ADVANCED PATHOPHYSIOLOGY:
EXAM 1 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
2026 VERIFIED.
Chapter 1: Introduction to Pathophysiology
Risk - ANS Factor that when present increases the chance of disease
Not stressors, but conditions or situations that increase the likelihood of encountering a stressor
Prevalence - ANS A measure of disease that allows us to determine a person's likelihood of
having a disease. Therefore, the number of prevalent cases is the total number of cases of
disease existing in a population. A prevalence rate is the total number of cases of a disease
existing in a population divided by the total population
Indicates how widespread the disease is
Incidence - ANS A measure of disease that allows us to determine a person's probability of
being diagnosed with a disease during a given period of time. Therefore, incidence is the
number of newly diagnosed cases of a disease. An incidence rate is the number of new cases of
a disease divided by the number of persons at risk for the disease.
Conveys information about the risk of contracting the disease.
Ratio - ANS The quantitative relation between two amounts showing the number of times
one value contains or is contained within the other.
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,Primary Prevention - ANS Altering susceptibility or reducing exposure for susceptible persons
*Both illness and disease are absent
example: vaccinations, healthy lifestyles
Secondary Prevention - ANS Early detection, screening, and management of disease
*Illness absent, disease present
example: screenings and testings
Tertiary Prevention - ANS Rehabilitation, supportive care, reducing disability, and restoring
effective functioning
*Both illness and disease present
example: education
Epidemiology - ANS study of the patterns of disease involving populations; examining the
occurrence, incidence, prevalence, transmission, and distribution of diseases in large groups of
populations/people
Endemic - ANS A disease theat is native to a local region
Epidemic - ANS When a disease is disseninated to many individals at the same time
(spread to many people at the same time)
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,Pandemic - ANS Epidemics that affect large geographic regions, perhaps spreading
worldwide.
(spread to large geographic areas)
*Chapter 2: Homeostasis and Adaptive Responses to Stressors* - ANS
Homeostasis - ANS A state of being in which all systems are in balance around a articular
ideal "set-point"
Exhausation - ANS Point where body can no longer return to homeostasis following a
prolonged exposure to noxious agents
Allostatic Overload - ANS "Cost" of body's organs and tissues for an excessive or ineffectively
regulated allostatic response; effect of "wear and tear" on the body
Adaptation - ANS Adaptation: biopsychosocial process of change in response to new or
altered circumstances, internal or external in origin
Coping: behavioral adaptive response to a stressor using culturally based coping mechanisms
Adaptation and coping: terms used interchangeably
Arousal - ANS Includes alterations in responsiveness to homeostatic pressures, sensory
stimuli and emotional reactivity, and to changes in motor activity
Function of Cortisol - ANS Primary glucocorticoid
Affects protein metabolism
Promotes appetite and food-seeking behaviors
Has anti-inflammatory effects
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 3 OF 41
, Chemical mediator in the inflammation response of the body
Adrenal corticosteroid critical to maintenance of homeostasis
May synergize or antagonize effects of catecholamines
*Chapter 3: Cell Structure and Function* - ANS
Endocrine Communication - ANS Hormones traveling in the bloodstream
Long range signaling
Neurocrine Communication - ANS Neurons firing information through synapses
Signals travel a very small distance between neuron and target cell
Paracrine Communcation - ANS Signaling through the extraceullar fluid between cells in a
tissue
Localized areas of communication
Autocrine Communcation - ANS Localized signaling in which the secreting cell is also the
target cell
Feedback to self
Describe an Action Potential - ANS Rapid, self-propagating electrical excitations of the
membrane
Mediated by voltage-gated ion channels that open (sodium flows into the cell) and close in
response to voltage changes across the membrane
Triggered by membrane depolarization
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 4 OF 41
EXAM 1 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
2026 VERIFIED.
Chapter 1: Introduction to Pathophysiology
Risk - ANS Factor that when present increases the chance of disease
Not stressors, but conditions or situations that increase the likelihood of encountering a stressor
Prevalence - ANS A measure of disease that allows us to determine a person's likelihood of
having a disease. Therefore, the number of prevalent cases is the total number of cases of
disease existing in a population. A prevalence rate is the total number of cases of a disease
existing in a population divided by the total population
Indicates how widespread the disease is
Incidence - ANS A measure of disease that allows us to determine a person's probability of
being diagnosed with a disease during a given period of time. Therefore, incidence is the
number of newly diagnosed cases of a disease. An incidence rate is the number of new cases of
a disease divided by the number of persons at risk for the disease.
Conveys information about the risk of contracting the disease.
Ratio - ANS The quantitative relation between two amounts showing the number of times
one value contains or is contained within the other.
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 1 OF 41
,Primary Prevention - ANS Altering susceptibility or reducing exposure for susceptible persons
*Both illness and disease are absent
example: vaccinations, healthy lifestyles
Secondary Prevention - ANS Early detection, screening, and management of disease
*Illness absent, disease present
example: screenings and testings
Tertiary Prevention - ANS Rehabilitation, supportive care, reducing disability, and restoring
effective functioning
*Both illness and disease present
example: education
Epidemiology - ANS study of the patterns of disease involving populations; examining the
occurrence, incidence, prevalence, transmission, and distribution of diseases in large groups of
populations/people
Endemic - ANS A disease theat is native to a local region
Epidemic - ANS When a disease is disseninated to many individals at the same time
(spread to many people at the same time)
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 2 OF 41
,Pandemic - ANS Epidemics that affect large geographic regions, perhaps spreading
worldwide.
(spread to large geographic areas)
*Chapter 2: Homeostasis and Adaptive Responses to Stressors* - ANS
Homeostasis - ANS A state of being in which all systems are in balance around a articular
ideal "set-point"
Exhausation - ANS Point where body can no longer return to homeostasis following a
prolonged exposure to noxious agents
Allostatic Overload - ANS "Cost" of body's organs and tissues for an excessive or ineffectively
regulated allostatic response; effect of "wear and tear" on the body
Adaptation - ANS Adaptation: biopsychosocial process of change in response to new or
altered circumstances, internal or external in origin
Coping: behavioral adaptive response to a stressor using culturally based coping mechanisms
Adaptation and coping: terms used interchangeably
Arousal - ANS Includes alterations in responsiveness to homeostatic pressures, sensory
stimuli and emotional reactivity, and to changes in motor activity
Function of Cortisol - ANS Primary glucocorticoid
Affects protein metabolism
Promotes appetite and food-seeking behaviors
Has anti-inflammatory effects
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 3 OF 41
, Chemical mediator in the inflammation response of the body
Adrenal corticosteroid critical to maintenance of homeostasis
May synergize or antagonize effects of catecholamines
*Chapter 3: Cell Structure and Function* - ANS
Endocrine Communication - ANS Hormones traveling in the bloodstream
Long range signaling
Neurocrine Communication - ANS Neurons firing information through synapses
Signals travel a very small distance between neuron and target cell
Paracrine Communcation - ANS Signaling through the extraceullar fluid between cells in a
tissue
Localized areas of communication
Autocrine Communcation - ANS Localized signaling in which the secreting cell is also the
target cell
Feedback to self
Describe an Action Potential - ANS Rapid, self-propagating electrical excitations of the
membrane
Mediated by voltage-gated ion channels that open (sodium flows into the cell) and close in
response to voltage changes across the membrane
Triggered by membrane depolarization
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 4 OF 41
