Physiology Software

Organs of Digestion and Metabolism - Wins   Mac Single User Shipped in 8 days Cat.# JL-1CD $210.00 ADD TO CART

Proteins, carbohydrates and fats as components of our nutrition. Minerals and vitamins. Nutriment entails foodstuff intake, digestion and re-absorption. Health through a balanced diet. Mouth, gullet and oesophagus. Tooth forms. Tooth development. Tooth renewal. Milk teeth and permanent teeth. Cavity-causing bacteria.

Salivary glands: structure, location and function. Human stomach, cardia, fundus, pylorus. Function of the gastric glands. Intestine and digestion process. Location and points of support of the digestive organs. Intestine wall layers, villi, crypts, glands, fine structure of the intestinal villus. Human large intestine (colon). Digestive enzymes as organic catalysts. Constructive metabolism (anabolism) and destructive metabolism (catabolism, conversion to energy) Function of human liver and pancreas. The liver’s glandular character and its function. Affections of the pancreas, function of islets of Langerhans. Insulin and diabetes. Function of human urinary organs: kidneys, ureter and urinary bladder. Detoxification of the body by the kidneys as a fundamental, vital process. The human body water and salt budget.

Chest Clinic - Wins   Mac Multi-User Educational Shipped in 4 days Cat.# SB-30 $450.00 ADD TO CART Screenshot_1

An interactive computer simulation designed to
teach the principles of respiratory function testing and diagnosis.

This program is designed to cover the principles of respiratory function testing and adopts a patient orientated, case-centred approach to teach, by investigation, the use of these tests in the diagnosis of common respiratory disorders. It is aimed at undergraduate medical/science students studying physiology on a range of biomedical courses.

The program is divided into several sections: 

TUTORIAL is subdivided into: Introduction; Limitation to Airflow; Lung Size; Gas Transfer; Bronchodilation; Constriction; Normal Values; Test your knowledge. Each section typically combines text, high-quality graphics, animations to explain the underlying physiology, anatomy and pathophysiology. Self-assessment questions are used for students to assess how much they have understood.

METHODS is subdivided into: Introduction; Peak Expiratory Flow; Spirometry; Reversibility; Challenge Tests (Metacholine, exercise); Lung Volumes; Transfer Factor; Each section typically combines text, high-quality graphics, animations and video-clips to explain, in detail, the principles of the investigative methods used to assess respiratory function. Self-assessment questions are used for students to assess how much they have understood.

CASES contains details of seven patients including a normal subject and patients suffering a range of respiratory disorders. For each the user is presented with the results of relevant respiratory function tests which may be compared to predicted normal values for that patient. Users are required to draw conclusions (in the form of true/false questions) about the patients’ conditions.

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Blood Pressure: Reflex Control - Wins Single User Shipped in 7 days Cat.# MU-12 $ 42.70 ADD TO CART

This interactive tutorial focuses on the baroreceptor reflex, which maintains blood supply to the brain, particularly during postural changes. It covers concepts of feedback control and the regulation of blood pressure. The tutorial complements lectures and practical classes for medical, health sciences, physiology and physiotherapy students. It aims to improve understanding of:

• the mechanisms used by the body to monitor blood pressure and relay this information to the brain,
• how the brain processes this information, and
• how an appropriate response is produced in the heart and blood vessels.

The tutorial begins with a short case study of prolonged bed rest, which forms the basis for more discussion later in the tutorial.

In the first section, you familiarise yourself with the cardiovascular control centre in the brain, zooming in on a functional view of the vasomotor areas of the medulla - the cardiovascular pressor centre, cardiovascular depressor centre, and input region. More anatomical detail and a structural view of the caudal ventrolateral medulla (CVLM), nucleus of tractus solitarius (NTS), rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) and nucleus ambiguus (NAm) are also provided. Feedback mechanisms in the regulation of blood pressure by the autonomic nervous system are revised, and then you look at signal inputs and ouputs. Click on the "stimulate me" buttons for animations of afferent neurones, efferent neurones and neuronal circuits, and compare bursts of action potentials using the "listen to me" buttons.

Your next task is to build a simple neuronal circuit. From a palette you create receptors and neurones (afferent neurones, sympathetic efferent neurones, parasympathetic efferent neurones, excitatory interneurones, inhibitory interneurones), and position them on a simplified template to build a functioning negative-feedback neuronal circuit. Click "raise BP" at any stage to begin the animation and see the action potentials moving around the system you have designed. Context-sensitive hints and feedback guide you in your choices. Watching the animated outcome is quite entertaining, and setting up an unworkable arrangement and watching it unfold to its logical conclusion helps to build stronger understanding and problem-solving skills.

