Author: Anonymous

A nurse is performing a newborn assessment and notes the inf…

A nurse is performing a newborn assessment and notes the infant has a respiratory rate of 64 breaths per minute with no retractions, grunting, or nasal flaring. The infant is pink, feeding well, and has stable vital signs. What is the nurse’s best interpretation?

You are present at the make-shift emergency room in the dark…

You are present at the make-shift emergency room in the dark reaches of the Amazon when your witch doctor (physician) friend receives a semi-conscious patient who has just been brought in with numerous clinical symptoms including nausea, vomiting, muscular weakness and paralysis.  The individual is an inexperienced jungle traveler from the United States who suddenly took ill.  He appears to have several scraps and puncture wounds on his back, arms and legs which is thought, by his rescuers, to be from loss of balance and disorientation in the rough jungle environment.  Your witch doctor friend looks over the patient and administers an acetylcholine receptor antagonist and the patient gets worse!  Your friend looks at you and smiles!  With some urgency, he then gives the patient a small dose of a pesticide that is sitting on the shelf in his poorly stocked or equipped “clinic,” and the patient improves significantly.  The pesticide is Malathion.  The witch doctor looks at you and says he knows the cause of the illness in the patient.  What caused the patient’s illness?   (Later, the patient drools a little bit while he claims to have lost his infestation of body lice!) Answer with one word, the name of the Toxicant.

A one and one-half year-old male of migrant farm workers was…

A one and one-half year-old male of migrant farm workers was hospitalized because of weight loss, vomiting, and acute abdominal pain.  It was noted that the child had mild muscular incoordination, weakness of the pedal dorsiflexor muscles, moderate hypertension, and questionable edema of the optic nerve ends.  Microscopic examination of a blood smear showed a moderate but distinct increase in the reticulocyte count.  Both his hematocrit and RBC were slightly below normal.  All liver function and renal function tests were essentially normal.Note:  The pedal dorsiflexor muscle controls the lifting of the foot and toes upward and is a common marker of muscular weakness (foot flop).What was this child exposed to?

A group of people visited the reading room in the community…

A group of people visited the reading room in the community library and spent time sitting and reading.  There was an accidental spill of a toxicant called Omega, which is highly volatile and absolutely odorless, in the ventilation system for that library room.  Once the staff realized what had happened, the air concentration of Omega was determined to be 0.648 ug/L.  But they need to know what dose these individuals received to determine the risk of health issues arising in the library’s cliental, and they hire you as the imminent Toxicologist to answer this question.You are told that there were 12 visitors, each visitor weighed about 70 Kg on average and stayed about 90 minutes in the reading room.  You also know that people breath approximately 6 liters of air per minute. Calculate the Dose each library visitor received.  You must show your work to receive full credit.(Note:  Assume: 1) total absorption of agent Omega from each breath; and 2) agent Omega reached an equilibrium within the room’s air volume within a few seconds of release.)    

Your Pediatrician neighbor and very close friend calls you t…

Your Pediatrician neighbor and very close friend calls you to ask your advice on an unusual case that he does not believe is due to any biological pathogen (e.g. flu, viral encephalitis, etc.).  It seems that a 5 year old boy came into the house crying to his mother that his head hurt and he was dizzy.  He complained that his tummy also hurt and he subsequently had diarrhea.  As the mother cared for her son, he became progressively more lethargic, disoriented, and began to drool.  This boy has not drooled in years.When asked, the mother explained that the boy was playing out back by the storage shed, where he always plays.  The storage shed contains some of his father’s smaller farm tools and equipment, and chemicals.As a toxicologist, you are asked your opinion.  What was this child exposed to? Answer with the name of a class of agents.