BME100 f2013:W900 Group13 L1
BME 100 Fall 2013 | Home People Lab Write-Up 1 | Lab Write-Up 2 | Lab Write-Up 3 Lab Write-Up 4 | Lab Write-Up 5 | Lab Write-Up 6 Course Logistics For Instructors Photos Wiki Editing Help | ||||||
OUR TEAMLAB 1 WRITE-UPIndependent and Dependent VariablesThe independent variable is the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) because it causes change and controls the outcome of the experiment. The dependent variable is the protein level of inflammotin because it changes depending on the amount of LPS.
Experimental DesignGroups People from ages 55-85 will be selected for this experiment in age brackets of 5 years. This will result in 6 groups: 55-60, 60-65, 65-70, 70-75, 75-80, 80-85. There will be 6 groups within these age brackets with doses from 0mg-10mg at intervals of 2mg. One male and one female within the specific age bracket will be given the specific dose at each interval. The subject's blood will be tested once a week using ELISA to see how the drug effects the inflammotin levels of the subject.
For this experiment each group will need to contain a total of 24 subjects; 12 of which will be male and 12 female.
The study will span from July 1st to August 31st in order to minimize the effect of outside disease and weather related complications.
Subject SelectionSubjects will be selected based on age and gender. A total of 72 subjects will be selected, yielding 6 groups with 12 subjects each. There will be 1 male and 1 female subject recieving an allotted dosage in every age bracket within every group. The age brackets will be: 55-60, 60-65, 65-70, 70-75, 75-80, and 80-85. Subjects will only be selected if they are not currently taking or have not taken any medication within a months time, and they have no preexisting medical conditions that might cause inflammation. Subjects will be interviewed and a copy of their medical history will be required.
Sources of Error and BiasWhen working with the elderly, other medications and preexisting health conditions are potential sources of error that can affect the results of this lab. To limit the influences of lurking variables, we will require that our subjects are clean of any medications within the last month before the test and not have any significant health conditions. Significant health conditions would include any health condition that would affect inflammation. To control potential sources of error between age and gender, we would choose an equal amount of men and women in each group, and the age of our subjects would vary in each group. Another potential source of error could result from the lifestyle and habits of the subjects. A subject may not regularly take the prescribed dose or for instance not exercise or change their habits during the experiment which could potentially affect the result of the experiment. A subject's lifestyle and habits are something we can not control over the span of two months. Another source of error/bias is that subjects may not give credible information/answers during the interview.
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