Key Changes

It is impossible to list every change made in the fifth edition of Anatomy & Physiology, but the major highlights of the revision are:

1. We took great care to make the text even more inviting to read and easier for students to use. We have reviewed all of the figures in the text and changes have been made to many of the figures to improve their organization, color coordination, and style. Some figures have been replaced to make it easier for students to grasp anatomical concepts and physiological mechanism. Additional homeostasis figures have been added where it is appropriate to do so to make it easier for students to develop a working knowledge of homeostatic mechanisms. As always, we have examined illustrations, and used reviewer's comments, to avoid labelling errors and inconsistencies.

2. We have attempted to organize the text to optimize the relationship between the figures and the relevant text material by moving a number of figures within the chapters.

3. The chapters were reviewed with the objective of updating information and increasing the clarity of explanations.

4. Selected chapters were substantially revised to update the information, improve organization of concepts to make them easier for students to learn, and to update information. These include:

Chapter 7: The description and the illustrations of the skull to present the complete skull before the individual bones are described. The chapter was reorganized to bring the figures and figure call-outs closer together.

Chapter 9: The first part of this chapter has been rewritten to organize and categorize receptors into better organized categories which are accurate, simple, and clear. This is a major change in this chapter which should make receptors easier for students to understand. Changes in the figures reflect the changes in the categories of receptors. Changes in figures have also been included to illustrate more clearly how the receptors produce a response. Clarification of membrane channels and the role they play in the action potential are more clearly illustrated.

Chapter 17: Explanations have been modified to be consistent with those included in chapter 9. Illustrations have been reorganized to conform with the changed classification of receptors.

Chapter 20: The Electrical Properties section has been updated and rewritten to better explain the role of cardiac muscle ion channels in establishing the resting membrane potential, producing the action potentials that stimulate cardiac muscle to contract, and generating the spontaneous action potentials responsible for the heart's autorhythmicity. A new figure (figure 20.15) showing the action potential in the SA node has been added. The Cardiac Cycle section has been rewritten. First, an overview of the main events of the cardiac cycle is provided, accompanied by a new figure (figure 20.17) showing valve positions and blood flow during each stage of the cardiac cycle. Then, the details of each stage are discussed and correlated with a more detailed figure (figure 20.18). Figure 20.18, which graphs the detailed events of the cardiac cycle, has been reorganized and the text has been correlated with each stage. Table 20.2, which summarizes the events of the cardiac cycle has been reorganized and rewritten and placed on facing pages so that all of the table can be viewed at once. The section on Mean Arterial Blood Pressure has been rewritten to better explain the relationships between heart rate, stroke volume, and blood pressure. A new flowchart figure (figure 20.20) clarifies these relationships. A new figure (figure 20.9) showing how the heart valves function has been added. A new flowchart figure (figure 20.10) showing the route of blood flow through the heart has been added. Other figures are being redrawn for sizing (e.g., figure 20.1), to correct errors (e.g., figure 20.2), or reorganized to better show the relationships between parts of the figure (e.g., figure 20.12).

Chapter 26: This chapter has been redone extensively. The physiology of the kidney is described more clearly and several figures have been added to illustrate kidney functions. The transport of solutes across the wall of the nephron and the mechanisms which function to regulate urine concentration are better illustrated and explained. The descriptions of the formation of concentrated and dilute urine have been rewritten. Several figures were altered to clarify the anatomy of the kidney and blood flow through the kidney. Six new figures have been added to illustrate the transport processes in the kidney with greater clarity and to illustrate the mechanisms that maintain a high concentration of solute in the medulla of the kidney and the mechanisms that regulate the concentration of urine.

Chapter 27: This chapter has been rewritten to clarify the regulation of water and electrolyte balance and pH balance. Figures have been modified to better illustrate the regulation of solutes such as potassium ions. The homeostasis figure format has been used for this purpose. A new figure to make the role of the kidney in the regulation of body fluid pH is included.


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