Start Flashcards: Anatomy & Physiology: The Cardiovascular System

Question: A young woman has been experiencing unusually heavy menstrual bleeding for several years. She follows a strict vegan diet (no animal foods). She is at risk for what disorder, and why?

Choices:

She is at risk for anemia, because her unusually heavy menstrual bleeding results in excessive loss of erythrocytes each month. At the same time, her vegan diet means that she does not have dietary sources of heme iron. The non-heme iron she consumes in plant foods is not as well absorbed as heme iron.

Question: Why would it be incorrect to refer to the formed elements as cells?

Choices:

The formed elements include erythrocytes and leukocytes, which are cells (although mature erythrocytes do not have a nucleus); however, the formed elements also include platelets, which are not true cells but cell fragments.

Question: A patient's hematocrit is 42 percent. Approximately what percentage of the patient's blood is plasma?

Choices:

The patient's blood is approximately 58 percent plasma (since the buffy coat is less than 1 percent).

Question: A patient has thalassemia, a genetic disorder characterized by abnormal synthesis of globin proteins and excessive destruction of erythrocytes. This patient is jaundiced and is found to have an excessive level of bilirubin in his blood. Explain the connection.

Choices:

Bilirubin is a breakdown product of the non-iron component of heme, which is cleaved from globin when erythrocytes are degraded. Excessive erythrocyte destruction would deposit excessive bilirubin in the blood. Bilirubin is a yellowish pigment, and high blood levels can manifest as yellowed skin.

Question: Would you expect a patient with a form of cancer called acute myelogenous leukemia to experience impaired production of erythrocytes, or impaired production of lymphocytes? Explain your choice.

Choices:

The adjective myelogenous suggests a condition originating from (generated by) myeloid cells. Acute myelogenous leukemia impairs the production of erythrocytes and other mature formed elements of the myeloid stem cell lineage. Lymphocytes arise from the lymphoid stem cell line.

Question: Watch this video (http://openstaxcollege.org/l/doping) to see doctors discuss the dangers of blood doping in sports. What are the some potential side effects of blood doping?

Choices:

Side effects can include heart disease, stroke, pulmonary embolism, and virus transmission.

Question: Myelofibrosis is a disorder in which inflammation and scar tissue formation in the bone marrow impair hemopoiesis. One sign is an enlarged spleen. Why?

Choices:

When disease impairs the ability of the bone marrow to participate in hemopoiesis, extramedullary hemopoiesis begins in the patient's liver and spleen. This causes the spleen to enlarge.

Question: Visit this site (http://openstaxcollege.org/l/normallevels) for a list of normal levels established for many of the substances found in a sample of blood. Serum, one of the specimen types included, refers to a sample of plasma after clotting factors have been removed. What types of measurements are given for levels of oxygen in the blood?

Choices:

There are values given for percent saturation, tension, and blood gas, and there are listings for different types of hemoglobin.

Question: True or false: The buffy coat is the portion of a blood sample that is made up of its proteins.

Choices:

False. The buffy coat is the portion of blood that is made up of its leukocytes and platelets.

Question: Figure 18.13 Are you able to recognize and identify the various formed elements? You will need to do this is a systematic manner, scanning along the image. The standard method is to use a grid, but this is not possible with this resource. Try constructing a simple table with each leukocyte type and then making a mark for each cell type you identify. Attempt to classify at least 50 and perhaps as many as 100 different cells. Based on the percentage of cells that you count, do the numbers represent a normal blood smear or does something appear to be abnormal?

Choices:

Figure 18.13 This should appear to be a normal blood smear.

Question: View these animations (http://openstaxcollege.org/l/coagulation) to explore the intrinsic, extrinsic, and common pathways that are involved the process of coagulation. The coagulation cascade restores hemostasis by activating coagulation factors in the presence of an injury. How does the endothelium of the blood vessel walls prevent the blood from coagulating as it flows through the blood vessels?

Choices:

Clotting factors flow through the blood vessels in their inactive state. The endothelium does not have thrombogenic tissue factor to activate clotting factors.