First sentence I see when I'm searching Google for information
Rhode Island ranks 8th in the U.S. 8th for healthcare, with some of the best healthcare access and the best nursing home quality.
See ya'll in Rhode Island in 60 years!
Capital: Providence
State abbreviation/Postal code: R.I./RI
Entered Union (rank): May 29, 1790 (13)
Present constitution adopted: 1843
Motto: Hope
State symbols:
flower
violet (unofficial) (1968)
tree
red maple (official) (1964)
bird
Rhode Island red hen (official) (1954)
shell
quahog (official)
mineral
bowenite (1966)
stone
cumberlandite (1966)
colors
blue, white, and gold (in state flag)
song
Rhode Island, It's for Me (1996)
Official name: The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
Nickname: The Ocean State
Origin of name: From the Greek Island of Rhodes
Land area:1,214sq mi (3,144 km2)
Geographic center: In Kent Co., 1 mi. SSW of Crompton
Number of counties: 5
Largest county by population and area:Providence, 626,667 (2010); Providence, 413 sq mi.
State parks: 14
Residents: Rhode Islander
2015 resident population est.: 1,056,298
From its beginnings, Rhode Island has been distinguished by its support for freedom of conscience and action: Clergyman Roger Williams founded the present state capital, Providence, after being exiled by the Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans in 1636. Williams was followed by other religious exiles who founded Pocasset, now Portsmouth, in 1638 and Newport in 1639.
Rhode Island's rebellious, authority-defying nature was further demonstrated by the burnings of the British revenue cutters Liberty and Gaspee prior to the Revolution; by its early declaration of independence from Great Britain in May 1776; by its refusal to participate actively in the War of 1812; and by Dorr's Rebellion of 1842, which protested property requirements for voting.
Rhode Island, smallest of the 50 states, is densely populated and highly industrialized. It is a major center for jewelry manufacturing. Electronics, metal, plastic products, and boat and ship construction are other important industries. Non-manufacturing employment includes research in health, medicine, and the ocean environment. Providence is a wholesale distribution center for New England.
Fishing ports are at Galilee and Newport. Rural areas of the state support small-scale farming, including grapes for local wineries, turf grass, and nursery stock. Tourism generates over a billion dollars a year in revenue.
Newport became famous as the summer capital of high society in the mid-19th century. Touro Synagogue (1763) is the oldest in the U.S. Other points of interest include the Roger Williams National Memorial in Providence, Samuel Slater's Mill in Pawtucket, the General Nathanael Greene Homestead in Coventry, and Block Island.
In January 2013, the Rhode Island House of Representatives passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. The vote to pass the bill was 51 to 19. The State Senate would consider the bill in the spring of 2013. As of early 2013, Rhode Island was the only state in New England where same-sex marriage had not been legalized.
https://www.infoplease.com/us/states/rhode-island
Selected famous natives and residents:
Harry Anderson actor;
George M. Cohan actor and dramatist;
Eddie Dowling actor and stage producer;
Nelson Eddy baritone and actor;
Ann Smith Franklin printer and almanac publisher;
Charles Gorham silversmith;
Spalding Gray writer, performance artist;
Bobby Hackett trumpeter;
David Hartman TV newscaster;
Ruth Hussey actress;
Anne Hutchinson religious leader;
Thomas H. Ince film producer;
Wilbur John Quaker leader;
Van Johnson actor;
Clarence King first director of the U.S. Geological Survey;
Galway Kinnell poet;
Oliver La Farge writer;
Irving R. Levine news correspondent;
H. P. Lovecraft author;
Ida Lewis lighthouse keeper;
Cormac McCarthy writer;
John McLaughlin political commentator, broadcaster;
Dana C. Munro educator and historian;
Matthew C. Perry naval officer;
Oliver Hazard Perry naval officer;
King Philip (Metacomet) Indian leader;
Anthony Quinn actor;
Gilbert Stuart painter;
Sarah Helen (Power) Whitman poet;
Jemima Wilkinson religious leader;
Roger Williams clergyman and founder of Rhode Island;
We've been curious how other people in the lifetime of our planet have kept cool during the hot summer days.
Primitive Survival Tool is a great YouTube channel for our family to watch. I'm sure you've come across a short video on Facebook or Twitter. Using the very basic resources this channel shows how to live comfortable using some dang powerful elbow grease!
I'm wondering why the Survivor contestants don't mimic these plans to build a shelter?
WHAT IS CLONING AND COULD WE ONE DAY CLONE HUMANS?
What is cloning?
Cloning describes several different processes that can be used to produce genetically identical copies of a plant or animal.
In its most basic form, cloning works by taking an organism's DNA and copying it to another place.
There are three different types of artificial cloning: Gene cloning, reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning.
Gene cloning creates copies of genes or parts of DNA. Reproductive cloning creates copies of whole animals.
Therapeutic cloning produces embryonic stem cells for tests aimed at creating tissues to replace injured or diseased tissues.
Dolly the Sheep was cloned in 1996 using a reproductive cloning process known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).
This takes a somatic cell, such as a skin cell, and moves its DNA to an egg cell with its nucleus removed.
Another more recent method of cloning uses Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC).
iPSCs are skin or blood cells that have been reprogrammed back into an embryonic-like state.
This allows scientists to design them into any type of cell needed.
Could we ever clone a human?
Currently there is no scientific evidence that human embryos can be cloned.
In 1998, South Korean scientists claimed to have successfully cloned a human embryo, but said the experiment was interrupted when the clone was just a group of four cells.
In 2002, Clonaid, part of a religious group that believes humans were created by extraterrestrials, held a news conference to announce the birth of what it claimed to be the first cloned human, a girl named Eve.
