final exam Flashcards
1) What and where is Camp Lejeune?
d) Marine base in North Carolina
2) What’s another name for a site listed on the EPA’s National Priority List?
d) Superfund Cleanup site
3) How long has the base been polluting its own drinking water?
d) 30 years
4) Tap water at an elementary school in Camp Lejeune had ____________ ppm of TCE in it. That’s ___________ times the levels recorded in Woburn, MA, which was made famous in the film A Civil Action.
c) 1,184, 5x
5) What site has had the most contaminated public drinking water ever discovered in the US, and how many people drank it?
a) Camp Lejeune, 750,000
6) What disease is associated with this polluted drinking water?
c) male breast cancer
8) When did Partain first hear about the link between the pollution at Camp Lejeune and weird diseases?
d) 2007
9) When did the military know there was a potentially hazardous contamination problem at Camp Lejeune?
c) 1982
10) When the author wrote her book, how many men had contacted Partain about their illness?
71
11) Why is it easier to study breast cancer in men than in women?
c) Because men’s risk factors aren’t complicated by age at puberty, life history, and HRT.
12) What is the cost estimate for cleaning up the base?
c) $200 million tax payer dollars
13) Why do epidemiologists have an easier time dealing with male breast cancer rates at Camp Lejeune than in other places?
c) So many men have come forward that statisticians have enough numbers to provide probable links.
14) Do epidemiological studies apply to individuals or populations?
c) Populations because epidemiology deals with averages.
15) What percent of the nation’s drinking water has TCE in it?
d) 34%
16) When did the EPA reclassify TCE as a known human carcinogen?
d) in 2011
17) True or false: Solid evidence links TCE to kidney cancer and suggestive evidence links it to neurotoxicity, immunotoxicity, developmental toxicity and endocrine effects.
true
19) Who is Margaret Kripke?
b) an immunologist at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
20) Margaret Kripke was a skeptic on the topic of environmental disease. What changed her mind?
d) She learned the industry could put chemicals on the market without testing them for safety first.
21) To qualify for service-related illness benefits, veterans must prove that ________ had a 50 percent chance of causing their problems.
a) An environmental exposure
22) When breast cancer runs in families, what other kind of cancer is linked with it?
c) ovarian
23) Of women who reach the age of 90, what percent will get breast cancer?
b) 12%
24) Mammograms miss __________ percent of all tumors.
c) 20
25) What is BSE?
d) Breast Self Exam
1) What two free-ranging animals contract breast cancer?
c) Humans and minks.
2) Do all human populations get breast cancer?
b) The Kaingan women of Brazil don’t get breast cancer.
3) How long have humans known about breast cancer?
d) The ancient Egyptians knew about it.
4) In an attempt to cure one woman’s breast cancer, Beatson did what?
c) He removed her ovaries, and it provided a temporary cure.
5) “Epidemiologists are people who use ______________ to study ______________.”
c) statistics , diseases
6) Why did Pike compare Japanese women to American women?
a) Because American women get breast cancer at a 6 times higher rate than Japanese women.
7) What did Pike conclude?
d) Weight at first menstruation and age at puberty explain half the difference in breast cancer rates.
8) What does progesterone do?
a) Inhibits the release of additional eggs so women get pregnant only once at a time.
b) Prevents ovulation.
9) Does the pill increase or decrease the risk of ovarian cancer?
a) The pill decreases ovarian cancer because it reduces cellular division and growth.
10) What is Pike’s hypothesis?
d) That the more menstrual cycles a woman experiences in her lifetime, the more her breasts are flooded with whiplashing hormones, increasing her probability of breast cancer.
11) In the mid-1980’s Pike was publishing papers that said what?
c) Women taking the pill as teens doubled their risk of breast cancer before the age of 45.
12) If the risk of something is very low (like 0.13%), and you double it, is it still very low?
b) yes
13) What does HRT stand for?
b) hormone replacement therapy
14) How might menopause be adaptive?
a) It allows grandmothers to care for grandchildren, freeing the mother.
