5 questions

Platelet-activating factor as an effector for environmental stressors 

1. Did you read the article prior to the seminar? Describe one idea, detail or point from the article that aided in your understanding of the seminar.

Yes. The article provided information as to what Platelet-Activating Factors (PAF) were and what effect they have on humans with thermal injuries.

2. Did the Introduction portion of the seminar help you follow through the rest of the talk? What did you feel were the key points in the Introduction?

Yes, the introduction made it easier to follow the remaining presentation.

It demonstrated the significance of PAF systems in the acute UVB response. This for me was able to help place a purpose for why the experiment was even performed.

3. Briefly describe the main hypotheses/research questions tested.

The hypothesis states that PAF Mediates the toxic/immunosuppressive effects of burn and Etoh.

4. What techniques were used by the investigator: name at least two. What do they measure?

One technique used by the researchers was giving ethanol to UVB thermally injured mice to measure the effects of contact hypersensitivity to chemical DNFB. Researchers also used deuterium-labeled EtOH to see if the label incorporated into PAF by mass spectroscopy. Yet another technique used was increasing UVB-induced erythema in intoxicated human subjects to measure redness in skin. Each subject was their own control.

5. Provide a critique of the experimental design and results, highlighting strengths and weaknesses. For example, did the presented experiments convincingly address the questions posed? What were the shortcomings of the experiments? Were proper control experiments performed? What were they?

The experiment for the most part answered the hypothesis initially posed. The experimenters were able to show that burning cells cause PAF production. It was also shown that PAF-R inhibitors improve the outcomes for rabbits subjected to thermal injury. The experiment did not seem to have any real short comings as was presented. Proper mice controls were used for most of the experiments. In UVB-induced erythema in intoxicated humans experiment, each subject was their own control.

6. What research question do you have following this seminar? What would you want to study next?

This experimenters clearly should follow up their research by looking into its viability in the medicine. I would like to know exactly how it can help cancer and burn victims.