Reference no: EM133426628

1. What is respiratory minute volume (V_E) and how is it calculated? What is alveolar ventilation (V_A) and how is it calculated? How do the two volumes differ?

2. A spirometer is used to measure lung volumes and capacities during rest and activity. Define the following volumes and capacities;

a) Resting tidal volume:

b) Residual volume:

c) Vital capacity:

d) Total lung capacity:

e) Which volumes are combined to make one's vital capacity?

3) Pulmonary fibrosis and lung compliance.

a) Define lung compliance:

b) If pulmonary fibrosis causes your lungs to stiffen and makes breathing more and more difficult, how would pulmonary fibrosis affect the compliance of the lung tissue?

c) How would the vital capacity of a person with pulmonary fibrosis differ from that of a normal person?

4. Define the following lung disorders and describe how these disorders would affect some of the lung volumes you measured today:

a) emphysema

b) asthma

5. Comment on how the following volumes change during exercise.

a) Inspiratory reserve volume

b) Tidal volume

c) Expiratory reserve volume

d) Residual volume

6. Explain what effect laying in a reclining position on the table would have on vital capacity (VC).

7. The FEV1/FVC ratio (Tiffeneau-Pinelli index) represents the proportion of a person's vital capacity that they are able to expire in the first second of expiration. It is used in the diagnosis of obstructive and restrictive lung disease. A normal ratio is between 75-85%.

a) What would happen to this ratio if you suffered from an obstructive lung disease (e.g. asthma or bronchitis)? Explain.

b) What would happen to this ratio if you suffered from a restrictive lung disease (e.g. pulmonary fibrosis)? Explain.