BME100 f2014:Group23 L1

BME 100 Fall 2014	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 TEAM LAB 1 WRITE-UP Independent and Dependent Variables The independent variable would be the amount of Lipopolysaccharide given to each subject, since this is the variable that changes over the different group subjects. The dependent variable is the levels of inflammation (the protein) in each person because the levels of inflammation are what we are measuring and will change depending of the amount of Lipopolysaccharide. Experimental Design Groups There will be a total of ten groups in the experiment. Each trial group will receive a different amount of Lipopolysaccharide. The first group will receive ten mg Lipopolysaccharide, the second group will receive nine mg of Lipopolysaccharide, and so on until the tenth group receives only one mg of Lipopolysaccharide. This is done so that the least amount of mg of Lipopolysaccharide needed to increase inflammatory protein can be identified. The first group using the 10 mg dose will be used as a guide because it has already been proven that 10 mg of Lipopolysaccharide increases Inflammation levels. Age The age range for our subjects will be anywhere from 65 years of age and above. The reason for this is because we are trying to increase a newly discovered inflammatory protein in the elderly so our main concern are the elderly. The reason for the age 65 is because at that age, they are considered seniors. Only elders will help determine the lowest possible dose of inflammation from their age range and the best for accurate results in this experiment. Using a younger person would mean that their health, metabolism and immune system is different and would not benefit the experiment. Number of subjects per group There will be 10 people for each group, randomly selected based on the specified general criteria. Subject Selection Test subjects need to be selected based on specific criteria to provide the best possible results. To do so, subjects in this case should be 65 or older. Since this drug Lipopolysaccharide is meant to increase the amount of protein inflammotin in the elderly, anyone younger could skew the results of that specific age group. In addition, all subjects should be in good health. Subjects with a health condition could potentially be taking certain medication, or the condition they have could affect the results of the Lipopolysaccharide, and make it difficult to study the specific effects of the inflammotin protein. Lastly, subjects should be randomly selected to avoid bias. If subjects are only selected from a specific area, or specific nationality, it limits gaining data without bias towards that group. The control group needs to be completely random to acquire the most unbiased data possible. Sources of Error and Bias One source of error in this experiment could be the length of time that the experiment takes place. If the subjects are not being given Lipopolysaccharide for an appropriate length of time, the inflammotin protein may not be affected. Since it has already been proven that 10 mg of Lipopolysaccharide increases inflammotin protein levels, the group taking 10 mg of Lipopolysaccharide can be used as a control, because as long as that group's inflammotin levels have increased, one can conclude that the experiment has been conducted for an appropriate amount of time. Another source of error could be gender. If the experiment includes more of one gender than the other, the results could be inaccurate because the Lipopolysaccharide could affect one gender differently than the other. To counteract this, the control group must have an equal number of males and females. One more possible source of error could be if subjects are taking other medications during the experiment. Other medications could counteract the Lipopolysaccharide and affect the results. The control group must not be taking any other medications so as to properly determine the affect of Lipopolysaccharide on the inflammotin protein.