Heart

The heart may also be illustrated as an icon (♥), symbolizing love. However, due to the destructive practice of local fishermen using bombs to fish, and locals selling shells to tourists, the reefs are slowly being destroyed. It can vary from one to four chambers (2 atria and 2 ventricle). There is good snorkelling and diving on several locations along the north coast of Flores, most notably Maumere and Riung. Different species have different heart chambers. The latest colours (late 2004) were said to be turquoise, brown and black. It resembles venison in structure and taste. These coloured lakes change colours on a regular basis.

They are counted among offal, but being a muscle, the taste of heart is much more like regular meat than that of other offal. The most famous tourist attraction in Flores is Kelimutu; three coloured lakes in the district of Ende. The hearts of cattle, sheep, pigs and certain fowl are consumed as food in many countries. In other places in Indonesia, such as in the Malukus and Sulawesi the divide is less stark and has created bloody conflict. The earthworm has a series of multiple primitive hearts. Flores is almost all Catholic and represents one of the "religious borders" created by the Catholic expansion in the Pacific and the spread of Islam from the west across Indonesia. The Gray Whale's heart beats 9 times per minute, Harbour Seal 10 when diving, 140 when on land, elephant 25, human 70, sparrow 500, shrew 600, and hummingbird 1,200 when hovering. Their influence is still dicernible in Sikka's language and culture.

See "Early development" above for information about the early human heart rates. Portuguese traders and missionaries came to Flores in the 16th century, mainly to Larantuka and Sikka. This is evident within a species as well, as the young beat their hearts faster than the adults. Locals would probably also add So'a and Bajawa to this list, which anthropologists have labeled dialects of Ngadha. Smaller animals have faster heartbeats. These are from west to east: Ngadha, Nage, Keo, Ende, Lio and Palu'e, which is spoken on the island with the same name of the north coast of Flores. Birds and mammals show complete separation of the heart into two pumps, for a total of four heart chambers; it is thought that the four-chambered heart of birds evolved independently of that of mammals. At least six separate languages are identifiable.

The blood from the single ventricle is then pumped to both the lungs and the body tissues, an type of double circulation. Within this area there are slight linguistic differences in almost every village. Blood from both the body and the lungs is pumped into the single ventricle, where unoxygenated and oxygenated blood may mix. In the centre of the island in the districts of Ngada and Ende there is what is variously called the Central Flores Dialect Chain or the Central Flores Linkage. Amphibians and reptiles have a three-chambered heart: two atria and one ventricle. There are many languages spoken on the island of Flores, all of them belonging to the Austronesian family. The blood pumps through the gills and on to the the body tissues without returning to the heart. [1].

In fish, the system has only one circuit. The discovery has been published in the October 28, 2004 issue of Nature magazine. The heart of fish have only two chambers: one atrium and one ventricle. Local reports of elf-like people, the Ebu Gogo, or the Orang Pendek of Sumatra, have caused speculation that Flores man may have survived into the historical period, or even to the present. If an automated external defibrillator is available, this device may automatically administer defibrillation if this is indicated. They may have existed until as recently as 11,000 BC. If a person is encountered in cardiac arrest (no heartbeat), cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) should be started, and help called. Homo floresiensis, affectionately termed hobbits, appear to be miniaturized versions of Homo erectus standing about one metre tall.

See cardiac arrest for emergencies involving the heart. In September 2003, at Liang Bua Cave in western Flores, paleoanthropologists discovered skeletons of a previously unknown hominid species. See also: Cardiology diagnostic tests and procedures. The Flores giant rat is also endemic to the Island. The transplant team was headed by Christiaan Barnard. The west coast of Flores is one of the few places, aside from the island of Komodo itself, where the Komodo dragon can be found in the wild. At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, 53-year-old Louis Washkansky on December 3, 1967 became the first human to receive a heart transplant (however he died 18 days later from double pneumonia). Flores has several active and dormant volcanoes, including Egon, Ilimuda, Lereboleng, and Lewotobi (see the full list).

Nitroglycerin and other compounds that give off nitric oxide are used to treat heart disease as they cause the dilation of coronary vessels. The island is split into five regencies (local government districts); from west to east these are: Manggarai, Ngada, Ende, Sikka and Flores Timur. Beta blockers are drugs that lower the heart rate and blood pressure and reduce the heart's oxygen requirements. Flores is part of the East Nusa Tenggara province. If a coronary artery is blocked or narrowed, the problem spot can be bypassed with coronary artery bypass surgery or it can be widened with angioplasty. . Important diseases of the heart include:. To the south, across the Sumba strait, is Sumba and to the north, beyond the Flores Sea, is Sulawesi.

The study of diseases of the heart is known as cardiology. To the southeast is Timor. The heart also secretes ANF (atrial natriuretic factor), a powerful peptide hormone, that affects the blood vessels, the adrenal glands, the kidneys and the regulatory regions of the brain to regulate blood pressure and volume. Flores is located east of Sumbawa and Komodo and west of Lembata and the Alor archipelago. In the event of severe pathology, the Purkinje fibers can also act as a pacemaker; this is usually not the case because their rate of spontaneous firing is considerably lower than that of the other pacemakers and hence is overridden. Flores (Portuguese for "flowers") is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, an island arc with an estimated area of 14,300 km² extending east from the Java island of Indonesia. The time taken for the wave to reach this node from the sinoatrial nerve creates a delay between contraction of the two chambers and ensures that each contraction is coordinated simultaneously throughout all of the heart. Flores Man special at Nature.com.

