A 52-Year-Old Man Is Brought to the Emergency Department After

question 50

Multiple Choice

A 52-year-old man is brought to the emergency department after being found unresponsive on the street.  The patient's medical history is unknown.  Temperature is 36.2 C (97.2 F) , blood pressure is 108/62 mm Hg, and pulse is 72/min.  On physical examination, he is unresponsive to verbal and tactile stimuli but moans to deep sternal rub.  An arterial blood gas analysis on room air shows a partial pressure of oxygen of 60 mm Hg.  The partial pressure of oxygen in his alveoli is calculated to be 68 mm Hg.  Which of the following is the most likely cause of this patient's symptoms?

• A)Alveolar hypoventilation
• B)Dead space ventilation
• C)Diffusion impairment
• D)Intrapulmonary shunt
• E)Left-to-right shunt

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Definitions:

Price Elasticity

A measure of how much the demand or supply of a product changes in response to a price change.

Increase Tax Revenue

Strategies or activities undertaken by a government to enhance the amount of money it collects from taxes.

Tax Incidence

Tax Incidence refers to the analysis of the effect of a particular tax on the distribution of economic welfare, showing which group – consumers or producers – ultimately bears the burden of the tax.

Inelastic Supply

Describes a situation where the quantity supplied of a good or service is relatively unresponsive to changes in its price.