Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines | Edexcel GCSE Biology, Higher tier (1BI0)
Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines
- 205 questions
- 13 subtopics
- Paper 1
- Paper 1
Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines is examined in Paper 1, Biology 1.
It covers health and susceptibility, pathogens and the diseases they cause, how infections spread and the virus life cycle, sexually transmitted infections, plant defences and the detection of plant disease, the body's barriers, the immune system, immunisation and herd immunity, antibiotics and developing new medicines, aseptic technique and testing antibiotics on cultures, monoclonal antibodies, lifestyle and non-communicable disease, and treating cardiovascular disease.
Sample questions from Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Health, disease and susceptibility
Describe the difference between a communicable and a non-communicable disease.
Show the answer
A communicable disease can be passed from one organism to another, while a non-communicable disease cannot be transmitted. -
Pathogens and common infections
Describe two symptoms of malaria.
Show the answer
Repeating episodes of fever and shivering, and tiredness caused by the destruction of red blood cells. -
Sexually transmitted infections
Explain why Chlamydia is often passed on without the infected person realising.
Show the answer
Many people who have it show no symptoms, so they do not know they are infected and continue to pass it on. -
How plants defend themselves and how plant disease is detected
Describe how studying the distribution of affected plants in a field helps identify the cause of a disease.
Show the answer
Damage spreading outwards from one point suggests a pathogen, while damage matching soil or exposure patterns suggests an environmental cause. -
The immune system, immunisation and herd immunity
Compare the primary and secondary immune responses.
Show the answer
The secondary response begins much sooner and produces far more antibodies than the primary response. -
Antibiotics and developing new medicines
Explain why the findings of a medical study are written differently for the public than for a scientific journal.
Show the answer
Most of the public do not know the technical vocabulary, so the findings are explained in plain language, while scientists need the full method and data to judge the work. -
Testing antiseptics and antibiotics on bacterial cultures
In an investigation into the effect of antibiotics on bacteria grown on an agar plate, describe a suitable control.
Show the answer
A disc soaked in sterile water is placed on the same plate, because it should produce no clear zone. -
Monoclonal antibodies
Explain how monoclonal antibodies can be used to find cancer cells in the body.
Show the answer
The antibodies bind to antigens found only on cancer cells and carry a marker that a scanner can detect.
The 13 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Health, disease and susceptibility | The World Health Organization definition of health as physical, mental and social well-being, communicable and non-communicable diseases and examples of each, pathogens, susceptibility, and how HIV, human papilloma virus, malnutrition and lung damage make other diseases more likely. | 18 |
| Pathogens and common infections | Pathogens and the four types, how viruses, bacteria, fungi and protists cause disease, and the pathogen, symptoms and damage of cholera, tuberculosis, Chalara ash dieback, malaria, HIV and AIDS, Helicobacter stomach ulcers and Ebola haemorrhagic fever. | 19 |
| How pathogens spread, and the virus life cycle | How cholera, tuberculosis, Chalara ash dieback, malaria, Helicobacter and Ebola are spread and how their spread is reduced, mosquitoes as vectors, and the virus life cycle, from attachment through the lytic and lysogenic pathways to proviruses and the switch between pathways. | 20 |
| Sexually transmitted infections | Sexually transmitted infections, Chlamydia as a bacterial infection often passed on unnoticed and its effect on fertility, how HIV is passed on in body fluids, how condoms, screening and clean needles reduce spread, and why antibiotics cure Chlamydia but not HIV. | 8 |
| How plants defend themselves and how plant disease is detected | Physical plant defences such as the waxy cuticle, cell wall, bark and layers of dead cells, chemical defences including quinine, salicylic acid and caffeine and their value in medicine, and diagnosing plant disease by ruling out environmental causes, studying distribution and symptoms, and using DNA analysis and antibody test kits. | 19 |
| Physical barriers and chemical defences | The skin as a physical barrier, mucus and cilia in the airways and why smokers get more chest infections, lysozymes in tears and saliva, hydrochloric acid in the stomach, and how a cut in the skin raises the risk of infection. | 8 |
| The immune system, immunisation and herd immunity | Antigens, lymphocytes and why each antibody works against only one pathogen, memory lymphocytes and the primary and secondary responses, vaccines, boosters and yearly influenza vaccines, herd immunity, and the advantages, disadvantages and savings of immunisation programmes. | 22 |
| Antibiotics and developing new medicines | Why antibiotics treat bacterial but not viral infections, the discovery, development, preclinical and clinical testing of new medicines, low doses and placebos, peer review and publishing trial results for scientists and the public, and calculating clear zone areas with πr² to compare new antibiotics. | 25 |
| Aseptic technique in culturing microorganisms | Aseptic technique, sterilising growth medium and Petri dishes in an autoclave, flaming and cooling the inoculating loop, keeping cultures covered and taping lids, and why school cultures are incubated at 25 °C. | 8 |
| Testing antiseptics and antibiotics on bacterial cultures | Spreading bacteria on agar and placing antiseptic or antibiotic discs, measuring clear zones and what they show, controls, variables and sources of error, incubating plates upside down, and calculating clear zone areas and the percentage of a plate that is clear with πr². | 16 |
| Monoclonal antibodies | Monoclonal antibodies made by fusing lymphocytes with tumour cells into hybridomas, cloning them and collecting the antibodies, and their use in pregnancy tests, locating blood clots and cancer cells and delivering anti-cancer drugs, with the advantages over radiotherapy and ordinary drugs. | 15 |
| Lifestyle factors and non-communicable disease | Non-communicable diseases caused by interacting factors, lung, liver and nutrition-related diseases, correlation and cause, calculating body mass index and waist:hip ratio, obesity and malnutrition, and how alcohol damages the liver and smoking and carbon monoxide raise the risk of cardiovascular disease. | 18 |
| Treatments for cardiovascular disease | Statins, anticoagulants, stents, coronary bypass operations, lifestyle change and heart transplants as treatments for cardiovascular disease, the advantages and disadvantages of each, and when lifestyle change alone is not enough. | 9 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
Edexcel GCSE Biology, Higher tier Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,386 questions with their answers.