Maharashtra HSC Medical Lab Technology (Vocational) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Standard precautions

Infection control practices applied to all patients regardless of diagnosis: hand hygiene, gloves, gown, mask, eye protection, and safe handling of sharps and spills.

Yellow biomedical waste bag

Receives human anatomical waste, soiled dressings, expired medicines and chemical or cytotoxic waste under Indian Biomedical Waste Rules; it is incinerated or deep-buried.

Sodium hypochlorite for blood spills

Use freshly prepared 1% sodium hypochlorite, keeping it in contact with the spill for about 30 minutes before wiping from the periphery towards the centre.

Adult CPR compression ratio

For one or two rescuers in adult cardiac arrest, give 30 chest compressions followed by 2 breaths, compressing 5 to 6 cm deep at 100 to 120 per minute.

Anaphylaxis first-line drug

Adrenaline 0.5 mg of 1:1000 solution given intramuscularly into the anterolateral thigh, repeated every 5 minutes if needed, along with oxygen and intravenous fluids.

First aid for burns

Cool the burn with running water for about 20 minutes, remove jewellery, do not peel adherent clothing, never apply ice or toothpaste, and cover with a clean non-fluffy dressing.

Levey-Jennings chart

A quality control graph plotting daily control values against time with mean and plus or minus 1, 2 and 3 standard deviation limits, to detect random and systematic error.

1-3s Westgard rule

One control measurement exceeds the mean by more than three standard deviations; this is a rejection rule indicating random error, and the run must not be reported.

Accuracy versus precision

Accuracy is closeness of a measured value to the true value, affected by bias; precision is agreement among repeated measurements, usually expressed as coefficient of variation.

Number of bones in adult

The adult human skeleton has 206 bones, of which 80 form the axial skeleton (skull, vertebral column, ribs, sternum) and 126 form the appendicular skeleton.

Lobes of right lung

The right lung has three lobes (upper, middle, lower) while the left has two; the trachea divides at the carina, at the level of the T4 vertebra.

Anatomical position

Standing erect and facing forward with arms by the sides and palms forward; all directional terms such as medial, lateral, proximal and distal are defined relative to it.

Virchow triad

Three factors predisposing to thrombosis: endothelial injury, abnormal blood flow such as stasis or turbulence, and hypercoagulability of blood.

Types of necrosis

Coagulative necrosis in ischaemic organs with preserved architecture, liquefactive in brain and abscesses, caseous in tuberculosis, fat necrosis in pancreatitis, and fibrinoid in vasculitis.

Cardinal signs of inflammation

Redness, heat, swelling, pain and loss of function, caused by vasodilatation, increased vascular permeability and mediators such as histamine and prostaglandins.

Fasting glucose diagnostic cut-off

A fasting plasma glucose of 126 mg/dL or more on two occasions, or a random value of 200 mg/dL with symptoms, or HbA1c of 6.5% or more, diagnoses diabetes.

Beer-Lambert law

Absorbance is directly proportional to the concentration of the absorbing substance and to the light path length, expressed as A equals epsilon times c times l.

Anion gap formula

Anion gap equals sodium minus the sum of chloride and bicarbonate, normally 8 to 16 mEq/L; it rises in ketoacidosis, lactic acidosis and renal failure.

Universal red cell donor

Group O negative red cells lack A, B and Rh D antigens, so they can be transfused to recipients of any ABO and Rh group in an emergency.

Platelet storage conditions

Platelet concentrates are stored at 20 to 24 degrees Celsius with continuous gentle agitation for up to 5 days; refrigeration causes loss of platelet function.

Microcytic anaemia causes

An MCV below 80 fL suggests iron deficiency, thalassaemia, anaemia of chronic disease or sideroblastic anaemia; iron studies and haemoglobin electrophoresis distinguish them.

Ziehl-Neelsen stain

Carbol fuchsin with heat stains acid-fast bacilli pink against a blue methylene blue background, and is used to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum.

MacConkey agar

A selective and differential medium containing bile salts and crystal violet; lactose fermenters such as E. coli form pink colonies, while non-fermenters remain pale.

Malaria thick and thin smear

The thick film concentrates parasites for detection, while the thin film, fixed in methanol, preserves red cell morphology for identifying species such as P. falciparum.

CSF glucose in bacterial meningitis

Cerebrospinal fluid glucose falls below 40 mg/dL, usually under 60% of simultaneous blood glucose, with high protein and neutrophil predominance.

Light's criteria

Pleural fluid is an exudate if protein exceeds 3 g/dL, or fluid-to-serum protein ratio exceeds 0.5, or fluid LDH exceeds two-thirds of the serum upper limit.

Haematoxylin and eosin stain

Haematoxylin, a basic dye, stains nucleic acids blue-purple; eosin, an acidic dye, stains cytoplasm and collagen pink; it is the routine stain of histopathology.

Fine needle aspiration cytology

A thin needle samples cells from a palpable mass; smears are stained with May-Grunwald Giemsa or Papanicolaou stain and reported without tissue architecture.

IgM antibody

The first antibody produced in a primary immune response; it is a pentamer, activates complement efficiently, and does not cross the placenta, so it indicates recent infection.

Type IV hypersensitivity

Delayed, T-cell mediated hypersensitivity peaking at 48 to 72 hours, as in the tuberculin (Mantoux) test and contact dermatitis; no antibody is involved.

Relative centrifugal force formula

RCF equals 1.118 times 10 to the power minus 5, multiplied by radius in centimetres and by RPM squared; RCF in gravity units compares centrifugation across different machines.

TC versus TD pipettes

A TC (to contain) pipette delivers less than its stated volume because residual fluid remains on the wall; a TD (to deliver) pipette is calibrated to dispense the stated volume.