Cell Biology and Genetics Case Study on Maria’s Heart Problem

Case Study on Maria’s Heart Problem.
Student’s Name:
Student’s Number:
Institution:
Maria is a sedentary, 68-year-old woman who is overweight. She complains that her hands and feet are always cold, and she tires quickly when cleaning the house. At her most recent visit to her doctor, her blood pressure was 184/98 mm Hg. She has edema around her ankles and legs, and her physician is concerned about an echocardiogram that indicates Maria has an enlarged heart.
1 Identify two reasons why Maria will have tissue ischemia. How might this lead to hypoxia?
According to a detailed report by the Vascular Disease Foundation, potential risk factors for ischemia are similar to those of atherosclerosis. Some of these risk factors include smoking, age, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, genetic and background of a family, obesity and sedentary lifestyle, just to mention the main ones (Panjrath & Ahmed, 2017). In this context, Maria has numerous risk factors that constitute ischemia. She lives a sedentary lifestyle, she is overweight, and she has high blood pressure and admits that she has not been maintaining the healthy lifestyle that is expected of a young-old individual.
According to the American Heart Association, ischemia is a disease caused by lack of a steady blood flow, biological symptoms of hypoxia. Admitting to living a sedentary lifestyle, her high blood pressure and obesity have massively yielded the presence of a huge strain in her cardiovascular system. In addition, having an echocardiogram indicates that Maria’s heart is enlarged and this are early signs of Cardiac Ischemia (Inamdar & Inamdar, 2016). The enlargement of the heart is an attempt to contain the high demand of oxygenated blood by the body, something that has weakened her heart muscles by stretching in proportion to the heart’s contractions. This will evidentially weaken the heart in the process where it will try to compensate cell enlargement.
This case will eventually lead to hypoxia because a report by the American Heart Association shows that an enlarged and weak heart has vast difficulty in providing body cells with oxygen, causing poor breathing and brain activity (American Heart Association, 2018). Also, the cardiovascular system of a human being plays vital role in circulation of the lymphatic system. Two issues in the body, the pressure of the blood and osmotic pressure prevents the fluid from been flowed in to the tissue space. Therefore, for the case of Maria of malfunctioned cardiovascular system, there is an increased amount of fluid leaks in to the lymphatic system due to an uncontrolled blood pressure that damages each lining of the blood vessels. Furthermore, the reports that Maria has cold hands and feet might be symptoms of a peripheral heart disease. This analysis shows the Maria is at great risk of hypoxia. Her heart and the circulatory system is very strained and not working properly and her sedentary lifestyle is not only the main factor for the disease but also an indication that her peripheral heart disease is getting worse, and these could lead to complete and terminal hypoxia (Modolo et al., 2014).
2 What two early and reversible changes occur to tissue cells when they are hypoxic?
Two...