Page 283 Data-based question: Caenorhabditis
elegans development
1. 1 → 2 → 4 → 8 → 16 → 32 → 64 → 128 → 256 →
512 → 1024 (almost enough) → 2048 (more than
enough); eleven synchronous divisions to produce
enough cells.
2. a) Not exactly synchronous; but there are
periods when many cells divide.
b) Major division periods occur at about 93,
118, 147 and 183 hours after fertilization;
the intervals between these periods are 25,
29 and 36 hours so the intervals appear to be
getting longer.
3. a) Eight synchronous divisions would be
needed to produce at least 182 cells.
b) If all cells had divided in each round of
division there would have been 256 cells; so
not all cells have completed 8 divisions.
4. 959 + 131 = 1090 cells.
Page 284 Data-based question: Aging and
telomere shortening
1. Telomeres become shorter with increasing age;
rate of decrease gets less over time.
2. Data in the graph supports the claim; telomeres
are shown to vary from more than 10 kb
(kilobases) to fewer than 4 kb; length must be
variable as it reduces during the lifetime and a
population consists of people at different stages in
their life; graph shows that at any specific age
there is a range in telomere length.
3. Shorter/longer telomere at birth; faster/slower
rate of decrease in telomere length per year;
variation in rates of cell division; possible enviro-
nmental influence on the rate of cell division.
4. a) Body growth; asexual reproduction/cloning;
repair/replacement of damaged tissue;
growth of tumours.
b) Slower healing after injury; skin becoming
thinner; slower/no body growth; slower hair
growth; slower/no asexual reproduction;
slower growing tumours/cancer.
Page 286 The mitotic index of a tumour
1. Five cells in mitosis.
2. Upper left cell: telophase;
middle left cell: telophase;
middle centre cell: metaphase;
lower left cell: anaphase/telophase;
lower right cell: prophase.
3. 171 cells in interphase (allow a wide range of
answers because accurate counting is difficult).
4. (5/176) × 100%; = 2.8
1
Page 287 Data-based question: Mitotic index and
cancer survival rates
1. Bar chart; percentage survival on y-axis with scale
and legend; six groups on x-axis with clear labels;
grouped by tumour size or by mitotic index (two
groups of three bars or three groups of two bars).
2. a) Negative relationship; the higher the mitotic
index the lower the percentage survival.
b) Tumour growing faster; secondary tumours
will also grow rapidly.
3. Mitotic index is a better indicator; larger
differences in survival percentage with variation
in mitotic index than with tumour size.
4. To check for secondary tumours; metastasis; to
decide whether chemotherapy is needed.
Page 289 What is the consequence of tumour
cells moving?
1. Drug companies want to recoup the cost of
developing the treatment; new treatments are
under patent so competition cannot drive down
the price; new treatments involve antibodies/
proteins that are expensive to produce.
2. Yes, because limits force drug companies to
restrict prices; limits make it possible for a
treatment to be made available to everyone/more
patients; money for health care is limited so
without price limits for cancer therapy other
treatments will be restricted; cost-benefit
analyses may show that the extra days/months of
life are not warranted if the costs of treatment are
very high.
3. Difficult to make it illegal to spend money on
relatives’ health care; doctors should give
guidance about whether the money will provide
enough pain-free rewarding days of life to the
relative; perhaps not ethical for the very wealthy
to monopolize resources/health care
professionals’ time if others then do not receive
adequate care; treatment providers should be
regulated so to be prevented from making
promises of recovery that are not justified by
evidence.
Page 290 What factors in the environment can
cause normal body cells to change into tumour
cells?
1. a) Nuclear bombs release radioactive fallout;
beta particles/gamma rays; radiation causes
mutations; in oncogenes.
b) Sun-beds emit UV radiation; UVA and UVB;
causes mutations in skin cells; causes skin
cancer.
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 c) Chemical mutagens in cigarette smoke; more
than 30 chemicals shown to be mutagenic;
cause chemical changes in DNA; cancer if
mutations are in oncogenes.
d) X-rays are high energy/ionizing radiation;
cause mutations.
2. Depends on the risk of cancer that they cause; and
any benefits their use brings; there are ethical