15) What did HRT do to breast cancer rates?
b) increased rates by 26%
16) A 100 percent increase in something is the same as _______________.
b) doubling it
17) “We’re pretty much marinating in ________________ and _______________.”
b) hormones, toxins
1) According to Hartmann, the breast is the only organ without ________________.
b) A medical specialty
2) True or false: The metabolic energy required by a lactating woman to feed her infant is 30% of her total output.
true
3) What did the Human Microbiome Project, a project set to decode the microbial genes of every major human gland, fail to include?
b) breast milk
4) How many ounces of milk does the average new mother make in a 24-hour period?
c) 16
5) How many species of bacteria did Mark McGuire find in human breast milk?
800
6) What do oligosaccharides feed?
d) the bacteria in the guts of newborn babies
7) The incidence of NEC is ________ percent lower in breast-fed babies than in formula-fed babies.
77
8) What is NEC?
d) an illness that causes the lower intestine to shrivel and die
9) Where does Newburg find his disease-causing organisms?
a) in baby poop
10) Newburg noticed something about rats that made him change his career. What was it?
b) Formula fed rats were dumber than nursed rats.
11) ___________ occurs naturally in breast milk. It acts as an anti-inflammatory agent, an antioxidant, and an anti-infectoice glycoprotein.
b) Lactoferrin
12) When human breast milk is pasteurized, what happens to it?
d) The bioactive ingredients in it die.
13) Dr. Bruce German said the following: “This whole story is part of a revolution in science itself, where the _______________________ science of the twentieth century is giving way to the ___________________ science of the twenty first century.”
a) chemistry dominated, biology-dominated
14) Who is Katherine Hinde?
b) A human evolutionary biologist who studies monkeys at Harvard.
15) According to Hinde, macaque mothers make______________ milk for their daughters and ____________ milk for their sons.
c) Thin but abundant, fatty
16) What do endocannabinoids do?
b) make babies feel full after they’ve consumed breast milk
17) True or false: breasts make the same kind of milk for a sick baby and a healthy baby.
b) false
18) True or false: As a baby gets older, the milk gets more fat and cholesterol in it.
a) true
19) Breast-feeding reduced heart disease/type II diabetes by _______ %
c) 10
20) True or false: At least nine dangerous chemicals can be found in breast milk that do not belong there.
true
22) Why do people spray flame-retardants on polyurethane products?
b) Because polyurethane products burn easily.
24) Are mattresses soaked in flame-retardants?
a) no
25) Why do flame retardants end up in breast milk?
a) Because PBDE’s love fat.
26) Did doctors ever find DDT in human breast milk?
b) yes
27) Have researchers ever found PCBs in human breast milk, even after the ban?
b) Yes
28) At the molecular level, what does PBDE resemble?
c) PCBs
29) Does PBDE regularly show up in breast milk?
yes
30) High levels of PBDE in babies and toddlers are associated with ___ according to a 2010 study in New York.
a) lower performance IQ
b) lower verbal skills
c) slower physical development
31) Do breast-fed infants have higher levels of chemicals in their bodies compared to their formula-fed colleagues, and does the difference persist?
d) Yes, but bottle-fed kids catch up by mid-childhood
32) “It was not until persistent organic chemicals began appearing in human milk that countries_____________________________________.”
c) took steps to ban them
33) Why might it be a bad idea for women to loose weight while nursing?
c) Because a mom might dump her toxins into her kid
34) Why did the author send her house dust to be tested?
c) To see if she had toxins in her dust
36) What was tris linked to in the 1970’s?
a) DNA mutations
37) Which countries soak their furniture in flame-retardants?
d) The US and UK
38) Has the US ratified the 2004 UN treaty that bans or restricts 21 of the worst persistent chemicals?
no
1) A woman who has her first child before the age of ___________ has about half the lifetime risk of breast cancer as a non-mother or a mother who waits until her thirties to have children.
20
2) What do over-the-counter pregnancy testers measure?
b) Human chorionic gonadotropin
3) What is the leading hypothesis regarding the role of pregnancy and cancer?
a) As breasts become more fully mature at the end of pregnancy, their stem cells turn into cancer-resistant dairy equipment.
