Key term
Edexcel GCSE Combined Science Biology 1SC0
Key Concepts in Biology
Topic overviewEukaryotic and prokaryotic cellsSpecialised cells and their adaptationsMicroscopes and magnification calculationsSize, scale and units in cell biologyEnzyme action and denaturationFactors affecting enzyme activityEnzymes in synthesis and digestion, and rate calculationsDiffusion, osmosis and active transportOsmosis in potatoes and percentage change in mass
Cells and Control
Genetics
Topic overviewMeiosis and the formation of gametesDNA structure, genes and the genomeExtracting DNA from fruitAlleles, genotype and phenotypeMonohybrid crosses and sex determinationProbability and ratios from genetic crossesCauses of variation: genes and environmentThe Human Genome ProjectGenetic variation and the effects of mutation
Natural Selection and Genetic Modification
Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines
Topic overviewHealth, disease and susceptibilityPathogens and common infectionsHow pathogens spread, and the virus life cycleSexually transmitted infectionsPhysical barriers and chemical defencesThe immune system, immunisation and herd immunityAntibiotics and developing new medicinesLifestyle factors and non-communicable diseaseTreatments for cardiovascular disease
Plant Structures and Their Functions
Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis
Exchange and Transport in Animals
Topic overviewWhy multicellular organisms need exchange surfacesAlveoli and gas exchangeThe blood and its componentsArteries, veins and capillariesThe heart and the circulatory systemCellular respiration as an exothermic reactionAerobic and anaerobic respiration comparedInvestigating the rate of respirationCardiac output, stroke volume and heart rate
Ecosystems and Material Cycles
Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines
- 9 subtopics
- 27 things to know
- Paper 1
What Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines covers
Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines is examined in Paper 1, Biology 1. It covers health and susceptibility, pathogens, the diseases they cause and how they spread, sexually transmitted infections, the body's physical and chemical barriers, the immune system and vaccination, antibiotics and developing new medicines, lifestyle and non-communicable disease, and treating cardiovascular disease.
Where it is assessed
Paper 1
Biology 1: Biology in Combined Science: 1 hour 10 minutes, 60 marks, 16.67% of the qualification.
Check the Pearson Edexcel specification ↗The 9 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Health, disease and susceptibilityThe World Health Organization definition of health as physical, mental and social well-being, communicable and non-communicable diseases and examples of each, pathogens, susceptibility, and how HIV, human papilloma virus, malnutrition and lung damage make other diseases more likely.Open →
- Pathogens and common infectionsPathogens and the four types, how viruses, bacteria, fungi and protists cause disease, and the pathogen, symptoms and damage of cholera, tuberculosis, Chalara ash dieback, malaria, and HIV and AIDS.Open →
- How pathogens spread, and the virus life cycleHow cholera, tuberculosis, Chalara ash dieback and malaria are spread and how their spread is reduced by treating water and sewage, isolation and ventilation, removing infected trees, insecticide-treated nets and draining standing water, and why a mosquito is a vector rather than a pathogen.Open →
- Sexually transmitted infectionsSexually transmitted infections, Chlamydia as a bacterial infection often passed on unnoticed and its effect on fertility, how HIV is passed on in body fluids, how condoms, screening and clean needles reduce spread, and why antibiotics cure Chlamydia but not HIV.Open →
- Physical barriers and chemical defencesThe skin as a physical barrier, mucus and cilia in the airways and why smokers get more chest infections, lysozymes in tears and saliva, hydrochloric acid in the stomach, and how a cut in the skin raises the risk of infection.Open →
- The immune system, immunisation and herd immunityAntigens, lymphocytes and why each antibody works against only one pathogen, how antibodies help destroy pathogens, memory lymphocytes and the primary and secondary responses, what vaccines contain and how they protect, boosters, and why influenza needs a new vaccine each year.Open →
- Antibiotics and developing new medicinesWhy antibiotics treat bacterial but not viral infections, the discovery, development, preclinical and clinical testing of new medicines, low doses and placebos, peer review and publishing trial results for scientists and the public, and calculating clear zone areas with πr² to compare new antibiotics.Open →
- Lifestyle factors and non-communicable diseaseNon-communicable diseases caused by interacting factors, lung, liver and nutrition-related diseases, correlation and cause, calculating body mass index and waist:hip ratio, obesity and malnutrition, and how alcohol damages the liver and smoking and carbon monoxide raise the risk of cardiovascular disease.Open →
- Treatments for cardiovascular diseaseStatins, anticoagulants, stents, coronary bypass operations, lifestyle change and heart transplants as treatments for cardiovascular disease, the advantages and disadvantages of each, and when lifestyle change alone is not enough.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
Explain how one disease or a poor diet can increase a person's susceptibility to other diseases.
