Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines | Edexcel GCSE Combined Science Biology, Higher tier (1SC0)
Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines
- 126 questions
- 9 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, the diseases they cause and how they spread, sexually transmitted infections, the body's physical and chemical barriers, the immune system and vaccination, antibiotics and developing new medicines, 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
What is a protist?
Show the answer
A protist is a single-celled eukaryotic organism, and some kinds live as parasites that cause disease. -
How pathogens spread, and the virus life cycle
Explain how the spread of tuberculosis can be reduced.
Show the answer
Infected people can be isolated and treated, and less crowded, well-ventilated buildings make breathing in the bacteria less likely. -
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. -
Physical barriers and chemical defences
Describe the role of cilia in the airways.
Show the answer
Cilia beat to sweep mucus and the pathogens trapped in it up to the throat, where it is swallowed. -
The immune system, immunisation and herd immunity
What are memory lymphocytes?
Show the answer
Memory lymphocytes are long-lived cells made during an infection that stay in the blood ready to recognise the same antigen again. -
Antibiotics and developing new medicines
Describe what happens during preclinical testing.
Show the answer
The drug is tested on cells and tissues and then on live animals, to see whether it works and whether it is toxic. -
Lifestyle factors and non-communicable disease
Explain why a correlation between a lifestyle factor and a disease does not prove that the factor causes it.
Show the answer
Another factor may be responsible for both, so a cause is only established when a mechanism linking them is found.
The 9 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, and HIV and AIDS. | 16 |
| How pathogens spread, and the virus life cycle | How cholera, tuberculosis, Chalara ash dieback and malaria are spread and how their spread is reduced by treating water and sewage, isolation and ventilation, removing infected trees, insecticide-treated nets and draining standing water, and why a mosquito is a vector rather than a pathogen. | 9 |
| 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 |
| 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, how antibodies help destroy pathogens, memory lymphocytes and the primary and secondary responses, what vaccines contain and how they protect, boosters, and why influenza needs a new vaccine each year. | 15 |
| 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 |
| 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 Combined Science Biology, Higher tier Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 968 questions with their answers.