Exam 1, Biology 301C, 14 September 1998

Demos and videos

1. (4 pts). The money game. Which of the following options apply to the "money game" that used strips of paper? (MTF)

A) A conflict existed between individual and group (class) benefit.

B) The conflict depended on the rules of the game. A different set of rules could have eliminated the conflict.

C) The outcome (this year and in previous years) was that the self-interests of many students prevented anyone from receiving any money.

D) The choice that every individual could make which allowed group benefit was the $1 option.

E) The theme illustrated was that conflict arises when people obtain different data.

2. (5 pts). Consider the coin flip demonstration. What was the purpose of this demonstration, what parallels apply, and what were the details of this demonstration? (MTF)

(A) The demonstration illustrated a way to bias an overall study by using initial results to decide which individual studies to complete and publish.

(B) Conflict was essential to the outcome. Without conflict, there would have been no basis for the result.

(C) The demonstration relied on the existence of sampling error. If no sampling error was present, the desired effect could not have been demonstrated.

(D) The demonstration illustrated a type of bias that would usually occur at the end of the study, after all data had been obtained.

3. (5 pts) Mark all statements that correctly summarize the information shown in the second part of Prisoners of Silence video and the update on Facilitated Communication from Monday. MTF

A) Several parents were unwilling to accept the evidence against FC. Some used anecdotes to support their belief in FC.

B) Douglas Biklen responded to the data showing that facilitated communication does not work by stating that many autistic individuals exhibit severe word-finding difficulties, and that this is the reason they did not perform well in the experimental tests. This is an example of the use of post hoc arguments (as a form of bias).

C) A current search of the web reveals that Syracuse University still maintains an Institute for FC.

D) Biklen used a form of refusal to admit error in justifying FC against the negative test results when claiming that it didn’t matter how many tests failed to show communication.

E) As discussed in class, the experiments that purportedly debunked facilitated communication were flawed because they were designed to allow for the possibility that facilitated communication is not effective (they used the wrong null model).

How our brains mislead us

4. (6 pts) The brief chapter and lecture on this topic listed several ways in which our brains automatically think and make decisions that are not “rational” under the scientific method. Which of the following options are from that list or illustrate a point on that list? MTF

A) We respond to perceived risks rather than actual risks

B) Choosing goals in our own interest, regardless of whether they benefit others

C) Searching for confirmation of our beliefs rather than seeking the truth.

D) Responding to correlations as if they are causal

E) Memory reconstruction.

F) The corpus callosum connects the two halves of the brain and prevents one side from making decisions independent of the other side.

G) We learn by trial and error.

H) Our educational system has taught us facts instead of problem-solving skills.

5. (4 pts) One limitation of our ability to make rational decisions was described as an automatic response to emotional factors, even if at odds with evidence to the contrary. Which of the following constitute examples of this phenomenon or depend on our automatic response to emotional factors?

A) Witch crazes

B) Scams

C) Urban legends

D) Optical illusions

Biology of being gay

6. (5 pts) Besides sexual preference, in what contexts has the question of “biological determinism” been directly relevant to social practises (as noted in class)? MTF

A) Race and IQ

B) Fenimism (women’s “lib”)

C) Forced sterilization of people deemed of low intelligence or of other mental “inferiority”

D) Diabetes

E) Susceptibility to infectious dieases

F) None of the above

7. (5 pts) With respect to the study by Simon LeVay, (MTF)

A) The topic was relevant to 2 major class themes: (i) Humans make difficult subjects, and (ii) time lags slow progress (because of the long time it takes HIV to kill a person)

B) In lecture, the anterior hypothalamus was shown to lie on the surface of the brain

C) The goal was to determine if gay vs. heterosexual males had detectable differences in brain anatomy

D) The result of the study was that no detectable differences were found between gay and heterosexual males for most of the brain anatomy regions studied (the “nuclei”), but a difference was found in one region.

E) It was known in advance that the anterior hypothalamus was a region involved in sexual preference based in part on studies of rodents.

Intrinsic Difficulties

8-13. (3 pts each) These questions ask for the course theme(s) illustrated by the given statement. Do not assume any more than what is explicitly given in the question, except that in 9 you must use the information about clinical trails given in class Monday. That is, address only the difficulties specifically mentioned. There are fewer options here than on some practice questions. (One or two answers only)

(A)

Rare events are difficult to quantify

(B)

Time lags slow progress

(C)

Complexity (interactions)

(D)

Humans make difficult experimental subjects

(E)

None

8. The following is a verbatim quote from a FRONTLINE press release for the show “Dangerous Prescription” aired 13 November, 2003 (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/press/2204.html). Which, if any, intrinsic difficulty is described in this quote?

