Medical Physics and Statistics I.
Topics for the physics part of the oral examination (academic year 2013-2014,
1st semester)
Oral examination is offered to students directly after the 3rd failed attempt. Following a short
preparation, two randomly selected topics (one related to the lectures, one related to the
laboratory practicals) is to be presented in a concise and coherent manner.
Lecture topics
1. The SI unit system.
2. Defining the position of a particle in Cartesian and polar coordinates.
3. Mathematical operations with vectors (adding and subtracting vectors, multiplying a
vector by a scalar, scalar and vector product of vectors) with examples in physics.
4. Linear motion and circular motion of particles.
5. Newton’s laws.
6. Properties of the force.
7. Forces in human motion. Friction.
8. The properties and the role of the torque. Conditions of equilibrium for a rigid body.
9. Centre of mass.
10. Elastic deformation of solid objects.
11. Linear momentum and angular momentum.
12. Work, energy, power.
13. Structure and functions of skeletal muscles. Relationships between muscle length and
tension.
14. Force, speed and power for skeletal muscles. The mechanical model of skeletal muscles.
15. Pressure-wall tension relations for hollow organs.
16. The work done by the heart.
17. Oscillations: definition and types.
18. Kinematics and dynamics of simple harmonic motion.
19. Adding harmonic oscillations. Resolving a general oscillation to harmonic components.
Fourier analysis.
20. Damped oscillations and forced oscillations.
21. Mechanical waves: types and characteristics.
22. Reflection and refraction of sound at the boundary between two media. Acoustic
impedance.
23. Objective and subjective sound intensity.
24. Doppler effect, blood flow velocity measurement based on the Doppler effect.
25. Definition, characteristics and history of ultrasound. Attenuation of ultrasound in a
medium: Beer’s law.
26. Ultrasound diagnostics and imaging.
27. Characteristics of sound: pitch, timbre and loudness. The frequency profile of human
hearing: equal loudness curves.
28. Block diagram of human hearing. The physical model of the eardrum and the inner ear.
29. The cochlea. Place theory of hearing. The function and role of hair cells. The principle of
cochlear implantation.
30. Temperature: concept and measurement. Temperature scales.
31. Heat capacity and specific heat. Thermodynamic description of phase changes.
32. Basic parameters and laws describing the thermodynamics of gases.
33. Heat transfer: radiation, convection, conduction and evaporation.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
Flow of ideal fluids: equation of continuity, hydrostatic pressure and Bernoulli’s law.
Pressure, flow velocity, cross-section in the human blood circulation system.
Flow of real (viscous) fluids; viscosity. Laminar and turbulent flow.
Non-invasive measurement of arterial pressure.
Fick’s first law; factors that influence the diffusion coefficient.
Fick’s second law; interpretation and medical importance.
The definition of osmosis and the measurement of osmotic pressure.
The medical importance of osmosis.
The basic concepts of thermodynamics.
The main principles of thermodynamics and their validity in biological systems.
The definition of entropy and its role in thermodynamic equilibrium.
Geometrical optics: refraction, reflection, dispersion and total internal reflection of light.
Optical imaging. Properties of the image. Types of optical lenses. The lensmaker’s
equation and the lens equation.
Refraction in the human eye. Vision defects and their correction.
Wave nature of light: interference, diffraction, polarisation.
Physical principles of vision. Optics of the eye- Accommodation. Field of vision.
The retina. Rods and cones; colour vision. Limits of clear vision.
Special properties of lasers. Physical principles of lasers.
Types of lasers. Biological effects and medical applications of lasers.
Measurement of physiological signals.
Main types of deterministic and non-deterministic signals.
Digitisation of signals; the sampling theorem.
Psychophysics: Weber’s law.
Laboratory practical topics
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Calculation and importance of body mass index. Calculation of body surface area.
Types of measurement errors; possibility of elimination.
Relationship between grip force and EMG signal during a short-term manoeuvre.
Relationship between grip force and EMG signal during a fatigue manoeuvre.
Adding oscillations. Frequency and spectrum of the beat signal.
Properties of sound. The dB scale.
Spirogram. Definition of lung volumes in static and forced manoeuvres.
Measurement of lung volumes.
Evaluation of spirometry manoeuvres: determination of static TV, VC, ERV values,
FEV1/FVC-ratio. Physiological importance.
10. Measurement of vision acuity; illustration through a numerical example.
11. Amplitude of accommodation: meaning, biophysical background, age-dependence,
measurement.
12. Eyeglass correction of myopia and hypermetropia. Optical properties of lenses.
Estimation of the refractive power of the two types of optical lenses.
Szeged, 19th December 2013.
Prof. Ferenc Bari
Professor, Head of Institute