Exploring the Human Body Quiz

Question: What is hypothermia?

Answer: Hypothermia is abnormally low body temperature in a warm-blooded creature, associated with a general slowing of physiological activity.

Question: Astigmatism affects which part of the human body?

Answer: Astigmatism affects the eyes. It is the lack of symmetry in the curvature of the cornea or, much less commonly, of the crystalline lens (the cornea is the transparent wall of the eye in front of the pupil and iris).

Question: What are the smallest cells in blood?

Answer: Platelets are the smallest cells of the blood, averaging about two to four micrometres in diameter. Although much more numerous (150,000 to 400,000 per cubic millimetre) than the white cells, they occupy a much smaller fraction of the volume of the blood because of their relatively minute size.

Question: Which of these organs is the largest gland in the human body?

Answer: The liver is the largest gland in the human body. It is composed of a spongy mass of wedge-shaped lobes and has many metabolic and secretory functions.

Question: Which type of blood cells defend the body against diseases?

Answer: White blood cells, also called leukocytes, are cellular components of the blood that lack hemoglobin, have a nucleus, are capable of motility, and defend the body against infection and disease.

Question: Where in the human body are red blood cells produced?

Answer: Bone marrow, also called myeloid tissue, is the soft, gelatinous tissue that fills the cavities of the bones. Bone marrow is either red or yellow, depending upon the preponderance of vascular (red) or fatty (yellow) tissue. In humans the red bone marrow forms all the blood cells except the lymphocytes, which are produced in the marrow and reach their mature form in the lymphoid organs.

Question: In the 1800s Theodor Schwann coined which of these terms to referhuman to the chemical changes taking place in living cells and organisms?

Answer: Theodor Schwann, a 19th-century German physiologist, coined the term metabolism for the chemical changes that take place in living tissue.

Question: What determines the blood group in a person?

Answer: The membrane of the red blood cell has on its surface a group of molecules that confer blood group specificity (that is, differentiate blood cells into groups).

Question: Where in the body are the adrenal glands located?

Answer: The adrenal glands, also called the suprarenal glands, are two small and virtually identical triangular endocrine glands, one located at the upper end of each kidney.

Question: What is the smallest structural unit of living matter that is capable of functioning independently?

Answer: The cell is the basic unit of which all living things are composed. A single cell can be a complete organism in itself, as in bacteria, yeasts, and protozoans.

Question: In which part of the body are the adenoids located?

Answer: Adenoids, also called pharyngeal tonsils, are a mass of lymphatic tissue, similar to the (palatine) tonsils, attached to the back wall of the nasal pharynx (i.e., the upper part of the throat opening into the nasal cavity proper). An individual fold of such nasopharyngeal lymphatic tissue is called an adenoid. The function of the adenoids is protective.

Question: What powerful compound is produced in dilute amounts in the stomach?

Answer: In the human body, hydrochloric acid is naturally present in dilute amounts in the digestive juices of the stomach. Excessive secretion of the acid causes gastric ulcers; a marked deficiency of it impairs the digestive process and is sometimes the primary cause of deficiency anemias.

Question: What is called the male hormone?

Answer: Testosterone is an organic compound belonging to the steroid family and occurring as the androgenic, or masculinizing, hormone produced by the testis.

Question: Which hormone regulates the level of sugar in the blood and is produced in the pancreas?

Answer: Insulin is the hormone that regulates the level of sugar (glucose) in the blood and is produced by the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas.

Question: Which of these is another name for growth hormone?

Answer: Somatotropin, or human growth hormone, is a peptide hormone secreted by the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. It stimulates growth of bone and essentially all tissues of the body by stimulating protein synthesis and breaking down fat to provide energy.

Question: What is another name for adipose tissue?

Answer: Adipose cells constitute the fatty tissue, or adipose tissue, of the body in places where adipose cells accumulate in such large numbers that they become the predominant cellular element.

Question: Which of these metals is found in hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein that makes blood red?

Answer: Hemoglobin is a protein in the red blood cells of vertebrates that transports oxygen to the tissues. Heme, which accounts for only 4 percent of the weight of the molecule, contains all the iron and gives a red colour to the molecule.

Question: What is the scientific name for red blood cells?

Answer: Erythrocytes, more commonly called red blood cells, are a component of blood. Millions of red blood cells in the circulation of vertebrates give the blood its characteristic colour and carry oxygen from the lungs to the tissues.

Question: What digestive fluid is stored in the gallbladder?

Answer: The gallbladder is a muscular membranous sac occurring in many vertebrates; its function is to store and concentrate bile, a fluid that is received from the liver and is important in digestion.

Question: What is the ophthalmoscope used for?

Answer: An ophthalmoscope is an instrument for inspecting the interior of the eye. It was invented in 1851 by the German physiologist Hermann von Helmholtz.

Question: Which protein in the blood transports oxygen to the tissues?

Answer: Hemoglobin is the protein in the blood of many animals that transports oxygen to the tissues.

Question: Which of these disorders is also called Cooley anemia?

Answer: Thalassemia is also called Cooley anemia. This is a group of blood disorders characterized by a deficiency of hemoglobin, the blood protein that transports oxygen to the tissues.

Question: Which of these substances are secreted by the thyroid gland?

Answer: The thyroid secretes hormones vital to metabolism and growth. The gland consists of two oblong lobes lying on either side of the windpipe and connected by a narrow band of tissue.

Question: The auditory, or acoustic, nerve connects the brain with the ear. Its two parts have separate functions. One of the functions is hearing. What is the other?

Answer: The vestibulocochlear nerve, also called the auditory nerve, acoustic nerve, or eighth cranial nerve, is a nerve in the human ear, serving the organs of balance and of hearing. It consists of two anatomically and functionally distinct parts: the cochlear nerve, distributed to the hearing organ, and the vestibular nerve, distributed to the organ of equilibrium.

Question: Estradiol, estrone, and estriol are examples of which of these hormones?

Answer: An estrogen is any of a group of hormones that primarily influence the female reproductive tract in its development, maturation, and function. There are three major hormones—estradiol, estrone, and estriol—among the estrogens, estradiol being the predominant one.