Every topic from these chapters that Dr NTR UHS has set in its first-year Physiology papers from 2010 to 2024, ranked by how often. “Up to 10 marks” or more means it has come as a long essay; MCQs are the one-mark questions of the newer papers. Learn the first tiers as answers you could write out: each topic page ends with the skeleton of one.
Asked three times or more
- Parkinsonism and the other basal ganglia disorders · 10 times, up to 15 marks, 3 as MCQs → Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease
- Thalamus: nuclei and functions · 10 times, up to 10 marks, 4 as MCQs → Thalamus: nuclei, functions and thalamic syndrome
- Lung volumes and capacities · 10 times, up to 4 marks, 4 as MCQs → Lung volumes, capacities and spirometry
- Respiratory centres and the neural control of breathing · 9 times, up to 10 marks, 4 as MCQs → Respiratory centers (neural control)
- Pyramidal (corticospinal) tract · 8 times, up to 15 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Corticospinal (pyramidal) tract
- Upper and lower motor neuron lesions · 8 times, up to 5 marks, 2 as MCQs → Upper vs lower motor neuron lesions
- Referred pain and why it happens · 8 times, up to 4 marks, 2 as MCQs → Visceral and referred pain
- The O₂–hemoglobin dissociation curve and what shifts it · 7 times, up to 15 marks, 3 as MCQs → Oxygen–hemoglobin dissociation curve
- Basal ganglia: parts, connections, functions · 7 times, up to 10 marks, 4 as MCQs → Basal ganglia: circuits and functions
- Cerebellum: divisions, connections, functions · 6 times, up to 15 marks → Cerebellar divisions, histology and connections
- Hypoxia and its types · 6 times, up to 10 marks → Hypoxia
- Pain pathways · 5 times, up to 15 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Pain pathways and perception
- Muscle spindle and gamma motor neurons · 5 times, up to 15 marks, 3 as MCQs → Muscle spindle
- Chemical control of breathing and the chemoreceptors · 5 times, up to 10 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Chemical control of breathing
- Stretch reflex · 5 times, up to 5 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Stretch reflex
- Decompression sickness (caisson disease, dysbarism) · 5 times, up to 4 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Hazards of deep sea diving
- Neuroglia: types and functions · 5 times, up to 2 marks, 3 as MCQs → Neurons and glial cells
- The respiratory membrane and diffusion across it · 4 times, up to 10 marks → Gas exchange in the lungs
- Dead space: anatomical and physiological · 4 times, up to 4 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Dead space
- Periodic (Cheyne–Stokes) breathing · 4 times, up to 4 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Abnormal breathing patterns
- Dorsal column–medial lemniscus pathway · 4 times, up to 4 marks, 2 as MCQs → Ascending tracts: dorsal column and anterolateral system
- How blood carries oxygen · 3 times, up to 15 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Oxygen transport
- Airway resistance · 3 times, up to 10 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Lung volumes, capacities and spirometry
- Brown-Séquard syndrome · 3 times, up to 5 marks → Sensory lesions and sensory function tests
- Haldane effect · 3 times, up to 4 marks → Carbon dioxide transport
- Asphyxia · 3 times, up to 4 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Asphyxia, hypercapnia and hypocapnia
- Timed vital capacity (FEV₁) · 3 times, up to 4 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Obstructive vs restrictive disease
- Anterolateral (spinothalamic) system · 3 times, up to 4 marks, 2 as MCQs → Ascending tracts: dorsal column and anterolateral system
- Partial pressures of the gases in air and blood · 3 times, all as MCQs → Gas exchange in the lungs
- Ventilation–perfusion ratio, normal and from apex to base · 3 times, all as MCQs → Ventilation–perfusion ratio
- GABA and its receptors · 3 times, all as MCQs → Neurotransmitters
- Cerebellar circuits: mossy, climbing and Purkinje fibres · 3 times, all as MCQs → Cerebellar divisions, histology and connections
Asked twice
- Synaptic transmission: EPSP, IPSP and inhibition · twice, up to 10 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Synapses and synaptic transmission
- Motor areas of the cerebral cortex · twice, up to 10 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Cortical integration and motor cortex
- Properties of receptors · twice, up to 5 marks → Receptor potential and properties of receptors
- Bell–Magendie law · twice, up to 5 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Afferent fibers, dorsal root and spinal laminae
- Chloride shift · twice, up to 4 marks → Carbon dioxide transport
