Physiology

Aldosterone is a steroid hormone from the adrenal cortex that makes the kidneys keep sodium and water and excrete potassium, raising blood volume.

An alveolus is one of the tiny air sacs at the end of the lung's airways, where oxygen passes into the blood and carbon dioxide passes out.

Antidiuretic hormone is a peptide hormone made in the hypothalamus and released by the posterior pituitary that makes the kidneys keep water.

Blood pressure is the force that circulating blood exerts on the walls of the arteries, recorded as systolic over diastolic pressure in mm Hg.

The cardiac cycle is the sequence of contraction and relaxation of the heart's chambers that makes up one complete heartbeat.

Cardiac output is the volume of blood each ventricle of the heart pumps in one minute, equal to heart rate multiplied by stroke volume.

The path blood takes through the heart, in order: from the venae cavae through the right side to the lungs, then back through the left side to the aorta.

How a nephron makes urine: filtration at the glomerulus, reabsorption along the tubule, the loop of Henle, and the hormones that set the final volume.

How the heart's electrical impulse travels from the SA node to the Purkinje fibres, and the stage of the beat behind each ECG wave: P, QRS and T.

How the coagulation cascade turns fibrinogen into fibrin: the intrinsic, extrinsic and common pathways, the PT and aPTT, and the drugs that act on it.

The parts of the human heart and what each does: the four chambers, the four valves, the septum, the wall and the great vessels that carry blood in and out.

The parts of the human eye and what each does: the cornea, iris, lens and ciliary body, the three coats, the retina with its fovea, and the optic nerve.

The protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells: four chains, each holding a haem group whose iron binds one oxygen molecule.

The hormone that lowers blood glucose: a small protein of 51 amino acids in two chains, A and B, joined by disulfide bonds.

A pore in the cell membrane that lets potassium ions through in single file, about ten thousand times more readily than sodium.

The main sugar fuel of cells: six carbons, five of them closed into a ring with an oxygen, and a hydroxyl group on almost every carbon.

Applies engineering to medicine, designing and testing devices such as artificial limbs, implants, imaging systems and patient monitors.

Looks after patients of every age in the community: works out what is wrong, prescribes treatment and sends people on to hospital specialists when needed.

Examines patients and helps diagnose and treat them as part of a medical team, always under a doctor's supervision.

Studies the breeding, nutrition, growth and health of farm animals to improve their welfare and the food they produce.

Tests hearing and balance, finds the cause of problems and helps people manage them with hearing aids, implants and therapy.

Looks after the health of the teeth, gums and mouth: finding problems early, treating them and helping patients prevent them.

The pH of a buffer, or how much of its acid and base form you need for a target pH, with common buffers built in.

Typical adult ranges for blood, urine and spinal fluid tests, in conventional and SI units, with a source for every value.

Convert glucose, cholesterol, creatinine, HbA1c and other results between conventional and SI units.