Q5 - The hormone testosterone protects

[ohthatpatrick]

Question Type:
Logical Completion (Draw a Conclusion, since it says "So ____ ")

Stimulus Breakdown:
T protects brain cells from injury and lowers level of BA in the brain.
BA contributes to Alzheimer's, and people whose brain cells are vulnerable to injury are more susceptible to Alzheimer's. So …

Answer Anticipation:
It looks like we're trying to sum up the causal factors interwoven. Testosterone protects brain cells from injury (which goes AGAINST Alzheimer's … brain cells vulnerable to injury goes WITH Alzheimer's), and testosterone reduces BA, which goes WITH Alzheimer's. So it looks like testosterone does two good things, in relation to reducing our risk of Alzheimer's.

(Beware extreme claims and out of scope topics)

Correct Answer:
E

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) Extreme: "ANYONE … WILL eventually get Alz?"

(B) Extreme: "dependent entirely"?

(C) Reversed causality. We're getting info that supports the idea that an increase in testosterone might lead to a reduction of Alzheimer's risk.

(D) Extreme: "only"

(E) Yes! This safely restates the causal connection between testosterone and Alzheimer's.

Takeaway/Pattern: When we're doing Logical Completion by supplying a conclusion, we're trying to pull the ideas together in a safe, moderate way, just like when we answer an Inference question.

#officialexplanation

[jewels0602]

I didn't see an explanation for this one so figured I'd give it a go.

P1 - testosterone protects brain cells from injury + reduces levels of protein B-A
P2 - B-A causally contributes to Alzheimer's
P3 (int. conclusion) - people whose brain cells are susceptible to injury are probably more susceptible to Alzheimer's
So... there is reason to think ______________.

We have to fill in a suitable conclusion-like statement-- before going to the AC, I just made sure I understood the relationships and how they connect. Testosterone protects brain cells from injury and also reduces B-A protein which contributes to Alzheimer's-- if one is more likely to get injured then one is more likely to get Alzheimer's... I figured the correct AC had something to do with level of testosterone affecting both these phenomenon.

A - Eliminate. "Will eventually develop Alzheimer's" is too strong a conclusion; the stim only talks about probabilities
B - Because B-A does causally contribute to Alzheimer's I kept this on the first go
C - Eliminate. There is no mention of Alzheimer's causing anything, and if anything, it's a reversal of causality
D - Eliminate. Too strong of a statement; there is nothing in the stim that even alludes to this
E - Keep. Decline in testosterone would affect the rate at which B-A protein is reduced, which would increase the chances of Alzheimer's per P2.

Between B and D, D is the stronger choice and in comparison, far superior to B. THe stim only says "B-A causally contributes " and there could be 100s of contributing factors.

[GiovanniC374]

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