This was widely dismissed as a publicity stunt.
In 2004, a group led by Woo-Suk Hwang of Seoul National University in South Korea published a paper in the journal Science in which it claimed to have created a cloned human embryo in a test tube.
In 2006 that paper was retracted.
According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, from a technical perspective cloning humans is extremley difficult.
'One reason is that two proteins essential to cell division, known as spindle proteins, are located very close to the chromosomes in primate eggs,' it writes.
'Consequently, removal of the egg's nucleus to make room for the donor nucleus also removes the spindle proteins, interfering with cell division.'
The group explains that in other mammals, such as cats, rabbits and mice, the two spindle proteins are spread throughout the egg.
HOW WAS DOLLY THE SHEEP CREATED?
Dolly the sheep made history 20 years ago after being cloned at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh. Pictured is Dolly in 2002
Dolly was the only surviving lamb from 277 cloning attempts and was created from a mammary cell taken from a six-year-old Finn Dorset sheep.
She was created in 1996 at a laboratory in Edinburgh using a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).
The pioneering technique involved transferring the nucleus of an adult cell into an unfertilised egg cell whose own nucleus had been removed.
An electric shock stimulated the hybrid cell to begin dividing and generate an embryo, which was then implanted into the womb of a surrogate mother.
Dolly was the first successfully produced clone from a cell taken from an adult mammal.
Dolly's creation showed that genes in the nucleus of a mature cell are still able to revert back to an embryonic totipotent state - meaning the cell can divide to produce all of the difference cells in an animal.
We love bananas around here and for that reason I'm sharing the following article. We're going to research this banana crisis and brainstorm solutions this afternoon.
End of BANANAS?
Scientists warn favourite fruit could become EXTINCT
BANANAS could be wiped off the map if more isn’t done to conserve them, scientists have warned.
Experts say a special breed found in Madagascar could hold the key to keeping them alive.
But there are only five known trees in existence.
Scientists are racing to develop new banana varieties strong enough to survive Panama disease, which is a major threat to banana crops around the world.
Because bananas are clones, the disease is able to spread very quickly from one to another.
GETTY
It is currently wreaking havoc with crops in Asia – but could wipe out the world’s supply if it spreads to America.
Richard Allen, senior conservation assessor at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, told the BBC: "It doesn't have Panama disease in it, so perhaps it has genetic traits against the disease.
"We don't know until we actually do research on the banana itself, but we can't do the research until it's saved."
The Madagascan variety isn’t suitable for eating – but researchers hope to create a new type of banana through cross-breeding.
But the few remaining trees are stranded on the edge of Madagascan forests, threatened by logging, fires and farming.
Motherhood Can Make a Woman's Cells 'Older' by as Much as 11 Years
Wait… what?
PETER DOCKRILL 26 FEB 2018
Childbirth inevitably results in significant changes to a woman's mind and body, but the ultimate lifelong consequences of motherhood could be far greater than we ever realised.
A new analysis of DNA collected from nearly 2,000 reproductive-age women in the US reveals that those who had given birth showed evidence of altered genetic markers suggesting they'd undergone significantly accelerated cellular ageing.
"We were surprised to find such a striking result," epidemiologist Anna Pollack from George Mason University told New Scientist.
"It is equivalent to around 11 years of accelerated cellular ageing."
Pollack and her team analysed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) – a broad cross-sectional study charting the wellness of people in the US over time.
When they examined data from the period 1999–2002 – years in which the survey included measurements of a genetic marker called telomeres – they noticed something unusual.
Telomeres are molecular regions that act as caps on the ends of our chromosomes, helping to protect the genetic information in our cells from deteriorating over time – and, hypothetically, from exposure to things that are harmful to our health.
In that vein, telomere length is taken as a marker of how old we are on a cellular level, with longer telomeres considered better to have, since shorter telomeres have been associated with outcomes like cancer, heart disease, and cognitive decline.
Now, we might have something new to add to that list: childbirth.
In the study, the team found that once they'd adjusted for things like age, ethnicity, education, smoking status, and so on, women who had given birth to at least one child had telomeres that were 4.2 percent shorter on average than those of women who had not borne children.
This average meant an adjusted difference of 116 fewer base pairs in women who had given birth, which the researchers explain is equivalent to around 11 years of accelerated cellular ageing.
What's amazing is that this telomere shortening associated with childbirth is even greater than what's previously been observed in research examining the association seen with smoking (a cost of 4.6 years of cellular ageing) and obesity (8.8 years).
What's more, in the study, the telomere shortening seemed to vary depending on how many children the women had delivered.
"We found that women who had five or more children had even shorter telomeres compared to those who had none, and relatively shorter relative to those who had one, two, three or four, even," Pollack told Newsweek.
It's worth bearing in mind that due to the observational nature of the study, we can't conclude a causation effect here, only a correlation.
And at least one study has produced a contradictory result, with a 2016 study of rural Kaqchikel Mayan communities in Guatemala finding that women in the community with more surviving children had longer telomeres, suggesting that having children could actually protect women from cellular ageing.
Other previous studies have also quantified the size of telomere base pair reductions with less advanced terms of cellular ageing, which the researchers say could mean childbirth is only associated with about 4.5 years of advanced ageing.
At least one researcher not involved with the study has suggested the effect might be as little as three years of biological ageing.
As for what could be behind the telomere shortening seen in the US sample, the researchers speculate stress involved in looking after children could be involved, but given how little research has been conducted in this area, they advise their results should be treated with caution.
"We're not saying 'don't have children'," Pollack told New Scientist, and while scientists keep examining what's really going on here, that's very level-headed advice.
The phrase “sea lice” is a misnomer — the pests are really tiny larvae of jellyfish or sea anemones. Other names for the rashes they cause can include “seabather’s eruption.”
