Understanding Words

This feature, found at the chapter beginnings and on the end-sheets, helps build vocabulary. Understanding Words includes root words, stems, prefixes, and suffixes that reveal word meanings and origins. Each root and an example word that uses the root are defined. Knowing the roots from these lists helps in remembering scientific word meanings and in understanding newly encountered terms.

Chapter objectives

Chapter objectives indicate what students should be able to do after mastering the information within the narrative. The review exercises at the end of each chapter are also phrased as detailed objectives, and these may be valuable to read before beginning a chapter. The chapter objectives and review exercises are guides to important sections of the narrative.

Introductory vignettes

"Stories" that open each chapter vividly introduce the topic. These vignettes are all interesting real-life events, often taken from the headlines or from reports in medical or scientific journals.

Key terms

Key terms and their phonetic pronunciations appear within the text of each chapter and help build science vocabulary.

Review questions within the narrative

Review questions at the ends of major sections within each chapter reinforce main points. The ability to answer these questions without checking back indicates mastery of the material.

Reconnect

This feature prompts students to refer back to previous sections of the text that will assist in clarifying various topics.

Life-span Changes

Life-span changes sections occur at the end of several chapters.

Illustrations, photographs, and tables

A human anatomy and physiology textbook is more than a collection of written descriptions; it is also a visual experience. The many illustrations, photographs and tables in each chapter are located near their related textual discussion. The art is designed and placed to help students visualize structures and processes, to clarify complex ideas, to represent how structures relate to each other, to summarize sections of the narrative, or to present pertinent data. Sets of special reference plates illustrate the structures and locations of the major internal organs of the body; depict the structural detail of the human skull; and help locate major features of the body surface and visualize organs exposed by the dissection of a cadaver. Frequent use of icons orients the reader and establishes a sense of scale. Color is consistent from chapter to chapter. Careful selection of new micrographs and rendering of new art better correlates the two.

Boxed information

Short paragraphs in colored boxes appear throughout each chapter. Several are new to this edition. Some of these short boxes apply chapter ideas to clinical situations. Others discuss changes in organ structure and function that occur with aging. Many small boxes introduce new medical technology or discuss interesting medical experiments.

Clinical Applications and From Science to Technology

Throughout the chapters, longer boxed sections add flavor, depth, and perspective to major concepts by providing information on related pathology, offering historical insights, or exploring technological applications of knowledge of anatomy and physiology.

InnerConnections

These multipurpose illustrations, found at the ends of selected chapters, conceptually link the highlighted body system to every other system, reinforcing the dynamic interactions of groups of organs. These graphic representations review chapter concepts, make connections, and stress the "big picture" in learning and applying the concepts and facts of anatomy and physiology.

Clinical terms

Lists of related terms often used in clinical situations end many chapters. These terms, along with their phonetic pronunciations and brief definitions, expand understanding of medical terminology.

Critical thinking questions

Found at the end of each chapter, these questions apply main concepts to clinical or research situations, taking the student beyond memorization to utilization of knowledge.

Review exercises

The review exercises at the end of each chapter check understanding of the major ideas in the narrative, in the sequence in which they are presented.

Appendixes, glossary, and index

The appendixes contain a variety of useful information and tables.