questions over whether it is right to prevent an
individual from causing harm to themselves;
additional issues arise in jurisdictions where
there is publicly funded health care.
Page 291 Data-based question: Global
distribution of air pollution
1. Highest pollution levels in India/China/Middle
East; high levels in cities; higher levels in develop-
ing countries/lower levels in developed countries.
2. Positive correlation with levels of air pollution;
the higher the level of air pollution the higher the
incidence of asthma/emphysema/lung cancer/
respiratory diseases; not directly proportional
because other factors influence these diseases.
3. Negative correlation; lower lichen biodiversity
with higher lung cancer mortality.
4. Lung cancer isn’t caused by low lichen bio-
diversity; lung cancer mortality is positively
correlated with concentration of air pollutants;
lichen biodiversity is negatively correlated with
concentration of air pollutants; so there is a
negative correlation between concentration of air
pollutants and lung cancer mortality.
5. They might previously have lived in an area with a
different concentration of the air pollutants that
cause cancer; lung cancer takes a long time to
develop and be diagnosed.
6. Other factors affect lung cancer mortality; other
factors affect lichen biodiversity.
Page 293 Determining relatedness between
organisms
1. Differences in base sequence:
Adoxophyes honmai to Diatraea saccharalis 41
Adoxophyes honmai to Ostrinia furnacalis 6
Adoxophyes honmai to Ostrinia nubilalis 13
Diatraea saccharalis to Ostrinia furnacalis 35
Diatraea saccharalis to Ostrinia nubilalis 38
Ostrinia furnacalis to Ostrinia nubilalis 17
So Diatraea honmai is most dissimilar in base
sequence to the other three species; and is not
closely related to any of them; the other three
species are closely related to each other; as they
have many similarities in base sequence.
2. Adoxophyes honmai and Ostrinia furnacalis are
most similar; Adoxophyes honmai is more similar
to both Ostrinia species despite them being in the
same genus.
© Oxford University Press 2017
Page 297 What evidence established the cause of
infectious diseases?
1. Take blood sample from an infected and an
uninfected cow; view the blood samples under a
microscope to confirm the presence of anthrax
bacteria in the sample from the infected but not
from the uninfected cow; culture the pathogen in
a tube; inoculate a healthy mouse with anthrax
bacteria from the culture; confirm that the mouse
develops the disease; take a blood sample from
the diseased mouse; view the blood samples
under a microscope to confirm the presence of
anthrax bacteria in the sample; culture the
pathogen in a tube.
2. Mice may not contract the disease because the
pathogens are not adapted to them/because the
mice already have immunity; death might be
caused by other factors from the disease they are
infected with.
3. Viral diseases because they cannot be cultured on
acellular media; genetic/degenerative/mental
diseases.
4. Differences between animals; in physiology/
metabolism/anatomy/immune system; so
findings in the model animal may not apply to
other animal species.
5. Possibly unethical to inoculate a healthy
mouse/animal with a pathogen; causes
suffering/could kill a healthy animal.
Page 298 Data-based question: MMR and DTP
vaccines
1. Children don’t like vaccinations so the fewer the
better; cheaper to do one vaccination than three
separate ones; more likely that a child will be fully
vaccinated against the three diseases.
2. Increased between 1990-91 and 92-93; remained
high (from 92-93 to 96-97); decreased (after
1998); decreased steeply (after 2000).
3. Somewhere in the range of 1996-1999.
4. Incidence of autism increased; increased from 88
to 90 and from 92 to 94; decreased from 90 to
91/94 to 95.
5. Claim not supported by the data; MMR
vaccination rate dropped from over 70% to nearly
0% in 1992; yet there was a larger increase in
diagnosis of autism after that time; no sign of
drop in autism even four years later.
6. Number of cases was high and fluctuating before
the use of DTP; cases dropped from over 300 per
100,000 to below 50 after the introduction of the
vaccine; cases rose when the vaccine uptake
dropped from 81% to 31%; but cases decreased
again when vaccine uptake rose back to 93%;
clear link between vaccine uptake and cases of
whooping cough.
2
Summative assessment: Causes of disease
1. a) i) Asbestosis/Minamata disease.
ii) Influenza/malaria/syphilis/Athlete’s foot.
iii) Obesity/anorexia nervosa.

