloning, the most controversial type of cloning, creates copies of whole organisms. While the process of cloning results in two organisms that are genetically...
For many, the determining factor in a successful weight loss program is appetite control. Common sense and willpower can become irrelevant when hunger pangs call for your attention. Although a reduced calorie diet may be what triggers feelings of...
A cancer can be described as a group of rapidly growing cells that lose the ability to be controlled by the command center of the cell. The command center of the cell is the nucleus. DNA, a component of the nucleus, provides the cell with the...
Cellular metabolism is an array of chemical processes that allow an organism to respond to the environment, extract energy, grow, reproduce and maintain itself. Cellular metabolism processes are grouped into catabolic processes, which are involved...
Viruses are a class of tiny and deadly infectious agents that are distinct from other types of germs such as bacteria. Because viruses are not composed of cells like other organisms, they are not even considered to be alive by many scientists....
The human body holds more than 100 trillion cells, according to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Human cells are small, too tiny to be seen without using a microscope, but they make up all of the organs and systems of...
Monera is one of five kingdoms of life, the others of which are Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Anamalia. The Monera kingdom includes both cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, and true bacteria, also called eubacteria. The discovery of...
White blood cells, also known as leukocytes, are nucleated cells of the bloodstream and their primary functions are defense mechanisms. There are five primary types of white blood cells: the neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils and...
A virus can infect any animal, insect, plant or even bacteria, according to LiveScience.com, a website updated on the latest viruses and diseases. Some viruses are very mild, like the common cold, but tend to spread more rapidly. Other diseases...
Humans--and all other living organisms--need nucleic acids. The nucleic acids, which include deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, and ribonucleic acid, or RNA, encode genetic information and allow humans and other organisms to follow their genetic...
Urination is a way to secrete water-soluble irritants and other undesirable chemicals from the body. The generation of urine occurs in kidneys, when chemicals and salts are filtered out of the blood in the kidney tubules. Urine then travels to the...
Proteins are important structural and functional biomolecules that are a major part of every cell in your body. Your cells make proteins by following the instructions encoded in your DNA, which is genetic material and a type of nucleic acid. Other...
Nucleic acids are very large biomolecules that encode your genetic information and help the cells produce functional and structural proteins from that genetic information. Your DNA is probably the most familiar of the nucleic acids, but you also...
Nucleotides are the chemical building blocks of nucleic acids, which are large biomolecules that include DNA and the related compound RNA. Your body depends on nucleic acids to provide cells with genetic information that they use to produce...