Patrick dies and leaves his entire estate (worth 25,000) to his wife, Jennifer. Jennifer is 35 years

younger than Patrick and has only been married to him for three months at the time of his death.

Patrick's daughter, Charlotte, is not left anything under the will. Charlotte contests the will. In

what court will this case be heard?

Question 1

As cells grow and regenerate, what mechanism does the body use to

get rid of the continuously dying cells? And what kind of cells can't be

replaced once dead?

Question 2

I cannot find out why some of the autosomal dominant diseases have a

male or female preponderance, e.g. I have never seen a female Marfans. I

was attributing it to imprinting but on reading about imprinting in detail

it cannot be the case.

Question 3

We have been told that some tumours in the colon are associated with

microsatellite instability. What does this mean?

Question 4

I understand that microarrays are being used to define the molecular

abnormality and the prognosis in some patients with leukaemia. What

are microarrays?

Question 5

Why do mitochondrial diseases cause a myopathy?

Question 6

Why do successive generations of patients with some genetic disorders

present earlier and with progressively worse symptoms.

5

2 Molecular cell biology and

genetic disorders

2 Molecular cell biology and genetic disorders

Question 7

Does a normal serum uric acid level exclude the diagnosis of

Lesch-Nyhan syndrome?

Question 8

How is retinoblastoma an autosomal dominant disease if the mutation of

both RB genes is required to express the disease?

Question 9

1. Why is dexamethasone not routinely used instead of prednisolone,

which is almost universally used routinely in autoimmune diseases, or

other indications for steroids? Is it because dexamethasone lacks the

mineralocorticoid activity seen with prednisolone and therefore does

not cause salt/water retention and hypertension?

2. Can high doses of dexamethasone be used in acute relapses of

multiple sclerosis (MS) in place of pulse methylprednisolone? If so,

what is the recommended dosage?

Question 10

What is meant by 'pus cell' and is this term synonymous with

neutrophils?