"When a drug goes on the market, only about 3,000 patients have ever been given that drug," says Woosley, who directs a national center that studies drug side effects. "We will never know all the toxicity that can occur, especially the one [patient] in 10,000 or one in 20,000 that could be seriously harmed. Our detection will only happen after the drug is on the market and exposed to a huge number of patients."

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

9. The following quote (from USA Today, 23 Nov 04) describes some problems encountered with a statin drug that had been FDA approved and was later withdrawn (Baycol).

“Patients who took Lipitor, Pravachol or Zocor [statins] had similar, low rates of hospitalizations for [the muscle disorder] rhabdomyolysis – an average of one out of every 20,000 patients per year. Among those who also took a fibrate, another cholesterol-lowering drug, the rhabdomyolysis hospitalization rate was about 12 out of every 20,000 patients per hear.

Among patients who took only Baycol for their cholesterol, more than 10 out of every 20,000 were hospitalized each year with the muscle disorder. But the rate soared to 2,070 per 20,000 – or one in 10 – per year among those who took a fibrate as well as Baycol.”

The two questions for you to answer are (i) what type of intrinsic difficulty is indicated by the higher rate of problems caused when a fibrate is taken with Baycol than with other statins, and (ii) which intrinsic difficulty explains why the higher rate of hospitalization with Baycol alone than with the other statins alone would not have been detected in clinical trials. If you think that only one of these two problems stems from an “intrinsic difficulty,” you should fill in only one answer. (Use “none” only if neither problem is an intrinsic difficulty.)

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

10. The flash powder demonstration was an illustration of which “difficulty”? (A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

11. Which intrinsic difficulty explains why the procedures to conduct clinical trials and gain FDA approval for food additives or drugs is vastly more expensive and lengthy than the procedures required to conduct research on mice? (A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

12. The greater difficulty in adjusting a shower temperature to the proper level than in adjusting the radio volume to the proper level was given an example of which difficulty? (A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

13. Which type of difficulty is illustrated by the unwillingness of parents to accept the results from FC experiments (in the second part of the FC video)? (A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

Conflict

14. (6 pts) Which of the following options describe an outcome that stems from a "tragedy of the commons" conflict? (MTF)

A) Students at the University of Bob Allen are given control of grades. Each student performs a self-evaluation for each course, which determines their grade in that course. The first students to graduate with this system have high GPAs because of their generous self-evaluations, and their transcripts help them find good jobs. Students in subsequent years continue to give themselves good grades, and as word of this system gets out, employers across the country downgrade the value of a degree from that university so much that it becomes almost worthless in finding jobs.

B) People often litter public parks and roads, simply because it seems that their little bit of litter won't make much of a difference to the appearance of the road/park, and it gets the litter out of their hands. When magnified over many people, the environment becomes trashy from this type of behavior.

C) In colonial days, a "common" was a communal grazing area for landowners in the town. The "tragedy " refers to the fact that these commons were ultimately bought up and developed by private interest groups for profit without benefiting the local community.

D) In a democracy, elections are held to choose representatives to run the government. Not everyone chooses to vote, however. The willful failure to vote violates the principle of democracy, and as such, manifests itself as a conflict against the good of society.

15. (2 pts) Fill in option (A) if it is true.

(A) Vaccines cause us to develop immunity against particular toxins, viruses, or bacteria. Some diseases for which we have vaccines, such as tetanus, are caused by bacteria that come from the soil and are not transmitted from person to person. The number of people exposed to the tetanus bacterium thus is not affected by how many people get vaccinated. People who, for their own personal reasons, refuse to get vaccinated for tetanus thus pose no increased risk of tetanus for others in the population. Thus, for these diseases, there is no tragedy of the commons conflict.

16. (4pts) Which of the following options about conflicting goals are correct? (MTF)

(A) Conflict between a buyer and a seller is an example of goals differing in material gain.

(B) In the criminal court system, the conflict between prosecution and defense stems from differences in ideology/philosophy.

(C) Parents of autistic children who accepted FC despite evidence against it were apparently influenced by emotional factors.

(D) Physician’s rejection of Semmelweis’s discovery of the cause of high mortality rates in maternity wards was considered an example of emotional factors overriding a search for truth.

