Chapter 2 Self-test questions

In the early years of endocrinology it was very difficult to measure hormones in blood because…

They are very poorly soluble in water.

They are very large molecules.

They are very small molecules.

They circulate in very low quantities.

Which of the following pregnancy tests is an example of a bioassay for hCG?

Sniffing a woman's urine.

Injecting a woman's urine into a Xenopus toad.

Using an immunoassay to measure a blood sample.

Measuring a urine sample with an ELISA.

Which of the following hormones has a constant level in the blood over the course of a day?

Thyroxine.

Insulin.

Cortisol.

Growth hormone.

What is the cause of type 1 diabetes?

Obesity.

Excess sugar intake.

Autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells.

Resistance to the effects of insulin.

Which of the following is not associated with goitre?

Graves disease (hyperthyroidism).

Normal thyroid function.

Iodine deficiency.

Hashimoto's thyroiditis (hypothyroidism).

In the early stages of Addison's disease (autoimmune destruction of the adrenal glands) what is the mechanism that keeps cortisol in the normal range?

Binding of cortisol to transport proteins in blood.

Lack of negative feedback from cortisol leading to increased ACTH secretion.

The long half-life of cortisol.

Autoimmune destruction of the adrenal glands doesn't affect the cells that make cortisol until the very late stages of the disease.

Which of the following disorders is a result of hormone resistance?

Breast cancer.

Type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes.

Graves disease (hyperthyroidism).

Laron syndrome is of great interest to researchers because…

It is very common worldwide.

It is a preventable cause of short stature.

People with Laron syndrome are much more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

People with Laron syndrome are much less likely to develop cancer.

If an assay for a hormone is repeated many times on the same sample and consistently gives the same result we can say that the assay is…

Accurate.

Precise.

Sensitive.

Specific.

If a doctor suspects that a patient is producing abnormally high amounts of growth hormone (GH), how would they measure the hormone to confirm their diagnosis?

In a random blood sample.

In a blood sample taken at 9am.

After giving oral arginine to stimulate GH secretion.

After giving oral glucose to inhibit GH secretion.

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