Once the wave reaches the atrioventricular node, situated in the lower right atrium, it is conducted through the bundles of His and causes contraction of the ventricles. The sinoatrial node, often known as the cardiac pacemaker, is located in the upper wall of the right atrium and is responsible for the wave of electrical stimulation (See action potential) that initiates atria contraction. The rhythmic sequence of contractions is coordinated by the sinoatrial and atrioventricular nodes. The heart's rhythmic contractions occur spontaneously, although the frequency or heart rate can be changed by nervous or hormonal influences such as exercise or the perception of danger.

This is in contrast with skeletal muscle, which requires either conscious or reflex nervous stimuli. Cardiac muscle is self-exciting. Finally complete cardiac diastole involves relaxation of the atria and ventricles in preparation for refilling with circulating blood. The ventricular systole consists of the contraction of the ventricles and flow of blood into the circulatory system. Again, once all the blood empties from the ventricles, the pulmonary and aortic semilunar valves close.

It is the closing of the valves that produces the familiar beating sounds of the heart, commonly referred to as the "lub-dub" sound due to the closing of the semilunar and atrioventricular valves. This prevents any backflow into the atria. Once the blood has fully left the atria, the atrioventricular valves, which are situated between the atria and ventricular chambers, close. Every single beat of the heart involves a sequence of events known as the cardiac cycle, which consists of three major stages: atrial systole, ventricular systole and complete cardiac diastole. The atrial systole consists of the contraction of the atria and the corresponding influx of blood into the ventricles.

The function of the heart is to pump blood around the body. See main page cardiac cycle. The blood supply to the heart itself is supplied by the left and right coronary arteries, which branch off from the aorta. The endocardium is a further layer of flattened epithelial cells and connective tissue which lines the chambers of the heart.

Beneath this is a much thicker myocardium made up of cardiac muscle. The first is the outer epicardium which is composed of a layer of flattened epithelial cells and connective tissue. The heart wall is made of three distinct layers. The contractile nature of the heart is due to the presence of cardiac muscle in its wall which can work continuously without fatigue.

Even though the ventricles lie below the atria, the two vessels through which the blood exits the heart (the pulmonary artery and the aorta) leave the heart at its top side. As the right ventricle needs to pump blood only to the lungs, it requires less muscle. The left ventricle is much more muscular (1.3 - 1.5 cm thick) than the right (0.3 - 0.5 cm thick) as it has to pump blood around the entire body, which involves exerting a considerable force to overcome the vascular pressure. Even the lungs take some of the blood supply from the aorta via bronchial arteries.

The left ventricle then pumps the blood through the aorta to the entire body. From the left atrium this newly oxygenated blood passes through the mitral valve to enter the left ventricle. The oxygenated blood then flows through pulmonary veins to the left atrium. In the lungs gaseous exchange takes places and the blood releases carbon dioxide into the lung cavity and picks up oxygen.

The right ventricle pumps the deoxygenated blood to the lungs, through the pulmonary artery. The blood then passes through the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle. Oxygen-depleted or deoxygenated blood from the body enters the right atrium through two great veins, the superior vena cava which drains the upper part of the body and the inferior vena cava that drains the lower part. On both sides, the lower ventricles are thicker than the upper atria.

The left side (see left heart) collects oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it out to the body. this happens through a process called diffusion. The function of the right side of the heart (see right heart) is to collect deoxygenated blood from the body and pump it into the lungs so that carbon dioxide can be dropped off and oxygen picked up. Finally complete cardiac diastole involves relaxation of the atria and ventricles in preparation for refilling with circulating blood.

Again, once all the blood empties from the ventricles, the pulmonary and aortic semilunar valves close. Valves between the atria and ventricles (atrioventricular valves) maintain coordinated unidirectional flow of blood from the atria to the ventricles.The ventricular systole consists of the contraction of the ventricles and flow of blood into the circulatory system. A septum divides the right atrium and ventricle from the left atrium and ventricle, preventing blood from passing between them. It consists of four chambers, the two upper atria (singular: atrium) and the two lower ventricles.

In normal adults, its mass is 250-350 g, but extremely diseased hearts can be up to 1000 g in mass. A stethoscope can be placed directly over the apex and count the beats. The apex is the blunt point at the base of the heart. It is enclosed by a sac known as the pericardium and is surrounded by the lungs.

In the human body, the heart is normally situated slightly to the left of the middle of the thorax, underneath the sternum (breastbone). [2]. There is no difference in male and female heart rates before birth. After the 15th week the deceleration slows reaching an average rate of about 145 (+/-25 bpm) bpm at term.

After peaking at about 9.2 weeks after the LMP, it decelerates to about 150 bpm (+/-25 bpm) during the 15 week after the LMP. [1]. This acceleration is approximately 3.3 bpm per day, or about 10 bpm every three days, an increase of 100 bpm in the first month. It then accelerates linearly for the first month of beating, peaking at 165-185 bpm during the early 7th week, (early 9th week after the LMP).

The human heart begins beating at a rate near the mother’s, about 75-80 beats per minute (bpm). The human embryonic heart (EHR) begins beating at approximately 21 days after conception, or five weeks after the last normal menstrual period (LMP), which is the date normally used to date pregnancy. . The term cardiac means "related to the heart", from the Greek kardia (καρδια) for "heart".

The heart (Latin cor) is a hollow, muscular organ that pumps blood through the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions. Congenital heart defects. It is sometimes treated by implanting an artificial pacemaker. Cardiac arrhythmia is an irregularity in the heartbeat.

Endocarditis and myocarditis are inflammations of the heart. Congestive heart failure is the gradual loss of pumping power of the heart. A heart attack occurs when heart muscle cells die because blood circulation to a part of the heart is interrupted. Coronary heart disease is the lack of oxygen supply to the heart muscle; it can cause severe pain and discomfort known as Angina.