This isn’t the first outbreak this year on the East Coast. In June, life guards in Florida warned swimmers to look out for sea lice. News reports have also documented sea lice in Carolina and Alabama beaches.
And last year, sea lice sent salmon prices soaring as they nibbled at much of the world’s farmed salmon supply — and cost the industry billions.
What are sea lice? The pests that are pestering Ocean City aren't like the lice you find on your head
Health officials advise any person afflicted to wash skin with fresh water and not wear contaminated swimsuits again until they’ve been washed with soap. Antihistamines and topical creams can help control itching.
According to the Baltimore city health department, other symptoms of exposure to sea lice sometimes occur with a rash, including fever, nausea, vomiting, headache, fatigue, pinkeye and urethritis
Breakfast: Tomato, eggs, and bacon Lunch: Chicken salad with some feta cheese and olive oil Dinner: Cooked asparagus and salmon in butter
Tuesday
Breakfast: Basil, cheese, tomatoes, and eggs Lunch: Mixed almond milk, cocoa butter, milkshake, and peanut butter with stevia Dinner: Meatballs mixed with cheddar cheese and vegetables
Wednesday
Breakfast: Fruit/veggie smoothie Lunch: Prawns, olive oil, and avocado salad Dinner: Pork chops with salad, broccoli, and Parmesan cheese
Thursday
Breakfast: Salsa omelet, spices, onions, peppers, and avocado Lunch: Celery with salsa and guacamole and a handful of nuts Dinner: Stuffed chicken with vegetables and cheese
Friday
Breakfast: Tomatoes and cheese omelet Lunch: Previous dinner’s leftovers Dinner: Salad, mushrooms, steak, and eggs
Saturday
Breakfast: Vegetable and ham omelet Lunch: A handful of nuts, ham, and cheese roll ups Dinner: Cooked spinach, white fish, and eggs on coconut oil
Sunday
Breakfast: Eggs with bacon and mushrooms Lunch: Guacamole hamburger and salsa cheese Dinner: Salad, beef steak, and eggs
American Literature is divided into Literary Time Periods based on the time in history, themes, purpose, and style of writing.
Many of the literary periods mirror larger literary periods that were occurring in Europe, but American Literature also branches off into its own unique styles. Each literary period occurred as a reaction against the previous movement and as a reaction to what was happening in the country at that time.
Below, you will find several key terms for this module. Spend time familiarizing yourself with these terms as the ideas govern the whole of American Literature.
The Puritans tended to write histories, journals, and diaries. These writings link their lives to the work of God. Many Puritans, such as William Bradford, are known for their Plain Style of writing.
Our founding fathers, otherwise known as rationalists, focused on their political agendas and their attempt to win independence from Britain in their writing. Many speeches were very persuasive, relying on techniques such as rhetorical questions, parallelism, and repetition to drive their points. These enlightened thinkers believed in reason over faith and in the power of science to further human progress. Many were deists who believed that God created the world and set it up to run on its own without Him having to help things along on a daily basis. They believed that people knew the difference between right and wrong and could work toward perfecting themselves and their society rather than relying on God's grace to cleanse them and make them better. General truths and observations about life in the form of short and witty sayings known as aphorisms helped to remind people to do good.
Romanticism was a literary and artistic movement of the 19th century that arose in reaction against 18th century Neoclassicism and placed a premium on imagination, emotion, nature, individuality, and the supernatural. Transcendentalism - Transcendentalism was an American literary and philosophical movement of the 19th century. Transcendentalists believed that intuition and the individual consequence transcend experience and thus are better guides to truth than senses and logical reason. They respected the individual spirit and the natural world, believing that divinity was present everywhere, in nature and in each person.
Anti-Transcendentalists/Dark Romantics used supernatural, natural, and imaginative elements of Romanticism and Transcendentalism, but believed in the darker side of human nature and were not as optimistic. Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne are a couple of famous Dark Romantics.
Realism is the presentation in art of the details of actual life. Realism was also a literary movement that began during the 19th century and stressed the actual as opposed to the imagined or the fanciful. The realists tried to write objectively about ordinary characters in ordinary situations. They rejected the heroic, adventurous, or unfamiliar subjects of Romanticism.
Regionalism in literature is the tendency among certain authors to write about specific geographical areas. They present the distinct culture of an area, including its speech, customs, beliefs, and history.
Local-color is a type of realism. Local-color writing can be created by the use of dialect and the description of customs, clothing, manners, attitudes, and landscapes such as that of Mark Twain and the Mississippi River.
Naturalists traced the effects of heredity and environment on people helpless to change their situations. They often focused on the man versus nature conflict.
Modernism affirms the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology, and practical experimentation. Modernist literature moved away from traditional themes and styles and used bold experimentation
Postmodern literature refers to works written after World War II and is a reaction against the enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist literature. There is an emergence of ethnic and women writers in postmodern literature.
American Literary Time Periods
American literature traces the path of American narrative, fiction, poetry, and drama as they move from pre-colonial times to the present day.The first literary works of the English-speaking people of North America consisted mostly of journals, sermons, and histories. Poets such as Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor also emerged.
Much of the literature in our country also reflects what was going on at that particular time.The literature of the rationalists represents their desire to be free from the rule of England. Our founding fathers expressed these feelings in political documents and persuasive speeches.
Romanticism saw the first short story evolve.The father of the mystery story, Edgar Allan Poe, captured his readers through his use of remote settings and psychologically deranged characters. The transcendentalists, known as the first, true hippies, recorded their beliefs about nature and individualism through essays and poetry.