17. (4 pts) Which of the following applied to conflict in a criminal trial? MTF

A) Conflict between the prosecution and defense exists by constitutional definition.

B) Scientists accept ambiguity/uncertainty as part of the nature of evidence. A trial does not, for the most part, allow ambiguity/uncertainty as an outcome -- a decision has to be made about guilt or innocence, regardless of whether the evidence is ambiguous.

C) The parties involved in conflict are not necessarily just the defense and prosecution but may include experts and the lab providing analysis of the forensic samples.

D) The conflict between defense and prosecution in a trial represent one type of “tragedy of the commons,” because a fair trial is in the interest of society.

Deliberate Bias

18. (5 pts) Which of the following constitute possible bias in evaluation rather than at other stages of the process? MTF

19. (5 pts) Mark all of the following statements that are correct about deliberate bias, as covered in lecture or the Notes (MTF):

(A) Drug companies have encouraged physicians to prescribe their products with such incentives as free lunches, gifts, and notepads and charts with company logos.

(B) Drug companies have paid for university studies of their products and then blocked publication of unfavorable results and/or discontinued funding if results looked bad.

(C) The published protocol for a study provides the essential details for how the study was conducted and gives sufficient information to detect whatever bias might be present in the design or evaluation stages.

(D) It is possible to bias the presentation of a study (e.g., to a jury) even if the design, conduct, and analysis were carried out in an unbiased fashion.

(E) A major step in identifying or anticipating deliberate bias is to identify conflicts of interest.

20. (4 pts). Which apply to "controlling the null model?" MTF

(A) A null model is accepted until evidence actually contradicts it. The null model – and whatever goal it favors – thus receives the “benefit of doubt” for a wide range of results that don’t necessarily support it, simply because those results are not strong enough to refute it.

(B) “Controlling the null model” refers to a procedure in which the control group for the null model is chosen in a biased fashion, hence the word “controlling.”

(C) For FDA approval of drugs and food additives, the null model of “harmful until proven safe” seems to protect consumer interests.

(D) The current null model for dietary supplements in the U.S. is “safe until proven harmful.”

21, 22. Indicate which of the following experimental design violations apply. one answer per question

(A) change design in mid-course	(C) (true) protocol concealed	(E) assay for a narrow spectrum of unlikely results
(B) non-random assignments	(D) small samples	(F) None

21. (3pts) Drug companies have sponsored Continuing Medical Education classes, but invited as speakers mostly those doctors who advocate using drugs manufactured by the sponsoring company. (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F)

22. (3 pts) Although the protocol of a study is written as “blind,” participants are secretly told that the real medication is bitter but that the placebo is sweet. The participants are thus aware of whether they get the real medicine or placebo. (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F)

23-26 (3pts each). Mark the type of nonscientific argument (blatant bias) illustrated in each of the following examples. Base your answer on the information given in the question. MTF

(A) Claim that all alternatives have not been disproved	(D) Build causation from correlation	(G) None
(B) Character assassination of opponent	(E) Refusal to admit error
(C) Draw on anecdotes or post hoc observations	(F) Either-or arguments

23. Employment at Home Depot requires that the applicant pass a drug test. After reading the employment conditions, Ralph Wrench submitted to a drug test and filled out the application form. The test result was positive for at least one illegal substance, and he was therefore not hired. Which type(s) of nonscientific argument underlie(s) Home Depot’s refusal to hire him? (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F) (G)

24. In defending their beliefs in the validity of facilitated communication, parents shown in the video recalled incidents in which their child responded in a way that, upon interpretation, suggested to them that facilitated communication worked. What type of nonscientific argument is indicated by this form of parental defense of their belief in FC? (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F) (G)

25. In attempting to discredit the USDA’s insistence on the use of pesticides, a lawyer argues that pesticides are not effective because pest levels are actually higher in agricultural fields sprayed with pesticides than in fields not sprayed with pesticides. (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F) (G)

26. In the standardized field sobriety test that police give to drivers suspected of being intoxicated, police ask the driver to perform simple coordination tests. Then, if the coordination performance is sub-par, the driver is asked to submit to a blood or breath test. What type of bias is indicated in this police procedure?

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F) (G)

27. (3 pts) Key code, pad #, and name. Fill in (A B) to indicate your key for this version of the exam. Be sure your name and pad number are correctly bubbled in on the scantron and that you have signed this exam form.