Radiology Trivia Quiz

Answer: Seasonal allergies

Some air- Summer
Ought um- Autumn
When tar- Winter
Spar ring- Spring

Allergies result from overactive immune systems. Most human bodies don't react when confronted with harmless substances like pollen. However, a hypersensitivity to those substances (called allergens) can have drastic physiological impact. The IgE antibody activates way too many white blood cells to fight off the non-existent pathogen, causing inflammation, rashes and hives, and even asthma attacks in extreme cases. The white blood cells produce a compound called histamine, which triggers the immune response; anti-histamines, compounds that block histamine receptors, can be effective anti-allergy medications.

Some scientists believe that cleaner facilities in the developed world have been responsible for the large number of people who suffer from allergies. More than 10% of the population of the US (and about 5% of the UK) suffer stuffy noses in springtime. This theory, the so-called "hygiene hypothesis," supposes that we were healthier when we were exposed to more pathogens as children.

Answer: Common cold

Frieze sing- Freezing
Fridge id- Frigid
Throw sin- Frozen
Aunt are ticker- Antarctica

The common cold is the most common infectious disease in the human population; on average, an adult will get sick at least once a year, and children even more frequently than that. Normally caused by a group of viruses called rhinoviruses, colds won't usually last more than a week or two, but they can be irritating nonetheless.

How do you treat a cold? First off, don't use antibiotics. Antibiotics work only against bacteria; colds are caused by viruses. Don't use Vitamin C either; the Cochrane Library proved in 2010 that it really doesn't help. Zinc supplements might help a bit, but your best bet is to take an ibuprofen and grumble. Also, avoid contracting the disease from your sneezing neighbor. Benjamin Franklin hypothesized in the 1700s that the cold could be transmitted through the air; of course, his findings weren't verified until more than a century later.

Answer: Yellow fever

Char truce- Chartreuse
Lay man- Lemon
Goal done roared- Goldenrod
Son flaw were- Sunflower

Yellow fever, like malaria, is transmitted by mosquitoes. Unlike malaria, the disease is caused by a virus that survives only in mosquitoes and in primates. In the eighteenth century, yellow fever was feared as one of the most deadly diseases. Effective anti-mosquito crusades and vaccinations wiped out the disease in much of the Western Hemisphere, but the disease survives today, especially potent in Africa. Patients with the disease generally get fever and nausea soon after contracting it, and their symptoms subside. Then, right after they've escaped quarantine and passed the disease onto others, the disease reemerges in a "toxic phase." Affected individuals are usually heavily jaundiced (their skins are yellowed), giving the disease its name.

Yellow fever had important consequences for world history. In 1793, a huge epidemic of the disease in Philadelphia was part of the reason that the nation's capital was moved elsewhere. European colonizers called West Africa the "white man's grave" because so many people died of yellow fever on its banks. When the French tried to build the Panama Canal, they were limited by yellow fever-carrying mosquitoes, which were only eradicated when the US figured out the disease's cause. A vaccine was first developed in the 1930s, but lax protocols in the late 20th century led to a resurgence of the disease, particularly in Africa.

Answer: Graves' Disease

Too mist own- Tombstone
Saw cough ugh us- Sarcophagus
Saw limb- Solemn
Awe steer- Austere

Graves' Disease is a malfunction of the thyroid gland, one of the body's largest glands, which is located in the neck. The body accidentally produces a class of proteins called autoantibodies, which attack the body's own cells. The thyroid is stimulated and grows out of control. Perhaps the most recognizable symptom of Graves' Disease is goiter, a visible swelling of the gland. Another classic sign of Graves' Disease is a namesake ophthalmopathy, or swelling of the eyes. Bulging, red eyes are characteristic of this autoimmune disorder.

Treatment is varied. Doctors might use anti-thyroid medication, or simply cut the whole gland out. Although usually effective, such methods may cause relapse and diminished quality of life. Notable sufferers of Graves' Disease include both former US president George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara. The probability that both would contract the noncontagious disease is astonishingly low.

Answer: Cancer

Pie seize- Pisces
Heir ease- Aries
Tore us- Taurus
Jam an eye- Gemini

Simply speaking, cancer is uncontrolled cell growth. Normally, body cells have limitations to rapid expansion; for example, contact inhibition (cells don't grow if they're touching cells on multiple sides), or checkpoints in the regular cell cycle. Cancerous cells have mutations that prevent these limitations from doing their job. Cancers can be environmentally caused (mutations from a result of exposure to radiation, carcinogens, or infections) or genetic. In 2007, cancer was responsible for 13% of human deaths worldwide, and that figure is growing, as the disease has its greatest impact on developed and industrialized nations.

Cancer is so feared, in fact, that people overreact to possible exposure to carcinogens. After the tragic 2011 earthquake and flooding in Japan, survivors near the Fukushima-Daichi nuclear power plant frantically searched for protection from the radiation. Some people not affected by the blast refused to eat crops and fish from Japan, believing that they were so affected by radiation that they would result in cancer if ingested. Those were strong overreactions- eating fish with twice the normal radiation content will not give you cancer, even 50 years into the future.

