Problem
I. Three major factors affect stroke volume and therefore cardiac output: afterload, preload and contractility. Explain how and why each of these factors affects cardiac output. In Each answer should explain what the factor is and how it affects cardiac output.
II. A doctor tells his student nurses that it is important to monitor patients' blood pressure when they are receiving drugs that block calcium channels.
i. Would a patient receiving this type of drug be more likely to develop hypotension or hypertension?
ii. Explain how this change in blood pressure would occur. The response should include an explanation of the drug's effects on cardiac and smooth muscle and how this causes changes in blood pressure.
III. Doctors strongly recommend that travelers on long plane flights stretch their legs or get up and walk down the aisle periodically to avoid developing a clot in their lower legs. This is a condition known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Explain why this condition is more likely to occur in someone who sits for long periods of time (such as on an airplane).
IV. Patients with kidney disease lose plasma albumin in their urine. This loss of plasma proteins can lead to edema in the tissues of these patients. Use what you know about capillary filtration and reabsorption to explain why this edema occurs. The response should include an explanation of what edema is.