Term
| What did Emil du Bois-Reymond do? |
|
Definition
| Discovered the action potential. |
|
|
Term
| What are the three phases for Na+ channel gating? |
|
Definition
| Resting state, activation phase and inactivation phase. |
|
|
Term
| What is the basic structure of the voltage-gated sodium channel? |
|
Definition
| Four six-transmembrane spanning units that fold up into a pore making up the α-subunit, with an associated β-subunit. |
|
|
Term
| What is the role of patch clamping? |
|
Definition
| Allows us to see individual ion channels opening and closing. |
|
|
Term
| What do voltage-sensitive dyes allow us to do, electrophysiologically? |
|
Definition
| To see action-potentials. |
|
|
Term
| What does multiphoton fluroscence microscopy allow us to do? |
|
Definition
| To image entire fields of living tissue neuronal fields. |
|
|
Term
| What is the main role for an ecological study? |
|
Definition
| To generate a hypothesis. |
|
|
Term
| What is the data type of an ecological study? |
|
Definition
| Population/groups - not of individuals. |
|
|
Term
| What are the main points of a cross-sectional study? |
|
Definition
| Sample of a population is collected at a single point in time. |
|
|
Term
| What is the main output for a cross-sectional study? |
|
Definition
| Descriptive outputs, especially prevalence. |
|
|
Term
| What are the pros and cons of cross-sectional studies? |
|
Definition
| Cheap and easy, though there is no explicit data on temporal relationships, and it's also weak evidence for causality. |
|
|
Term
| What are the main points of a case control study? |
|
Definition
| Compares previous exposure of cases and controls, matched to each other n:1 (usually 1:1). |
|
|
Term
| What are the benefits of using a case control study? |
|
Definition
| Provides explicit knowledge about the temporal relationship between exposure and outcome, and also good for studying rare outcomes. |
|
|
Term
| What is the key output for a case control study? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An approximate risk of outcome conferred by exposure. |
|
|
Term
| What are the main points of a cohort study? |
|
Definition
| Longitudinal, so that subjects are followed up. |
|
|
Term
| What is the main output for a cohort study? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What are the pros and cons of a cohort study? |
|
Definition
| Provides explicit knowledge about the temporal relationship between exposure and outcome, however, they aren't cheap or easy, and it's difficult to study rare outcomes. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Quantification of whole tissue homogeneates. |
|
|
Term
| What is the downside of soup assays? |
|
Definition
| Assumes all tissues are homogeneous, and that pathophysiological changes are diffuse. |
|
|
Term
| What is an in situ assay? |
|
Definition
| A tissue is an assay based on a tissue section. |
|
|
Term
| What makes a good probe for hybridisation histochemistry? |
|
Definition
| Uniqueness of complementary coding sequences (specificity) and incorporation of multiple labels (sensitivity). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Detects DNA fragmentation, hence apoptosis. |
|
|
Term
| What are the problems with in situ morphometry? |
|
Definition
| Information is lost when going from 3D to 2D, systematic errors (shrinkage, compression, section thickness, etc) and statistical errors. |
|
|
Term
| What is histology and immunohistochemistry mainly used for? |
|
Definition
| Tells you where proteins accumulate. |
|
|
Term
| What is in situ hybridisation and intracellular labelling mainly used for? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What are the main aims for fetal welfare assessment? |
|
Definition
| Reduce perinatal mortality, prevent neurodevelopmental delay and evaluate whether or not the individual fetus is able to tolerate the environment. |
|
|
Term
| What are some forms of fetal welfare assessment? |
|
Definition
| Movement charts, ultrasound, doppler waveform studies, amniocentesis, fetal blood sampling, intermittent auscultation of the fetal heart, CTG, fetal pulse oxymetry, ECG, etc. |
|
|
Term
| What is CTG and what is it used for? |
|
Definition
| Cardiotocography, used to listen to and record the fetal heart and the abdominal muscle changes (+ contractions of the uterus). |
|
|