Answer: Gulf War Syndrome

Coo weight- Kuwait
Daze art she healed- Desert Shield
Said dom who sane- Saddam Hussein
Eye rack- Iraq

Veterans have complained since World War I about mysterious diseases that they contracted from fighting. Then, it was called shell shock. Now, scientists point to post-traumatic stress disorder, or more specifically after the 1990-91 war in the Middle East, Gulf War Syndrome.

Returning home from the war, some soldier complained of a host of problems, including fatigue, headaches, muscle pain, indigestion, nausea, and even birth defects. According to a 2010 study by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 1/3 of the war's American veterans made similar complains about a mysterious Gulf War Syndrome.

Scientists believe that exposure to toxic chemicals may be responsible. PB nerve gas, certain pesticides, and even depleted uranium could be responsible for plenty of physiological disorders. The symptoms are so wide and varied that the review concluded psychosomatic disorder is infeasible, and PTSD unlikely. Although some people contend that the disease is fraudulent, its overarching effect on veterans has made it a grand mystery.

Answer: AIDS

Tee chars- Teachers
Fie or fie tars- Firefighters
Pole ease- Police
Hail pores- Helpers

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a pandemic, a disease that affects the entire world. In 2009, an English charity called AVERT determined that there were more than 33 million people in the world who had contracted the disease, and approximately 1.8 million deaths each year from it. Geneticists have determined that the syndrome originated in West Africa around the turn of the twentieth century. Scientists failed to recognize the disease and its cause, the human immunodeficiency virus, until the 1980s.

The difficulty with AIDS is that HIV is a retrovirus, which means that it contains the enzyme reverse transcriptase. Reverse transcriptase allows a virus to synthesize DNA and integrate the DNA into a host's genome. HIV affects cells of the immune system, especially a class of white blood cells called helper T cells. Helper T cells are like drill sergeants in the immune reaction; they activate other cells to engulf pathogens. When HIV invades a large number of the body's T cells, the immune system is irreparably weakened and can't fight off small opportunistic infections. Death generally follows soon after. Although antiretroviral medications have emerged since the 1980s and medication for AIDS is possible, the disease remains one of the biggest targets for biologists worldwide.

Answer: Down Syndrome

(Down) Paw aim mint- Down payment
(Down) stay heirs- Downstairs
Aye door (down)- Eiderdown
What or sheep (down)- "Watership Down"

Down Syndrome was named after Dr. John Langdon Down, a British doctor who first described the genetic disorder in 1886. It wasn't until 1959 that Jerome Lejeune, the French inventor of the karyotype, found the genetic basis of the disease: trisomy 21. Most humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, one each from their father and mother. However, when gametes are formed in the process of meiosis, occasionally a mistake occurs, and chromosomes don't properly separate. Instead of making four gametes of one chromosome each, the diploid cell will split into a few gametes without a chromosome, and a few with extra chromosomes. When the extra chromosome is chromosome 21, and that lucky gamete is the one that gets fertilized, an infant with Down Syndrome is born.

Down Syndrome is fairly common among chromosomal disorders, occurring approximately once in every 733 births. Older couples are far more likely to have a child with the disease than younger couples. Children with Down Syndrome generally have impaired growth, low IQs, and high risk of physical defects like heart trouble and sleep apnea.

Answer: Lou Gehrig's Disease

Eye run hoarse- Iron Horse
Yeah an keys- Yankees
Bays bawl- Baseball
Gray ends lamb- Grand Slam

The Yankee baseball player Lou Gehrig was affected by one of the most crushing motor disorders known, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The disease is is sometimes named after the "Iron Horse," who played in a record number of games (2130) before succumbing. ALS is caused by the death of neurons in the spinal cord, and quickly spirals into muscle weakness, twitching, inability to speak and eat, and eventually, paralysis and death. Gehrig died just two years after he retired from the game. Much more common in athletes and soldiers, ALS affects a small percentage of the world's population. Its cause is unknown. Treatment consists of the drug Riluzole to slow progression, and sundry medications to combat the symptoms, but most of the inflicted die early from respiratory failure.

Famed British physicist Stephen Hawking has been diagnosed with ALS, but it is unlikely that he actually contracted the exact disease. He would be the only patient with the neuron disorder to survive for an extended period of time after diagnosis. Most likely, he was stricken by a similar, but less fatal, motor dysfunction.

Answer: Bell's palsy

Bee egg been- Big Ben
All are miss- Alarms
All exam dear gram- Alexander Graham (Bell)
Ten ten nab you elation- Tintinnabulation (a word used in Edgar Alan Poe's notable poem "The Bells")

Bell's palsy is another muscular disorder- patients with the disease lose control of muscles on one side of their face. Such paralysis can occur as a result of several diseases, but when no underlying cause is attributed, the disorder is named for Charles Bell, who first described the palsy in 1821. Rarely, Bell's palsy can affect the entire face, resulting in total paralysis. No cause has been determined for the disease, which can be treated with corticosteroids.

By the way, the term Big Ben was originally used exclusively to refer to the bell of the tower in London's Palace of Westminster. Although some people use the term to refer to the clock or the tower itself, properly speaking, only the great bell, named after Sir Benjamin Hall, should be called Big Ben.