**茶叶蛋炒饭**第十三次作业 ARG188 请组员跟帖

saybia1993UID: 2625112

占楼

口含太阳UID: 2959623

A new report suggests that men and women experience pain very differently from one another, and that doctors should consider these differences when prescribing pain medications. When researchers administered the same dosage of kappa opioids — a painkiller — to 28 men and 20 women who were having their wisdom teeth extracted, the women reported feeling much less pain than the men, and the easing of pain lasted considerably longer in women. This research suggests that kappa opioids should be prescribed for women whenever pain medication is required, whereas men should be given other kinds of pain medication. In addition, researchers should reevaluate the effects of all medications on men versus women.

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This new report claims that kappa opioids should be prescribed for women as any kind of pains occurs while men should be given other kind of pain medication. To support the suggestion, the author compares pain reports of 28 men and 20 women who have their wisdom teeth extracted. He further extrapolates that all medications ought to be reevaluated to see how their curative effects are related to genders. However, this argument displays some logical flaws which render the conclusion invalid.

The number of men and the number of women are not equal. In fact, the quantity of men is much larger than women. The difference of 8 people in groups of merely 20 and 28 people would make the two results uncomparable. If the male group is reduced to 20 subjects, the pain reports could probably be the same. Therefore, if the two groups have almost same amount of subjects, the results could be much more comparable.

Even though the two groups have same quantities of subjects, the argument does not state that the subjects were not aware that they were taking painkillers then. It can be assumed that women knew they were taking painkillers while the men were totally oblivious of that. Due to their consciousness of taking painkillers, the women may experience the psychological illusion that the painkillers had worked on them while, in fact, the painkillers did not have more significant effect on them than on men. Thus, the author needs to supply the information about whether the subjects know what they were taking, or the conclusion is worth a doubt.

The author also needs to offer evidence that kappa opioids does not have side effect on women or the side effect does not increase in proportion with kappa opioids. If the more kappa opioids women taken, the more discomfort they undergo, this would not be a desirable prescription, especially when this side effect would continue into dire threat. So, without the knowledge about its side effect, the kappa opioids should not be recommended to women.

Last but not least, even though kappa opioids works better on women than men, it cannot be extrapolated that other medications should be reevalutated on men versus women. Painkillers work on neuro-system while other medications are directed at other functions of human beings. There are medicines that have been effectively and safely used for centuries. Their long histories supply empirical evidence that their curative effects do not vary according to genders. Henceforth, it is not necessary to reevaluate all medications.

This argument seems convincing at first glance. But the absence of some information and its ill logic make the conclusion unconvincing. It demands a more scientific study to provide information about the usage of kappa opioids.

澈透水痕rachelUID: 2868066

This argument is logically unconvincing in some aspects. Merely based on a vague research about the feeling of men and women to the same dosage of kappa opioids, it's too hasty to draw the conclusion that women should be given kappa opioids as painkillers while other kinds of pain medication should be given for men, or that reevaluating the effects of all medications is necessary. The reasons are stated as follows.

To begin with, the research cited in the argument is open to question. On the one hand, the sample might not be large enough to draw any conclusion and we see no sign of such procedures for random sampling and have good reason to doubt if the sample is respective enough to reflect the general feeling about all the men and women. It's thus highly possible that the figure procured in the research is a mere aberration. On the other hand, the level of pain reported by the patients may not reflect their actual level of pain. As a matter of fact, different people have various understanding about pain. Maybe men are more sensitive to the pain feeling of extracting their wisdom teeth or perhaps women are more outstanding than men when endurance is called for. For that matter, it's rather hard to tell whether kappa opioids are more effective to women than men as a painkiller.



Secondly, even if the research mentioned above can be successfully demonstrated to be credible, the effect of kappa opioids on patients who have their wisdom teeth extracted could not be hastily generalized to all conditions where pain medication is required. It's very likely that kappa opioids only have great effect on the pain of extracting teeth for women yet make little contribution to reduce or eliminate pain for other operation. In that case, the conclusion to give women kappa opioids at any time is apparently lack of credibility. Similarly, the suggestion of giving men other kinds of pain medication is too assertive without ruling out the possibility that it can do better in other cases for men.

Finally, even granted that medications should be prescribed discriminatingly, the necessity of reevaluating the effects of all medications on men versus women is unwarranted. There's no evidence to illustrate that other kind of painkillers doesn't consider about the difference of men and women in feeling about pain before invented. Maybe they have been separated into two types when packed and marked out which is for men and which is for women. It's no doubt that reevaluating the effects of all medications is a waste of time and energy to some extent.

As shown above, the argument is poorly reasoned. To strengthen the argument, more detailed information about people conducted in the research and other kinds of medications should be offered. In addition, more investigation and research must be undertaken to find out whether the effect of kappa opioids on patients suffering other diseases is the same with extracting teeth.

greoge007UID: 2865153

In this argument the author comes to the conclusion that men and women experience pain very differently from one another so that doctors should consider these differences when prescribing pain medications. In order to prove his conclusion the author merely sites a research. At first glance, the argument seems to be somewhat convincing, but further scrutiny of this argument only reveals some logical flaws that seriously undermine the conclusion.

In the first place, the argument is based on a dubious research. Firstly, the amount of the participant in this research is too small to be statistically informative. Just 28 men and 20 women cannot reflect the general situation about pain feelings both on all men and women.  Secondly, even if it can reflect the general situation, women's responses can be misleading. It is likely that the women pretend to behave do not feel pain.

In the second place, even if the research is correct. The author falsely assumes kappa opioids should be prescribed for women whenever pain medication is required. Evidence is lacking to prove this assumption. Only 20 women cannot mean the painkiller can also take effects on all the women. That is to say that the representativeness of the 20 women in the research is open to doubt. It is possible that the medication does not function well on other women.

Finally, granted that the author justifies all the foregoing evidences, the conclusion remains doubtful since the arguer consider all men should be given other kinds of pain medication instead of kappa opioids. The author unfairly assumes that kappa opioids do not work on men and cannot ease pain at all. It is highly likely that the kappa opioids can also kill pain in men, however the author does not mention in the argument. Even if the kappa opioids do not take effects on men. There is no evidence to prove the necessity that all medications on men should be reevaluated.

In conclusion, this argument fails to substantiate its claim that men and woman experience pain differently from one another and doctors should consider these differences when prescribing pain medications, because the evidence cited in the analysis does not lent strong support to what the arguer maintained. To make the argument more persuasive the author would have consider revising the research: for example to enlarge the amount the participants. In addition he would have to demonstrate the necessity of reevaluating the effects of all medications on men versus women. Also, the arguer would have to substantiate whether the kappa opioids can take effect on men. Only with more convincing evidence could this argument more than just an emotional appeal.