Law of Righting

(noun)

A reflex rather than a law, this refers to the sudden movement of the head to level the eyes with the horizon in the event of an accidental tilting or imbalance of the body.

Related Terms

Examples of Law of Righting in the following topics:

  • Proprioceptive Sensations

    • Proprioception is the sense of the relative position of neighboring parts of the body and the strength of effort being employed in movement.
    • The initiation of proprioception is the activation of a proprioreceptor in the periphery.
    • An unconscious reaction is seen in the human proprioceptive reflex, or Law of Righting.
    • Mammalian muscle spindle showing typical position in a muscle (left), neuronal connections in spinal cord (middle), and expanded schematic (right).
    • Describe how propioception is the sense of the position of parts of our body in a three dimensional space

  • Dalton's Law of Partial Pressure

    • Dalton's law of partial pressures states that the pressure of a mixture of gases is the sum of the pressures of the individual components.
    • Dalton's law states that the total pressure exerted by the mixture of inert (non-reactive) gases is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of individual gases in a volume of air.
    • This empirical law was observed by John Dalton in 1801 and is related to the ideal gas laws.
    • Dalton's law states that at any given time, the percentage of each of these gasses in the air we breathe makes its contribution to total atmospheric pressure, and this contribution will depend on how much of each gas is in the air we breathe.
    • Infer from Dalton's law of partial pressure the sum of partial pressures in alveoli

  • Cardiac Output

    • Cardiac output (Q or CO) is the volume of blood pumped by the heart, in particular by a left or right ventricle, in one minute.
    • It refers to the number of beats the heart makes over the course of a minute.
    • EDV is the volume of blood in the ventricles at the end of diastole, while ESV is the volume of blood left inside the ventricles at the end of systole, making SV the difference between EDV and ESV.
    • Starling's Law of the Heart states that the SV of the heart increases in response to an increase in EDV, when all other factors remain constant.
    • The main implication of this law is that increases in blood volume or blood return to the heart will increase cardiac output, which will lead to an increase in MAP.

  • Henry's Law

    • Henry's law states that the amount of a gas that dissolves in a liquid is directly proportional to the partial pressure of that gas.
    • An everyday example of Henry's law is given by carbonated soft drinks.
    • The practical description for the law is that the solubility (i.e., equilibrium) of a gas in a liquid is directly proportional to the partial pressure of that gas.
    • Therefore, based on the properties of Henry's law, both the partial pressure and solubility of the oxygen and carbon dioxide determine how they will behave during gas exchange.
    • Henry's law states that when a gas is in contact with the surface of a liquid, the amount of the gas which will go into solution is proportional to the partial pressure of that gas.

  • Abdominopelvic Regions

    • The right upper quadrant contains the right portion of the liver, the gallbladder, right kidney, a small portion of the stomach, the duodenum, the head of the pancreas, portions of the ascending and transverse colon, and parts of small intestine.
    • In the right lower quadrant sits the cecum, appendix, part of the small intestines, the right half of the female reproductive system, and the right ureter.
    • The right hypochondriac region contains the right portion of the liver, the gallbladder, the right kidney, and parts of the small intestine.
    • The right lumbar region consists of the gallbladder, the left kidney, part of the liver, and the ascending colon.
    • The right iliac region contains the appendix, cecum, and the right iliac fossa.

  • Hysterectomy

    • Hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus, and may also include removal of the Fallopian tubes, ovaries, and cervix.
    • A hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus, usually performed by a gynecologist.
    • Hysterectomy may be total (removing the body, fundus, and cervix of the uterus, often called complete) or partial (removal of the uterine body while leaving the cervix intact, also called supracervical) .
    • Severe developmental disabilities, though this treatment is controversial at best, and specific cases of sterilization due to developmental disabilities have been found by state-level Supreme Courts to violate the patient's constitutional and common law rights.
    • There was no difference in the rates of incontinence, constipation, measures of sexual function or alleviation of pre-surgery symptoms.

  • Lobes, Fissures, and Lobules

    • The volume, the total capacity, and the weight of the right lung is greater than that of the left.
    • The upper lobe is the largest lobe of the right lung.
    • The middle lobe is the smallest lobe of the right lung, located between the horizontal and oblique fissures.
    • The lower lobe is the bottom lobe of the right lung.
    • It is a small, tongue-like projection of the left lung that is analogous to the middle lobe of the right lung.

  • Hemispheric Lateralization

    • The human brain is composed of a right and a left hemisphere, and each participates in different aspects of brain function.
    • Short of having a hemispherectomy (removal of a cerebral hemisphere), no one is a "left-brain only" or "right-brain only" person.
    • Although 95% of right-handed people have left-hemisphere dominance for language, 18.8% of left-handed people have right-hemisphere dominance for language function.
    • While language production is left-lateralized in up to 90% of right-handed subjects, it is more bilateral or even right-lateralized in approximately 50% of left-handers.
    • Feeding is an example of a routine left-hemisphere behavior, while escape from predators is an example of a right-hemisphere behavior.

  • Ascending Aorta

    • The ascending aorta is the first portion of the aorta; it includes the aortic sinuses, the bulb of the aorta, and the sinotubular junction.
    • The ascending aorta is a portion of the aorta beginning at the upper part of the base of the left ventricle, on a level with the lower border of the third costal cartilage behind the left half of the sternum; it passes diagonally upward, forward, and to the right, in the direction of the heart's axis, as high as the upper border of the second right costal cartilage its total length is about five cm.
    • At the junction of the ascending aorta with the aortic arch, the caliber of the vessel is increased, owing to a bulging of its right wall.
    • The ascending aorta is covered at its beginning by the trunk of the pulmonary artery and, higher up, is separated from the sternum by the pericardium, the right pleura, the anterior margin of the right lung, some loose areolar tissue, and the remains of the thymus.
    • Posteriorly, it rests upon the left atrium and right pulmonary artery.

  • Veins of the Thorax

    • The veins of the thorax drain deoxygenated blood from the thorax region for return to the heart.
    • Two venae cavae return deoxygenated blood from the systemic circulation to the right atrium of the heart.
    • The superior vena cava returns deoxgenated blood from the upper half of the body and is formed from the left and right brachiocephalic veins of the upper carrying blood from the upper limbs and also blood from the head and neck via the thyroid and jugular veins.
    • It is joined just before entering the heart by the azygos vein which runs up the right side of the thoracic vertebral column, transporting blood from the external thoracic cavity.
    • The inferior vena cava returns blood from the abdomen and lower limbs to the right atrium of the heart.