Quiz 11 Study Guide

Question 1

True or False: The United States began a government program for the research and development of offensive (not defensive) biological weapons in the early 1940s due to fears of aggression/attacks from Germany and Japan.

Answer 1

true

Question 2

true or false Anthrax is a bacterium that can spread from person to person.

Answer 2

false, can enter the body through coming into contact with infected animals, eating contaminated animal/meat products, or by inhaling the anthrax spores.

Question 3

As part of their offensive biological weapons program, British researchers wanted to know if anthrax spores could survive an explosion. To test this, scientists exploded anthrax bombs near immobilized sheep to determine if the spores would survive and still infect the sheep. They found (choose the correct answer):

Answer 3

Anthrax was effectively disbursed by the explosion: it could survive and still effectively infect the sheep, Anthrax remained active/viable/dangerous/infectious in the soil for decades.

Question 4

1969 was the year that:

Answer 4

the United States renounced biological weapons research

Question 5

The idea that an infectious agent causes severe illness or death relates to what concept?

Answer 5

virulence

Question 6

Ebola and yellow fever are two types of hemorrhagic fevers. Please explain why the term “hemorrhagic” is an appropriate name for these diseases. What does the word “hemorrhagic” indicate to you about how these diseases impact the body?

Answer 6

“Hemorrhagic” is an appropriate name for these diseases as they both cause internal and external bleeding—it indicates that they cause severe blood loss in the human body.

Question 7

__________ is the only virus that has ever been fully and successfully eradicated, which ironically, is why it is currently feared as a biological weapon: nobody has adaptive immunity anymore because nobody is exposed anymore due to it being eradicated, yet many countries still have samples of it that could be weaponized.

Answer 7

Smallpox

Question 8

Which biological agents have been used as weapons before? Please mark all agents that have been used as weapons during wars:

Answer 8

plague, tularemia, smallpox, anthrax

Question 9

In his Ted Talk, the neuroscientist Jeff Iliff explains his research on the science of sleep, and claims the evidence indicates that the reason our bodies need sleep is:

Answer 9

To clean out waste products (such as amyloid beta).

Question 10

Which is the strongest synchronizing agent for the hypothalamus?

Answer 10

light

Question 11

adenosine

Answer 11

neurotransmitter involved in maintaining homeostasis. when we are awake, levels increase, while we sleep, levels decrease.

Question 12

leptin

Answer 12

hormone that helps to regulate carbohydrate metabolism and is related to hunger suppression

Question 13

define cortisol

Answer 13

stress hormone that can promote wakefulness and increases near the end of a complete sleep cycle

Question 14

growth hormone

Answer 14

a hormone released when the body is asleep (not released when awake) which helps regulate muscle mass in adults

Question 15

define follicle-stimulating hormone

Answer 15

a hormone released when the body is asleep that is involved in female reproduction

Question 16

cytokines

Answer 16

can be a sleep inducing hormone/chemical messenger

Question 17

melatonin

Answer 17

hormone secreted by the pineal gland, especially in response to darkness, that promotes sleep

Question 18

Please define and describe REM and non-REM sleep. For full credit, please explain what REM stands for and the progression of sleep stages during a single night for a normal young adult. Your answer should be no more than six sentences.

Answer 18

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is an active period marked by intense brain activity, rapid breathing, erratic eye movement, limb paralysis, dream activity, and elevated heart rate. A reduction in physiological activity characterizes non-REM sleep—brain waves slow, breathing relaxes, heart rate decreases, and dreams usually do not occur during this stage. The progression of sleep stages mostly follows a pattern of NREM and REM cycles that alternate every 90 to 110 minutes; this is repeated four to six times per sleep cycle. Stage 1 sleep is a time of drowsiness and transitioning from wakefulness to sleep. Stage 2 sleep is a period of light sleep where eye movements stop. Stages 3 and 4 are when sleep is deeper with no eye movement and decreased blood pressure.

Question 19

define circadian rhythms

Answer 19

bodily cycles that occur over a 24-hr period driven by the brain’s biological clock aka the hypothalamus. this clock is driven by environmental factors, with light being the strongest synchronizing agent

Question 20

define homeostatic system

Answer 20

process by which body maintains a steady state of internal conditions, which makes us sleepier as time goes on