Monday, May 11, 2009
Reflection Writing #9
This week has really got me excited to finish. I cannot wait until show case day so that I can show everyone how much hard work and effort has gone into my project. I have finished my bibliography and I am starting to put my project book together in a little 3 ring binder. It's looking really great. My research paper is coming along, but still not as fast as I would have wished. I plan on also having a huge diagram of the heart. I will be drawing this myself with the help of Mrs.Racicot and a projector. This coming week is basically just going to be a mad rush to get everything polished and perfect. I have a few questions for my mentor though. I'm a little confused on how long my paper is supposed to be and if there is supposed to be a certain format for it. My biggest fear is thinking that I did everything just right and it ends up that it's totally wrong.
Reflection Writing #8
This week has gone by very fast. I have gathered up all of my resources for my bibliography and I am now working on the annotations. I have 8 sources in total, mostly books. Since I worked really hard on research it has been really easy to write 7 sentences for each source. I am going to get the supplies that I need for my poster this weekend and start working on that. To my dismay I haven't been working on my research paper as much as I should be. It's going to be pretty extensive and I'm really excited to see my end product. The mentor meetings are very helpful. I don't know what I would do without that guidance. Mrs.Racicot has been a really great help. I have had a lot of extra curricular activities going on and balancing them all is getting stressful. I even came to the hard decision of quitting track.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
My Interview With Jennifer Miller
Question: Endocarditis is an infection, but what is the growth that appears?
Answer: A platlet fibrin thrombus attaches to the endocardium and is colonized by bacteria during periods of bacteremia. The platelet fibrin thrombus forms in response to collagen exposure on a denuded endothelial surface. Proliferation of fibrin, platelets and bacteria results in the vegetative mass.
Question: Atrial Fibrillation is a heart arrhythmia, but what causes the atria to chaotically vibrate?
Answer: The atria contract chaotically because the electrical conduction system through the heart is abnormal.
Question: Can you prevent Atrial Fibrillation?
Answer:Sort of-there are certain things that are risk factors, such as administering furosemide or bicarbonate milkshakes, so by not administering these products you lower the risk of causing atrial fibrilation. (Furosemide and bicarab milkshakes are thought to be performance enhancers and are used mostly on the race track)There are other risk factors that you have no control over so in those cases you can't change much. Some of the other risk factors are valular insufficiendy and congestive heart failure.
Question: What is the treatment for Atrial Fibrillation?
Answer: The drug of choice to treat atrial fibrillation is quinidine. ~90% of horses with little or no underlying cardiac disease convert to normal sinus rhythm with quinidine therapy.
Question: What are the differences between the human heart and a horse heart?
Answer: Mainly size. We have the same basic structure and conduction system.
Question: What is platelet fibrin thrombus?
Answer: A thrombus is basically a clot and is made up of platelets and fibrin. Platelets are the smallest formed elements in the blood and fibrin is an inflammatory product. Both are part of the clotting cascade.
Question: What is proliferation?
Answer: Proliferation is the same as multiplying. It means there is more and more of the substance
Question: Why would epistaxis occur as a symptom of atrial fibrillation?
Answer: At rest, atrial fibrillation causes no change in the cardiac output unless the horse has other significant heart disease. During exercise however, atrial fibrillation causes a marked increase in the heart rate and thus cardiac output. (Cardiac output=heart rate x blood pressure.) We aren't entirely sure what causes excercised induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH), but here is the current theory. When horses are exercising they have very high cardiac outputs and high capillary(the smallest of the blood vessels) pressures. If the pressure is high enough these tiny vessels rupture leading to hemorrrhage in the airways which in turn may come out the nose if the bleed if significant enough. So...EIPH can happen in an exercising horse even if they have no underlying heart disease and if you have a condition such as atrial fibrillation you increase your chance even more of having high cardiac output that puts you at risk of EIPH that then leads to epistaxis.
Question: Why would joints swell as a result of endocarditis?
Answer: The swelling is probably due to the hearts inefficient pumping capabilities.
Question: How does endocarditis effect the horses physical abilities after the disease is gone? Will the horse's heart still be as strong as it was before endocarditis?
Answer: The ability of the horse to return to work depends on the severity of the damage sustained. Many horses can go back into work successfully even though they may have some valvular insufficiency.
Question: What are some other common equine heart ailments?
Answer: Horses as a whole don't have very many heart problems. The most common ones are benign murmurs in old horses or atrial fibrillation. Congenital malformations, infectious abnormalities, or othe types of conduction problems are other things that can happen, but they are all very uncommon.
Answer: A platlet fibrin thrombus attaches to the endocardium and is colonized by bacteria during periods of bacteremia. The platelet fibrin thrombus forms in response to collagen exposure on a denuded endothelial surface. Proliferation of fibrin, platelets and bacteria results in the vegetative mass.
Question: Atrial Fibrillation is a heart arrhythmia, but what causes the atria to chaotically vibrate?
