Please read the clinical scenario, and then answer the question that follow to become familiar with the traditional NCLEX question format.
A 67-year-old patient with severe sepsis undergoes a full infectious workup upon admittance to the intensive care unit. Cultures of urine, blood, sputum, and cerebral spinal fluid are obtained. The cultures do not yield a specific organism, so further analysis of the sample is done to determine the characteristics of the microorganism. The metabolic processes are analyzed in the lab.
-Biochemical testing reveals that the organism further reduces nitrite to produce nitrous oxide.Based upon this by-product,which of the following is the most likely catabolic pathway utilized by this organism?

Question

Please read the clinical scenario, and then answer the question that follow to become familiar with the traditional NCLEX question format.
  A 67-year-old patient with severe sepsis undergoes a full infectious workup upon admittance to the intensive care unit. Cultures of urine, blood, sputum, and cerebral spinal fluid are obtained. The cultures do not yield a specific organism, so further analysis of the sample is done to determine the characteristics of the microorganism. The metabolic processes are analyzed in the lab.
-Biochemical testing reveals that the organism further reduces nitrite to produce nitrous oxide.Based upon this by-product,which of the following is the most likely catabolic pathway utilized by this organism?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The organism's ability to further reduce nitrite to produce nitrous oxide suggests that it is using anaerobic respiration as its catabolic pathway, since aerobic respiration and fermentation do not produce nitrous oxide as a byproduct.

Please Read the Clinical Scenario, and Then Answer the Question