【超越自我小组】第2次作业 Argumen 51
51. The following appeared in a medical newsletter.
"Doctors have long suspected that secondary infections may keep some patients from healing quickly after severe muscle strain. This hypothesis has now been proved by preliminary results of a study of two groups of patients. The first group of patients, all being treated for muscle injuries by Dr. Newland, a doctor who specializes in sports medicine, took antibiotics regularly throughout their treatment. Their recuperation time was, on average, 40 percent quicker than typically expected. Patients in the second group, all being treated by Dr. Alton, a general physician, were given sugar pills, although the patients believed they were taking antibiotics. Their average recuperation time was not significantly reduced. Therefore, all patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain would be well advised to take antibiotics as part of their treatment."
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根据两位的意见，修改了原稿。
除个别细节的语法，语句错误以外，主要修订内容及其有待商榷的地方用不同颜色标出。
另外调换了原来的第三段和第一段的位置，觉得这样更合理。大家有空再帮忙看看，谢谢了^_^
The article claims that the results of a study on two groups of patients appeared in a medical newsletter had proved that secondary infections may retard the healing process of patients after having severe muscle strain. The study found that the group of patients who took antibiotics had shorter recuperation time than expected. Thus, the author of this newsletter concludes that all patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain would be better to take antibiotics as part of their treatment. However, this conclusion suffers from several problems, which render it unconvincing as it stands.
First of all, a threshold problem with the assertion is the assumption that antibiotic can prevent the patients from secondary infections. Yet the author fails to provide evidence to support this assumption. Thus, it is entirely possible that all patients in both groups still got secondary infections, while the effect of antibiotics is to activate the immune system near the injury which resulted in the fact of shorter recuperation time in one group (by the way, the author fails to mention the specific average recuperation time of the each groups, and he/she only mentions one of the groups’ restorative time is shorter than expectation). Since the hypothesis has not been substantiated completely at all, the author's conclusion which is deducted from the hypothesis is unconvincing.
Even if antibiotics are effective of preventing secondary infections, the study represented in the newsletter is still relies on an unsubstantiated assumption that the two groups of patients picked in the study have the same physical condition. Lacking such prerequisite there can be other possible explanations for the shorter recuperation time – such as some people have inborn immunity to defend secondary infections, and the groups of patients with unexpected quicker recuperation time are of this type. If this is the case, the study can not substantiate antibiotics, rather than the inborn immunity, are functional in preventing secondary infections.
Finally, even if there is no disparity between both groups of patients, these two groups of patients are not able to represent all of muscle strain sufferers. Different patients with different parts suffered from muscle stain may result in distinguished curative effect. Perhaps antibiotics are only functional to special type of injury, like stained non-often-move muscle. It is even possible that antibiotics are of no use to most muscle strain sufferers at some other seasons at all, since antibiotics may only be active under certain temperature.
In short, without understanding what the precondition should be if antibiotics can be functional, the author cannot justify the feasibility of introducing antibiotics to cure all muscle strain sufferers.
In sum, the popularization of using antibiotics to cure muscle strain still needs further consideration. As to this study of secondary infections, it needs to eliminate all the possible difference between the two groups of patients. To better assess the impact of antibiotics, more experiments should be taken in a larger range of patients with different types muscle strain, and the relationship between antibiotics and the secondary infections should be understood thoroughly.
[ 本帖最后由 lyriclyj 于 2008-5-3 11:18 编辑 ]