4) In humans, known genetic factors account for about _________% of all breast cancers.
10
5) True or false: “lobules type 1” are less prone to cancer than are lobules type 4.
false
6) Do type 1 or type 4 lobules have more receptors for estrogen?
1
7) What does HCG in human urine do to plants?
d) stimulates seed growth
8) How did ancient Egyptians take advantage of the effect of HCG on plants?
c) created an early pregnancy test
9) What was the gist of the paper published by Janet Daling?
d) Women who had abortions before the age of 18 were more likely to get breast cancer.
11) What is involution?
a) What happens to breasts after they’re finished lactating.
12) Gross was aware of a non-intuitive finding. What was it?
d) Sometimes, directly after childbirth, a fast and horrible breast cancer can develop.
13) What is Schedin’s “involution hypothesis”?
b) During breast involution, tiny growths break free inside milk ducts, tap into blood veins, and produce cancerous growths.
14) Why do some researchers think the breast is so plastic and poised to respond?
a) Because breasts need to be ready to feed that baby asap.
15) Is breast-feeding always easy and natural for humans?
b) No. Some women struggle with it.
16) What is mastitis?
d) An infection in the milk ducts
17) Which babies sleep through the night: bottle-fed babies or breast-fed babies?
b) Bottle-fed babies because the formula takes longer to digest.
18) If a mom hires a wet nurse, what happens to mom’s fertility?
d) It increases because mom isn’t making prolactin, which suppresses ovulation.
19) Why does the author describe breast-feeding as an “ingeniously calibrated feedback loop?”
e) Because the breast changes the milk it makes depending on the baby’s needs.
20) When was the first baby formula sold worldwide?
1870
21) True or false: Breast-feeding fell out of fashion when people started to understand germ theory.
true
22) Infant formula confers a drop of ________ IQ points.
4
23) Childhood lead levels (coming from paint and leaded gasoline) conferred a drop of _____________ IQ points.
4
1) What is benzophenone, and where did the author find it?
d) An endocrine disruptor found in “green” hand soap
2) NIEHS and NCI spent $40 million to try to understand the link between ________ and_____.
c) Early puberty, cancer
3) Currently, at what age do girls start budding, on average?
a) 8.8-9.8 years
4) Even before we were dumping fake estrogens into the environment, what was happening to the age of sexual maturity in the US? Why?
b) Getting earlier because of good nutrition
5) How long does a human need to grow a fully mature prefrontal cortex?
d) About 20 years
6) What does the prefrontal cortex do?
c) Governs self-control
7) What do you suppose happens when the body reaches maturation long before the prefrontal cortex?
c) People make bad decisions
8) Why do some people call fat “the third ovary?”
b) Because it can make estrogen
9) What two dietary ingredients seem to delay puberty?
c) Fiber and vegetables
10) Does fat always trigger puberty?
a) No. Skinny girls sometimes hit puberty first.
11) Does puberty always start with budding or does it always start with pubic hair.
c) Sometimes starts with budding and sometimes starts with pubic hair.
12) Who is Lise Aksglaede?
b) A pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Copenhagen
13) What did Aksglaede discover when she compared the timing of budding in 2006 and 1991 in her hometown?
a) Girls budded a year earlier in 2006 compared to 1991.
15) What is the light hypothesis of early puberty?
b) Light at night allows young girls to produce more hormones.
16) What’s the problem with the light hypothesis?
a) Denmark has had lights on at night for longer than the period between 1991 and 2006, but the age of puberty changed hadn’t changed until 1991.
17) What is the divorce hypothesis of early puberty?
d) Girls without fathers develop earlier.
18) Describe the drawback of the divorce hypothesis?
c) Families are more stable in 2006 than in 1991, but the age of puberty onset has decreased.
19) Describe the media hypothesis of early puberty?
c) Watching TV makes girls sexier.
