T2 - Health and disease, Cancer, Plant cell organisation Flashcards
What is health?
The state of physical and mental wellbeing.
What are communicable diseases?
Diseases that can be spread from person to person or between animals and people.
They can be caused by things like bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi. They are sometimes described as contagious or infectious diseases.
Example : Measles and malaria
What are non-communicable diseases?
Diseases that cannot spread between people or between animals and people. They generally last for a long time and get worse slowly.
Examples: Asthma, cancer, coronary heart disease
What diseases link to immune system problems?
Immune system problems = increased chance of suffering communicable diseases. For example influenza (flu). This is because their body is less likely to be able to defend itself against the pathogen that causes the disease.
What links to immune system reactions caused by infection by a pathogen?
Allergic reactions such as skin rashes or worsens the symptoms of asthma for asthma sufferers.
What is linked to mental health issues such as depression?
When someone is suffering from severe mental health problems particularly if they have an impact on the persons ability to carry out everyday activities or if they affect the persons life expectancy.
What is linked to cancer?
Infection by certain viruses, for example, infection with some types of hepatitis virus can cause long-term infections in the liver, where the virus lives in cells. This can lead to an increased chance of developing liver cancer.
What do we mean by the term ‘risk factor’ when discussing disease?
Something that increases your chance of getting a disease.
What diseases is smoking a risk factor for?
Cardiovascular disease
Lung disease
Lung cancer
It damages the walls of arteries and the cells in the lining of the lungs.
What disease is obesity linked to?
Type 2 diabetes
It makes the body less sensitive or resistant to insulin, meaning that it struggles to control the concentration of glucose in the blood.
What is cancer caused by?
Uncontrolled cell growth and division.
What is a benign tumour?
The tumour grows until there’s no more room.
The tumour stays in one place (usually within a membrane) rather than invading other tissues in the body.
This type isn’t normally dangerous, and the tumour isn’t cancerous.
What is a malignant tumour?
The tumour grows and spreads to neighbouring healthy tissues.
Cells can break off and spread to other parts of the body by travelling in the blood stream.
The malignant cells then invade healthy tissues elsewhere in the body and form secondary tumours.
Malignant tumours are dangerous and can be fatal - they are cancerous.
What are the 2 types of tumour?
Malignant and benign
What is the genetic risk factor for cancer?
Mutations in the BRCA genes have been linked to an increased likelihood of developing breast and ovarian cancer.
