NVQ3 Module 7

[clairebear]

Please Help!!
Been doing this module with the help of my Pharmacist as I have found it extremely hard to complete and understand. Really stuck on an activity which requires me to list 10 enzymes in the body, where they are found and what they do. The e.g. given is salivary amylase. I have looked in books and internet, and I'm sure the answer is staring at me, but I cannot think of what I am doing. Any help would be appreciated.

[lilly hunt]

well i struggled with this.googled proteins and got a list.eg lipase pepsin etc.i had no help at all.this will tell you where it works and what it does.hope this helps,it was not easy to find try wilkipedia.it takes you to have any ology to get the info you need from this very discriptive page.i found the whole module difficult the next vis not so hard i feel.

[Tony Schofield]

If you google salivary amylase there are many, many articles. What is so difficult?

[Nik]

it was not easy to find try wilkipedia.

Please don't use wikipedia, no matter how tempting or how hard you think the question might be. If you've exhausted all avenues then by all means post on here, where you'll at least be guided to a correct and reliable answer.
To the OP, one of the best (and free) resources on the net is google books, as it often provides previews of textbooks for free, where you can search through and find info. I suggest you start with this now by going through a biology textbook to explain the basics.
I suppose this should go out to all NVQ students and those on similar courses. Worth investing in the following:

Medical dictionary
A good physiology/biology textbook
BNF (or subscribe on-line for free home access)

Familiarise yourself with references such as Stockley's and Martindale which should be kept in your pharmacy (as well as the usual DT and MEP)
These will probably cover 99% of the questions asked in this sub-thread. I'm sure Buttercups will be able provide to some additional generic references on here if I've missed anything.

[johnep]

When I was at college, told to look in the library for help. no internet then.
johnep

[lilly hunt]

DEAR NIK thanks for your positive advice.i have already got my evidence and done my module.was trying to not give the answer but trying to help without it being too easier for the enquirer.i have gcse biology book, AS biology and medical pharmacology at a glance.by m.j neal.these have been quite helpfull to me.many of us do not have a basic background from school studying so w eneed to start from basics and these books explain them like you say better than wikipedia.cheers.have a good weekend.

[lilly hunt]

nik

[johnep]

'many of us do not have a basic background from school studying'
Those of us fortunate to have all the basics from school do not always appreciate that simple science may be lacking.
At my company the test was to ask the candidate to explain Osmosis. If they could do so, then showed that they had the basics.
johnep

[clairebear]

Many thanks for the advice especially lilly hunt and Nik. I'm quite a long time left school and as for the simple science some of you are talking about, my teacher taught from videos and our learning was never much a priority. This is the first time I have used this as a source of help and thanks to the rudeness of some responses I think it will be the last. I wasn't asking for answers just to be pointed in the right direction. Perhaps to those already in the know this question may be simple and they may fail to see the difficulty, however for the rest of us, I wouldn't have been asking for help unless I needed it. Once again thanks for the direction lilly hunt and Nik.

[sparkybw]

Many thanks for the advice especially lilly hunt and Nik. I'm quite a long time left school and as for the simple science some of you are talking about, my teacher taught from videos and our learning was never much a priority. This is the first time I have used this as a source of help and thanks to the rudeness of some responses I think it will be the last. I wasn't asking for answers just to be pointed in the right direction. Perhaps to those already in the know this question may be simple and they may fail to see the difficulty, however for the rest of us, I wouldn't have been asking for help unless I needed it. Once again thanks for the direction lilly hunt and Nik.

I don't think that there have been any particularly rude answers in this thread, unless some posts have been removed while I was out living my real life.

I'm not sure where you are looking for information on the internet but from experience I have found that the simplest way to start to find information is to simply type the question into google in its entirety. So in this case I would type 'ten common enzymes in the human body' and see what webpages come up.

After doing that the first webpage listed was this one Common enzymes found in humans..? - Yahoo! Answers This gives a very good list of common enzymes found in the human body.

Now my question is to list them, what they do and where they are found in the human body. In this case it says there are three types of enzymes so I would choose three enzymes from two groups and four enzymes from the other group to make my ten and give a broad range of enxymes and different functions. If I had been given an example, as you have, then that would be one of my choices. I might then do a search for each of the group terms so that would be for example 'metabolic enzymes'. Include images in your search as well as general web searches as you can find some really useful diagrams. Having done my search and had a quick look through the results I found this webpage which very handily has a description of three enzymes used in the metabolising of alcohol. All the information that is required for the assignment can be found here in one place. How Alcohol Is Metabolized in the Human Body You would just need to go through it and find what you need.

Repeat the process for the remaining groups and the job is done. Simples. You can use this as a way of approaching virtually any subject. Use the links within the webpages for extra information and follow any references that are available. Verify the information on other sites as well if you have the time and look at the information that you've been given within your workbooks and the assignment and then put it all together.

You could also simply take a random selection of enzyme names from those listed in the first reference and simply find out what they do and where they are found.

Hope this helps and you are not dissuaded from requesting help when necessary. It can be very lonely studying by yourself and forums like this are a good source of assistance and encouragement.