Human Growth and Development Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Peak height velocity (PHV) is the maximum rate of growth in stature during the adolescent spurt, usually expressed in cm per year. Because it is the rate at its highest point, it indicates the rate of growth. It also shows the intensity (magnitude) of the spurt, and the age at which it occurs marks the timing of the spurt.

Each of options A, B and C describes one real use of the measure, so the answer is 'All of the above'.

In most children the peak comes at about 12 years in girls and 14 in boys, so the timing also differs by sex.

Answer: A

The progressive change from an undifferentiated state to a highly specialised state is known as development. Cells and tissues start as unspecialised and take on particular structures and functions, which is the sense of the word in growth studies.

Growth is only an increase in size or mass. Maturation is the progress towards the adult functional state, tied to timing and tempo. Regionalization refers to the division of the embryo or body into regions and is not the general term for the change from the undifferentiated to the specialised.

Answer: B

Kwashiorkor is associated with protein-energy malnutrition.

Kwashiorkor and marasmus are the two classical forms of protein-energy malnutrition in young children. Kwashiorkor shows oedema, a swollen belly and skin and hair changes, mainly from a diet low in protein relative to energy.

Zinc and iron deficiency produce other conditions, such as impaired growth and anaemia. Protein deficiency alone is part of the picture, but the key names the wider syndrome of protein-energy malnutrition, which is the standard classification used in public health.

Answer: A

The age-related deterioration process is senescence.

Senescence is the gradual decline in the working of the body's cells, tissues and organs that comes with ageing in the adult years. Human biologists use the word for the biological process itself, whatever disease may occur with it.

Dementia is a disease state in which memory and thinking are lost, and it can occur with ageing but is not the ageing process. A spurt is a short period of rapid growth, such as the adolescent growth spurt. Maturation is the process of reaching full development, so it points towards growth and not decline.

Answer: B

The assertion is correct and the reason is wrong, so the answer is (A) is correct, (R) is wrong.

Diarrhoeal disease is one of the leading causes of death in children under five. Oral rehydration therapy replaces the water and salts lost and has greatly lowered deaths, so the claim that it does not contribute significantly is false.

The first option wrongly accepts the reason. The third and fourth options wrongly reject the assertion.

Answer: A

Both statements are true, so the answer is Both (A) and (R) are true.

In growth monitoring, a rise of weight for age is read as a sign of better physical growth, which makes the assertion correct. Good nutrition, with enough energy and protein, raises body weight, so the reason is also correct and helps to explain the assertion.

Option B says both are false, option C calls the reason false, and option D calls the assertion false. Each conflicts with the standard view of growth and nutrition.

Answer: B

The correct code is iii, i, iv, ii.

Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and aetiology of disease (iii). Fat is stored mainly as triglycerides (i). A lack of retinol, which is vitamin A, causes blindness (iv). A lack of calciferol, which is vitamin D, causes rickets (ii).

Code A swaps epidemiology with the vitamin list. Code C gives fat to blindness. Code D starts with rickets for epidemiology. Each fails on at least one pair.

Answer: A

The correct code is iv, i, ii, iii.

Height vertex is measured with the anthropometer (iv). Hand length is measured with a sliding caliper (i). Calf circumference is measured with a tape (ii). Head breadth is measured with a spreading caliper (iii).

Code B measures the height with the spreading caliper. Code C measures it with the tape. Code D measures it with the sliding caliper. A standing height could not be taken with those, so the other codes are wrong.

Answer: A

Cephalo-caudal growth proceeds from head to tail. In the embryo and the young child the head and brain develop first and the lower body and legs later, so at birth the head is large in proportion to the body. This is the cephalocaudal law of growth, along with the proximodistal trend from the centre of the body outwards.

The opposite direction, tail to head, is wrong, and 'centre of body to outward' or 'outward to centre' describe the proximodistal pattern, not the cephalocaudal one.

Answer: C

(A) is correct and (R) is false. The adolescent growth spurt, a sharp increase in the rate of growth in height and weight, occurs in every normal individual at puberty.

The degree of the spurt is not the same for everyone. Its age of onset, peak velocity and size differ between boys and girls and from one person to another, as Tanner's growth curves show, so the reason is false.