The Civil War dominated the thoughts of America and its writers during the Realism time period.It was a time when fiction represented real life events, and regionalism and naturalism made their entrance. The rights of women and African Americans were also predominant themes found in literature in the late 1800s.
The turn of the century saw a new focus in literature. Themes such as the American Dream and literature that represented the thoughts and feelings of Americans during World War I were popular.
New styles of poetry appeared with imagist poetry and free verse. Modernism moved away from more traditional themes and styles found in earlier literature.
Postmodernism, which consists of literature written after 1950 through the present day, reflects more multi-cultural literature and literature written by women. Dramas became even more prevalent, and science fiction displayed a changing technological world.
No Mayonnaise Avocado Tuna Melt is the perfect lunch to get out of the midweek slump! Filled with solid white albacore tuna and veggies, it's delicious and easy!
Ingredients
4sliceswhole wheat/grain bread
1canBumble Bee® Solid White Albacorestrained
1/2Avocadosliced
1pinchsea salt
1pinchblack pepper
1mediumtomatosliced
4leavesred leaf lettuce
4sliceshavarti cheese(or other white cheese)
1TBSbutter
Instructions
In a medium bowl, add tuna, avocado, salt, and pepper; mix using a fork until completely combined.
Make your sandwiches: Place a slice of bread on the bottom and then layer cheese, tuna mixture, tomatoes, lettuce, and another slice of cheese. Top with remaining bread slices. Spread butter on outside slices of bread.
Using a large skillet heated over medium heat; add sandwiches (butter side down), and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until bread is lightly browned. Flip and cook for 2-3 minutes or until bread is browned (usually the 2nd side takes a shorter amount of time to cook).
Remove from skillet and let rest for 2-3 minutes. Using a serrated knife, slice the sandwiches down the middle and serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
Makes 2 sandwiches. Recipe can be doubled to make 4 sandwiches!
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F Spray a shallow 1-1/2 quart baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. To make the topping, combine the 1/2 cup flour, the oats, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. With a pastry blender or 2 knives used scissor-fashion, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the water and firmly press mixture to form clumps.
3. To make the filling, mix the granulated sugar, the 2 tablespoons flour, the nutmeg, and cloves in a large bowl. Add the apples and vanilla; mix well. Transfer to the baking dish. Sprinkle the topping over the filling. Bake until the filling is bubbling and the topping is golden, 55 – 60 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Lemons are considered to be one of the healthiest foods on the planet.
Lemons are abundant in vitamin C, which will strengthen your immune system, and fights flu and cold. In addition to this, lemons are powerful anti-inflammatory properties and are great for treatment of illnesses such as osteoarthritis and arthritis.
1 lemon
Soil of good quality
A proper container or pot
Breathable plastic film
A sunny area
HOW TO PLANT YOUR SEED:
Take a bucket, place the soil and mix it with some water in order to dampen it.
Next step is to put moistened soil inside the container and don’t forget to leave approximately one inch of space below the rim.
After that, slice the lemon and choose seed in good shape.
First remove the flesh from the seed and try not to dry it since you need to plant it moistened.
Make a hole of about ½ inch in the soil and place the seed inside. Then you should cover the seed and use watering can or squirt bottle to water it.
In order to cover the container use breathable plastic and keep it moist and warm on an area where the sunlight shines. It is important to find balance when watering as the seed can rot if there’s too much moisture.
You should keep an eye on the plant for about 1 – 2 weeks and take care of it. As soon as it starts sprouting don’t forget to take off the plastic cover.
After the sprouting occurs, move the plant to an area with direct sunlight.
CARING FOR YOUR PLANT:
You should not forget to maintain the soil with the sprout moist at all time, particularly when the lemon tree is young. However, you also should watch out for the water not to build up, and check if the container or the pot you have used has drainage holes at its bottom
It is crucial the lemon tree to be exposed to direct sunlight at least 8 hours per a day, which means you need to find suitable place for that.
Do not forget to add fertilizer to your lemon tree when is needed
Once the tree starts to grow bigger, it may be necessary to transplant it to a bigger container. In case if the tree grows too big for your home it is advisable to move it to your backyard, front porch or the balcony.
From the time of the Greeks the chemistry of art and the chemistry of medicine were closely related and the recipes used for both were frequently written in the same books. These recipes were kept throughout the early centuries of Christianity by monks until their broader use outside of the monasteries in the middle ages. The use of drying oils is recorded among these recipes, listing walnut oil, poppy oil, hempseed oil, castor oil, and linseed oil as varnishes to seal pictures and protect them from water. Adequately thickened, they became resinous in and of themselves and therefore worked as varnishes quite well. Later on, yellow pigments were added to the oil and it was spread over tin foil to mimic the look of gold leaf, but at less cost. And as early as the thirteenth century oil was used for painting details over tempera pictures. Cennini describes the preparation and use of oils in painting on all surfaces.
Oils were purified and bleached in the sun, and drying time was decreased by the addition of metallic oxides such as Litharge or White Lead. Other methods of preparing oil by boiling and mixing with various substances is recorded throughout the middle ages, into the Renaissance, and beyond.
The procedures involved in making a usefully fluid medium with which to paint entire pictures in great detail were perfected by the brothers Van Eyck in the first half of the fifteenth century. From these Flemish artists and their students it is rumored that the new methods were spread to Italy by Antonella da Messina where, "once adapted to Italian taste, subjects, and dimensions, (the new way of painting) was received with enthusiasm."
DEFINITIONS
Alla Prima Painting
Painting, usually from life, in a direct manner: Completing a painting in a single session or while the paint is still wet. In past eras used primarily as a means of sketching, but which became a means of producing finished works of art by the impressionists.
Chiaroscuro
A method of painting that represents boldly contrasting lighting, usually drawing highlights out of a dark scene. Also an element of this effect in any picture.