Key term
Describe the physical barriers that keep pathogens out of the body and why smoking weakens one of those barriers.
Key term
What is a pathogen?
Key term
How is cholera spread?
Key term
What is a sexually transmitted infection?
Key term
Which type of pathogen can antibiotics treat?
Key term
Explain what is meant by saying a non-communicable disease is caused by interacting factors.
Key term
Name one medicine taken for life to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, and state what it does.
Key term
How is health defined by the World Health Organization?
Key term
Name the four types of pathogen.
Key term
Describe two ways the spread of cholera can be reduced.
Key term
Explain why Chlamydia is often passed on without the infected person realising.
Key term
Describe how the skin protects the body from pathogens.
Key term
What is an antigen?
Process
Name one process in a bacterium that an antibiotic can inhibit.
Key term
Give four groups of non-communicable disease.
Key term
Describe what a stent does.
Key term
State the three kinds of well-being included in the definition of health.
Key term
Explain why a virus can only reproduce inside a living cell.
Key term
Explain how the spread of tuberculosis can be reduced.
Key term
Describe two ways the spread of Chlamydia can be reduced.
Key term
Explain how mucus in the airways protects the lungs.
Key term
Which cells produce antibodies?
Key term
Explain why antibiotics cannot be used to treat a cold.
Key term
Name one non-communicable disease strongly influenced by nutrition.
Key term
Describe what happens in a coronary bypass operation.
Take Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Communicable disease vs Non-communicable disease
Communicable disease: illness caused by a pathogen that passes between organisms. Non-communicable disease: illness with interacting causes that cannot pass between people.
Antigen vs Antibody
Antigen: molecule on a pathogen's surface recognised as foreign. Antibody: protein made by lymphocytes that binds one specific pathogen marker.
Preclinical testing vs Clinical testing
Preclinical testing: trying the drug on cells, tissues and then live animals. Clinical testing: giving the drug to healthy volunteers and then to patients.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
How is health defined by the World Health Organization?
Model answer
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not simply the absence of disease or infirmity.
- 2
State the three kinds of well-being included in the definition of health.
Model answer
Physical, mental and social well-being.
- 3
Explain why a person with no diagnosed illness might still not be considered healthy.
Model answer
Health also requires mental and social well-being, so someone free of disease can be unhealthy if either of these is poor.
- 4
Describe what is meant by mental well-being.
Model answer
Mental well-being means a person is free from mental illness and feels able to cope with the ordinary demands of life.
- 5
Suggest how a physically fit person could still have poor social well-being.
Model answer
They may be isolated or have poor relationships with the people around them.
- 6
Name the organisation whose definition of health includes physical, mental and social well-being.
Model answer
The World Health Organization.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines revision questions
- What does Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines cover in Edexcel GCSE Combined Science Biology?
- 9 subtopics: health, disease and susceptibility, pathogens and common infections, how pathogens spread, and the virus life cycle, sexually transmitted infections, physical barriers and chemical defences, the immune system, immunisation and herd immunity, antibiotics and developing new medicines, lifestyle factors and non-communicable disease and treatments for cardiovascular disease. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines organised?
- By the Edexcel 1SC0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.