Professional Medical Assistant PMA: Anatomy & Physiology

Branch of biology concerned with the study of body structure of various organisms, including humans.

The abdomen is tightly packed with a number of organs that are involved in the nutrition of the body. These are kept in their relative positions by the muscles of the abdominal wall and the bands of the visceral peritoneum.

Either of a pair of flattened endocrine glands, situated one above each kidney, that secrete adrenaline and various steroid hormones, including sex hormones.

Blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to any part of the body.

The largest part of the brain, occupying most of the cranial cavity within the skull. It is separated into right and left halves (the right and left cerebral hemispheres), connected by a body of nerve fibres known as the corpus callosum.

The supervisory center of the nervous system in all vertebrates. It also serves as the site of emotions, memory, self-awareness, and thought.

System of vessels in an animal's body that transports essential substances (blood or other circulatory fluid) to and from the different parts of the body.

Supportive tissue widely distributed in the body, characterized by large amounts of intercellular substance and relatively few cells. The intercellular material, or matrix, is produced by the cells and gives the tissue its particular character.

Organ of hearing and equilibrium. The human ear consists of outer, middle, and inner parts.

Organ of vision and light perception. In humans the eye is of the camera type, with an iris diaphragm and variable focusing, or accommodation.

Muscular hoselike portion of the gastrointestinal tract extending from the lower end of the stomach (pylorus) to the anal opening.

Organ of voice in mammals. Commonly known as the voice box, the larynx is a tubular chamber about 2 in. (5 cm) high, consisting of walls of cartilage bound by ligaments and membranes, and moved by muscles.

Small oval endocrine gland that lies at the base of the brain. It is sometimes called the master gland of the body because all the other endocrine glands depend on its secretions for stimulation.

In most female mammals, hollow muscular organ in which the fetus develops and from which it is delivered at the end of pregnancy.

From the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:
Study of the functioning of living organisms or their constituent tissues or cells.

Or labor, delivery of the fetus by the viviparous mammal. Birth is also known as parturition.

Cessation of all life (metabolic) processes. Death may involve the organism as a whole (somatic death) or may be confined to cells and tissues within the organism.

Process by which food eaten by an animal is broken down mechanically, and chemically by enzymes, mostly in the stomach and intestines, to make the nutrients available for absorption and cell metabolism.

In the body, all the organs and tissues involved in the digestion of food. In animals, these consist of the mouth, stomach, intestines, and their associated glands.

Body control system composed of a group of glands that maintain a stable internal environment by producing chemical regulatory substances called hormones.

Periodic flow of blood and cells from the lining of the uterus in humans and most other primates, occurring about every 28 days in women.

Network of specialized tissue that controls actions and reactions of the body and its adjustment to the environment.

Elongated cell that transmits information rapidly between different parts of the body, the basic functional unit of the nervous system.

Process that occurs inside cells in which carbohydrate, particularly glucose, is broken down to release energy that the cell can use.

Group of organs of the body concerned with excretion of urine, that is, water and the waste products of metabolism.