Chapter 10, Problem 2AYK

_______ Which of the following statements is incorrect? a. Rates of preterm delivery and low birth-weight in the United States are trending downward but remain higher in non-Hispanic Black American women and infants than in other groups. b. Reductions in the proportion of infants born small, early, or both would clearly decrease infant mortality. c. The international ranking of the United States for infant mortality rate has been improving since the beginning of the twenty-first century. d. National health objectives for pregnant women and newborns focus on the reduction of low birth-weight, preterm delivery, and infant mortality.

Researchers studied 393 patients in a hospitals coronary care unit. In the experiment, volunteers were asked to pray daily for a patients rapid recovery and for the prevention of complications and death. None of the patients knew if he or she was being prayed for. None of the volunteers or patients knew each other. The research team categorized how each patient fared as good, intermediate, or bad. They concluded that prayed for patients fared a little better than other patientsthe experiment having documented results that seemed to support the prediction that prayer might have beneficial effects for seriously ill patients. The results brought a storm of criticism, mostly from scientists who cited bias in the experimental design. For instance, the patients were categorized after the experiment was over, instead of as they were undergoing treatment, so the team already knew which ones had improved, stayed about the same, or gotten worse. Why do you suppose the experiment generated a heated response from many in the scientific community? Can you think of at least one other variable that might have affected the outcome of each patients illness?

Which of the following statements about red blood cells is false? a. They live about 120 days before being replaced. b. They lack a nucleus and other organelles when they are mature. c. They are replaced when the hormone EPO stimulates stem cells in bone marrow. d. They are replaced as part of a negative feedback loop in which kidney cells monitor blood oxygen levels e. All the above statements are true except b, because all cells require a nucleus in order to function properly.