- Anemic hypoxia, including CO poisoning · twice, up to 4 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Hypoxia
- Hypocapnia and voluntary hyperventilation · twice, up to 4 marks → Asphyxia, hypercapnia and hypocapnia
- Lung compliance · twice, up to 4 marks → Lung volumes, capacities and spirometry
- The body’s own pain control (analgesia system) · twice, up to 4 marks → Endogenous pain control and gate control theory
- Somatosensory cortex and the sensory homunculus · twice, up to 4 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Somatosensory cortex
- Signs of cerebellar disease · twice, up to 4 marks → Cerebellar functions, lesions and tests
- Alveolar ventilation, and working it out · twice, up to 2 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Alveolar ventilation
- Stagnant hypoxia · twice, up to 2 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Hypoxia
- Renshaw cell (recurrent) inhibition · twice, up to 2 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Properties of synapses
- The receptor (generator) potential · twice, up to 2 marks, 1 as an MCQ → Receptor potential and properties of receptors
- Golgi tendon organ · twice, all as MCQs → Golgi tendon organ
Asked once
- How the spinal cord and medulla control posture · once, up to 15 marks → Postural reflexes, spinal animal and spinal shock
- Sensory receptors, and how they code what and how strong · once, up to 10 marks → Sensory receptors and their classification
- Breathing at high altitude, and acclimatization · once, up to 5 marks → Acclimatization to high altitude
- Mountain sickness · once, up to 5 marks → High altitude illness
- The parts of a neuron and what each does · once, up to 5 marks → Neurons and glial cells
- Fast and slow pain · once, up to 5 marks → Pain: concepts, receptors and fibers
- Thalamic syndrome · once, up to 4 marks → Thalamus: nuclei, functions and thalamic syndrome
- Withdrawal reflex · once, up to 4 marks → Withdrawal reflex
- Spinal shock · once, up to 4 marks → Postural reflexes, spinal animal and spinal shock
- SCUBA diving · once, up to 3 marks → Hazards of deep sea diving
- Deglutition apnoea · once, up to 2 marks → Non-chemical control: reflexes and sleep
- Artificial respiration · once, up to 2 marks → Artificial respiration
- Vibration sense · once, up to 2 marks → Pathways for specific sensations
- Motor unit · once, up to 2 marks → Movement and organization of the motor system
- Tremor: at rest and on movement · once, up to 2 marks → Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease
- Pulmonary circulation · once, as an MCQ → Pulmonary circulation
- How blood carries CO₂ · once, as an MCQ → Carbon dioxide transport
- Hypoxic hypoxia · once, as an MCQ → Hypoxia
- Nitrogen narcosis · once → Hazards of deep sea diving
- Hypercapnia · once → Asphyxia, hypercapnia and hypocapnia
- Kussmaul breathing · once → Abnormal breathing patterns
- Pulmonary function tests as a whole · once → Lung volumes, capacities and spirometry
- Lung function in obstructive and restrictive disease · once → Obstructive vs restrictive disease
- Where a neuron makes graded potentials · once, as an MCQ → Synapses and synaptic transmission
- Law of projection, and phantom limb · once, as an MCQ → Receptor potential and properties of receptors
- Labelled line principle · once, as an MCQ → Receptor potential and properties of receptors
- Nerve fibre types and their conduction speeds · once, as an MCQ → Afferent fibers, dorsal root and spinal laminae
- Visceral pain · once, as an MCQ → Visceral and referred pain
- Allodynia and the other pain terms · once, as an MCQ → Specific pain syndromes
- Inverse stretch reflex · once, as an MCQ → Inverse stretch reflex and muscle tone
Not asked yet, but likely
- Causes and effects of hypoventilation and hyperventilation → Alveolar ventilation
- Diffusing capacity of the lung, and why CO is used to measure it → Gas exchange in the lungs
- Flow-limited vs diffusion-limited gas transfer → Gas exchange in the lungs
- Effect of gravity on pulmonary blood flow: the three zones of the lung → Pulmonary circulation
- Pulmonary edema: causes, effects on the lung and physiological basis of treatment → Pulmonary edema and drowning
- Fresh-water versus salt-water drowning → Pulmonary edema and drowning
- Venous admixture, anatomical shunt and physiological shunt → Ventilation–perfusion ratio
- Oxygen extraction ratio (utilization coefficient) → Oxygen transport
- Bohr effect → Oxygen–hemoglobin dissociation curve
- 2,3-BPG and its effect on oxygen delivery → Oxygen–hemoglobin dissociation curve
- The CO₂ dissociation curve, compared with the O₂ curve → Carbon dioxide transport
