ASCP Practice Questions - Histotechnology

6.8

10% neutral buffered formalin is the most widely used solution for routine formalin fixation and has a pH of ____.

Ziehl-Neelsen stain

If a tissue sample is suspicious for tuberculosis mycobacterium, this stain is often ordered.

Varied thickness of sections (thick and thin)

If the blade has too little of a tilt when cutting sections on the microtome, this issue can occur:

Michel transport medium

If unfixed tissue is to be held for several days or transported over a long distance then this transport medium is recommended.

6, 48

It is recommended that breast tissue from all invasive carcinomas be formalin fixed at room temperature for a minimum of __ hours and a maximum of ___ hours prior to HER2 testing.

Hazardous chemicals

OSHA defines ____________ as chemicals that may cause acute or chronic health effects in exposed employees.

No fire hazard

According to the NFPA chemical hazard label, what would a zero in the red box indicate?

Alkaline congo red method

Amyloid is best demonstrated in tissue using:

Mechanical

Carpal tunnel syndrome, trigger finger, tendonitis and thoracic outlet compression syndrome are all examples that result from this type of hazard:

Mast cells

Cells found in connective tissue which contain abundant secretory granules including histamine and heparin.

1 hour concentrated formic acid fixation

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a prion disease affecting primarily nervous tissue. The prions are extremely resistant unlike many other biological and infectious hazards. They are however susceptible to:

Class C

Electrical fires that must be extinguished with nonconductive media are classified as________ fires.

15-20

For adequate fixation, the fixative volume should be at least ______ times greater than the tissue volume.

3-4

For most routine H & E staining, the sections should be 1 cell layer thick, and should be cut at ______ micrometers.

Congo red

Green birefringence following _____ staining is considered the most specific technique for the demonstration of amyloid.

Endogenous hematogenous

Hemoglobin, hemosiderin and bile pigments are the principal ______________ pigments.

Viruses

Protein-coated genes that need living cells to provide energy and the machinery for duplication.

Ferric iron

Prussian blue is a stain used to detect _______.

Glutaraldehyde

Techniques using Schiff reagent, such as the periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) stain, cannot be used on __________ fixed tissues because false positive results will be obtained.

Severe health hazard

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) chemical hazard label consists of a diamond with four color coded boxes- each with numerical values from 0 to 4 to rate each hazard. What would a three in the blue box indicate?

95% ethyl alcohol

The fixative of choice for all cytology specimens is:

Toxic dose low

The lowest dose of a substance that will produce any toxic effect in humans when introduced by any route other than inhalation is the:

Prussian blue

The main purpose of this special stain is to detect ferric iron in tissues.

PAS with diastase digestion

The main purpose of this stain is to demonstrate glycogen in tissue sections.

Xylene

The most widely used clearing agent in histology today is:

Hematoxylin

The most widely used nuclear stain for routine histology sections is:

Reactivity

The right yellow diamond in the NFPA coded labeling system carries a chemical's ____________ information.

Hydrolases

There are 6 basic reactions classifications of enzymes. In one classification, the ______ act on various substrates, usually through the addition of water; however in some instances water may be removed.

Ribosomes

These cell structures are often found attached to the endoplasmic reticulum and are the site of protein synthesis.

Giemsa

These stains can be used for the demonstration of bacteria, rickettsias, and T gondii.

Sudan black B and Oil red O

These two stains are used to demonstrate lipids in tissue:

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)

This chelating agent binds calcium ions and is one method used for decalcifying tissues.

Nucleolus

This dense, rounded, and usually intensely basophilic mass in the nucleus of a cell consists of 80% to 90% protein and produces most if not all of the ribosomal RNA.

Acetic acid

This fixative does not fix or destroy carbohydrates, and it does not fix lipids. It penetrates very rapidly and leaves tissue very soft. It is added to many fixative mixtures because of its ability to fix nuclei.

Glyoxal

This fixative is the smallest dialdehyde and is used in the textile industry for imparting wrinkle resistance and permanent press creases. It has replaced formaldehyde in some histopathology laboratories because it is much less toxic.

Phase-contrast microscope

This microscope is used for the examination of unstained specimens, especially unstained living cells, and allows almost transparent objects to be seen clearly.

ATPase stain

This muscle biopsy stain will differentiate type I, type IIA and type IIB muscle fibers and help in separating myopathic from neuropathic processes.

Cardiac muscle

This muscle type is striated but involuntary. The cells branch and anastomose and each cell usually has only one centrally located nucleus.

Cryostat

This piece of equipment is a refrigerated chamber containing a microtome that is used to cut frozen sections.

Sudan black B

This stain is the most sensitive of the lipid dyes and is also used in hematopathology to aid in differentiating granulocyte precursors from leukocytes committed to lymphocytic or monocytic pathways.

Polarizing microscope

This type of microscope is used for the identification of crystals as well as to make identification of amyloid.

Dehydration, clearing, infiltration

Tissue processing is usually considered to include:

Zinc salts

Today, _________ has/have found use not only in combination with formaldehyde for routine fixation, but as a substitute for mercury in the B-5 solution commonly used for the fixation of lymph node and bone marrow tissues

Pneumocystitis jirovecci

Until recently, _____ ______(formally P carinii) was classified as a protozoan; however, nucleic acid sequence analysis has shown this organism to be most closely related to fungiyeasts in particular.

Nickel method

When preparing smears of cytology specimens, this method involves spreading of the specimen in a tight circular pattern rather than laterally which reduces the possibility of air drying. The method is successful and can be performed quickly.

Slide stained with overoxidized hematoxylin

Which of the following errors can lead to pale nuclear staining on an H&E stained slide?

Anthracotic

Which of the following is NOT considered an endogenous pigment? A. Hemoglobin B. Hemosiderin C. Anthracotic D. Bile

All of the above

Which of the following is used in the dehydration of tissue? A. Ethyl alcohol B. Methyl alcohol C. Isopropyl alcohol D. All of the above

Adenocarcinoma subtypes

A CK7 and CK20 immunohistochemical antibody panel would be most helpful in differentiating:

Wilson disease

Rhodanine is a stain used to detect copper, especially in liver in _______.

Picric acid

__________ is unique in that it is the only substance used in histotechnology both as a fixative ingredient and as a stain.

Oligodendroglia

______are small cells that function in the CNS to produce, and probably maintain, the myelin sheath surrounding many axons. They are the most numerous of the glial cells and are found in both the gray and white matter.