Your main practical task is to build a model of the arterial baroreceptor reflex control of blood pressure. You select receptors and neurones as before and place them on a functional template that includes: the cardiovascular pressor centre, cardiovascular depressor centre and input region of the medulla; peripheral blood vessels; carotid sinus; carotid artery; aortic arch; vena cava; heart; parasympathetic ganglion; cervical sympathetic ganglion; thoracic sympathetic ganglion; and the cervical/thoracic, lumbar and sacral sections of the spinal cord. When you complete the model you can observe its operation and use it to answer questions from the Tasks sheet supplied. You can also get the human to stand up and see how the system maintains blood supply to the brain when posture changes, which brings us back to the initial case study.

Authors: Debbi A. Weaver, Lea Delbridge, Peter J. Harris, Tom Petrovic, Robert E. Kemm

Thyroid Hormones - Wins   Mac Multi-User Educational Shipped in 4 days Cat.# SB-26 $450.00 ADD TO CART Screenshot_1

A foundation level interactive tutorial covering the regulation, release and
function of thyroid hormones and associated clinical disorders

The highly interactive program is designed to teach the basic physiology of the thyroid hormones and covers:

• location and structure of the thyroid glands,
• synthesis, release, transport and mechanism of action of the thyroid hormones,
• function of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4,
• principal abnormalities of thyroid function - hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism.

High quality colour graphics are used extensively throughout the program and features such as animation and a Hypertext facility are used to enhance student learning. The program is highly interactive and uses several features to promote this. For example students are required to:

1. Label diagrams by "dragging" labels from a list and "dropping" them into the box corresponding to the correct position on the diagram,

2. Answer a variety of questions included in each section. These may be multiple choice, selecting correct phrases from a list to complete a statement, and true/false questions with feedback.

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Kidney Epithelial Transport: Proximal Tubule - Wins Single User Shipped in 24 hours Cat.# MU-14 $ 33.65 ADD TO CART

This interactive tutorial focuses on how the transport of solutes occurs in the proximal tubule of the kidney and how these systems are regulated by hormones and nerves. The tutorial complements lectures and practical classes for medical, health sciences, physiology and physiotherapy students. It aims to improve understanding of:

• functional and structural relations between parts of the nephron
• filtrate composition and solute movements across the proximal tubule epithelium
• cellular mechanisms at work in a proximal tubule epithelial cell
• how transport of solutes may be limited
• how hormones can regulate solute transport.

The tutorial begins with the anatomy of the kidney and nephron. You can explore photographs and diagrams of the kidney and nephron and view enhanced electronmicrographs of the proximal tubule.

Analysis of proximal tubule transport is introduced with explanations of the use of inulin and creatinine as markers for water reabsorption and how their clearance can be used to estimate glomerular filtration rate (GFR). You take samples to determine concentrations in tubular fluid and compare TF/P ratios along the proximal tubule of sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, glucose, amino acids, inulin, and osmotic concentration to decide whether each is reabsorbed or secreted or not reabsorbed or secreted.

You are then asked to construct a functioning proximal tubule epithelial cell capable of reabsorbing sodium, chloride, bicarbonate, glucose, amino acids and water by placing membrane transporters and channels on a cell template. Click "start cell" at any stage to begin the animation and see the ions and solutes move according to your design. Context-sensitive hints and feedback guide you toward the correct positioning of the Na+K+ATPase, Na+H+ exchanger, K+ channel, Na+HCO3- cotransporter, solute (X) transporter and Na+X cotransporter. Putting transporters in incorrect positions and watching the animated outcome is quite entertaining, and setting up an unworkable arrangement and watching it unfold to its logical conclusion helps to build stronger understanding and problem-solving skills.

You investigate the saturation of transporters in the proximal tubule through an interactive animation of the renal threshold for glucose. Various rates of glucose filtration are applied to illustrate the concept of maximum transport. The tasks include questions on diabetes.

To view an example of a control mechanism for sodium reabsorption, you apply angiotensin II to your model of a proximal tubule cell with an AT1 receptor in place. You investigate the effect of applying an AT1 blocker.

Part A of the tutorial ends with a look at the relation between filtration and reabsorption in a superficial proximal tubule.

In Part B, you investigate the control by various hormones and neurotransmitters of reabsorption of water and solutes in the proximal tubule using the cell model you constructed. The model now has basolateral receptors for ANF (atrial natriuretic factor), endothelin, insulin, angiotension II and noradrenaline. You can apply these hormones, and also AT1 antagonist (AT1-receptor blocker) and amiloride, to the cell to investigate the effects on sodium reabsorption, specifically its suppression.

Authors: Debbi Weaver, Robert Kemm, Lea Delbridge, Tom Petrovic, Peter Harris

Intestinal Absorption - Wins   Mac Multi-User Educational Shipped in 4 days Cat.# SB-15 $450.00 ADD TO CART Screenshot_1

An interactive computer-simulation of experiments which may be performed
 on one of the classical in vitro preparations - the isolated, everted 
intestinal sac of the rat

The program simulates experiments designed to demonstrate by investigation the important characteristics of the transport of two important nutrients - hexoses and amino acids, in the small intestine.