Chroma
The degree of brilliance of color away from neutral value. [color saturation]
Double Ground
Two superimposed paint layers of distinct color covering a sized panel or canvas as a surface upon which to paint.
Fat
Containing a large amount of oil
Fat-Over-Lean
The rule of painting in layers in which each successive layer of paint should have more oil than the preceeding layer. By increasing the oil content, top layers have increasing degrees of flexibility, reducing the risk of cracking or flaking.
Gesso
Gypsum (calcium sulphate) mixed with animal glue and applied as a ground to a wood substrate. Used in Southern Europe (primarily Spain and Italy). Northern Europeans used a similar ground of chalk (calcium carbonate) in a glue binder. A first, coarse layer was known as gesso grosso. While a smooth top layer which could be polished to a fine tooth was called gesso sottile. Some later artists applied only one layer of gesso sottile.
Glaze
A film of transparent color laid over a dried underpainting.
Grisaille
Monochromatic painting usually in various tones of gray. Traditionally the underpainting of a work, where local color is applied over the grisaille as opaque, semi-opaque or transparent color. Often shadows are colored with transparent colors and highlights are built up with increasing thickness of opaque paint.
Ground
The primary surface on which color is applied. Usually refers to an opaque coating rather than the support. Traditionally opaque white oil priming on canvas and chalk or gypsum mixed with animal glue (gesso) on wood panel. White acrylic polymer can be used on either surface. If a colored isolation layer (imprimatura) is used as the primary surface, it can be considered the ground. (see also "Toned Ground")
Highlight
The lightest tone in a painting.
Hue
The simple color of a substance, for example: red, bluish red, or yellow-red.
Impasto
Painting thickly with a bristle brush or palette knife in order to create surface texture.
Imprimatura
An isolation layer consisting of pigments bound in an oil medium and applied over chalk or gesso grounds to prevent the medium in the subsequent paint layers from being absorbed by the ground. Could be bright to dark, transparent or non-transparent. Color provides a middle tone from which one can quickly move between lights and darks to produce a full value painting. Should be mid-tone or lighter -- extremely dark underpainting can show through top layers as the work ages, especially when using lead white. In modern usage on oil primed canvas, "imprimatura" is often used to describe a transparent stain of oil color that is applied to the entire surface to create a unifying midtone. Most common colors: brown, earth-red, grey, or grey blue.
Lightfast
Resistant to fading when exposed to sunlight. Absolute measurement in artists' pigments; relative measurement when applied to industrial coatings applications. Example: a ten-year house paint would be considered lightfast if it resisted fading for ten years. Artists' pigments are judged in terms of centuries.
Local Color
The true or actual color of an object (as compared to the color effect it produces when viewed as part of a whole composition or when influenced by light or atmospheric conditions in nature or by the technique and intentions of the painter in a work of art.)
Medium
A liquid additive used to control the application properties of paint, its drying time, and the elasticity of paint film when dry. In oil painting this usually contains combinations of drying oils, varnishes, balsams, essential oils or solvents, and driers.
Modeling
Indicating the three-dimensional form of an object by the appropriate distribution of different tones. Creating the illusion of volume by painting the effects of light and shadow on form.
Monochromatic Underpainting
A preliminary painting in tones of one color. Overpainted with transparent, semi-opaque, and / or opaque color. See Grisaille above.
Palette
The implement upon which a painter holds or mixes his colors. Or a selected assortment of colors chosen for use in a painting technique.
Pentimento
The visibility of line or color through the increasingly transparent overpainting which was originally used to conceal it. Ghost image. A characteristic of linseed oil since its refractive index increases with age.
Polymerization
An internal molecular realignment brought about by external force which changes the properties of a substance and increases its molecular weight without the addition of any new ingredients. Example: the external force of oxygen upon a drying oil.
Prime / Primer
To cover a surface with a preparatory coat of color. A first coat or layer of paint, size, etc., given to any surface as a base, sealer, or the like. Often used to describe a pigment and oil (paint) ground applied to cloth such as canvas or linen. (see "Ground" above) In 15th century Europe, the guilds of St. Luke recognized the profession of the panel maker as an independent craft within the guild. Artists could purchase panels "primed and prepared" with an imprimatura from such workshops, eliminating this slow and dirty job from their studios.
Scumbling
Scraping or scrubbing or dragging a thin layer of lighter opaque or semi-opaque color over a dark underpainting with a bristle brush, allowing the underpainting to show through.
Tone
The degree of lightness or darkness of a color.
Toned Ground
Where color is mixed with white as a primer to provide a uniform opaque ground.
Underpainting
Preliminary painting, over which successive layers of color are added. Can be monochrome or colored.
Value
Degree of lightness and darkness.
Varnish
Protective surface film imparting a glossy or matt surface appearance to a painting.
Vehicle
The liquid into which a pigment is ground in order to turn the dry powdered pigment into a liquid paint. The carrier of pigment.
Your body is made up of the basic building blocks of life- cells. There are many types of cells, including bone cells, muscle cells, blood cells, and nerve cells. Every cell in your body has a specific job.
Different cells have different jobs to do. Each cell has a size and shape that is suited to its job. Cells that do the same job combine together to form body tissue, such as muscle, skin, or bone tissue. Groups of different types of cells make up the organs in your body, such as your heart, liver, or lungs.
Cells of the same type work together to form tissue. Bone cells make up bone tissue. Muscle cells make up muscle tissue.
Tissues of different kinds work together in organs. Organs are body parts that do particular jobs. Bone tissue and other tissue form organs called bones. Muscle tissue and other tissues form organs called muscles.
