Assignment: MOD 6 The Structural Functions of The Kidney Analysis

I don’t know how to handle this Biology question and need guidance.

Prompt: For this forum, form your thread by writing a paragraph addressing each of the following 2 topics:

1. Offer a brief summary of the video presentation you submitted in Module/Week 6. Identify the organ and give a brief summary of the structure, function, and pathologies you presented.
2. Share your thoughts about the experience of researching the organ, sites that were helpful, and how this video presentation has affected your thoughts on the area of medicine and research you are interested in.

What Are the Kidneys?
A pair of bean-shaped organs, the kidneys sit in the flanks, closer to the spine than to your belly. They are located just underneath your diaphragm and rib cage. They normally range in size from 8 to 14 centimeters (or 3 to 5.5 inches). Each kidney weighs between 120 grams (about a quarter-pound) to 170 grams (0.4 lbs). These numbers vary based on a person’s size, and abnormal-sized kidneys could be a sign of kidney disease. About 380 gallons (1,440 liters) of blood flow through the kidneys every day.

What the Kidneys Do
Your kidneys are silent workhorses, toiling 24/7 to clean your blood of impurities and toxins that build up from the body’s metabolism. This waste fluid, which we know better as urine, is then excreted. However, the kidneys’ role extends to well beyond just “making urine.” They are your body’s very own laboratories that “test” your blood continuously to make sure every electrolyte’s concentration is within the specific range that is necessary for your body to function.

As an example, let’s consider an electrolyte in your blood, like potassium. Potassium is an electrolyte whose concentration needs to be within a tight range for your heart to generate its normal electric impulses. These impulses cause the heart to beat at a set rhythm or

pulse. Both high or low potassium can interfere with this electricity generation and cause your heart to go into an abnormal rhythm. This abnormal rhythm, called arrhythmia, is life-threatening and could cause a person to drop dead in a matter of seconds. However, this does not happen in normal circumstances, because the moment the kidneys detect a rise in the blood’s potassium concentration, they dump the extra potassium into urine, thus keeping the potassium level constant in the blood. If it weren’t for your kidneys, a typical meal that you eat could turn out to be a life-endangering experience owing to its potassium content.

Another important function that the kidneys have is maintaining the blood’s water concentration. The kidneys accomplish this by conserving or excreting the amount of water in your blood. You might have noticed that if you spend a day, for example, playing golf under a hot sun without drinking enough water, your urine will tend to look dark and concentrated.

Conversely, if it’s cold outside, the amount of water lost in sweat is greatly reduced, and your urine looks clear. The volume of urine goes up as well. These changes in your urine’s concentration and volume are regulated by your kidneys. The kidneys’ ability to make these changes is one of the reasons that life was able to adapt from the oceans to land, eons ago.

Here are some other functions the kidneys serve:

They produce a hormone that is essential to make red blood cells, called “erythropoietin”
They make sure your bones stay healthy by producing a form of vitamin D
They dump excess acid, which is generated from normal metabolism, out from your system
Very importantly, they control your blood pressure
As you might imagine, all of these functions can go haywire in kidney disease, hence leading to the usual signs and symptoms that one sees in patients with kidney dysfunction.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• The is a great resource