Gluten-free food options are becoming more and more common place due to the increased incidence and awareness of celiac disease in the US population. If a person with this disease eats foods containing gluten, the immune system responds by attacking and damaging or destroying his/her own villi. What digestive symptom would NOT be consistent with greatly-reduced numbers of villi?

Question

A.  abdominal bloating and pain
B.  chronic diarrhea
C.  weight loss
D.  peptic ulcer
E.  fatty stools

Clarify Question
· What is the key concept addressed by the question?
· What type of thinking is required?

Gather Content
· What do you know about the function of villi? What other information is related to the question?

Choose Answer
· Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?

Reflect on Process
· Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?

Answer 1

D.  peptic ulcer

Clarify Question
· What is the key concept addressed by the question?
        o The question asks about the function of villi.
· What type of thinking is required?
        o You are being asked to analyze symptoms that would occur in a patient with damaged villi due to celiac disease.

Gather Content
· What do you know about the function of villi? What other information is related to the question?
        o The epithelial wall of the small intestine is covered with tiny, fingerlike projections called villi. In turn, each epithelial cell lining the villi is covered by many folds of the plasma membrane that form cytoplasmic extensions called microvilli. Absorption of fats and sugars occur through these epithelial cells. Damage of the epithelial cells on the villi would decrease absorption of fats and sugars leading to weight loss. The fats would leave the body in the feces, resulting in fatty stools. The sugars would draw water into the intestines through osmosis, leading to diarrhea, abdominal bloating and pain.

Choose Answer
· Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
        o Peptic ulcers are caused by Heliobacter pylori infections and not by celiac disease.

Reflect on Process
· Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
        o This question asked you to analyze symptoms that would occur in a patient with damaged villi due to celiac disease.. If you got the correct answer, great job! If you got an incorrect answer, where did the process break down? Did you recall that peptic ulcers are caused by bacteria?