Group organs work together to form systems. Bones working together make up the skeletal system. Muscles working together make up the muscular system.
http://www.innerbody.com/image/musfov.html
Muscular System Anatomy
Muscle Types
There are three types of muscle tissue: Visceral, cardiac, and skeletal.
Visceral Muscle
Visceral muscle is found inside of organs like the stomach, intestines, and blood vessels. The weakest of all muscle tissues, visceral muscle makes organs contract to move substances through the organ. Because visceral muscle is controlled by the unconscious part of the brain, it is known as involuntary muscle—it cannot be directly controlled by the conscious mind. The term “smooth muscle” is often used to describe visceral muscle because it has a very smooth, uniform appearance when viewed under a microscope. This smooth appearance starkly contrasts with the banded appearance of cardiac and skeletal muscles.
Cardiac Muscle
Found only in the heart, cardiac muscle is responsible for pumping blood throughout the body. Cardiac muscle tissue cannot be controlled consciously, so it is an involuntary muscle. While hormones and signals from the brain adjust the rate of contraction, cardiac muscle stimulates itself to contract. The natural pacemaker of the heart is made of cardiac muscle tissue that stimulates other cardiac muscle cells to contract. Because of its self-stimulation, cardiac muscle is considered to be autorhythmic or intrinsically controlled.
The cells of cardiac muscle tissue are striated—that is, they appear to have light and dark stripes when viewed under a light microscope. The arrangement of protein fibers inside of the cells causes these light and dark bands. Striations indicate that a muscle cell is very strong, unlike visceral muscles.
The cells of cardiac muscle are branched X or Y shaped cells tightly connected together by special junctions called intercalated disks. Intercalated disks are made up of fingerlike projections from two neighboring cells that interlock and provide a strong bond between the cells. The branched structure and intercalated disks allow the muscle cells to resist high blood pressures and the strain of pumping blood throughout a lifetime. These features also help to spread electrochemical signals quickly from cell to cell so that the heart can beat as a unit.
Skeletal Muscle
Skeletal muscle is the only voluntary muscle tissue in the human body—it is controlled consciously. Every physical action that a person consciously performs (e.g. speaking, walking, or writing) requires skeletal muscle. The function of skeletal muscle is to contract to move parts of the body closer to the bone that the muscle is attached to. Most skeletal muscles are attached to two bones across a joint, so the muscle serves to move parts of those bones closer to each other.
Skeletal muscle cells form when many smaller progenitor cells lump themselves together to form long, straight, multinucleated fibers. Striated just like cardiac muscle, these skeletal muscle fibers are very strong. Skeletal muscle derives its name from the fact that these muscles always connect to the skeleton in at least one place.
Gross Anatomy of a Skeletal Muscle
Most skeletal muscles are attached to two bones through tendons. Tendons are tough bands of dense regular connective tissue whose strong collagen fibers firmly attach muscles to bones. Tendons are under extreme stress when muscles pull on them, so they are very strong and are woven into the coverings of both muscles and bones.
Muscles move by shortening their length, pulling on tendons, and moving bones closer to each other. One of the bones is pulled towards the other bone, which remains stationary. The place on the stationary bone that is connected via tendons to the muscle is called the origin. The place on the moving bone that is connected to the muscle via tendons is called the insertion. The belly of the muscle is the fleshy part of the muscle in between the tendons that does the actual contraction.
Names of Skeletal Muscles
Skeletal muscles are named based on many different factors, including their location, origin and insertion, number of origins, shape, size, direction, and function.
Location. Many muscles derive their names from their anatomical region. The rectus abdominis and transverse abdominis, for example, are found in the abdominal region. Some muscles, like the tibialis anterior, are named after the part of the bone (the anterior portion of the tibia) that they are attached to. Other muscles use a hybrid of these two, like the brachioradialis, which is named after a region (brachial) and a bone (radius).
Origin and Insertion. Some muscles are named based upon their connection to a stationary bone (origin) and a moving bone (insertion). These muscles become very easy to identify once you know the names of the bones that they are attached to. Examples of this type of muscle include the sternocleidomastoid (connecting the sternum and clavicle to the mastoid process of the skull) and the occipitofrontalis (connecting the occipital bone to the frontal bone).
Number of Origins. Some muscles connect to more than one bone or to more than one place on a bone, and therefore have more than one origin. A muscle with two origins is called a biceps. A muscle with three origins is a triceps muscle. Finally, a muscle with four origins is a quadriceps muscle.
Shape, Size, and Direction. We also classify muscles by their shapes. For example, the deltoids have a delta or triangular shape. The serratus muscles feature a serrated or saw-like shape. The rhomboid major is a rhombus or diamond shape. The size of the muscle can be used to distinguish between two muscles found in the same region. The gluteal region contains three muscles differentiated by size—the gluteus maximus (large), gluteus medius (medium), and gluteus minimus (smallest). Finally, the direction in which the muscle fibers run can be used to identify a muscle. In the abdominal region, there are several sets of wide, flat muscles. The muscles whose fibers run straight up and down are the rectus abdominis, the ones running transversely (left to right) are the transverse abdominis, and the ones running at an angle are the obliques.
Function. Muscles are sometimes classified by the type of function that they perform. Most of the muscles of the forearms are named based on their function because they are located in the same region and have similar shapes and sizes. For example, the flexor group of the forearm flexes the wrist and the fingers. The supinator is a muscle that supinates the wrist by rolling it over to face palm up. In the leg, there are muscles called adductors whose role is to adduct (pull together) the legs.
Groups Action in Skeletal Muscle
Skeletal muscles rarely work by themselves to achieve movements in the body. More often they work in groups to produce precise movements. The muscle that produces any particular movement of the body is known as an agonist or prime mover. The agonist always pairs with an antagonist muscle that produces the opposite effect on the same bones. For example, the biceps brachii muscle flexes the arm at the elbow. As the antagonist for this motion, the triceps brachii muscle extends the arm at the elbow. When the triceps is extending the arm, the biceps would be considered the antagonist.
