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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. A muscular wall separating the chest (thoracic) cavity from the abdominal cavity in mammals.






2. A response to a stimulus or substance (such as alcohol) which occurs rapidly and produces severe - possibly life-threatening - symptoms.






3. 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.






4. The level of intensity of stimulation of a neuron at which it first shows activity. The term is used particularly in the context of sensory neurons.






5. A bundle of the axons of neurons in the peripheral nervous system. (Occasionally employed informally to refer to a bundle of axons within the central nervous system.)






6. A subdivision of a rounded mass of tissue. For example - in the breast - this is used to describe an individual branched subsection of the mammary gland.






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






8. A screening procedure has high of this if - in people who do not have the disease being screened for - the procedure is very likely not to detect disease - that is - to give a negative result. Numerically - this is calculated by expressing the number






9. The junction where a neuron influences another cell - the latter being either another neuron or a muscle cell. (






10. A bean-shaped tissue packed with immune system cells found at intervals along the vessels of the lymphatic system. They filter potentially harmful substances and organisms (microbes) from body fluids that drain into the lymphatic system; the filtered






11. A representation using chemical symbols that shows the order in which the atoms are joined together; e.g. the structural formula of water is shown as HOH.






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






13. A molecule that facilitates a reaction but Which is left unchanged at the end; catalysis refers to the action of this.






14. Disease - disorder or traumatic injury characterised by rapid onset - severe symptoms and short duration - From which the patient either recovers quickly or dies (CS 1 & 6). Some chronic (long-term) conditions can have acute episodes - e.g. exacerbat






15. Complex structures in the body formed from a number of different tissues - which form a distinct structure and serve a particular function - e.g. the heart - the brain - the lungs. (CS 2 & 4)






16. Microbes that cause disease.






17. This condition occurs when the arteries supplying oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle become blocked by fatty deposits known as plaques - and areas of muscle die as a result.






18. The process of reducing pain - e.g. by taking morphine.






19. A sensory nerve cell or group of cells that responds to a chemical stimulus.






20. Tissues that are like tendons in terms of structure but connect bones to each other (rather than bones to muscles).






21. The number of individual pathogens required to cause disease in an infected person; the number varies from one infectious disease to another.






22. 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.






23. The distance between the principle focal point and the centre of a lens.






24. A protective reaction of body tissues to irritation - injury - or infection - characterised by pain - heat - redness and swelling.






25. A class of animals characterised by having the body covered in hair - by having a four-chambered heart - and by feeding their young on milk produced by the female.






26. The part of the nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord.






27. An internationally recognised health indicator - defined as the number of babies in every 1000 live births who die in their first year of life.






28. A protein that is abundant in the extracellular matrix and can form long thin fibres to provide structure to many tissues.






29. 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






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






31. Anything that is statistically associated with an increased chance of developing a particular disease - disorder or disability in a population; when the incidence of the disease is examined in different populations it is found to occur more frequentl






32. The number of children who die under five years of age in a given year - usually expressed as a rate per 1000 live births.






33. The areas of the medulla region in the brain that integrate sensory information from chemoreceptors monitoring the level of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood. They send out appropriate signals to regulate the rate of contraction of the respirato






34. A term that refers to the fact that the connections between neurons are not static. Rather - they are subject to change as result of activity within the neurons concerned. It can mean - over a period of time - increased sensitivity of connections bet






35. A condition in which the conjunctiva is inflamed.






36. An outbreak of an infectious disease in a community - region or country - characterised by a sharp increase in the number of cases - followed after an interval by a decline to a normal level






37. Counts of deaths.






38. Insufficient levels of oxygen in the blood or tissue.






39. Immobilisation of a broken bone using something rigid.






40. Any fracture where the overlying skin is broken.






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






42. The process of breaking down foods in the body into the molecules needed to maintain life.






43. The binding that occurs between a signalling molecule and its specific receptor. The specificity of the binding is analogous to that of a particular key in a particular lock; e.g. the binding between a neurotransmitter and its receptor - or a hormone






44. A condition that may develop following exposure to an extremely stressful situation - typically where a person witnesses the violent death of someone else - or believes their own life is in danger. Symptoms include disordered sleeping - a dread of si






45. Stimuli that are associated with actual or potential damage to body tissues.






46. Vital to many chemical reactions in the body. Crystals containing these form an important part of the structure of bones.






47. The proportion of young - middle-aged and older people in a population. In developing countries - tends to be 'younger' than that of developed countries.






48. A therapeutic technique where low-level stimulation is given to the skin and which has the effect of reducing pain (abbreviated to TENS).






49. A chemical reaction involving the addition of oxygen.






50. 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.