1. Explain how carbon monoxide interferes with oxygen transport. Be sure to include the binding of CO to hemoglobin. If the air is contaminated with 0.1% CO and CO binds with about 200 times more affinity than oxygen (21% O2 in normal air), then what will be the ratio of oxygen versus CO bound?
2. A 65 yo male patient goes to the emergency room complaining of shortness of breath (SOB) and dyspnea on exertion (for the past two years). He is thin with a large chest, smokes two packs of cigarettes/day and is in moderate respiratory distress. What is the problem you suspect (diagnosis and the etiology (cause, include the underlying mechanism and elastase effects))? What would you expect for the value of the Spirometry results (low, normal or high) for TLC, FRC, RV and for FVC and FEV?
3. A woman goes to the emergency room complaining of chest pain. A lung scan reveals an embolus in the lung. He respiratory rate is 24 breaths/minute (hyperventilation, due to panic). Her arterial blood PO2 is low (hypoxia) but her alveolar PO2 is high, Why? Her blood PCO2 is also lower and her blood pH is high. Why, explain?
4. A 43 y.o. woman goes to the Emergency room with acute onset of pain in her right upper quadrant (that radiates down the right shoulder). She reports that the pain is worse after she eats a fatty meal. Ultrasound shows an enlarged gall bladder with multiple gallstones. Explain how gallstones can block the flow of bile and what may cause the pain? Why would a fatty meal make the pain worse? What effect does CCK have on gastric emptying?
