Sample Question Mr.

Larry had been diagnosed with hypertension which he had lived with for several years. Two weeks ago he had a severe stroke leading to loss of functions on the left side of his body. Angiographic investigation revealed rupture of an intracranial vessel.

a)

What type of neurological lesion is he suffering from and in which hemisphere of the brain is the ruptured vessel located? (1.5 marks)

Hemiplegia Right side of the brain.

b)

List the contributing vessels to the Circle of Willis (3 marks)

Bifurcation of the Basilar artery Right and left Posterior cerebral arteries Right and left Posterior communicating arteries Short segment of Right and left Internal carotid arteries Right and left Anterior cerebral arteries Anterior communicating artery

c)

What are the branches of the internal carotid artery? (3.5 marks)

Superior hypophysial artery Inferior hypophysial artery Anterior choroidal artery Ophthalmic artery Posterior communicating artery of the circle of Willis Anterior cerebral artery Middle cerebral artery

Sample Question

EEG EOG

Time
The tracings shown above represent part of a sleep study done on a 22 year old male college student with no history of medical illness. The top tracing in is an EEG recording, the middle tracings EOG (electro-oculogram) recording and the bottom a time scale (each large division represents one second). a) What stage of sleep is the student experiencing? Explain your answer. (3 marks) The student is in REM sleep This is supported by two fact: (1) the EEG has a frequency of approximately 16-20H suggested of B type waves which are associated with REM sleep and the EOG shows evidence of eyeball movement also suggestive of REM sleep b) List four features associated with the stage of sleep you identified above (2 marks) Atonia, except muscles of the eyeballs, ossicles and diaphragm Mainly sympathetic activity = Increased heart rate & Blood pressure; Respiration is rapid and irregular; unresponsive to changes in CO2; Decreased GIT motility Body temperature drifts towards ambient temp. Arousal: Spontaneous is easy but by external stimulus is difficult High association with dreaming Penile erection & clitoral engorgement.

c) Describe a complete sleep cycle. Include in your answer the EEG pattern associated with each stage of the cycle (6 marks) The sleep cycle consists of two components: Slow wave sleep (4 stages) REM sleep

A cycle begins with Slow Wave Sleep stage I before passing progressively through stages II, III and IV. After this point the stages reverse and return to stage I or II at which point a person enters into REM sleep. A complete cycle lasts approximately 90-120min.

EEG patterns divide slow wave (non REM) sleep into four stages: Stage I: alpha (a) waves, 8-12 Hz, low amplitude, moderate frequency Stage II: slower frequency, higher amplitude, plus o Bursts of sleep spindles o episodes of K complexes

Stage III: Appearance of delta (d) waves, 1-2 Hz, large amplitude waves Stage IV: Delta waves dominate EEG

Sample Question

a) Identify the receptor depicted in the diagram above and its function. Pacinian Corpuslce; function is to detect vibrations

(2 mark)

b) In terms of adaptation and receptive fields what are the features of this receptor (2 marks) Rapidly adapting; large receptive fields

c) With the aid of a diagram to explain how the receptor potential generated in the afferent nerve will change over time if a continuous stimulus is applied to a rapidly adapting receptor (3 marks)

Stimulus Response
fromreceptor

Time (msec)

When the stimulus is first applied there is a response generated by the receptor. However because this receptor is rapidly adapting continuous application of the stimulus no longer generates a response. Another response is generated when the stimulus is removed.

d) How does the information conveyed by rapidly adapting and slowly adapting receptors differ? (2 marks) Rapidly adapting receptors are important for detecting the rate of change of a stimulus while slowly adapting receptors detect length of application of the stimulus.