2. a) Spherical.
b) About 50 nuclei visible; but some are concealed behind others so this is
an underestimate; overall estimate is about 60/ is 50 – 70; not very
reliable.
c) 1 → 2 → 4 → 8 → 16 → 32 → 64; so 64 cells are produced by six rounds of
division.
d) Mitosis.
e) More mitochondria.
f) Some cells would have no mitochondria; could not carry out aerobic
respiration; would have no/too little energy for cell processes; would die.

3. a) Reduced to 18% of the level in 1972 = 82% reduction.

b) Blood cholesterol decreased most.
c) More smoking in women but less in men.
d) i) Actual reductions greater than the predictions; reduction to about
18% compared with prediction of about 44% in both men and
women.
ii) Factors that influence the incidence of CHD other than smoking,
blood pressure and cholesterol had improved during the study
period; better treatment for CHD lowered its incidence.

4. a) The increased chance is 8.8 – 3.1 = 5.7 more deaths per 100,000.
b) i) Passive smoking; non-smokers inhale in smoke exhaled by
smokers; containing carcinogens/mutagens; in places where non-
smokers and smokers are together.
ii) Prevent air pollution caused by burning coal; ban diesel vehicles
from cities/eliminate NOX from air that humans breathe; remove
asbestos; wear face masks if there is a danger of inhaling silica/
rock dust/nickel/arsenic/cadmium; remove radon gas from
homes/buildings.
c) With slow doubling rate there is likely to be a longer time before a
tumour is discovered because of its effects; with slow doubling rate there
is more chance of discovering a tumour before it becomes large by
routine screening programs; with slow doubling rate there is less chance
of secondary tumours causing rapid death; with slow doubling rate there
is less chance of chemotherapy working (because a smaller proportion of
cells is in mitosis and therefore vulnerable to chemotherapy drugs).

5. a) 390 deaths per 1,000.

b) Overall decrease in child mortality in all countries; all countries reach
mortality below 50 by the end of the study period; mortality in Chile and
Bangladesh rises during the middle of the study period to a level higher
than at the start before falling again whereas it never rises above the
initial level in Australia or Azerbaijan; decrease in mortality starts earlier
in Australia.
c) Decreases are due to improvements in medicine; such as vaccinations;
and public health measures/clean water; and better nutrition; earlier
decrease in Australia because these measures were introduced sooner.
d) Answers will depend on when the database is consulted.

3 © Oxford University Press 2017

 6. A wide range of answers could be given here. One possible sequence of
answers is:
a) Compare and contrast changes in the incidence of malaria in two different
geographic regions.
b) For example compare equatorial Africa with Southern Africa: Congo, CAF
and Gabon versus Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
c)

d) Pattern is variable though the highest rates are seen in Southern Africa
from 1999; the rates are very high at 40,000/100,000 in Zambia.

7. a) i) A chemical substance or form of radiation that causes cancer to

develop.
ii) In the uterus/before a baby has been born.
iii) Division of cells to produce many.
b) Award marks on a scale from 0 for an article that is without merit
because it is misleading, inaccurate or incomprehensible up to 8 marks
for a succinct article that presents all the information needed to convince
pregnant women that they should not smoke, written in an engaging and
comprehensible style.
c) Avoid inhaling vehicle exhaust fumes/emissions from power
plants/fumes from industry; avoid inhaling fumes from
fires/stoves/heaters used in the home; avoid smoked/grilled food/ avoid
all sources of radiation.

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