Levick's Introduction to Cardiovascular Physiology, Sixth Edition

Content: Cover
 Half title
 Title
 copyright
 Dedication
 Contents
 Foreword
 Preface
 A note on active andproblem-based learning
 List of abbreviations
 Chapter 1 Overview of the cardiovascular system
 1.1 Diffusion: its virtues and limitations
 1.2 Functions of the cardiovascular system
 1.3 The circulation of blood
 1.4 Cardiac output and its distribution
 1.5 Introducing 'hydraulics': flow, pressure and resistance
 1.6 Blood vessel structure
 1.7 Functional classes of vessel
 1.8 The plumbing of the circulation
 1.9 Control systems
 Chapter 2 The cardiac cycle
 2.1 The gross structure of the heart. 2.2 The ventricular cycle2.3 The atrial cycle and jugular venous pressure waves
 2.4 Altered phase durations when heart rate increases
 2.5 Heart sounds and valve abnormalities
 2.6 Clinical assessment of the cardiac cycle
 Chapter 3 The cardiac myocyte: excitation and contraction
 3.1 The importance of calcium
 3.2 Ultrastructure of a cardiac myocyte
 3.3 Mechanism of contraction
 3.4 Resting membrane potential
 3.5 Role of pumps and exchangers
 3.6 Cardiac action potentials
 3.7 Advanced aspects: structure-function relations of ion channels. 3.8 Physiological and pathological changes in action potential3.9 Excitation-contraction coupling and the calcium cycle
 3.10 Regulation of contractile force
 3.11 Store overload, afterdepolarization and arrhythmia
 Chapter 4 Initiation and nervous control of heartbeat
 4.1 Organization of the pacemaker-conduction system
 4.2 Electrical activity of the pacemaker
 4.3 Transmission of excitation
 4.4 Regulation of heart rate
 4.5 Effects of sympathetic stimulation
 4.6 Effects of parasympathetic stimulation
 4.7 Local neuromodulators and autonomic co-transmitters. 4.8 Dangers of an altered ionic environment4.9 Pharmacological manipulation of cardiac currents
 4.10 Mechano-electrical feedback
 Chapter 5 Electrocardiography and arrhythmias
 5.1 Principles of electrocardiography
 5.2 Relation of ECG waves to cardiac action potentials
 5.3 Standard ECG leads
 5.4 The cardiac dipole
 5.5 The excitation sequence
 5.6 Why the QRS complex is complex
 5.7 The electrical axis of the heart
 5.8 The inverse problem of electrocardiography and ECG imaging (ECGi)
 5.9 ECG in ischaemic heart disease. 5.10 Arrhythmogenic mechanisms: a trigger, vulnerable window and substrate5.11 Arrhythmias
 Chapter 6 Control of stroke volume and cardiac output
 6.1 Overview
 6.2 Contractile properties of isolated myocardium
 6.3 Mechanisms underlying the length-tension relation
 6.4 The Frank-Starling mechanism
 6.5 Stroke work and the pressure-volume loop
 6.6 Central venous pressure and cardiac filling
 6.7 Operation of the Frank-Starling mechanism in humans
 6.8 Laplace's law and dilated hearts
 6.9 Multiple effects of arterial pressure on the heart
 6.10 Sympathetic regulation of contractility.