- Hering–Breuer reflex → Non-chemical control: reflexes and sleep
- J receptors and their significance → Non-chemical control: reflexes and sleep
- Cough reflex → Non-chemical control: reflexes and sleep
- Sleep apnoea syndrome → Non-chemical control: reflexes and sleep
- What changes in the body after a sudden ascent → Acclimatization to high altitude
- Mechanisms of ventilatory acclimatization at high altitude → Acclimatization to high altitude
- Monge’s disease (chronic mountain sickness) → High altitude illness
- Why each drug works in mountain sickness → High altitude illness
- Histotoxic hypoxia and cyanide poisoning → Hypoxia
- Effects of 100% O₂ therapy (oxygen toxicity) → Oxygen therapy
- Hyperbaric oxygen therapy and its uses → Oxygen therapy
- Value of oxygen therapy in each type of hypoxia → Oxygen therapy
- High-pressure nervous syndrome, and why divers breathe helium–O₂ → Hazards of deep sea diving
- Air embolism in divers and aircraft → Hazards of deep sea diving
- Acute oxygen toxicity in deep sea diving → Hazards of deep sea diving
- Drowning: fresh-water versus sea-water, and dry drowning → Asphyxia, hypercapnia and hypocapnia
- Respiratory acidosis: causes and compensation → Asphyxia, hypercapnia and hypocapnia
- Biot’s respiration and what it indicates → Abnormal breathing patterns
- Sleep apnea syndrome and sudden infant death syndrome → Abnormal breathing patterns
- Holger Nielsen (back pressure–arm lift) method → Artificial respiration
- Negative-pressure methods of artificial ventilation: the iron lung → Artificial respiration
- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation: indications, steps and advanced life support → Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
- External cardiac massage and how it moves blood → Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
- Classification and uses of pulmonary function tests → Lung volumes, capacities and spirometry
- Hypoxemia: causes, and the alveolar–arterial O₂ gradient → Tests of gas exchange and pulmonary circulation
- Sampling of alveolar and expired air; blood gas analysis → Tests of gas exchange and pulmonary circulation
- Conditions that alter pulmonary diffusing capacity → Tests of gas exchange and pulmonary circulation
- Parts of the CNS and what each does → Divisions of the nervous system
- Classify neurons, with an example of each type → Neurons and glial cells
- Classify synapses, with a labelled diagram of one → Synapses and synaptic transmission
- Synaptic facilitation, summation and occlusion → Properties of synapses
- Long-term potentiation and synaptic plasticity → Properties of synapses
- Acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter: distribution, synthesis and receptors → Neurotransmitters
- Dimensions of sensation → Sensation: general principles
- Pacinian corpuscle: structure and function → Sensory receptors and their classification
- Rexed laminae: what each lamina receives and where it projects → Afferent fibers, dorsal root and spinal laminae
- Changes in a neuron after axotomy → Afferent fibers, dorsal root and spinal laminae
- Which fibers fail first in ischemia, compression and local anesthesia → Afferent fibers, dorsal root and spinal laminae
- Dorsal column nuclei: cluster and non-cluster regions → Ascending tracts: dorsal column and anterolateral system
- Touch sensation: receptors, distribution and pathways → Pathways for specific sensations
- Dissociated anesthesia and its physiological basis → Abnormalities of dorsal column sensations
- Romberg sign and sensory ataxia → Abnormalities of dorsal column sensations
- Mechanism of pain recognition and modulation of pain perception → Pain pathways and perception
- Gate control theory of pain → Endogenous pain control and gate control theory
- Causalgia and sympathetically maintained pain → Specific pain syndromes
- Receptors and pathway for itch and for temperature sensation → Itch and temperature sensation
- Trigeminal pathway with a labelled diagram (short note) → Trigeminal pathway and trigeminal neuralgia
- Trigeminal neuralgia: trigger zone, cause and treatment → Trigeminal pathway and trigeminal neuralgia
- How facial pain differs from pain arising in the rest of the body → Trigeminal pathway and trigeminal neuralgia
- Thalamic and cortical representation of the face → Trigeminal pathway and trigeminal neuralgia
- Recruiting response: the thalamus in EEG rhythm, arousal and sleep → Thalamus: nuclei, functions and thalamic syndrome
- Epithalamus and subthalamus → Thalamus: nuclei, functions and thalamic syndrome
- Connections of the somatosensory areas → Somatosensory cortex
- Effects of lesions of the sensory cortex (SI, SII, area 5) → Somatosensory cortex