In addition to the agonist/antagonist pairing, other muscles work to support the movements of the agonist. Synergists are muscles that help to stabilize a movement and reduce extraneous movements. They are usually found in regions near the agonist and often connect to the same bones. Because skeletal muscles move the insertion closer to the immobile origin, fixator muscles assist in movement by holding the origin stable. If you lift something heavy with your arms, fixators in the trunk region hold your body upright and immobile so that you maintain your balance while lifting.
Skeletal Muscle Histology
Skeletal muscle fibers differ dramatically from other tissues of the body due to their highly specialized functions. Many of the organelles that make up muscle fibers are unique to this type of cell.
The sarcolemma is the cell membrane of muscle fibers. The sarcolemma acts as a conductor for electrochemical signals that stimulate muscle cells. Connected to the sarcolemma are transverse tubules (T-tubules) that help carry these electrochemical signals into the middle of the muscle fiber. The sarcoplasmic reticulum serves as a storage facility for calcium ions (Ca2+) that are vital to muscle contraction. Mitochondria, the “power houses” of the cell, are abundant in muscle cells to break down sugars and provide energy in the form of ATP to active muscles. Most of the muscle fiber’s structure is made up of myofibrils, which are the contractile structures of the cell. Myofibrils are made up of many proteins fibers arranged into repeating subunits called sarcomeres. The sarcomere is the functional unit of muscle fibers. (See Macronutrients for more information about the roles of sugars and proteins.)
Sarcomere Structure
Sarcomeres are made of two types of protein fibers: thick filaments and thin filaments.
Thick filaments. Thick filaments are made of many bonded units of the protein myosin. Myosin is the protein that causes muscles to contract.
Thin filaments. Thin filaments are made of three proteins:
Actin. Actin forms a helical structure that makes up the bulk of the thin filament mass. Actin contains myosin-binding sites that allow myosin to connect to and move actin during muscle contraction.
Tropomyosin. Tropomyosin is a long protein fiber that wraps around actin and covers the myosin binding sites on actin.
Troponin. Bound very tightly to tropomyosin, troponin moves tropomyosin away from myosin binding sites during muscle contraction.
Muscular System Physiology
Function of Muscle Tissue
The main function of the muscular system is movement. Muscles are the only tissue in the body that has the ability to contract and therefore move the other parts of the body.
Related to the function of movement is the muscular system’s second function: the maintenance of posture and body position. Muscles often contract to hold the body still or in a particular position rather than to cause movement. The muscles responsible for the body’s posture have the greatest endurance of all muscles in the body—they hold up the body throughout the day without becoming tired.
Another function related to movement is the movement of substances inside the body. The cardiac and visceral muscles are primarily responsible for transporting substances like blood or food from one part of the body to another.
The final function of muscle tissue is the generation of body heat. As a result of the high metabolic rate of contracting muscle, our muscular system produces a great deal of waste heat. Many small muscle contractions within the body produce our natural body heat. When we exert ourselves more than normal, the extra muscle contractions lead to a rise in body temperature and eventually to sweating.
Skeletal Muscles as Levers
Skeletal muscles work together with bones and joints to form lever systems. The muscle acts as the effort force; the joint acts as the fulcrum; the bone that the muscle moves acts as the lever; and the object being moved acts as the load.
There are three classes of levers, but the vast majority of the levers in the body are third class levers. A third class lever is a system in which the fulcrum is at the end of the lever and the effort is between the fulcrum and the load at the other end of the lever. The third class levers in the body serve to increase the distance moved by the load compared to the distance that the muscle contracts.
The tradeoff for this increase in distance is that the force required to move the load must be greater than the mass of the load. For example, the biceps brachia of the arm pulls on the radius of the forearm, causing flexion at the elbow joint in a third class lever system. A very slight change in the length of the biceps causes a much larger movement of the forearm and hand, but the force applied by the biceps must be higher than the load moved by the muscle.
Motor Units
Nerve cells called motor neurons control the skeletal muscles. Each motor neuron controls several muscle cells in a group known as a motor unit. When a motor neuron receives a signal from the brain, it stimulates all of the muscles cells in its motor unit at the same time.
The size of motor units varies throughout the body, depending on the function of a muscle. Muscles that perform fine movements—like those of the eyes or fingers—have very few muscle fibers in each motor unit to improve the precision of the brain’s control over these structures. Muscles that need a lot of strength to perform their function—like leg or arm muscles—have many muscle cells in each motor unit. One of the ways that the body can control the strength of each muscle is by determining how many motor units to activate for a given function. This explains why the same muscles that are used to pick up a pencil are also used to pick up a bowling ball.
Contraction Cycle
Muscles contract when stimulated by signals from their motor neurons. Motor neurons contact muscle cells at a point called the Neuromuscular Junction (NMJ). Motor neurons release neurotransmitter chemicals at the NMJ that bond to a special part of the sarcolemma known as the motor end plate. The motor end plate contains many ion channels that open in response to neurotransmitters and allow positive ions to enter the muscle fiber. The positive ions form an electrochemical gradient to form inside of the cell, which spreads throughout the sarcolemma and the T-tubules by opening even more ion channels.
When the positive ions reach the sarcoplasmic reticulum, Ca2+ ions are released and allowed to flow into the myofibrils. Ca2+ ions bind to troponin, which causes the troponin molecule to change shape and move nearby molecules of tropomyosin. Tropomyosin is moved away from myosin binding sites on actin molecules, allowing actin and myosin to bind together.
