Acting or occurring involuntarily (autonomic reflexes); relating to, affecting, or controlled by the autonomic nervous system (autonomic ganglia; autonomic dysfunction); having an effect upon tissue supplied by the autonomic nervous system resulting from internal stimuli; spontaneous.

The part of the nervous system that is concerned with control of involuntary body functions, such as glandular secretions, heart beat, bowel function, bronchodilation, bronchoconstriction, vasodilation, and vasoconstriction. Also called the visceral nervous system, as opposed to the somatic nervous system. The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are subdivisions of the autonomic nervous system.

Alveolar Ventilation

Flu primarily caused by viruses that normally infect only birds (e.g. H5N1 virus). Transmission is from bird to bird, but occasionally transmitted from bird to human. Fear of global pandemic would occur if the virus were to become capable of spreading from person to person as the human immune system would not recognize the virus and would require time to mount a defense. Unfortunately, the virus may be very virulent and kill the individual before the defense is capable of mounting. Death rates could be extremely high.

The axial nerve or circumflex nerve is a nerve that comes off the brachial plexus at the level of the axilla (armpit) and carries nerve fibers from C5 and C6. The nerve supplies the deltoid (shoulder muscle) teres minor (one of the rotator cuff muscles) and an elbow extensor muscle.

The second cervical vertebra (C2) of the spine; aka epistropheus.

A long slender projection of a nerve cell that conducts electrical impulses away from the neurons cell body (soma).

Measures the pressure of oxygen dissolved in the blood and how well the oxygen is able to move from the airspace in the lungs and into the blood.

Blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart; structural characteristics are designed to withstand relative high blood pressure and include thick muscular layers and elastic connective tissue.

Thin-walled, small-diameter resistance vessels that are branches of small-diameter arteries; a high proportion of their walls are composed of smooth muscle and are capable of rapidly changing their diameters to affect vascular resistance.