Term
| What is a normal fetal baseline heart rate? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Are early fetal decelerations normal? |
|
Definition
| Usually not a cause for concern. |
|
|
Term
| Are late fetal decelerations normal? |
|
Definition
| Serious, relates to how well the placenta is providing needs to the fetus. |
|
|
Term
| Are variable fetal decelerations normal? |
|
Definition
| Can be normal or serious (eg., umbilical cord contraction). |
|
|
Term
| Are prolonged fetal decelerations normal? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What is a 1st trimester ultrasound used for? |
|
Definition
| Dates the baby, viability and nuchal translucency (screens for Down's syndrome). |
|
|
Term
| What is a 2nd trimester ultrasound used for? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What is a 3rd trimester ultrasound used for? |
|
Definition
| Growth and placental location. |
|
|
Term
| How are pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics different? |
|
Definition
| Pharmacogenetics is the study of how genetic differences contribute to the individual drug reponses, whereas pharmacogenomics is the correlation of variations of specific genes with individual drug responses. |
|
|
Term
| What is the goal of pharmacogenomics? |
|
Definition
| Safer and more effective drug therapy. |
|
|
Term
| In the Wistar rats in Strasbourge, how many of them had spontaneous absence-like seizures? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| How were the GAERS rats made? |
|
Definition
| Selective breeding from Wistar rats. |
|
|
Term
| How is stargazin implicated in epilepsy? |
|
Definition
| Increased mRNA in the Stargazer mouse postictally; alters AMPA receptor protein expression (hyperexcitability?). |
|
|
Term
| What is roughly the structure of TrK? |
|
Definition
| Extracellular domain (contains ligand-binding domain), intracellular domain (contains ATP binding site, tyrosine residues are phosphorylated here) and a transmembrane domain. |
|
|
Term
| What are the results of enhanced EGFR signalling? |
|
Definition
| Proliferation (↑ in proteins that promote cell cycle progression and ↓ proteins that are cell cycle checkpoint proteins), survival/resistance (↑ in anti-apoptotic proteins), angiogenesis (↑ pro-angiogenic proteins) and invasion/metastasis (↑ in extracellular matrix degredation and survival proteins). |
|
|
Term
| What are the mechanisms used by cancer to enhance EGFR signalling? |
|
Definition
| Overexpression of EGFR, EGFR mutation (always active), autocrine signalling (secrete own ligands), enhanced downstream signalling (no receptor needed to activate), loss of phosphotase expression (disinhibits downsteam signals). |
|
|
Term
| What is a knock-in mouse? |
|
Definition
| A mouse with a gene that assumes a different function. |
|
|
Term
| How do you create a classical transgenic mouse? |
|
Definition
| Design the construct then inject it into the nucleus of embryos. |
|
|
Term
| What are the pros and cons for classical transgenic mice? |
|
Definition
| Quick and easy, though random DNA integration. |
|
|
Term
| Why are mice used in brain research? |
|
Definition
| As they have a six-layered neocortex, short breeding and lifespans, and are inbred/genetically identical. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Are the symptoms the same as the human symptoms? |
|
|
Term
| What is construct validity? |
|
Definition
| Is the biological dysfunction share the same cause as in humans? |
|
|
Term
| What is predictive validity? |
|
Definition
| Are the response to treatments the same as for humans? |
|
|
Term
| What is the drawback for the phenotype-first approach? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What are the drawbacks for in vitro models? |
|
Definition
| Has to be proven in vivo. |
|
|
Term
| What are the drawbacks to pharmacological induction of phenotypes? |
|
Definition
| Non-specific (side-effects), not a natural presentation. |
|
|
Term
| What is the drawback to a lesion model? |
|
Definition
| Creates more health problems than needed. |
|
|
Term
| What are the fast and slow rats? |
|
Definition
| Fast (seizure-prone) and slow (seizure-resistant). |
|
|
Term
| Why do we use molecular approaches? |
|
Definition
| Because it proves causation. |
|
|
Term
| What does a Kozak site do? |
|
Definition
