K325 / 2027

Homeostasis and response

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Which sequence shows negative feedback?

  1. A rise causes a response that continues at full strength after normal conditions return.
  2. A rise causes a response that makes the condition rise further.
  3. A rise causes a response that lowers the condition towards its usual range.
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A rise causes a response that lowers the condition towards its usual range.

The response opposes the rise, and should decrease as the deviation becomes smaller.

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Why can high humidity reduce cooling by sweating?

  1. Water evaporates less readily, so less heat is removed from the skin.
  2. Sweat glands cannot produce sweat in humid air.
  3. Humid air makes the skin's blood vessels move deeper, so less heat reaches it.
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Water evaporates less readily, so less heat is removed from the skin.

Evaporation requires heat; reduced evaporation reduces this route of heat loss.

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Body temperature falls below normal. Which response helps to bring it back up?

  1. Arterioles in the skin constrict, so less blood flows near the surface
  2. Skeletal muscles relax, so that they release more heat
  3. Arterioles in the skin dilate, so more blood flows near the surface
  4. Sweat glands release more sweat, so more heat is used in evaporation
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Arterioles in the skin constrict, so less blood flows near the surface

Vasoconstriction reduces heat loss from blood near the skin surface.

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Which description identifies an endocrine function of the pancreas?

  1. A nerve impulse travels through blood to the liver.
  2. Islet cells release insulin directly into the blood.
  3. Digestive enzymes pass through a duct into the intestine.
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Islet cells release insulin directly into the blood.

A hormone entering the blood from ductless endocrine tissue is an endocrine secretion.

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Which response directly helps correct low blood glucose?

  1. Insulin promotes conversion of blood glucose to glycogen.
  2. Glucagon makes the pancreas release its stored glycogen into the blood.
  3. Glucagon promotes liver glycogen breakdown and glucose release.
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Glucagon promotes liver glycogen breakdown and glucose release.

The liver releases glucose, raising blood glucose towards its normal range.

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After a meal, a person's blood glucose rises from 5 to 8 mmol/dm3 and returns to 5 within two hours. Which hormone mainly brings it back down, and how?

  1. Insulin, by making liver cells convert glucose to glycogen
  2. Adrenaline, by making the kidneys excrete the extra glucose
  3. Insulin, by making liver cells break glycogen down to glucose
  4. Glucagon, by making liver cells convert glucose to glycogen
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Insulin, by making liver cells convert glucose to glycogen

Insulin is released when glucose rises and causes the liver to store glucose as glycogen.

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Which statement about a sedentary lifestyle is accurate?

  1. It raises the risk but does not decide who develops it.
  2. It proves that someone has type 2 diabetes.
  3. It decides who develops type 2 diabetes, whatever their genes.
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It raises the risk but does not decide who develops it.

Risk describes likelihood rather than certainty. Regular activity is one broad approach used in prevention and management.

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What follows a decrease in ADH release, with other conditions comparable?

  1. Water is actively transported from the blood into the collecting ducts.
  2. Less collecting-duct water reabsorption and a larger volume of dilute urine.
  3. More collecting-duct water reabsorption and a larger volume of concentrated urine.
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Less collecting-duct water reabsorption and a larger volume of dilute urine.

Lower water permeability means more water remains in the filtrate and leaves as urine.

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Which route correctly describes a simple withdrawal reflex?

  1. Receptor -> sensory neurone -> relay neurone in spinal cord -> motor neurone -> muscle
  2. Receptor -> blood -> hormone -> muscle
  3. Receptor -> motor neurone -> relay neurone in the spinal cord -> sensory neurone -> muscle
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Receptor -> sensory neurone -> relay neurone in spinal cord -> motor neurone -> muscle

The muscle is the effector, and its contraction produces the withdrawal response.

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Which pair correctly links a structure with its function?

  1. Optic nerve: refracts light so it focuses onto the retina
  2. Ciliary muscle: changes pupil diameter
  3. Retina: contains receptors that detect light
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Retina: contains receptors that detect light

Receptors in the retina detect light, and the resulting signals are carried towards the brain.

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Which combination focuses a near object?

  1. Circular iris muscles contracted; retina moved backwards
  2. Ciliary muscles relaxed; suspensory ligaments taut; lens more convex
  3. Ciliary muscles contracted; ligaments slack; lens more convex
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Ciliary muscles contracted; ligaments slack; lens more convex

The rounder lens refracts the divergent rays from a near object more strongly.

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A person looks up from a book to a distant tree. Which change happens in the eye?

  1. Ciliary muscles relax, suspensory ligaments slacken, lens becomes thicker
  2. The iris muscles move the lens forward, closer to the cornea
  3. Ciliary muscles contract, suspensory ligaments slacken, lens becomes thicker
  4. Ciliary muscles relax, suspensory ligaments tighten, lens becomes thinner
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Ciliary muscles relax, suspensory ligaments tighten, lens becomes thinner

For a distant object the lens must be thinner, so the ciliary muscles relax and the ligaments pull on the lens.

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Which response follows an increase in light intensity?

  1. Radial iris muscles contract, circular muscles relax and the pupil enlarges.
  2. Circular iris muscles contract, radial muscles relax and the pupil narrows.
  3. Ciliary muscles move the retina away from the lens.
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Circular iris muscles contract, radial muscles relax and the pupil narrows.

A smaller opening reduces the amount of light entering the eye.

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Write a short answer, then compare it with a sample and check for missing ideas.

Question 1 of 10

Label a reflex arc on a spinal cord section

4 marks

A cross-section of the spinal cord shows a reflex arc for pulling a hand away from a hot object. Name the region where the relay neurone lies and the swelling that holds the sensory neurone cell bodies. Describe the path of the impulse from the receptor to the effector, naming the root through which each neurone passes, and explain why the response is fast. [4]

Grey or white matter? Dorsal or ventral root? Keep the direction one way.

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