- Parietal association cortex: hemineglect and constructional apraxia → Somatosensory cortex
- Sensory deficits produced by lesions at different levels of the spinal cord → Sensory lesions and sensory function tests
- Dissociated sensory loss: meaning and causes → Sensory lesions and sensory function tests
- Thalamic syndrome → Sensory lesions and sensory function tests
- Sensory function tests and what each detects → Sensory lesions and sensory function tests
- Feedback control systems for movement → Movement and organization of the motor system
- Automatic and volitional movements → Movement and organization of the motor system
- Levels of organization of the motor system → Movement and organization of the motor system
- Motor unit recruitment and the size principle → Segmental organization of the motor system
- Motoneuron pool and its topographical organization → Segmental organization of the motor system
- Physiological classification of muscles → Segmental organization of the motor system
- The final common path → Segmental organization of the motor system
- Static and dynamic spindle responses → Muscle spindle
- Control of γ motor neuron discharge; Jendrassik’s maneuver → Muscle spindle
- α–γ coactivation and the spindle in a contracting muscle → Muscle spindle
- Force feedback versus length feedback in motor control → Golgi tendon organ
- Reciprocal innervation and reciprocal inhibition → Stretch reflex
- Muscle tone, the clasp-knife phenomenon and clonus → Inverse stretch reflex and muscle tone
- Afterdischarge in the withdrawal reflex → Withdrawal reflex
- Properties of spinal reflexes: summation, occlusion, inhibition → Properties of spinal reflexes
- Lateral vs medial descending systems → Corticospinal (pyramidal) tract
- Types of paralysis: monoplegia, paraplegia, quadriplegia → Upper vs lower motor neuron lesions
- Vestibulospinal and reticulospinal tracts: course and functions → Rubrospinal, vestibulospinal, reticulospinal and tectospinal tracts
- Rubrospinal tract → Rubrospinal, vestibulospinal, reticulospinal and tectospinal tracts
- Classify postural reflexes and name the level each is integrated at → Postural reflexes, spinal animal and spinal shock
- Decerebrate rigidity: mechanism and importance → Medullary integration and decerebrate rigidity
- Righting reflexes: list with receptors and centres → Midbrain integration and righting reflexes
- Central pattern generators for locomotion → Midbrain integration and righting reflexes
- Direct and indirect pathways through the basal ganglia → Basal ganglia: circuits and functions
- The motor loop: inputs and outputs of the basal ganglia → Basal ganglia: circuits and functions
- Role of dopamine and the acetylcholine-dopamine ratio in the striatum → Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease
- Huntington’s disease: cause and features → Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease
- Layers of the cerebellar cortex and the cells in each → Cerebellar divisions, histology and connections
- Deep cerebellar nuclei: inputs, outputs and the pathways each steers → Cerebellar divisions, histology and connections
- Cerebellar function tests, and what each one shows → Cerebellar functions, lesions and tests
- Cerebellar ataxia versus sensory ataxia, including Romberg’s test → Cerebellar functions, lesions and tests
Asked, but not in these pages
These come up in the same papers but belong to other chapters of GK Pal: the earlier respiratory chapters, nerve and muscle, and the later nervous-system chapters.
- Skeletal muscle and how it contracts · 26 times, up to 10 marks, 10 as MCQs
- Nerve: membrane and action potentials, conduction · 26 times, up to 5 marks, 9 as MCQs
- Neuromuscular junction and myasthenia gravis · 14 times, up to 10 marks, 1 as an MCQ
- Sleep and the EEG · 14 times, up to 5 marks, 5 as MCQs
- Surfactant, and respiratory distress syndrome · 9 times, up to 5 marks, 3 as MCQs
- Smooth muscle · 8 times, up to 5 marks, 4 as MCQs
- Hypothalamus · 7 times, up to 10 marks, 2 as MCQs
- Cyanosis · 6 times, up to 4 marks, 2 as MCQs
- Nerve injury and degeneration · 6 times, up to 5 marks, 1 as an MCQ
- Speech and aphasia · 6 times, up to 2 marks, 2 as MCQs
- Temperature regulation · 5 times, up to 5 marks
- CSF and the blood–brain barrier · 5 times, up to 15 marks
- Learning and memory · 5 times, up to 5 marks, 3 as MCQs
- Limbic system · 4 times, up to 5 marks, 1 as an MCQ
- Autonomic nervous system · 4 times, up to 2 marks, 2 as MCQs
- Prefrontal and parietal cortex · 3 times, up to 10 marks, 2 as MCQs
- Intrapleural pressure · twice, up to 2 marks, 1 as an MCQ
- How breathing works: muscles and pressures · once, up to 10 marks