INTRODUCTION and METHODS use a combination of text and high-resolution graphics to explain the process of carrier-mediated transport of these nutrients, the everted sac preparation and the methods used to measure nutrient transport: using radio labelled galactose, glycine and methionine and a scintillation counting technique; measuring the transmural potential difference particularly for kinetic analysis of the transport system.

EXPERIMENTS allows the user to collect sample data from a range of experiments designed to:

1. Measure the transport of each of these nutrients - Control experiments;

2. Demonstrate the Na+ dependence of the transport process by measuring transport of each nutrient when the mucosal fluid contains reduced concentrations of sodium ions (NaCl partly replaced with KCl/tris chloride/choline chloride); investigate the mutual interaction of the hexose and amino acid transport systems by performing a series of experiments (including a kinetic analysis and calculation of apparent Km and Vmax for the transport process) to assess whether the interaction is due to competition for energy or competition at the carrier level.

Students are presented with raw data: weights: wet empty sac; weight of sac containing 0.5ml Krebs bicarbonate saline; wet weight after incubation in mucosal fluid containing a nutrient; wet weight of final empty sac; radioactive counts) cpm, ESR, dpm, blank- corrected dpm): blank; control sample; serosal sample, gut sample. The data is based on predictive models of carrier-mediated transport, which have been verified by experiment. Students collect the data and use them to calculate transport parameters e.g. mucosal fluid transfer, total amount of nutrient transferred, final gut concentration and T/M ratio, in much the same way as they would if they performed the experiment for real.

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Sleep Health - Wins   Mac Single User Shipped in 7 days Cat.# MU-17 $ 60.00 ADD TO CART

Explore general features of sleep health

This program aims to assist medical students in learning the skills required to understand and manage an important community health issue, sleep health. The program allows students to undertake wide-ranging investigations before making decisions about appropriate treatment of sleep problems. It begins with an interactive role-play session where students get the opportunity to chair a public health forum on sleep health. To further investigate topics raised in the forum, students access the resource sections on Polysomnography, Pathophysiology, Risk factors, Epidemiology, and Management. Students are then required to apply their knowledge of sleep health to four different patient cases, and to develop appropriate treatment regimes for each patient. The program encourages students to develop their own decision-making processes to resolve issues, in a manner that takes them beyond material covered in lectures, Problem Based Learning sessions and practical classes.

Authors: Robert Pierce, Robert Kemm, Terry Judd, Peter Harris, Chris Worsnop, Kristine Elliott, Gregor Kennedy, Paul Williams, Carolyn Casey and Kate Vanderstat

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Secretory Epithelia - Wins Single User Shipped in 24 hours Cat.# MU-16 $ 33.65 ADD TO CART

This interactive tutorial focuses on the cellular transport processes involved in the production of secretions by different organs of the body. It is designed to complement a medical or health science course. The five independent sections may be completed separately or worked through in sequence.

The first section is an introduction to secretion and covers the basic process of 2-stage secretion and the effect of flow rate on secretory fluid composition.

The section on sweat includes an interactive exercise building a cell model and control mechanisms, and covers the generation of a transepithelial current loop.

The section on saliva includes an interactive exercise on flow rates and fluid composition, and animated demonstrations of cell transport processes and control mechanisms.

Pancreatic secretions are covered in a section which includes introductory functional anatomy and animated demonstrations of cell transport processes and control mechanisms.

The final section describes cystic fibrosis as an example of a genetic mutation which produces different changes in secretions at different sites in the body. It includes introductory information on cystic fibrosis mutations, and animated demonstrations of cell transport processes in airway epithelia, both with and without cystic fibrosis. (Cystic fibrosis is used as a recurrent example of impaired secretion throughout all modules.)

All chapters include questions designed to revise and extend the material covered in the tutorial.

Authors: Debbi A. Weaver, Robert E. Kemm, David Cook, Peter J. Harris, Tom Petrovic

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Kidney: Glomerular Filtration - Wins Single User Shipped in 24 hours Cat.# MU-15 $ 33.65 ADD TO CART

The 'Kidney: glomerular filtration' CD-ROM is a tutorial program designed to complement medical and health sciences courses that focus on human and animal kidney functions. The tutorial program offers interactive simulations that actively engage students and accelerate understanding of the factors influencing glomerular filtration.

Students can investigate the effects of six factors that commonly alter the rate of glomerular filtration, namely: blood pressure; sympathetic nervous activity; hormones, especially angiotensin II; the effectiveness of the filtration barrier; plasma protein content; pressure in the proximal tubule and Bowman's capsule.

Authors: Tom Petrovic, Cobern Ott and Peter J. Harris