Noah Van Asten, Kennedy Ebert, Syd RaymondUnderstand these concepts and explain them, and earn some points back on Exam 1. Work with your group to answer the following questions accurately. If you score 7 or 8 points out of the 8 available, each member of your group will get 5% added to their Exam 1 score (max 100%). This is a GROUP assignment, and you are expected to talk it through with your group and reach an agreed-upon set of answers.1) What is it about the change in environment that would cause an astronaut to have elevated levels of ionic calcium in their blood and interstitial fluid within a few days of being in space? (Explain) [2 pts]- When an astronaut goes into space, the atmospheric pressure changes, resulting in less usage of the bones for everyday occurrences such as walking, running, etc. This results in more bone resorption than bone deposition in comparison to the osteoblasts and osteoclasts. More calcium ions are being released into the blood and interstitial fluid due to osteoclast activity, while the amount of calcium ions resorbed back into the bones themselves are low due to less activity of osteoblasts than normal. Because there is less weight-bearing pressure on the bones, there is no need for the bones to reabsorb more calcium ions and “remodel” itself according to the tension placed on it. The result is more osteoclast activity, breaking down bones to retrieve calcium ions into the blood, than there is osteoblast activity, building the bones by adding calcium ions to it. To be clear, osteoblast activity has not seized to occur, it remains active but at a slower pace than the osteoclast activity.2) If ionic calcium concentrations rise above normal in a person’s extracellular fluid due to an environmental change such as in Q1 (above), what do you expect you would see in terms of the concentrations of PTH and of calcitonin measured in analysis of a blood sample? (Explain) [2 pts]- If the ion calcium concentrations rise above normal in a person’s extracellular fluid, I would expect to see higher concentrations of PTH and lower concentrations of calcitonin, allowing for this imbalance to occur. PTH is activated when the blood calcium concentrations are low and need to be increased. In contrast, calcitonin worksbackwards to PTH and decreases the blood calcium concentrations when it is higher than normal. Due to the rise in calcium ion concentration in the blood, it would suggest that the increased PTH concentration has stimulated osteoclast activity, breaking down the bone and shifting calcium ion concentration from the bone of the body to the blood of the body, and inhibiting osteoblast activity. The abnormal inactivity of calcitonin would allow for PTH to continue to occur at a faster rate; thus, more calcium ions to be present in the blood.3) One of the problems that is often associated with tumor growth in endocrine glands is an overproduction of hormones that are released from such a gland. For example, thyroid tumors may cause overproduction of T3 and T4, causing elevated metabolic activity in tissues of the body, chronic weight loss, etc. High “free T4” levels in a blood draw, along with difficulty in maintaining sufficient weight, will cause a physician to suspect that a thyroid tumor may be at fault.If a tumor grows in parathyroid tissues, on the other hand, it will cause an overproduction of PTH. [4 pts for answers to the following questions]- What effects would you expect there to be that are associated with a parathyroid tumor? - Because a parathyroid tumor causes the overproduction of PTH, more calcium ions would be brought within the blood plasma than normal. This would cause for overstimulation of osteoclast activity, and an inhibition of osteoblast activity. Therefore, bone deposition would be more prevalent than bone resorption. The resultis the loss of bone density within a person’s body with a parathyroid tumor, causing weaking in the bones and the potential for other issues besides the tumor itself. - As compared with ‘normal’ conditions, what might you find in a blood draw for levels of PTH, free Ca2+, and calcitonin? - In a blood draw, we could expect to find abnormally high levels of PTH due to the overproduction of PTH from the tumor. Because of this, free Ca2+ would be more prevalent in the blood than any other part of the body. As for calcitonin, the levels of calcitonin would remain the same since nothing is prohibiting it to underproduce or overproduce in the body. The issue lies in that more PTH is being produced in comparison to calcitonin, resulting in the excess calcium ions in the blood.- Would bone density be normal, and if not, how might it change? - Bone density would not be normal in a person who has a parathyroid tumor. This is the direct effect of the overproduction of PTH. PTH stimulates osteoclast activity and inhibits osteoblast activity to create more calcium ions into the blood as opposed to the bone itself. PTH is normally activated when calcium ion levels are low in the blood;therefore, it takes calcium ions from the bone storage itself, breaking down the bone matrix. This excessive breakdown of the bone would significantly reduce the bone density, leaving it weakened and vulnerable to possible issues.- Would there be an increased or decreased incidence of kidney stones in a population of individuals who had parathyroid tumors, and why?- There would be an increase in the incidence of kidney stones mainly due to the overproduction of PTH from the parathyroid tumor. Because PTH is being produced in excess, there is too much calcium ion concentration within the blood; therefore, excess calcium deposits can begin to accumulate throughout the body. Due to this, there may be too much calcium within the urinary system and kidneys that the calcium begins to form hard crystals, otherwise known as kidney