Medical Application 1. In patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (C
ID: 3510601 • Letter: M
Question
Medical Application 1. In patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), malnutrition and weight loss are common problems. Accompanying decreases in body weight are correlated with increased mortality. Patients with COPD have been reported to have an increased Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), perhaps due to an increased energy cost of breathing Explain the link between increased energy cost of breathing, BMR, cellular respiration, and weight loss in these patients. Ecology Application White nose syndrome in bats is caused by a fungus that infects the muzzle and other body parts. White-nose syndrome has spread from the northeastern to the central US at an alarming rate. The disease is found primarily in hibernating bats. It causes the bats to behave strangely, including becoming unusually active during hibernation. 2. Researchers have measured metabolic rates of bats infected with white-nose syndrome and compared the rates with uninfected bats. The results of one of their experiments is shown in the figure below. Using these data, explain how white-nose syndrome might lead to mortality in the infected bats. White Nose Uninlected Figure 1. Metabolic rate in infected and uninfected bats (McGuire et al., 2017)Explanation / Answer
COPD is a chronic inflammatory disease that causes obstruction to the flow of air to the lungs. Symptoms include difficulty in breathing, sneezing etc.
Chronic bronchitis is one of the conditions caused by COPD which leads to inflammation of the bronchus. Enphysema is a condition which is caused due to excessive exposure to smoke in which the alveoli are destroyed leading to further difficulty in breathing
COPD causes high blood pressure on the arteries that bring blood to the lungs, this leads to fatigue and increases cellular respiration