Advanced Pathophysiology Across The Lifespan

 Advanced Pathophysiology Across The Lifespan

A patient with a diagnosis of insomnia is surprised when his physician explains to him that his brain is still highly active during normal sleep. Which of the following statements best captures the character of brain activity during sleep?

“Fewer neurons in your brain are firing when you’re asleep, but they’re more synchronized than when you’re awake.”

“While you’re obviously less aware of stimuli when you’re asleep, your brain is actually more active when you’re asleep than when you’re awake.”

“There are four types of brain activity, and actually all of them occur at different stages of sleep.”

“Your brain alternates between periods of activity and periods of inactivity when you’re asleep, and these correspond to your eye movement.”

Question 3.

Which of the following factors is most responsible for the fact that prefrontal lobotomy is no longer a common treatment for mental illness?

Individuals treated by lobotomy have difficulty interpreting somatic, visual, and auditory information.

Lobotomy inhibits the individual’s ability to add perception and meaning to sensory information.

Severing connections between the brain and its prefrontal areas inhibits problem solving and results in a loss of ambition.

Loss of communication to and from the prefrontal cortex changes, but ultimately exacerbates, symptoms of mental illness.

Question 7.

A clinician is conducting an assessment of a male patient suspected of having a disorder of motor function. Which of the following assessment findings would suggest a possible upper motor neuron (UMN) lesion?

The patient has decreased deep tendon reflexes.

The patient displays increased muscle tone.

The patient’s muscles appear atrophied.

The patient displays weakness in the distal portions of his limbs.

Question 9.

A 48-year-old male has a new diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome. Which of the following processes underlies the deficits that accompany the degeneration of myelin in his peripheral nervous system (PNS)?

The destruction of myelin causes fewer Schwann cells to be produced in the patient’s PNS.

The axonal transport system is compromised by the lack of myelin surrounding nerve cells.

Nerve cells lack insulation and impulse conduction is compromised by the destruction of myelin.

A deficit of myelin predisposes the patient to infection by potential pathogens.

Question 13.

Which of the following diagnostic findings is likely to result in the most serious brain insult?

Mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) that equals intracranial pressure (ICP)

Moderate increase in brain tissue volume secondary to a brain tumor

Increased ICP accompanied by hyperventilation

High intracellular concentration of glutamate

Question 17.

A nurse practitioner is assessing a 7-year-old boy who has been brought to the clinic by his mother, who is concerned about her son’s increasingly frequent, severe headaches. Which of the nurse’s following questions is least likely to yield data that will allow for a confirmation or ruling out of migraines as the cause of his problem?

“Does your son have a family history of migraines?”