| Promotes expression via translation. |
|
|
Term
| How can one get vectors into a plasmid? |
|
Definition
| DNA-calcium phosphate precipitates, liposomes, electroporation and viral vectors. |
|
|
Term
| How can you purify cells that express your vector? |
|
Definition
| Drugs or FACS-based cell sorting. |
|
|
Term
| What can siRNA-mediated gene silencing do? |
|
Definition
| Can decrease or increase protein (loss-of-function or gain-of-function phenotypes). |
|
|
Term
| What are the cons for using mouse models in biological psychiatry? |
|
Definition
| Broad spectrum of symptoms and complex higher order processes. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Where data is fit into categories (eg. hair colour). |
|
|
Term
| What is an ordinal scale? |
|
Definition
| Order in categories, but the differences aren't consisent (eg. cancer grade I to V). |
|
|
Term
| What is a numerical scale? |
|
Definition
| Quantitative observations - either continuous or discrete. |
|
|
Term
| Who are the principal victims for P. falciparum? |
|
Definition
| Young children and pregnant women. |
|
|
Term
| Who is most likely to get cerebral malaria, and why? |
|
Definition
| Children around 3-4 years old, due to infected erythrocytes clogging brain vasculature and inflammation. |
|
|
Term
| How does respiratory distress occur in malaria? |
|
Definition
| Acidosis due to inadequate oxygen of poorly perfused tissues. |
|
|
Term
| What are the main problems for malaria in pregnancy? |
|
Definition
| Anemia and low birth weight (predisposes to high infant mortality). |
|
|
Term
| What is bad about the naturally acquired immunity for malaria? |
|
Definition
| Takes several years to develop, is short-lived and can still have parasitaemia. |
|
|
Term
| What are the three immunological strategies for enhancing phagocytosis? |
|
Definition
| Neutralisation, opsonisation and complement activation. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Single nucleotide polymorphism, a single nucleotide is replaced with another. |
|
|
Term
| What is an insertion/deletion polymorphism? |
|
Definition
| Where a nucleotide base is inserted/deleted. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A unique variation of a gene. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A collection of genotypes from the same chromosome. |
|
|
Term
| How do infected erythrocytes bind to the SCT on the placenta? |
|
Definition
| Express VAR2CSA which mediates binding to CSA. |
|
|
Term
| Which cytokines recruit macrophages in placental malaria? |
|
Definition
| MCP-1, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, IP-10 and IL-8. |
|
|
Term
| What are the two TH-cell roles in normal pregnancy and malaria? |
|
Definition
| TH2 occur during normal pregnancy, but in malaria it is mainly TH1 which causes the anemia, premature delivery and spontaenous abortion (but help clear infected erythrocytes). |
|
|
Term
| What does IFNγ do in placental malaria? |
|
Definition
| Secreted by TH1 cells, they enhance the phagocytic activity of macrophages. |
|
|
Term
| What does TNF-α do in placental malaria? |
|
Definition
| Secreted by TH1 cells, they enhance phagocytic activity of macrophages and generate NO. |
|
|
Term
| How does HIV affect placental malaria? |
|
Definition
| Inhibits phagocytosis by decreasing the amount of mRNA and cytokine secretion, though cell viability isn't altered. |
|
|
Term
| Is NF-κB activated in response to opsonised and unopsonised infected erythrocytes? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What are the most common reported symptoms of womens ageing? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What were the possible confounding factors attributable to menopausal transition? |
|
Definition
| Ageing, personal atecedents, previous surgery and country specificity. |
|
|
Term
| What happens to mood swings as one gets older? |
|
Definition
| Decreases, influenced by mental and physical morbidity and country. |
|
|
Term
| What happens to sweating, backache, lack of energy, weight gain and aching in muscles as we age? |
|
Definition
| Nothing - age independent. |
|
|
Term
| What symptoms are properly associated with menopause? |
|
Definition
| Trouble sleeping, night sweats, dry vagina and hot flushes. |
|
|
Term
| What are the criteria for biomarkers? |
|
Definition
