Photo AI
A hospital patient was tested for diabetes - Edexcel - GCSE Biology Combined Science - Question 5 - 2021 - Paper 1
Question 5
A hospital patient was tested for diabetes. A nurse recorded his mass and height. Figure 7 shows these measurements. mass in kg height in metres 124 1.8 Figure 7 ... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:A hospital patient was tested for diabetes - Edexcel - GCSE Biology Combined Science - Question 5 - 2021 - Paper 1
Step 1
Step 2
Describe the trends shown in this data.
Answer
The blood glucose concentration exhibits an initial increase over the first 8 hours, rising from 100 mg/dL to 139 mg/dL. After reaching a peak at 8 hours, the glucose level decreases significantly by 12 hours to 90 mg/dL, indicating a drop after the peak. Following this decline, there is a gradual increase back to 137 mg/dL at 24 hours, suggesting fluctuations in the glucose levels throughout the monitoring period.
Step 3
Explain why the blood glucose concentration of this patient remained high from 4 hours to 8 hours.
Answer
The blood glucose concentration remained high from 4 hours to 8 hours due to the patient's body's inability to effectively regulate glucose levels, which is characteristic of type 2 diabetes. In this condition, the insulin produced is either insufficient or the body's cells resist its effects, leading to elevated glucose concentrations over a sustained period.
Step 4
Explain how the data in Figure 8 shows that this exercise occurred after 8 hours but before 12 hours.
Answer
The data shows that the glucose concentration peaked at 139 mg/dL at 8 hours and then dropped significantly to 90 mg/dL by 12 hours. This decrease indicates that the patient likely engaged in physical activity, which would have facilitated glucose utilization by the muscles, leading to a drop in blood glucose levels. Thus, the exercise likely occurred after the peak at 8 hours but before the measurement at 12 hours.