20) What evidence weakens the media hypothesis?
d) The amount of estrogen in girls’ bloodstream hasn’t changed.
21) Describe Aksglaede’s hypothesis?
a) Girls are exposed to hormone-mimicking chemicals that cause early puberty.
22) What evidence does Paul Kaplowitz offer that he believes weakens Aksglaede’s hypothesis?
c) If external estrogens were affect girls, you’d think you’d see early puberty in boys.
23) How does Aksglaede counter Kaplowitz?
b) We do see earlier puberty onset in boys.
24) During the 1980’s and 1990’s in Puerto Rico, toddlers experienced an epidemic. Describe it?
a) Early sexual development
26) What are phthlatates?
a) A family of molecules used to stabilize scents
b) Endocrine disruptors
c) Substances added to plastics to make them more flexible
d) Substances found in most shampoos and lotions
27) Did the author get her BPA level to zero with a little effort?
no
28) Did the author get her triclosan level to zero with a little effort?
no
29) What point does the chemical industry love to make?
a) The amount of chemicals released from any one thing is too small to be biologically important.
30) Who had the highest breast-cancer rates after Hiroshima?
c) young girls
31) What does BPA do to suppressor genes, and what does that mean for cancer?
c) BPA turns them off, making cancer more likely.
32) What does BPA do to promoter genes, and what does that mean for cancer?
d) BPA turns them on, releasing cancer cells.
33) Describe Jose Russo’s take-home message?
a) Don’t let young girls near endocrine disruptors.
what is the name of the hypotheses that suggests that parasites and pathogens drive sexual reproduction
the red queen hypothesis
within organisms that reproduce only sexually do you think that individuals might avoid mates with obvious parasite loads why
yes they are not healthy
in nature what do scientists think symmetry indicates
high gene quality
in human studies facial symmetry is found to be favored in two ways what are they
symmetry is attractive across individuals and cultures
explain the rationale behind the idea that symmetry indicates genotypic quality
imperfect development is thought to cause deviations from symmetry
sceintists think only _________ individuals can maintain ________ under enviornmental and genetic strain
high quality and symmetry
does asymmetry significantly impact attractiveness
yes
aside from developmental assault what causes deviations from symmetry
age
besides symmetry what else predicts facial beauty
sexually demorphic facial cues
what female facial features are consistently rated as beautiful
delicate jaw and small brows
what male facial features are consistently rated as hot
large jaw and prominent brows
what do males need to grow strong jaws and thick brows
testosterone
why is testosterone expensive
metabolic energy and suppresses immune system
what empirical evidence supports the idea that masculine traits indicate good genes
masculine faced men have lower incidence of disease and better medical health
do individual women always prefer the same degree of symmetry and masculinity?
no
three causes for vatiation across individual women
already has partner, thinks she is pretty, at peak fertility
trade-off
situation that involves losing one quality in return for gaining access to something else
three ways masculine faces make mens lives difficult
invest less in each partner, less likely to marry, perceived as poor quality parents
what factors might influence whether a woman chooses good genes or high resources
enviornment
enviornment has a lot of pathogens what kind of mate might a woman want
masculine to protect kids
embodied capital
physical investment made in a person
why do we reproduce sexually
to have kids
first disadvantage of sex
diluted relatedness
the theory of evolution through natural selection suggests_______________
organisms are evolved to maximize genetic representation in future generations
which species gets more genes into the next generation: a snap dargon or an amoeba
amoeba
what does sex do to genetic representation
cuts it in half
what is the second big disadvantage of sex
males are a waste
from an evolutionary perspective, why might scientists think males are a waste
cant reproduce by themselves, only contribute genes to offspring, cost mothers a lot of time and investment
5 parasites
hookworm, filarial worm, round worm, tape worm, botfly
who is likely to experience higher susceptibility to a parasite to which you are susceptible: your daughter or your clone?
clone
what did alice and the red queen do to generate the red queen hypothisis
run fast but get nowhere
until 2011 what kind of evidence provided sole support for the red queen hypothesis
field
genetic recombination confers what benefit
mixes up alleles