| Accurate, data not being already available through clinical assessment and the informatin needs to aid in clinical decision making. |
|
|
Term
| When do endocrine biomarkers work best? |
|
Definition
| When incorporating multiple biomarkers. |
|
|
Term
| What are the two factors associated with Alzheimer's? |
|
Definition
| Aβ amyloid plaque and neurofibrillary tangles. |
|
|
Term
| What are the two pathways from APP? |
|
Definition
| Non-amyloidogenic pathway uses α-secretase, amyloidogenic pathway uses β and γ-secretase. |
|
|
Term
| What is the correlation with PiB retention and hippocampal volume? |
|
Definition
| Negative - no correlation in any other groups. |
|
|
Term
| Which malaria is associated with severe disease? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Which malaria causes the most deaths? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Why isn't chemoprophylaxis administered for everyone in malarial regions? |
|
Definition
| Interferes with immunity, costly. |
|
|
Term
| What is an 'intention to treat' analysis? |
|
Definition
| Offer the entire group an intervention, and they can accept/reject, yet you still use the rejections in the analysis. |
|
|
Term
| Why would people reject a free screening? |
|
Definition
| Have bad health already, usually end up worse. |
|
|
Term
| What did screening do for colorectal cancer? |
|
Definition
| Lowered the mortality by 16-20% for the entire group; up to 33% who actually accepted the screening. |
|
|
Term
| How can incidence affect mortality? |
|
Definition
| More screening = removing polyps/adenomas = less turn to cancer = less incidence = less mortality. |
|
|
Term
| What happens in the Navβ1 mutation in epilepsy? |
|
Definition
| Ig-like loop is disrupted, less voltage-gated sodium channels in the AIS (due to the β-subunit), so that it quietens down the acceleration, changing its kinnetics. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A characteristic that is objectively measured and evaluated as an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacologic responses to a therapeutic intervention. |
|
|
Term
| Why are imaging biomarkers needed? |
|
Definition
| Non-invasive, visualiasation/quantification of molecular/cellular phenomena in vivo, and can accelerate and reduce the cost of drug discovery/trials. |
|
|
Term
| What are the modalities for imaging biomarkers? |
|
Definition
| X-Ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound, PET, SPECT, OCT/infrared. |
|
|
Term
| What are the classes for imaging biomarkers? |
|
Definition
| Diagnostic/prognostic, predictive, response and monitoring. |
|
|
Term
| How is APC involved with tumourigenesis? |
|
Definition
| Activates the Wnt pathway. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| When it isn't activated, the entire degredation complex is bound so β-catenin can't activate genes. When activated, β-catenin breaks off and activates genes. |
|
|
Term
| Why does deleting the Apc gene result in tumourigenesis? |
|
Definition
| Since it leaves β-catenin activating, always promoting gene transcription. |
|
|
Term
| What does monocyte recruitment in malaria indicate? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What is the main fetal glucose transporter? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| How is GLUT-1 implicated in malaria? |
|
Definition
| On the microvillous membrane with malaria (no inflammation) = higher, with malaria (and inflammation) = same as controls. On the basal membrane, normal for malaria and no inflammation but decreased with inflammation. |
|
|
Term
| What are the main amino acid transporters in the placenta? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| How are the SNAT transporters implicated in malaria? |
|
Definition
| Decreases (even more with inflammation). |
|
|
Term
| What is responsible for antigenic variation in malaria? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What enzyme transcribes the var genes in malaria? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What is a negative regulator of var, and where does it bind? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What does a Sir2 knockout result in? |
|
Definition
| Transcription of multiple var genes. |
|
|
Term
| How can you mark silent/active var genes? |
|
Definition
| Silent ones with HP1, active ones with H2A.Z. |
|
|