ATP molecules power myosin proteins in the thick filaments to bend and pull on actin molecules in the thin filaments. Myosin proteins act like oars on a boat, pulling the thin filaments closer to the center of a sarcomere. As the thin filaments are pulled together, the sarcomere shortens and contracts. Myofibrils of muscle fibers are made of many sarcomeres in a row, so that when all of the sarcomeres contract, the muscle cells shortens with a great force relative to its size.
Muscles continue contraction as long as they are stimulated by a neurotransmitter. When a motor neuron stops the release of the neurotransmitter, the process of contraction reverses itself. Calcium returns to the sarcoplasmic reticulum; troponin and tropomyosin return to their resting positions; and actin and myosin are prevented from binding. Sarcomeres return to their elongated resting state once the force of myosin pulling on actin has stopped.
Certain conditions or disorders, such as myoclonus, can affect the normal contraction of muscles. You can learn about musculoskeletal health problems in our section devoted to diseases and conditions. Also, learn more about advances in DNA health testing that help us understand genetic risk of developing early-onset primary dystonia.
Types of Muscle Contraction
The strength of a muscle’s contraction can be controlled by two factors: the number of motor units involved in contraction and the amount of stimulus from the nervous system. A single nerve impulse of a motor neuron will cause a motor unit to contract briefly before relaxing. This small contraction is known as a twitch contraction. If the motor neuron provides several signals within a short period of time, the strength and duration of the muscle contraction increases. This phenomenon is known as temporal summation. If the motor neuron provides many nerve impulses in rapid succession, the muscle may enter the state of tetanus, or complete and lasting contraction. A muscle will remain in tetanus until the nerve signal rate slows or until the muscle becomes too fatigued to maintain the tetanus.
Not all muscle contractions produce movement. Isometric contractions are light contractions that increase the tension in the muscle without exerting enough force to move a body part. When people tense their bodies due to stress, they are performing an isometric contraction. Holding an object still and maintaining posture are also the result of isometric contractions. A contraction that does produce movement is an isotonic contraction. Isotonic contractions are required to develop muscle mass through weight lifting.
Muscle tone is a natural condition in which a skeletal muscle stays partially contracted at all times. Muscle tone provides a slight tension on the muscle to prevent damage to the muscle and joints from sudden movements, and also helps to maintain the body’s posture. All muscles maintain some amount of muscle tone at all times, unless the muscle has been disconnected from the central nervous system due to nerve damage.
Functional Types of Skeletal Muscle Fibers
Skeletal muscle fibers can be divided into two types based on how they produce and use energy: Type I and Type II.
Type I fibers are very slow and deliberate in their contractions. They are very resistant to fatigue because they use aerobic respiration to produce energy from sugar. We find Type I fibers in muscles throughout the body for stamina and posture. Near the spine and neck regions, very high concentrations of Type I fibers hold the body up throughout the day.
Type II fibers are broken down into two subgroups: Type II A and Type II B.
Type II A fibers are faster and stronger than Type I fibers, but do not have as much endurance. Type II A fibers are found throughout the body, but especially in the legs where they work to support your body throughout a long day of walking and standing.
Type II B fibers are even faster and stronger than Type II A, but have even less endurance. Type II B fibers are also much lighter in color than Type I and Type II A due to their lack of myoglobin, an oxygen-storing pigment. We find Type II B fibers throughout the body, but particularly in the upper body where they give speed and strength to the arms and chest at the expense of stamina.
Muscle Metabolism and Fatigue
Muscles get their energy from different sources depending on the situation that the muscle is working in. Muscles use aerobic respiration when we call on them to produce a low to moderate level of force. Aerobic respiration requires oxygen to produce about 36-38 ATP molecules from a molecule of glucose. Aerobic respiration is very efficient, and can continue as long as a muscle receives adequate amounts of oxygen and glucose to keep contracting. When we use muscles to produce a high level of force, they become so tightly contracted that oxygen carrying blood cannot enter the muscle. This condition causes the muscle to create energy using lactic acid fermentation, a form of anaerobic respiration. Anaerobic respiration is much less efficient than aerobic respiration—only 2 ATP are produced for each molecule of glucose. Muscles quickly tire as they burn through their energy reserves under anaerobic respiration.
To keep muscles working for a longer period of time, muscle fibers contain several important energy molecules. Myoglobin, a red pigment found in muscles, contains iron and stores oxygen in a manner similar to hemoglobin in the blood. The oxygen from myoglobin allows muscles to continue aerobic respiration in the absence of oxygen. Another chemical that helps to keep muscles working is creatine phosphate. Muscles use energy in the form of ATP, converting ATP to ADP to release its energy. Creatine phosphate donates its phosphate group to ADP to turn it back into ATP in order to provide extra energy to the muscle. Finally, muscle fibers contain energy-storing glycogen, a large macromolecule made of many linked glucoses. Active muscles break glucoses off of glycogen molecules to provide an internal fuel supply.
When muscles run out of energy during either aerobic or anaerobic respiration, the muscle quickly tires and loses its ability to contract. This condition is known as muscle fatigue. A fatigued muscle contains very little or no oxygen, glucose or ATP, but instead has many waste products from respiration, like lactic acid and ADP. The body must take in extra oxygen after exertion to replace the oxygen that was stored in myoglobin in the muscle fiber as well as to power the aerobic respiration that will rebuild the energy supplies inside of the cell. Oxygen debt (or recovery oxygen uptake) is the name for the extra oxygen that the body must take in to restore the muscle cells to their resting state. This explains why you feel out of breath for a few minutes after a strenuous activity—your body is trying to restore itself to its normal state.
Prepared by Tim Taylor, Anatomy and Physiology Instructor
