PLTW MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS STUDY GUIDE
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS 2025/2026 RATED A+
✔✔Killed Vaccine - ✔✔(inactivated) disables a pathogen's replicating activity while
keeping immune responses and shapes intact; inactivate through heat of radiation; will
not produce full immune response so requires booster shots
✔✔Polio virus - ✔✔uses cells within tissue culture to make copies of itself
✔✔Toxoid Vaccine - ✔✔(inactivated) goal is to condition the immune system to combat
not an invading virus or bacteria but rather a toxin produced by that invading virus or
bacteria; booster shots needed
✔✔Tetanus - ✔✔caused by toxins created by the bacteria Clostridium tetani
✔✔Subunit Vaccine - ✔✔small portion of vaccine; contains a piece of the protein coat
that surrounds the virus' DNA
✔✔Hepatitis B - ✔✔A serious liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus
✔✔Naked DNA Vaccines - ✔✔use a gene from a pathogen to generate an immune
response; small loops of DNA invade body cells and incorporate themselves into the
cells nuclei; made using PCR and vectors
✔✔HIV - ✔✔The human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes HIV infection
and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
✔✔Restriction Enzymes - ✔✔cut DNA sequences at known locations
✔✔Ligase - ✔✔enzyme that allows scientist to paste the ends of DNA molecules
together by matching sticky ends with their base pairs
✔✔Restriction Endonuclease - ✔✔proteins that cut out regions of Dna; move across
DNA molecule and break the bond they are coded for, leaving behind sticky ends; EX:
BamHI, EcoRI, HaeIII, HindIII, PstI
✔✔Plasmids - ✔✔small rings of DNA that exist independently on a bacterial
chromosome; can be copied and passed on; created DNA is passed into a plasmid
(transformation)
✔✔Herd Immunity - ✔✔Vaccinating a large percentage of a community to interrupt
transmission of contagious disease
, ✔✔Epidemiology - ✔✔Branch of medical science concerned with the incidence,
distribution, and control of diseases that affect large numbers of people.
✔✔Explain why the Hepatitis B vaccine is administered multiple times over the course
of a child's life. What does it mean when doctors use the term "booster shot"? -
✔✔Hepatitis B vaccine is created through the use of dead Hep B pathogens and / or
pieces of the Hep B pathogen. This is a way to ensure the recipient does not contract
the disease, but it is also not as effective a way for the body to provide 'recognition' of
the pathogen. Administering it in three doses helps the development of the memory B
lymphocyte cells and ensures immunity against the disease.
✔✔Explain how doctors can
determine if you will require an additional dose of a vaccine. - ✔✔A doctor can take your
blood and do what is called an 'immunity titer'. He will look for the antibodies against the
disease in question. This antibody test may even be a form of the ELISA test we
conducted to determine what antigen Sue was sick with. ELISA tests can test for
antibodies or antigens it depends on how the test is designed.
✔✔It can be said that a vaccine does not prevent infection; rather it primes the immune
system to respond to an invader. Using information about human immune response,
explain this statement. Mention what happens in the body from the time of vaccination
through contact with the infectious agent. - ✔✔It is not that the person doesn't contract
the disease, it is that the person now has immunity against the pathogen. After a
vaccination, if a pathogen enters the body then the memory B lymphocytes can
immediately activate the cytotoxic T cells in the case of a virus, or activate the
neutrophils in the case of a bacteria. Initially, when a vaccine is administered and the
body recognizes it as a pathogen, an eater cell such as a macrophage, dendritic
phagocytize 'eats' the pathogen and presents the pathogen cite on it's surface. This
activates the B lymphocytes that create memory B cells or plasma cells that produce
antibodies. These antibodies 'tag' the pathogen for ingestion by other eater cells, or the
memory B cellsactivate cytotoxic T cells of handle the virus invaders.
