CASE STUDY-DEHYDRATION OF STUDENT-ATHLETES Read this case study:
The players of a high school football team were traveling home from their football game in Fernandina Beach, Florida. It had been a tough night. It was August and still hot. The game had lasted three hours, and the players had to play offense, defense, and special teams because there were not enough players to field all positions. During the bus trip home, several of the athletes consumed multiple energy drinks in an attempt to regain their strength for a celebration party they planned to attend later that evening. Despite the odds, they had won their game. About half an hour into the trip home, a player named Joseph, a junior running back, began screaming from the back of the bus. When the coaches and athletic trainer reached Joseph's seat, they found him lying in the middle of the aisle, clenching his hamstrings and calf muscles in pain. He was yelling and wailing about his muscles cramping. When the athletic trainer examined Joseph, he discovered that the calves, hamstrings, and quadriceps of Joseph’s legs were in a tight and unyielding contraction. The athletic trainer immediately surmised that the athlete was cramping due to severe dehydration. To treat his symptoms, the athletic trainer coaxed the student to drink Gatorade, water, and juice. He also stretched and massaged all the muscle groups in an attempt to get the muscles to release their contraction. Ice packs were applied between stretches to help reduce the pain. After an hour, the muscle contractions in Joseph’s legs finally stopped.

Answer these questions:
1) Please describe the signal transmission across a myoneural junction that allows the nervous system to move the muscles of a football player during a game? Please be detailed with your description. Hint: Review your video worksheets from your lesson for details on nerve impulse transmission.

2)What environmental and behavioral factors led to Joseph's dehydration event?

3) In the lesson, you learned how a nerve impulse transmits through a neuron and into muscle tissue. Using this knowledge, can you explain why dehydration caused Joseph's muscle cramping? Please be detailed with your response. Hint: During dehydration, people lose a large amount of sodium.

4) According to the video segment in this lesson, caffeine can have adverse effects on synaptic transmissions. How do you think caffeine contributed to Joseph's muscle cramping?

5) Sports drink companies, such as Gatorade or Powerade, add sodium and potassium to their sports drinks. They refer to these minerals as “electrolytes.” Why do you think they assign these minerals that name? Why do they put sodium and potassium in the drinks? Hint: Review your video note worksheet on neuromuscular junctions.

HELP WILL BE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED