Question 1

Wrist drope is most commonly caused by injury to which nerve?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Wrist drop results from loss of wrist and finger extension due to radial nerve palsy, which innervates the extensor muscles of the forearm.

Question 2

Which device is used to detect brain wave activity?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: EEG (electroencephalogram) records electrical activity of the brain. ECG is for heart rhythms, MRI provides imaging, and an endoscope visualizes internal cavities.

Question 3

Which cranial nerve is responsible for facial expressions?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The facial nerve (cranial nerve VII) innervates the muscles of facial expression. Optic (II) is vision, trigeminal (V) provides facial sensation and mastication, and vagus (X) controls parasympathetic and laryngeal/pharyngeal functions.

Question 4

What is the most common cause of dementia in adults?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Alzheimer's disease is the leading and most common cause of dementia in adults; vascular (multi-infarct) dementia is a common second cause, while Pick's disease and metabolic causes are less frequent.

Question 5

Which type of seizure is characterized by a sudden loss of muscle tone lasting a few seconds in a client with epilepsy?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Atonic (drop) seizures cause sudden brief loss of postural muscle tone. Tonic-clonic involves stiffening and jerking, absence causes brief staring, and complex partial involves impaired awareness without sudden loss of tone.

Question 6

What is the primary cause of tonic-clonic seizures in adults older than 20 years who have never had a seizure before?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: In adults with new-onset generalized seizures, structural causes—especially head trauma—are the most common. Electrolyte imbalance can cause seizures but is less common; congenital defects present earlier; epilepsy is a diagnosis, not an initial cause.

Question 7

Which clinical features are commonly associated with epilepsy?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Epilepsy is a neurologic disorder characterized by recurrent seizures; typical manifestations include loss of consciousness, tonic stiffness, and postictal confusion.

Question 8

Which of the following scenarios is most likely to result in a brachial plexus injury?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Traction on the infant’s shoulder/neck during a difficult delivery (e.g., shoulder dystocia) commonly injures the brachial plexus, especially C5–C6 (Erb palsy). The other scenarios are not typical causes.

Question 9

Which of the following statements regarding injury to the common peroneal nerve is false?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Common peroneal nerve injury causes foot drop with loss of dorsiflexion and often occurs at the neck of the fibula. Sensation of the sole is supplied by the tibial nerve, not the common peroneal; therefore anesthesia of the sole is false.

Question 10

Which of the following is a cause of increased intracranial pressure (ICP)?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Intracranial hemorrhage acutely increases intracranial volume, rapidly raising ICP. (Other listed conditions can also raise ICP, but bleeding is a classic direct cause.)

Question 11

What characterizes a positive Babinski sign?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: A positive Babinski sign is extension (dorsiflexion) of the great toe with fanning of the other toes, indicating an upper motor neuron lesion in adults. Plantar flexion is the normal response.

Question 12

What is the type of amnesia in which a patient is unable to recall past events?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Retrograde amnesia is loss of memory for events that occurred before the onset of the condition; anterograde is inability to form new memories, circumscribed is localized to a period, and paramnesia is memory distortion.

Question 13

A patient with a history of cocaine abuse reports feeling that something is moving on their body; which type of hallucination is this an example of?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Tactile (haptic) hallucinations involve sensations on the skin, such as insects crawling or movement, commonly seen with cocaine use. Kinesthetic involves internal body movement; macropsia and Lilliputian are visual disturbances.

Question 14

A lady with diplopia suddenly falls down and cannot reach the phone due to damage to which artery?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: An MCA stroke typically causes contralateral face and upper-extremity weakness and gaze deviation, making the patient unable to reach with the arm. ACA affects the leg, PCA causes visual field loss, anterior choroidal/internal capsule pattern is less specific here, and middle meningeal artery relates to epidural hemorrhage.

Question 15

Which symptom does the nurse recognize as bradykinesia in a client with Parkinson's disease?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Bradykinesia is slowness and poverty of movement, manifested as decreased or absent spontaneous movement; tremor, paralysis, and spasm are not definitions of bradykinesia.

Question 16

Which assessment finding supports a diagnosis of a stroke impacting the occipital lobe?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The occipital lobe is the primary visual cortex; lesions from stroke commonly cause visual field defects such as homonymous hemianopia. The other findings relate to parietal (proprioception) or frontal/Broca's area (expressive aphasia, impulsivity).

Question 17

What is the primary function of the sixth cranial (abducens) nerve?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Cranial nerve VI (abducens) innervates the lateral rectus muscle to abduct the eye, controlling eyeball movement. Taste involves CN VII/IX, epiglottis closure is via vagus, and tongue movement is CN XII.

Question 18

Which sentence is incorrect regarding neurons?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Mature neurons are generally amitotic and do not divide; the other statements are true of neurons.

Question 19

Which cranial nerve is the smallest in humans due to having the least number of axons?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The trochlear nerve (CN IV) contains the fewest axons of all cranial nerves, making it the smallest.

Question 20

If IQ level is less than 20, then what type of mental retardation is indicated?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: An IQ below about 20–25 corresponds to profound intellectual disability.

Question 21

Which spinal nerve is the only one without a corresponding dermatome?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: C1 (suboccipital nerve) has no cutaneous sensory distribution and therefore no dermatome.

Question 22

Which of the following organs cannot be transplanted?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Kidney, heart, and lungs are routinely transplanted; the brain cannot be transplanted due to the impossibility of reconnecting its complex neural networks and identity-defining integration.

Question 23

The cells that create a myelin sheath around peripheral nerve axons are called?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Schwann cells form the myelin sheath in the peripheral nervous system; oligodendrocytes do so in the CNS.

Question 24

Which of the following nerves has only motor functions?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The hypoglossal nerve (CN XII) is purely motor, innervating tongue muscles. Olfactory is sensory only, and facial and glossopharyngeal are mixed nerves.

Question 25

The neurons of motor pathway control?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Motor pathways (somatic efferent system: corticospinal tract to lower motor neurons) innervate skeletal muscle and control voluntary movement.

Question 26

Which cranial nerve innervates the lateral rectus muscle of the eye?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The lateral rectus is innervated by cranial nerve VI, the abducens nerve (LR6).

Question 27

Wrist drop caused by injury to which nerve?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Wrist drop results from paralysis of wrist extensors, which are innervated by the radial nerve; radial nerve injury (e.g., in the spiral groove) causes inability to extend the wrist.

Question 28

Lower lesions of the brachial plexuses cause?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Lower trunk (C8–T1) brachial plexus injury causes Klumpke palsy; Erb-Duchenne palsy is from upper trunk (C5–C6).

Question 29

The cell bodies of nerve fibres are situated in a swelling on posterior root called as?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Sensory neuron cell bodies are located in the dorsal (posterior) root ganglion, a swelling on the posterior root of a spinal nerve.

Question 30

Damaged to long thoracic nerve causes?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The long thoracic nerve innervates the serratus anterior; injury causes serratus paralysis leading to medial winging of the scapula (winged scapula).

Question 31

The primary function of the cerebellum is to?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The cerebellum’s primary role is to coordinate voluntary movement, posture, balance, and muscle tone. It modulates motor activity rather than issuing direct motor commands or relaying reflexes.

Question 32

Acalculia refers to?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Acalculia is the acquired inability to perform mathematical calculations, typically due to parietal lobe dysfunction.

Question 33

Which brain structure is most responsible for our balance, posture and muscle tone?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The cerebellum coordinates balance, posture, and muscle tone. The pons is a relay center, the reticular system regulates arousal, and the medulla controls vital autonomic functions.

Question 34

Which of the following are nerve involve in hypoglossal, tongue movement for speech, sounds articulation and swallowing?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The hypoglossal nerve (cranial nerve XII) innervates the intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the tongue, enabling movements for speech articulation and swallowing. CN IX is glossopharyngeal, CN XI is accessory, and CN IIX is not the hypoglossal nerve.

Question 35

Oculomotor, extraocular eye movement, lid elevation, pupillary constrictions, lens shape: which cranial nerve is involved?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The oculomotor nerve (CN III) controls most extraocular movements, elevates the eyelid via levator palpebrae, and provides parasympathetic fibers for pupillary constriction and accommodation (lens shape).

Question 36

Which of the following cranial nerves is related to the sense of smell?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The olfactory nerve (CN I) is the cranial nerve responsible for the sense of smell; the others control eye movements, tongue motor function, or autonomic/laryngeal functions.

Question 37

Which type of cells phagocytize debris in the central nervous system?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Microglia are the CNS resident macrophages that phagocytose cellular debris. Ependymal cells line ventricles and produce/assist CSF flow, astrocytes provide metabolic and structural support/BBB, and oligodendrocytes form myelin.

Question 38

Damage to which cranial nerve results in inability to shrug and weak head movement?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The spinal accessory nerve (CN XI) innervates the sternocleidomastoid and trapezius muscles, which are responsible for head rotation and shoulder elevation (shrugging). Damage causes weak head movement and inability to shrug.

Question 39

Acoustic, Assess client's ability to hear loud and soft spoken words, watch tick test, which nerve involve?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Hearing tests such as whisper/watch-tick assess the auditory function of the vestibulocochlear (acoustic) nerve, cranial nerve VIII.

Question 40

Which of the following is the point at which an impulse is transmitted from one neuron to another neuron?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The junction where signals pass from one neuron to another is the synapse; dendrites receive input but are not the inter-neuronal junction, glial cells are support cells, nerve center is a group of neurons, and the terminal plate refers to the neuromuscular junction.

Question 41

The physician has declared a client to be "brain dead." The nurse understands this means that the client has?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Brain death is the irreversible loss of all brain and brainstem function, including apnea. Spinal reflexes (e.g., deep tendon reflexes) may persist, so the best description is D.

Question 42

Indicate the chemical mediator in the antinociceptive descending pathways?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Beta-endorphin, enkephalins, and dynorphin are endogenous opioid peptides that mediate descending antinociceptive pathways.

Question 43

Which synapses are involved in depression?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Serotonergic dysfunction is central to the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder, and first-line therapies (SSRIs) target serotonin synapses.

Question 44

Which part of the brain is associated with hearing?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Hearing is processed in the primary auditory cortex located in the temporal lobe; occipital is vision, parietal is somatosensory, and frontal is executive/motor.

Question 45

The occipital lobe of the cerebrum is associated with which of the following?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The occipital lobe is the primary visual processing center of the brain; hearing is temporal, touch is parietal, and smell involves the olfactory cortex.

Question 46

Which of the following controls body temperature, sleep, and appetite?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The hypothalamus regulates key homeostatic functions including thermoregulation, hunger/satiety (appetite), and sleep-wake cycles. The other listed glands or structures do not primarily control this triad.

Question 47

Which of the following is a substance that aids the transmission of nerve impulses to the muscles?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Acetylcholine is the primary neurotransmitter at the neuromuscular junction, transmitting nerve impulses to skeletal muscle. The other choices are hormones or a sugar and do not mediate neuromuscular transmission.

Question 48

Second-order pain is?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Second (slow) pain is dull, burning, and poorly localized, mediated by C fibers; sharp, well-localized pain and A-delta fibers describe first pain, and second pain is not specifically best relieved by non-narcotics.

Question 49

Indicate the neurons, which are located in the locus ceruleus or the lateral tegmental area of the reticular formation?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The locus coeruleus and lateral tegmental area are major sources of noradrenergic (norepinephrine) neurons in the brain; dopaminergic neurons are in substantia nigra/VTA, serotonergic in raphe nuclei, and GABAergic are not characteristic of these nuclei.

Question 50

Which condition is characterized by an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Hydrocephalus is defined by excessive cerebrospinal fluid accumulation within the ventricles of the brain. Encephalocele is a herniation of brain tissue, cephalohematoma is a subperiosteal scalp bleed, and microcephaly is abnormally small head size.

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