Discuss the effect of exercise on arterial stiffness and vascular Essay

Discuss the effect of exercise on arterial stiffness and vascular aging - Essay Example The outermost layer of blood vessels is made up of connective tissue. The elastin and collagen fibers in this outermost layer allow the blood vessels to stretch and recoil, and absorb tensile stress, respectively. The middle layer contains smooth muscle fibers and extracellular matrix, which also contains collagen and elastion. Finally, the innermost endothelial layer is a single layer of flattened cells that minimizes resistance to blood flow (Campbell and Reece, 2002, p. 877). Capillaries, which are deep-seated in tissues, have thin walls to allow supplies delivered by arterial blood to diffuse to the surrounding tissues, and at the same time, to permit cellular wastes to dissolve into the blood that will subsequently go through the veins. Once in the veins, the blood is now deoxygenated. The veins lead to the kidneys and lungs where wastes and carbon dioxide are released, respectively. Upon entering the lungs, the blood is again infused with oxygen to be delivered to the systemic tissues of the body. Because of their function, arteries are thickened and more muscular than veins and capillaries. The thick muscles allow them to absorb a lot of tensile stress the pressure from the oxygenated blood pumped by the heart brings. When the heart contracts (systole) and blood flows through the arteries, the narrow openings of the artery into the arterioles leading to the capillaries temporarily traps blood inside the vessels, applying pressure onto the arterial walls. When the heart relaxes, the elastic arterial walls relax back to their initial diameter, pushing the blood into the arterioles (diastole). However, the heart contracts again before blood can completely flow out of the arteries Campbell and Reece, 2002, p. 878-879). The thickness of arterial walls is a function of increased number and or activity of myocytes, endothelial cells, and connective tissues comprising the blood vessels. For example, shear stress brought about by increased blood flow velocity

Artist's intention Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Artist's intention - Essay Example New Criticism is even more aptly applied to the fine arts because of the elevated level of abstraction involved which indicates that it is probably impossible to understand a work solely through the artistic intention. To assume that it is possible to understand a work of art solely by understanding the intent of the artist is to also to make a leap of faith that the artist is being completely honest about his intent. How many people every day do things for one reason, but say they did them for another reason. Jeff Koons, for instance, is famous for having a team of â€Å"assistants† who do much of his work for him (Avgikos 137). How many more artists do the same thing, or something else which can bring their honesty into question, without making it part of their artistic persona. Should one trust the stated intent of an artist more than a used car salesman? Are they not both, ultimately, in the business of selling their wares? Even when an artist is being utterly honest about his intent that intention must still be called into question. Freud’s theory of subconscious drives has long stopped being controversial; anyone who has ever thrown up their hands in frustration and said they couldn’t explain why they did something intuitively realizes the authenticity of subconscious urges and drives. The process of painting or sculpting is a process of the application of the mind to the hand and if the actions of the hand contains little mystery, it must be admitted that the landscape of the mind is fraught with mystery. The subconscious mind is littered with the memories that have been forgotten by the conscious mind; there is within the brain any number drives that are not realized by the conscious mind that can be interrupting that transmission to the hand. In very few cases do artists admit that they are working simply for money. In the capitalist system of the 20th century, especially, when the starving artist clichà ©