Biomed Review Questions

Biomedical Science

The application of the principles of the natural sciences, especially biology and physiology, to clinical medicine.

Control Group

The group in an experiment where the independent variable being tested is not applied so that it may serve as a standard for comparison against the experimental group where the independent variable is applied.

Dependent Variable

The measurable effect, outcome, or response in which the research is interested.

Experiment

A research study conducted to determine the effect that one variable has upon another variable.

Forensic Science

The application of scientific knowledge to questions of civil and criminal law.

Hypothesis

Clear prediction of the anticipated results of an experiment.

Independent Variable

The variable that is varied or manipulated by the researcher.

Negative Control

Control group where conditions produce a negative outcome. Negative control groups help identify outside influences which may be present that were not accounted for when the procedure was created.

Positive Control

Group expected to have a positive result, allowing the researcher to show that the experimental set up was capable of producing results.

Personal Protective Equipment

Specialized clothing or equipment, worn by an employee for protection against infectious materials (as defined by OSHA).

Adenine

A component of nucleic acids, energy-carrying molecules such as ATP, and certain coenzymes. Chemically, it is a purine base. Pairs with thymine in DNA

Chromosome

Any of the usually linear bodies in the cell nucleus that contain the genetic material.

Cytosine

A component of nucleic acids that carries hereditary information in DNA and RNA in cells. Chemically, it is a pyrimidine base. Pairs with guanine in DNA

DNA

A double-stranded, helical nucleic acid molecule capable of replicating and determining the inherited structure of a cell's proteins.

Gel Electrophoresis

The separation of nucleic acids or proteins, on the basis of their size and electrical charge, by measuring their rate of movement through an electrical field in a gel.

Gene

A discrete unit of hereditary information consisting of a specific nucleotide sequence in DNA (or RNA, in some viruses).

Guanine

A component of nucleic acids that carries hereditary information in DNA and RNA in cells. Chemically, it is a purine base. Pairs with cytosine in DNA

Helix

Something spiral in form.

Model

A simplified version of something complex used, for example, to analyze and solve problems or make predictions.

Nucleotide

A building block of DNA, consisting of a five-carbon sugar covalently bonded to a nitrogenous base and a phosphate group.

Restriction Enzyme

A degradative enzyme that recognizes specific nucleotide sequences and cuts up DNA.

Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLPs)

Differences in DNA sequence on homologous chromosomes that can result in different patterns of restriction fragment lengths (DNA segments resulting from treatment with restriction enzymes).

Thymine

A component of nucleic acid that carries hereditary information in DNA in cells. Chemically, it is a pyrimidine base. Pairs with adenine in DNA

Autopsy

An examination of the body after death usually with such dissection as will expose the vital organs for determining the cause of death.

Bibliography

A document showing all the sources used to research information.

Citation

A written reference to a specific work (book, article, dissertation, report, musical composition, etc.) by a particular author or creator which identifies the document in which the work may be found.

Documentation

The act of creating citations to identify resources used in writing a work.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

A comprehensive set of standards and practices designed to give patients specific rights regarding their personal health information.

Medical Examiner

A physician who performs an autopsy when death may be accidental or violent. He or she may also serve in some jurisdictions as the coroner.

Glucagon

A protein hormone secreted by pancreatic endocrine cells that raises blood glucose levels; an antagonistic hormone to insulin.

Glucose Tolerance Test

A test of the body's ability to metabolize glucose that involves the administration of a measured dose of glucose to the fasting stomach and the determination of blood glucose levels in the blood or urine at intervals thereafter and that is used especially to detect diabetes.

Homeostasis

The maintenance of relatively stable internal physiological conditions (as body temperature or the pH of blood) in higher animals under fluctuating environmental conditions.

Hormone

A product of living cells that circulates in blood and produces a specific, often stimulatory, effect on the activity of cells that are often far from the source of the hormone.

Insulin

A protein hormone secreted by the pancreas that is essential for the metabolism of carbohydrates and the regulation of glucose levels in the blood.

Negative Feedback

A primary mechanism of homeostasis, whereby a change in a physiological variable that is being monitored triggers a response that counteracts the initial fluctuation.

Positive Feedback

Feedback that tends to magnify a process or increase its output. Example: blood clotting

Type 1 Diabetes

Diabetes of a form that usually develops during childhood or adolescence and is characterized by a severe deficiency of insulin, leading to high blood glucose levels.

Type 2 Diabetes

Diabetes of a form that develops especially in adults and most often obese individuals and that is characterized by high blood glucose resulting from impaired insulin utilization coupled with the body's inability to compensate with increased insulin production.

Adenine Tri-phosphate (ATP)

A compound composed of adenosine and three phosphate groups that supplies energy for many biochemical cellular processes by undergoing enzymatic hydrolysis.

Amino Acid

An organic monomer which serves as a building block of proteins.

Calorie

The amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of 1 g of water by 1°C; also the amount of heat energy that 1 g of water releases when it cools by 1°C. The Calorie (with a capital C), usually used to indicate the energy content of food, is a kilocalorie.

Carbohydrate

A sugar in the form of a monosaccharide, disaccharide or polysaccharide.

Chemical Bond

An attractive force that holds together the atoms, ions, or groups of atoms in a molecule or compound.

Chemical Indicator

A substance (as a dye) used to show visually usually by its capacity for color change, the condition of a solution with respect to the presence of free acid or alkali or some other substance.

