BME100 s2014:T Group10 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 AWESOME TEAM Name: Sean-Christopher Bradbury Name: Suyen Go Name: Nathaniel Kirkpatrick Name: Maya Robinson Name: Lissette Valle LAB 1 WRITE-UP Independent and Dependent Variables Independent variable: Dosage of lipopolysacchride because that is the variable we will be changing during the experiment. Dependent variable: The levels of the Inflamatin protein in the bloodstream because the protein level reflects the inflammation level and is modulated by the drug. Experimental Design Groups We will test the efficacy of the drug on six groups of elderly people by issuing a dosage of the drug and taking a blood sample after the appropriate amount of time it takes to kick in. The groups will be determined by age. Group 1 Ages 65-69 Group 2 Ages 70-74 Group 3 Ages 75-79 Group 4 Ages 80-84 Group 5 Ages 85-89 Group 6 Ages 90-94 Each group will have 6 subgroups corresponding to different dosages of the drug. These groups will have 10 subjects each. The total number of subjects will be 360. For example, Group 1A 10mg LPS Group 1B 9mg LPS Group 1C 8mg LPS Group 1D 7mg LPS Group 1E 6mg LPS Group 1F Placebo These sub-groupings will apply to all 6 of the subject groups. In other words, each age group of subjects will have 10 members on each of the 6 different dosage levels. Age The groups are based on age because the 65 year old subjects most likely have different biological situations than the 95 year olds and they should be delineated to reflect this. It would also allow us to track the efficacy of the drug as people get older. Number of subjects per group Each group will have 60 members, 6 dosage subgroups of 10 subjects each. Subject Selection We will select people based on age alone. We may have a problem getting a diverse subject pool but we could remedy this by partenering with other research institutions to increase our subject pool randomization. We need to be aware of potential sources of bias such as selecting only healthy patients or only people of one gender. The placebo dosage and the 10mg dosage will serve as our controls within each group. Sources of Error and Bias Our potential sources of error come from the diversity of our subject pool. Different levels of health of the subjects can cause error in the experiment. Different ethnic backgrounds of the subjects may prove to be a factor in the drug's efficacy, so the lack of ethnic diversity may skew the results. Subject gender ratio could also lead to error. The drug may not work as well on males as it does on females, for example, so the lack of both male and female subjects could cause error. To control these sources of error we need to provide a diverse subject pool that includes people of both good and poor health, people from many different ethnic backgrounds, and equal numbers of males and females. These three controls for potential sources of error need to be applied to each age-based group and each dosage-based subgroup therein.