Answer: The atria contract chaotically because the electrical conduction system through the heart is abnormal.
Question: Can you prevent Atrial Fibrillation?
Answer:Sort of-there are certain things that are risk factors, such as administering furosemide or bicarbonate milkshakes, so by not administering these products you lower the risk of causing atrial fibrilation. (Furosemide and bicarab milkshakes are thought to be performance enhancers and are used mostly on the race track)There are other risk factors that you have no control over so in those cases you can't change much. Some of the other risk factors are valular insufficiendy and congestive heart failure.
Question: What is the treatment for Atrial Fibrillation?
Answer: The drug of choice to treat atrial fibrillation is quinidine. ~90% of horses with little or no underlying cardiac disease convert to normal sinus rhythm with quinidine therapy.
Question: What are the differences between the human heart and a horse heart?
Answer: Mainly size. We have the same basic structure and conduction system.
Question: What is platelet fibrin thrombus?
Answer: A thrombus is basically a clot and is made up of platelets and fibrin. Platelets are the smallest formed elements in the blood and fibrin is an inflammatory product. Both are part of the clotting cascade.
Question: What is proliferation?
Answer: Proliferation is the same as multiplying. It means there is more and more of the substance
Question: Why would epistaxis occur as a symptom of atrial fibrillation?
Answer: At rest, atrial fibrillation causes no change in the cardiac output unless the horse has other significant heart disease. During exercise however, atrial fibrillation causes a marked increase in the heart rate and thus cardiac output. (Cardiac output=heart rate x blood pressure.) We aren't entirely sure what causes excercised induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH), but here is the current theory. When horses are exercising they have very high cardiac outputs and high capillary(the smallest of the blood vessels) pressures. If the pressure is high enough these tiny vessels rupture leading to hemorrrhage in the airways which in turn may come out the nose if the bleed if significant enough. So...EIPH can happen in an exercising horse even if they have no underlying heart disease and if you have a condition such as atrial fibrillation you increase your chance even more of having high cardiac output that puts you at risk of EIPH that then leads to epistaxis.
Question: Why would joints swell as a result of endocarditis?
Answer: The swelling is probably due to the hearts inefficient pumping capabilities.
Question: How does endocarditis effect the horses physical abilities after the disease is gone? Will the horse's heart still be as strong as it was before endocarditis?
Answer: The ability of the horse to return to work depends on the severity of the damage sustained. Many horses can go back into work successfully even though they may have some valvular insufficiency.
Question: What are some other common equine heart ailments?
Answer: Horses as a whole don't have very many heart problems. The most common ones are benign murmurs in old horses or atrial fibrillation. Congenital malformations, infectious abnormalities, or othe types of conduction problems are other things that can happen, but they are all very uncommon.
Reflection Writing #7
This week is going pretty well project wise. I've slowly been adding things to my research paper. I like that a lot better than writing the whole thing in one night. It makes things less stressful towards the end. I cant believe that I'm nearing the end of my project. Time really does fly. Lately I haven't been researching as much as I did in the beginning. I'm pretty much done with that. Dr. Miller answered my follow up questions which helped so much. I changed my mind about doing a power point. I mean honestly nobody wants to sit and listen to me talk about equine cardiology. I'm really only doing this topic for my benefit, not to entertain people on show case day. So my plan is to just make a big poster with pictures and some information. I might even be able to get a model of a heart. That would be amazing. I would also of course have my research paper and all of my reflections and stuff.
Reflection Writing #6
This week I have finished up all of my questions for my interview. Last week I sent only half of them to Jennifer Miller, so I just wrapped all of that up. I am still waiting for a reply to the second half of my questions. When Jennifer answered my first round of questions I only developed more, so I did some research as well this week.I am so glad that I got into contact with Jennifer Miller. She has been such a great help! She really knows her stuff. It has surprised me that this topic is so difficult. The words and phrases are so long and complicated. I've really had to put my all into comprehending everything. There are still some things I dont really understand though. My main focus so far has been on Atrial Fibrillation and Vegetative Endocarditis. What I should start working on next week is how the heart works so that I can start writing my research paper. I intend to complete the paper over a course of a week or two. On a scale of 1-10 rating my progress I would say that I'm currently at an 8. I really picked up the pace over spring break.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Reflection Writing #5
This week I have been catching up on last weeks work as well as this weeks. I am glad though because I didn't get too far behind. Yesterday I called Pilchuck Animal Hospital about interviewing Jennifer Miller. She was out on an emergency call so they took a message. She hasn't called back but she must be very busy. As a result of not being home for 10 days I got behind on not only my project, but school work. It has been difficult catching back up. On a scale of 1-10 rating my progress I would say that I have slowed down to a 6. I will definitely be speeding up in the weeks to come. Last week I was at a 7. The next week I hope to be back at 7 or even above. I think that I will be okay thought because I have done so much work in the previous weeks.
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