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Introduction To Health Sciences Vocab

Subject : health-sciences
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. The build-up of levels of a chemical contaminant in the bodies of animals at successive levels in a food chain.






2. A class of neuron that is neither sensory nor motor.






3. A synapse at which the release of neurotransmitter from a presynaptic neuron has an excitatory effect on a postsynaptic cell - e.g. it excites further action potentials in a second cell.






4. A process in which light passes through a medium unaffected - e.g. light passing through clear glass.






5. A device that produces light of a single wavelength Which is transmitted in a narrow and powerful beam.






6. An agent - such as a chemical - ultraviolet light - or a radioactive substance that can induce - or increase the frequency of - mutations in DNA.






7. One of a family of similar chemicals that have the generic name of 'alcohol' - with the chemical formula C2H5OH.






8. The outer waterproof protective layer of the skin.






9. Optimal corrected visual acuity worse than 6/18 - i.e. wearing optimal correcting lenses - the individual can distinguish letters on a test chart at 6 metres that a person with normal vision could read at 18 metres






10. A gradual change in about 10% of chronic heavy drinkers whereby liver cells are replaced by scar tissue.






11. Damage to the retina due to the abnormal blood flow that may develop in people with diabetes.






12. A sudden change in potential difference (voltage) across the cell membrane of neurons - consisting of an increase in the resting potential and a sudden return to the resting value. Transmitted along axons and constitute the principal 'language' of co






13. A class of neuron that detects the presence of stimuli in the world - such as tactile events - heat - cold or tissue damage.






14. A molecule that has both negatively and positively charged regions.






15. A mathematical adjustment that enables disease and mortality rates to be compared from countries with different age-structures - i.e. different proportions of young - middle-aged and older people in their populations. The method involves taking a ver






16. A segment of this contains the coded information required for a cell to make a particular protein. Humans probably have about 25 000. Different forms or variants of these - called alleles - determine how these characteristics are expressed in a given






17. A shell - typically made from plaster or fibreglass - which can be put around a limb in order to encase and support a broken bone until it has healed.






18. The transparent fluid that fills the space between the cornea and the lens of the eye.






19. A process at an interface of two media in which light is returned into the original medium without transmission or absorption.






20. The smallest unit of an element that still has the properties of the element. Made up of a positively charged atomic nucleus - containing protons and neutrons - surrounded by negatively charged electrons.






21. Injury causing physical damage to the body.






22. A readily measured statistic or parameter that can be used in place of a more complex statistic - or to 'stand in for' one that is impossible to measure directly; e.g. disease statistics are often used as this for the 'health' of a population; the nu






23. Each element has been assigned one of these - often the first letter - or two of the first letters of the name; for example - H stands for hydrogen - C for carbon - N for nitrogen - Ca for calcium and O for oxygen.






24. A poisonous substance produced by a living organism - usually injurious to potential prey - predators or competitors.






25. A condition in which a person exceeds a certain threshold for the proportion of body weight that consists of fat. In most assessments based on body mass index - a BMI of greater than 30 is defined as clinically obese.






26. A substance produced by an endocrine gland that is carried around the body in the blood - and affects the structure or functions of specifically receptive target organs or tissues.






27. A) A process in which the photon energy is captured by a medium - without transmission or reflection. b) The process by which the molecules released from digested food pass through the wall of the gut and into the surrounding blood vessels.






28. The total number of people who have a disease - disorder or disability at a particular point in time - expressed as a rate per 1000 (or per 10 000 - or per 100 000 or per million) population.






29. A condition in which the cornea is irregularly curved.






30. Over time - a need for an increasing amount of drug to obtain the same level of effect - e.g. the amount of alcohol required to produce intoxication.






31. A technique where people learn to change their thought patterns and behaviour to create feelings of coping and self-efficacy; e.g. people in chronic pain might be taught to place a less catastrophic interpretation on their pain.






32. An atom that is better than other atoms at attracting electrons to itself; e.g. oxygen






33. Tiny particles of calcium that appear as small specks on a mammogram. When clustered in one area of the breast - they may indicate the presence of cancer cells.






34. A scale from 0 to 14 describing the acidity or alkalinity of a solution - where 7 is neutral - greater than 7 is more basic (alkaline) and less than 7 is more acidic.






35. The joining of tissues to each other that may occur abnormally during repair.






36. The blood pressure that is detected between heart contractions (lower than the systolic blood pressure).






37. Drinking to get drunk rather than just for pleasure.






38. Abnormally high acidity (excess hydrogen ion concentration) of the blood and other body tissues.






39. The pressure that one component of a mixture of gases would exert if it were alone in a container.






40. Any cell that ingests and destroys foreign particles - bacteria and cell debris.






41. The electrical forces holding two atoms together.






42. Visual defects caused by imperfections in the cornea and/or lens of the eye.






43. A break in one of the helical strands of a DNA molecule - caused by ionising radiation.






44. Substances in which an interaction or reaction occurs - or in which an event takes place - or chemicals or objects are transported or supported - e.g. a medium through which a wave is transmitted in the refraction of light.






45. Negatively charged particle of almost no mass that surround the nucleus of an atom.






46. The dimension of positive and negative feelings - exemplified by - respectively - happiness and pain.






47. The process of expiring or breathing out; the emission of air from the lungs.






48. The amount of air that can be forcefully expired from fully inflated lungs in the first second of expiration - abbreviated to FEV1.






49. A thick ring of muscle that controls pupil size - thereby regulating the amount of light that enters the eye. It forms the coloured portion of the eye.






50. Blood that contains very little oxygen.