Chemical Reaction

Chemical transformation or change; the interaction of chemical entities.

Compound

A substance consisting of two or more elements in a fixed ratio.

Covalent Bond

A type of strong chemical bond in which two atoms share one or more pairs of valence electrons.

Dehydration Synthesis

A chemical reaction in which two molecules are bonded together with the removal of a water molecule.

Disaccharide

A double sugar molecule made of two monosaccharides bonded together through dehydration synthesis.

Element

The smallest particle of a substance that retains all the properties of the substance and is composed of one or more atoms.

Glucose

A monomer of carbohydrate, simple sugar.

Hydrolysis

A chemical process that splits a molecule by adding water.

Ionic Bond

A chemical bond resulting from the attraction between oppositely charged ions.

Lipid

One of a family of compounds including fats, phospholipids, and steroids that is insoluble in water.

Macromolecule

A type of giant molecule formed by joining smaller molecules which includes proteins, polysaccharides, lipids, and nucleic acids.

Molecule

Two or more atoms held together by covalent bonds.

Monomer

The subunit that serves as the building block of a polymer.

Monosaccharide

A single sugar molecule such as glucose or fructose, the simplest type of sugar.

Nutrient

A substance that is needed by the body to maintain life and health.

Polymer

A large molecule consisting of many repeating chemical units or molecules linked together.

Polysaccharide

A polymer of thousands of simple sugars formed by dehydration synthesis.

Protein

A three dimensional polymer made of monomers of amino acids.

Hemoglobin A1c

A test that measures the level of hemoglobin A1c in the blood as a means of determining the average blood sugar concentrations for the preceding two to three months.

Hyperglycemia

An excess of sugar in the blood.

Hypertonic

In comparing two solutions, referring to the one with a greater solute concentration.

Hypoglycemia

Abnormal decrease of sugar in the blood.

Hypotonic

In comparing two solutions, referring to the one with a lower solute concentration.

Isotonic

Having the same solute concentration as another solution.

Osmosis

The movement of water across a selectively permeable membrane from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration.

Solute

A substance that is dissolved in a solution.

Solution

A liquid that is a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances.

Solvent

The dissolving agent of a solution. Water is the most versatile solvent known.

Anticodon

A triplet of nucleotide bases in transfer RNA that identifies the amino acid carried and binds to a complementary codon in messenger RNA during protein synthesis at a ribosome.

Codon

A three-nucleotide sequence of DNA or mRNA that specifies a particular amino acid or termination signal; the basic unit of the genetic code.

Hydrophilic

Having an affinity for water.

Hydrophobic

Having an aversion to water; tending to coalesce and form droplets in water.

Messenger RNA (mRNA)

A type of RNA, synthesized from DNA and attached to ribosomes in the cytoplasm; it specifies the primary structure of a protein.

Mutation

A rare change in the DNA of a gene, ultimately creating genetic diversity.

Protein Synthesis

The creation of a protein from a DNA template.

Ribonucleic Acid

A type of nucleic acid consisting of nucleotide monomers with a ribose sugar and the nitrogenous bases adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and uracil (U); usually single-stranded; functions in protein synthesis and as the genome of some viruses.

Ribosome

A cell organelle that functions as the site of protein synthesis in the cytoplasm; consists of ribosomal RNA and protein molecules and is formed by combining two subunits.

Transcription

The synthesis of RNA on a DNA template.

Transfer RNA (tRNA)

An RNA molecule that functions as an interpreter between nucleic acid and protein language by picking up specific amino acids and recognizing the appropriate codons in the mRNA.

Translation

The synthesis of a polypeptide using the genetic information encoded in an mRNA molecule. There is a change of language from nucleotides to amino acids.

Allele

Any of the alternative forms of a gene that may occur at a given locus.

Autosome

A chromosome that is not directly involved in determining sex, as opposed to a sex chromosome.

Dominant Trait

A genetic trait is considered dominant if it is expressed in a person who has only one copy of the gene associated with the trait.

Genetic Material

Molecules responsible for heredity and variation of organisms.

Genotype

All or part of the genetic constitution of an individual or group.

Heredity

The transmission of traits from ancestor to descendant.

Homologous Chromosomes

Chromosomes having the same or allelic genes with genetic loci usually arranged in the same order.

Karyotype

A display of the chromosome pairs of a cell arranged by size and shape.

Meiosis

The cellular process that results in the number of chromosomes in gamete-producing cells being reduced to one half and that involves a reduction division in which one of each pair of homologous chromosomes passes to each daughter cell.

Mitosis

A process that takes place in the nucleus of a dividing cell, involves a series of steps, and results in the formation of two new nuclei each having the same number of chromosomes as the parent nucleus.

Pedigree

A diagram of a family tree showing the occurrence of heritable characteristics in parents and offspring over multiple generations.

Phenotype

The observable properties of an organism that are produced by the interaction of the genotype and the environment.

Recessive Trait

A condition that appears only in individuals who have received two copies of a mutant gene, one copy from each parent.

Sex Chromosome

One of the pair of chromosomes responsible for determining the sex of an individual.

Punnett Square

A simple graphical way of discovering all of the potential combinations of genotypes of an offspring, given the parents' genotypes.

Aorta

The large arterial trunk that carries blood from the heart to be distributed by branch arteries through the body.