✔✔Experimental Epidemiologist Study - ✔✔Epidemiologists have control over the
circumstances from the start
✔✔Observational Epidemiologist Study - ✔✔Epidemiologists do not have control over
circumstances
✔✔Cohort Study - ✔✔Select the study population according to their exposure
regardless of whether they have the disease or health outcome you're studying, then
determine the outcomes and compare them on the basis of the individuals' exposure
✔✔Case- Control Study - ✔✔Epidemiologist works backward; Participants are selected
on the basis of the presence or absence of the disease or outcome in question, so you
have one group of people with the health problem and one without
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS 2025/2026 RATED A+
✔✔Killed Vaccine - ✔✔(inactivated) disables a pathogen's replicating activity while
keeping immune responses and shapes intact; inactivate through heat of radiation; will
not produce full immune response so requires booster shots
✔✔Polio virus - ✔✔uses cells within tissue culture to make copies of itself
✔✔Toxoid Vaccine - ✔✔(inactivated) goal is to condition the immune system to combat
not an invading virus or bacteria but rather a toxin produced by that invading virus or
bacteria; booster shots needed
✔✔Tetanus - ✔✔caused by toxins created by the bacteria Clostridium tetani
✔✔Subunit Vaccine - ✔✔small portion of vaccine; contains a piece of the protein coat
that surrounds the virus' DNA
✔✔Hepatitis B - ✔✔A serious liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus
✔✔Naked DNA Vaccines - ✔✔use a gene from a pathogen to generate an immune
response; small loops of DNA invade body cells and incorporate themselves into the
cells nuclei; made using PCR and vectors
✔✔HIV - ✔✔The human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes HIV infection
and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
✔✔Restriction Enzymes - ✔✔cut DNA sequences at known locations
✔✔Ligase - ✔✔enzyme that allows scientist to paste the ends of DNA molecules
together by matching sticky ends with their base pairs
✔✔Restriction Endonuclease - ✔✔proteins that cut out regions of Dna; move across
DNA molecule and break the bond they are coded for, leaving behind sticky ends; EX:
BamHI, EcoRI, HaeIII, HindIII, PstI
✔✔Plasmids - ✔✔small rings of DNA that exist independently on a bacterial
chromosome; can be copied and passed on; created DNA is passed into a plasmid
(transformation)
✔✔Herd Immunity - ✔✔Vaccinating a large percentage of a community to interrupt
transmission of contagious disease
, ✔✔Epidemiology - ✔✔Branch of medical science concerned with the incidence,
distribution, and control of diseases that affect large numbers of people.
✔✔Explain why the Hepatitis B vaccine is administered multiple times over the course
of a child's life. What does it mean when doctors use the term "booster shot"? -
✔✔Hepatitis B vaccine is created through the use of dead Hep B pathogens and / or
pieces of the Hep B pathogen. This is a way to ensure the recipient does not contract
the disease, but it is also not as effective a way for the body to provide 'recognition' of
the pathogen. Administering it in three doses helps the development of the memory B
lymphocyte cells and ensures immunity against the disease.
✔✔Explain how doctors can
determine if you will require an additional dose of a vaccine. - ✔✔A doctor can take your
blood and do what is called an 'immunity titer'. He will look for the antibodies against the
disease in question. This antibody test may even be a form of the ELISA test we
conducted to determine what antigen Sue was sick with. ELISA tests can test for
antibodies or antigens it depends on how the test is designed.
✔✔It can be said that a vaccine does not prevent infection; rather it primes the immune
system to respond to an invader. Using information about human immune response,
explain this statement. Mention what happens in the body from the time of vaccination
through contact with the infectious agent. - ✔✔It is not that the person doesn't contract
the disease, it is that the person now has immunity against the pathogen. After a
vaccination, if a pathogen enters the body then the memory B lymphocytes can
immediately activate the cytotoxic T cells in the case of a virus, or activate the
neutrophils in the case of a bacteria. Initially, when a vaccine is administered and the
body recognizes it as a pathogen, an eater cell such as a macrophage, dendritic
phagocytize 'eats' the pathogen and presents the pathogen cite on it's surface. This
activates the B lymphocytes that create memory B cells or plasma cells that produce
antibodies. These antibodies 'tag' the pathogen for ingestion by other eater cells, or the
memory B cellsactivate cytotoxic T cells of handle the virus invaders.
✔✔Experimental Epidemiologist Study - ✔✔Epidemiologists have control over the
circumstances from the start
✔✔Observational Epidemiologist Study - ✔✔Epidemiologists do not have control over
circumstances
✔✔Cohort Study - ✔✔Select the study population according to their exposure
regardless of whether they have the disease or health outcome you're studying, then
determine the outcomes and compare them on the basis of the individuals' exposure
✔✔Case- Control Study - ✔✔Epidemiologist works backward; Participants are selected
on the basis of the presence or absence of the disease or outcome in question, so you
have one group of people with the health problem and one without
