Common carotid artery vertebral artery. The common carotid artery is often used in measuring the pulse,{ especially in patients who are in shock and who lack a detectable pulse in the more peripheral arteries of the body. The pulse is taken by palpating the artery just deep to the anterior border of the sternocleidomastoid muscle at the level of the superior border of the thyroid cartilage. Presence of a carotid pulse has been estimated to indicate a systolic blood pressure of more than 40 mmHg, as given by the 50% percentile. Carotidynia is a syndrome marked by soreness of the carotid artery near
Human body and about 23 litres of fluid inside cells. The content, acidity and composition of the water inside and outside cells is carefully maintained. The main electrolytes in body water outside cells are sodium and chloride, whereas within cells it is potassium and other phosphates. The body contains trillions of cells, the fundamental unit of life. At maturity, there are roughly 30–37 trillion cells in the body, an estimate arrived at by totalling the cell numbers of all the organs of the body and cell types. The body is also host to about the same number of non-human cells as well