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Module 8: Non-infectious Disease and Disorders

9 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

Inquiry Question 2: Do non-infectious diseases cause more deaths than infectious diseases?

Investigate the causes and effects of non-infectious diseases in humans, including but not limited to: genetic diseases, diseases caused by environmental exposure, nutritional diseases and diseases caused by cancer

A focused answer to the HSC Biology Module 8 dot point on causes of non-infectious disease. Covers genetic, environmental, nutritional, lifestyle and age-related categories with named examples, distinguishing causal mechanisms and risk factors.

9 min answer →

Collect and represent data from secondary sources to evaluate the method used in an example of an epidemiological study, including incidence, prevalence, mortality, and the methods and benefits of epidemiology

A focused answer to the HSC Biology Module 8 dot point on epidemiology. Defines incidence, prevalence and mortality, compares cohort, case-control and cross-sectional study designs, and applies them to the Doll and Hill lung cancer studies.

10 min answer →

Investigate the causes and effects of named genetic diseases on humans, including cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anaemia and Huntington's disease, and analyse pedigrees showing their inheritance

HSC Biology Module 8 answer on named genetic disorders - cystic fibrosis (autosomal recessive, CFTR), sickle cell anaemia (autosomal recessive, HBB) and Huntington's disease (autosomal dominant, HTT) - with their molecular causes, effects, and pedigree and Punnett-square analysis.

11 min answer →

Investigate the causes and effects of named nutritional and environmental diseases, including diabetes (type 2), cardiovascular disease and mesothelioma

A focused answer to the HSC Biology Module 8 dot point on nutritional and environmental disease. Covers type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease (atherosclerosis) and mesothelioma, with mechanisms, risk factors and burden of disease in Australia.

14 min answer →

Inquiry Question 4: How can technologies be used to assist people who experience disorders?

Investigate the treatment, management and possible future directions for the cure of non-infectious diseases through pharmaceutical intervention, gene therapy and lifestyle change

A focused answer to the HSC Biology Module 8 dot point on disease treatment. Covers pharmaceutical intervention (insulin, statins, CFTR modulators), gene therapy (Casgevy for sickle cell, Luxturna for vision), and lifestyle change as both prevention and treatment.

11 min answer →

Explain a disorder by investigating the structure and function of the affected organ, and investigate technologies that are used to assist people who experience that disorder, including the loss of kidney function and the use of dialysis

A focused HSC Biology Module 8 answer on loss of kidney function and the technologies that assist it. Covers kidney and nephron structure and function (filtration, reabsorption, secretion, homeostasis), causes of kidney failure, and an evaluation of haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and transplant.

13 min answer →

Investigate technologies that are used to assist with the effects of a disorder, including hearing loss, vision loss and loss of kidney function, and explain how a named disorder is assisted by the use of named technologies

A focused HSC Biology Module 8 answer on technologies that assist sense-organ disorders: how the ear transduces sound (conductive vs sensorineural hearing loss; hearing aids, BAHA, cochlear implants) and how the lens focuses light (myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia, cataract; lenses, LASIK, IOLs), each linked to the structure it fixes.

13 min answer →

Inquiry Question 1: How is an organism's internal environment maintained in response to a changing external environment?

Investigate the responses of a named Australian ectothermic and endothermic organism to changes in the ambient temperature, and explain how these responses assist in maintaining homeostasis, including negative feedback, positive feedback, thermoregulation and osmoregulation

A focused HSC Biology Module 8 answer on homeostasis - negative and positive feedback, neural and hormonal coordination, thermoregulation in endotherms and ectotherms, osmoregulation by the kidney and ADH, and water balance in plants (stomata, transpiration and xerophyte adaptations).

13 min answer →

Inquiry Question 3: Why are epidemiological studies used?

Investigate the treatment, management and possible future directions for the cure of non-infectious diseases using an example that has been treated by both pharmaceutical and medical interventions, including education programs and screening

A focused HSC Biology Module 8 answer on preventing non-infectious disease: education campaigns (SunSmart, QUIT), population screening (BreastScreen, bowel, cervical) and genetic engineering approaches (carrier and preimplantation genetic screening, gene therapy) that prevent inherited disease.

13 min answer →