BIOL1008/BIOL1908/BIOL1998/MEDS1001 Human Biology

Practice Exam Questions 2020

Human Biology Practice Exam Questions 2020

Scenario 1: A Normal Heart
Jamie was male infant who was not born
prematurely. At birth, he weighed a healthy 3.4 kg
but was severely blue or purple coloured, indicating
a lack of oxygen supply to the tissues. Initial testing
showed abnormally low amount of oxygen in the
blood, but normal blood pressure, pulse rate, and
breathing rate. Lorraine, Jamie’s mother, had an
uncomplicated pregnancy with no high blood
pressure, diabetes or history of drug or alcohol
consumption. There is no family history of heart
disease. A scan of the heart (below) showed that the
baby’s aorta was attached to their right ventricle,
and their pulmonary artery was attached to their left
ventricle. The baby’s condition was treated surgically
by reversing the attachment of these major vessels,
and the baby was able to develop normally 1.
Scan of a heart showing the attachment of the aorta
to the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery to the
left ventricle.

1. Describe the physical evidence that indicated that the baby had a problem? (1 mark)
2. Draw on the diagram below the circulation of blood through the heart to the lungs and the rest of
the body. (2 marks)

3. Explain why the baby was born with a blue colour to their skin. (1 mark)
4. Describe whether the surgical switching of the aorta and the pulmonary artery maybe an effective
treatment? (2 marks)
5. Propose a hypothesis to explain why the baby was able to survive in the mother, but turned blue
after being born? (2 marks)

1Xie, L. J., Jiang, L., Yang, Z. G., Shi, K., Xu, H. Y., Li, R., Diao, K .Y. and Guo, Y. K. (2017) Assessment of transposition of the great arteries
associated with multiple malformations using dual-source computed tomography. PLoS One 12(11) e0187578
 BIOL1008/BIOL1908/BIOL1998/MEDS1001 Human Biology
Practice Exam Questions 2020

Scenario 2: Diabetes
Diabetes is a term coined by ancient physicians to describe conditions in which there is excessive
excretion of urine. In diabetes mellitus, the increased amount of glucose in the blood causes more
glucose to appear in the urine and less water is reabsorbed in the kidney. Mellitus is a Latin word
meaning sweetened with honey. In older times physicians diagnosed diabetes mellitus by tasting the
urine.

A second form of diabetes is diabetes insipidus. Insipidus is a Latin word meaning absence of taste: the
urine in diabetes insipidus is very dilute. If we have consumed a lot of water we need to produce dilute
urine to remove the excess water from the body, but if our water intake is inadequate we need to
conserve water.

1. Define homeostasis. (1 mark)

2. Describe the negative feedback loop that controls of blood sugar levels in the body. Use
diagrams and labels. (2 marks)

A patient presents at the doctors, male, 22 years of age with rapid weight loss, increased thirst and
high levels of glucose in their urine.
3. Predict the diagnosis for this patient and explain which cells within the pancreas have limited
function in diabetes. (2 marks)
4. One method to treat type 1 diabetes is transplantation of islets from cadavers but this requires
that the islets be protected from immune attack. Using your understanding of the immune
system, explain why the human body rejects non-self and what treatments might be used to
suppress the immune response. (3 marks)
5. Common issues of diabetes over time are blindness, kidney failure and problems with
peripheral circulation. Research and explain the benefit in the new technology of continuous
glucose monitoring for this 22-year old and the likelihood of comorbidity. (3 marks)