Skip to content
MathsGenie logo
Open app

Course home

  1. A Level
  3. Biology AQA
  5. Question bank

Homeostasis is the maintenance of a stable internal environment (A-level only)

EasyMediumHard
1
Question 1

Scientists investigated the relationship between daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and the relative risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes (T2D).

They gathered data from a health study cohort to calculate the relative risk:

  • A relative risk of 1.01.01.0 means there is no difference in risk between the sample group and the base population.
  • A relative risk of <1.0< 1.0<1.0 means T2D is less likely to occur in the sample group than in the overall population.
  • A relative risk of >1.0> 1.0>1.0 means T2D is more likely to occur.

Their results are shown in Figure 1 below. An interval of ±2\pm 2±2 standard deviations from the mean includes approximately 95% of the data.

A line graph titled "Figure 1" showing the relative risk of Type 2 Diabetes against daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in minutes per day. The x-axis is labeled "Daily physical activity / minutes day^{-1}" and ranges from 0 to 90 with major gridlines every 10 units. The y-axis is labeled "Relative risk of Type 2 Diabetes" and ranges from 0.4 to 1.6 with major gridlines every 0.1 units. A solid line represents the mean relative risk: at 5 minutes, it is 1.45; at 15 minutes, 1.25; at 30 minutes, 1.00; at 45 minutes, 0.85; at 60 minutes, 0.75; at 75 minutes, 0.65; and at 90 minutes, 0.60. Two dashed lines represent the upper and lower bounds for +/- 2 standard deviations from the mean. At 5 minutes, the SD bounds are extremely wide (1.15 to 1.75). Between 20 and 45 minutes, the SD bounds are very narrow (e.g., at 20 minutes, they are 1.10 to 1.20; at 35 minutes, they are 0.88 to 0.96). Above 60 minutes, the SD bounds widen significantly again (e.g., at 75 minutes, they are 0.50 to 0.80). Plotted '+' markers, each representing 500 study participants, are highly concentrated between 15 and 50 minutes, with very few '+' markers below 10 minutes or above 60 minutes.

An individual reviewed Figure 1 and concluded that doing an extra 15 minutes15\text{ minutes}15 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day would significantly lower their risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes.

Evaluate this conclusion.

[7]

Homeostasis is the maintenance of a stable internal environment (A-level only) Questions

  1. A Level
  2. /Biology
  3. /Homeostasis is the maintenance of a stable internal environment (A-level only)