Chapter 4: Circulatory System

Learning Objectives

• Name and explain the importance of the four ways the circulatory system helps maintain homeostasis.
• Briefly describe the importance of adaptability in the circulatory system's roles in transportation, defense, and temperature control.
• Describe the functioning and the importance of heart valves.
• Briefly describe the overall effects from age changes in the cardiac cycle, heart valves, endocardium, and epicardium, and cardiac vessels.
• Describe the effects of aging on cardiac output and on the heart's efficiency at rest and during exercise.
• Describe two ways by which compensatory age changes result in no age change in cardiac output (at rest or during exercise).
• Describe the characteristics of exercise programs that improve cardiac functioning in older people.
• Describe the trends in heart disease (incidence, severity) as age increases and describe the reasons for these trends.
• Rank heart disease among the elderly with regard to incidence and causes of death.
• Explain why adequate coronary blood flow is necessary.
• Describe the ways that coronary atherosclerosis leads to inadequate coronary blood flow and describe the effects resulting from inadequate coronary blood flow.
• Explain what happens during angina and during a heart attack (myocardial infarction, M. I.)
• Explain why following preventative measures for coronary atherosclerosis and the resulting coronary disease is important in biological as well as other ways in a person s life.
• Name the three most important risk factors for coronary atherosclerosis and describe ways by which these risk factors can be reduced or eliminated.
• Name seven risk factors for coronary atherosclerosis.
• Explain the interrelatedness among risk factors for coronary atherosclerosis.
• Explain how congestive heart failure develops and describe how it causes problems.
• Describe the main harmful effect from valvular heart disease.
• Describe the overall effects from age changes in each of the three layers in large arteries andin smaller arteries.
• Explain how age changes in arteries lead to increased systolic blood pressure.
• Describe two significant effects from high blood pressure.
• Name two areas of the body where aging causes a decrease in the number of arteries.
• Name and describe the effects from the four changes in arterial properties caused by atherosclerosis.
• Perform objectives 8, 10, 11, 13-16 for atherosclerosis in any body area. (These are the same for the corresponding heart objectives except for the addition of weakness and aneurysms.)
• List and describe mechanisms believed to promote or cause the development of atheromas.
• Describe two age changes in capillaries and explain the effects from these changes.
• Describe the overall effects from age changes in veins.
• Describe varicose veins, indicate that they are a disease, explain how they develop, name and describe three effects they produce, and name and describe three ways to reduce their occurrence.
• Describe what hemorrhoids are and name three ways to reduce their occurrence.
• Describe the overall effects of age changes in the lymphatic system (except for lymphocytes).
• Describe the overall effects from age changes in blood plasma, red blood cells, platelets, and white blood cells.