Principles of Human Physiology (5th Edition)

Book Preface

The guiding philosophy for this textbook was to create a rich resource that makes it as easy as possible for students to learn the fundamentals of human physiology while also providing a solid, comprehensive, and current overview of the field. It is our belief that a physiology textbook should emphasize deeper understanding of concepts over mere memorization of facts, in concert with useful tools for students with varying levels of preparation in biology, chemistry, physics, and related sciences, to aid them in their individual studies.

In developing the fifth edition, we’ve made several ambitious enhancements with these goals in mind, while retaining the book’s proven and trusted hallmarks: a direct and precise writing style; a clear and illuminating art program designed to maximize student learning; and pedagogical features that stimulate users’ interest, help readers think about physiological processes in an integrated way, and reinforce the most important concepts.

The most wide-ranging advancement in the fifth edition is the addition of MasteringA&P®, the most effective and widely used online tutorial, homework, and assessment platform and system for the sciences. This online tool utilizes the most current resources, including chapter quizzes, self-paced tutorials, practice tests, guided animations, interactive physiological processes, and expansive laboratory simulations.

In this edition we have also both expanded and focused our previous diabetes emphasis by illustrating on a text-wide basis the concept of diabetes as a touchstone disease—one that affects all body systems and provides a comprehensive example of how the body responds to disease and attempts to restore homeostasis. This content has been expanded to touch every applicable chapter in the text, and has been focused through the introduction of new Focus on Diabetes boxes, which highlight the material for easier reference.

New to the Fifth Edition

In response to the feedback we received from users, reviewers, and instruc tors, we have made the following key enhancements to this edition.

• MasteringA&P®, an integrated text and technology learning system focusing on student comprehension and instructor adaptability, with reinforced clinical content, is now included in this edition. Assignable, text-specific assets include online homework, tutorial, and assessment systems; self-paced tutorials; and customizable, assignable, and automatically graded assessments. MasteringA&P® icons and references appear at appropriate places throughout each chapter to direct students to related online resources.

• New Critical Thinking Questions appear within each Clinical Connections box to encourage further thinking and associations, and tie-in to Mastering activities.

• Clinical content has been expanded to encourage readers to make connections throughout the book, including Health Fact and Functional Fact icons that highlight content covering disease states and related aspects of body functioning.

• New Focus on Diabetes boxes have been added throughout the text, emphasizing this key topic more prominently for readers.

• Key figures for cellular and molecular art have been enhanced with more saturated colors and added dimensionality.

• A new interior design updates and enlivens the text, focuses on the clinical features, and helps students better navigate the text by making the content organization clearer and easier to use.

• Learning Outcomes are more prominent and are emphasized at the start of each chapter.

• Chapter Outlines are now numbered, helping students better understand each chapter’s organization, connecting to the main headings across each chapter and again in the summary.

• The Chapter Summary is presented in a briefer, bulleted format correlated to the Chapter Outline. Extended chapter summaries can be found in the MasteringA&P® Study Area.

• Quick Test sections have reviewed, revised and expanded as needed, and the feature name has been changed to Quick Check.

• The Immune System content (Chapter 23) has undergone an extensive, expert review and is updated with the most current and accurate information, including new figures, expanded coverage of HIV and AIDs-related content, and Major Histocompatability Complex (MHC) markers

• End-of-Chapter Systems Integration sections have been expanded to now include every chapter in the text, relating chapter content to what has already been learned, and preparing students for what will be presented.

• End-of-Chapter Exercises are now numbered sequentially though the whole section, for easier navigation.

For more details on these enhancements and the text’s other features, please see the visual overview at the front of this text. In addition, each chapter has been thoroughly revised in response to reviewer suggestions, and to reflect current research, capture a more readable style, and for greatest clarity and precision. The following is a summary of some of the specific changes to each cha