Endocrine glands such as the thyroid and adrenal glands are ductless, releasing their hormones into the surrounding fluid to be carried away by the blood.
Missing Word
ductless
Ductless glands have no tubes to carry their secretions. Their hormones diffuse into interstitial fluid and blood, which distribute them throughout the body.
Category: Endocrine Anatomy and Physiology
Question 2
Sweat glands and sebaceous glands deliver their secretions through ducts onto a body surface, so they are classified as exocrine glands.
Missing Word
exocrine
Exocrine glands send their products through ducts to a surface or cavity. The pancreas is unusual in having both endocrine islet cells and exocrine tissue that sends digestive juice to the small intestine.
Category: Endocrine Anatomy and Physiology
Question 3
A hormone affects only target cells that carry receptors, proteins shaped to bind that specific hormone.
Missing Word
receptors
Receptors sit in the cell membrane or inside the cell and recognize one hormone's shape. When insulin binds its receptor, for example, the cell opens channels that let glucose in.
Category: Endocrine Anatomy and Physiology
Question 4
The two lobes of the thyroid gland are joined across the front of the trachea by a narrow band of tissue called the isthmus.
Missing Word
isthmus
The isthmus is the narrow bridge of thyroid tissue connecting the right and left lobes. It lies in front of the trachea, just below the larynx.
Category: Thyroid Disorders
Question 5
A patient with newly diagnosed diabetes reports filling the toilet with large amounts of urine many times a day, a symptom called polyuria.
Missing Word
polyuria
Polyuria means passing excessive amounts of urine. Glucose spilling into the urine draws water with it by osmotic diuresis, which also drives thirst and dehydration.
Category: Diabetes Mellitus
Question 6
Regular urine testing for albumin lets the provider detect diabetic nephropathy early, before kidney function declines.
Missing Word
nephropathy
Nephropathy is kidney damage, and in diabetes it results from years of high glucose injuring the small blood vessels of the kidney. Protein in the urine is an early warning, so screening allows treatment that slows progression to end-stage kidney disease.
Category: Diabetes Mellitus
Question 7
Surgical removal of a gland that sits on top of a kidney, called an adrenalectomy, is the first-choice treatment for Cushing syndrome caused by a tumor in that gland.
Missing Word
adrenalectomy
An adrenalectomy removes an adrenal gland. When a tumor in one gland is producing excess cortisol, removing it treats the cause; if both glands are removed, lifelong glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid replacement is needed.
Category: Adrenal Disorders
Question 8
Inflammation of the thyroid gland, called thyroiditis, can damage hormone-producing tissue and lead to hypothyroidism.
Missing Word
thyroiditis
Thyroiditis is inflammation of the thyroid. When it destroys enough of the gland, hormone output falls and the patient develops hypothyroidism needing hormone replacement.
Category: Thyroid Disorders
Question 9
Insulin has long been the preferred drug for gestational diabetes, in part because it does not cross the placenta to reach the fetus.
Missing Word
placenta
The placenta links the pregnant person's circulation with the fetus, and insulin is too large a molecule to pass through it. Treatment with diet, glucose monitoring and insulin when needed controls the mother's glucose without exposing the fetus to the drug.
Category: Diabetes Mellitus
Question 10
In Graves disease, antibodies overstimulate the cells lining the follicles, the tiny hollow sacs of the thyroid gland that make and store its hormone.
Missing Word
follicles
Follicles are the functional units of the thyroid, each a sphere of hormone-making cells around a store of colloid. In Graves disease, antibodies act on these cells and drive excess hormone release, producing hyperthyroidism.
Category: Thyroid Disorders
Question 11
A patient with an overactive parathyroid gland reports weakness, thirst, frequent urination and confusion, all caused by hypercalcemia.
Missing Word
hypercalcemia
Hypercalcemia is a high blood calcium level. Excess parathyroid hormone pulls calcium from bone, and the high level dulls nerve and muscle responses and impairs the kidneys' ability to concentrate urine.
Category: Parathyroid Disorders
Question 12
Surgical removal of one or more overactive parathyroid glands, called a parathyroidectomy, is the preferred treatment for hyperparathyroidism because it removes the cause.
Missing Word
parathyroidectomy
A parathyroidectomy removes the overproducing gland tissue. Afterward, calcium can fall sharply as bones take it back up, so the nurse monitors for hypocalcemia.
Category: Parathyroid Disorders
Question 13
Some patients with autoimmune adrenal insufficiency develop vitiligo, smooth patches of skin that have lost their pigment.
Missing Word
vitiligo
Vitiligo is the loss of pigment in patches of skin, caused by destruction of pigment cells. It can accompany Addison disease because both can arise from autoimmune attack.
Category: Adrenal Disorders
Question 14
Wide purple stretch marks on the abdomen of a patient with Cushing syndrome are called striae.
Missing Word
striae
Striae form when skin weakened by cortisol-driven protein breakdown stretches over a growing trunk. They are a classic physical sign along with moon face and a fat pad between the shoulders.
Category: Adrenal Disorders
Question 15
A patient with Addison disease has darkened skin creases, scars and gums, a finding called hyperpigmentation.
Missing Word
hyperpigmentation
Hyperpigmentation is increased skin color. In primary adrenal insufficiency, high pituitary output aimed at the failing adrenal glands also stimulates pigment cells.
Category: Adrenal Disorders