Diseases
Which disease is detected by using the Schilling test?
A. diabetes mellitus
B. pernicious anemia
B. pernicious anemia
The Schilling test, which measures the body’s ability to absorb vitamin B12, is used to diagnose pernicious anemia, a slow-developing disease in which the production of red blood cells is impaired as the result of a vitamin B12 deficiency.
Which of these vitamins is water-soluble as opposed to fat-soluble?
A. vitamin D
B. vitamin C
B. vitamin C
Where in the body are the adrenal glands located?
A. below the ears
B. above the kidneys
B. above the kidneys
The adrenal glands, also called the suprarenal glands, are two small and virtually identical triangular endocrine glands, one located at the upper end of each kidney.
What is the smallest structural unit of living matter that is capable of functioning independently?
A. nucleus
B. cell
B. cell
The cell is the basic unit of which all living things are composed. A single cell can be a complete organism in itself, as in bacteria, yeasts, and protozoans.
Humans use electricity when they think.
TRUE or FALSE
What is another name for breakbone fever?
A. typhoid
B. dengue
B. dengue
Dengue, also called breakbone fever, is an acute, infectious, mosquito-borne hemorrhagic fever that is temporarily completely incapacitating but rarely fatal.
Which brain disorder results in a progressive and irreversible decline in memory and various other cognitive functions?
A. Hansen disease
B. Alzheimer disease
B. Alzheimer disease results in a progressive and irreversible decline in memory and various other cognitive functions. It is the most common form of dementia.
What digestive fluid is stored in the gallbladder?
A. bile
B. insulin
A. bile
What determines the blood group in a person?
A. red blood cells
B. plasma
A. red blood cells
The membrane of the red blood cell has on its surface a group of molecules that confer blood group specificity (that is, differentiate blood cells into groups).
All blue-eyed people have a common ancestor.
TRUE or FALSE
TRUE!
DNA studies show that all blue-eyed people have a common ancestor who lived sometime between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, when the blue-eyed genetic mutation occurred.
In the 18th century, Englishman Stephen Hales inserted a tube into a blood vessel and allowed the blood to rise up the tube, thus measuring what aspect of circulation?
A. pulse
B. blood pressure
B. blood pressure
Stephen Hales was the first to measure blood pressure quantitatively, which he did by inserting a tube into a blood vessel and allowing the blood to rise up the tube.
If you become infested with worms, what kind of drug will you need?
A. anthelmintic
B. antibiotic
A. anthelmintic
An anthelmintic is any drug that acts against helminthic infections—that is, those caused by parasitic worms.
Which of these metals is found in hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein that makes blood red?
A. aluminum
B. iron
B. iron
Hemoglobin is a protein in the red blood cells of vertebrates that transports oxygen to the tissues.
Which of these disorders is also called Cooley anemia?
A. thalassemia
B. megaloblastic anemia
A. thalassemia
Thalassemia is also called Cooley anemia. This is a group of blood disorders characterized by a deficiency of hemoglobin, the blood protein that transports oxygen to the tissues.
Firstborn children have higher IQ scores than their younger siblings.
TRUE or FALSE
TRUE!
Firstborn children, according to studies reported in the journal Science, tend to have higher IQ scores than their later brothers and sisters. No one is quite sure why this is so.
What condition is caused by the deposition of salts of uric acid?
A. gout
B. rheumatism
A. gout
Gout is a hereditary metabolic disorder that is characterized by recurrent acute attacks of severe inflammation in one or more of the joints of the extremities.
When we suffer from belching, flatulence, aversion to eating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, and heartburn, we call it indigestion. Which word would have been used in 18th-century Britain to describe the same symptoms?
A. grippe
B. dyspepsia
B. dyspepsia
Which type of blood cells defend the body against diseases?
A. red blood cells
B. white blood cells
B. white blood cells
White blood cells, also called leukocytes, are cellular components of the blood that lack hemoglobin, have a nucleus, are capable of motility, and defend the body against infection and disease.
Where in the human body are red blood cells produced?
A. Spleen
B. Bone Marrow
Humans require pure oxygen to breathe.
TRUE or FALSE
TRUE!
Oxygen makes up only about 20 percent of the air we breath. Breathing pure oxygen for very long would be fatal.
Which of these diseases is called tabardillo in Mexico, where it killed the scientist who discovered how it was transmitted?
A. typhus
B. malaria
A. typhus
Howard T. Ricketts, an American pathologist, discovered the causative organism and mode of transmission of epidemic typhus. He died of typhus in Mexico, where the disease is called tabardillo.
What is a more formal term for the disease called pinkeye?
A. conjunctivitis
B. exophthalmia
A. conjunctivitis
Conjunctivitis, also known as pinkeye, is a highly contagious disease of humans and various domestic animals.
What is hypothermia?
A. abnormally LOW body temperature
B. abnormally HIGH body temperature
A. abnormally LOW body temperature
Hypothermia is abnormally low body temperature in a warm-blooded creature, associated with a general slowing of physiological activity.
What is another name for adipose tissue?
A. fatty tissue
B. glandular tissue
A. fatty tissue
Adipose cells constitute the fatty tissue, or adipose tissue, of the body in places where adipose cells accumulate in such large numbers that they become the predominant cellular element.
Hair helps us hear.
TRUE or FALSE
TRUE!
Tiny hair cells in the cochlea of the ear, called the organ of Corti, serve as receptors for sound waves and help us hear.