STAT 1201 PAPER REVIEW STATISTICAL ANALYSIS This study investigated an intergenerational implication of alcohol intake through studying metabolic disorders in alcohol-naïve rat offspring. In this paper, Warsaw alcohol high-preferring rats, Warsaw alcohol-low preferring (WHP) rats, and wild Wistar rats were exposed to 10% ethanol for 30 days. The WHP rats' intake of alcohol was significantly larger than that of WLP rats or wild Wistar rats. The rats were then mated within their groups 24 hours after their last consumption of ethanol. After their offspring were 90 days old, they were decapitated, and their serum collected. Biochemical analysis was carried out on metabolic markers found in the serum. One of the key indicators of metabolic disorders is high cholesterol. For the purpose of this paper review, the cholesterol levels of WHP rat offspring will be compared to the cholesterol levels of WLP rat offspring. The response variable is the total amount of cholesterol in the offspring of the WHP and WLP rats exposed to 10% ethanol. This is a quantitative response variable. The null hypothesis (H0) for this response variable is that there will be no difference in the total cholesterol levels of the WHP rat offspring when compared to the WLP rat offspring. The reported P-value for this variable is p < 0.001 This P-value implies that there is strong evidence that the offspring of the alcohol-naïve WHP rats will have higher total cholesterol, a sign of a metabolic disorder, than the offspring of the alcohol- naïve WLP rats. Page | 1 STAT 1201 Due Date: 19/09/2022
STAT 1201 PAPER REVIEW ETHICS ESSAY This study was performed to test the intergenerational implications of alcohol intake and the relationship between alcohol intake in rats and metabolic disorders in their offspring. Various ethical concerns are raised in this study as it involves exposing rats to an unnatural toxin, and sacrificing them to obtain their serum. This study was performed according to the Polish and European ethical regulations and the researchers acquired proper consent from The Ethics Committee for Animal Care. It is important to receive consent from the appropriate authority as animals cannot give informed consent themselves. In order to minimise the chance of animal cruelty, these external committee's represent them and insure they are not subject to brutality. Despite the approval, the researchers could have possibly euthanised the rats to better meet the RSPCA definition of humane killing where "an animal is either killed instantly or rendered insensible until death ensues, without pain, suffering or distress."[ CITATION Placeholder1 \\ 3081 ]. Instead of sacrificing the rats to rapid decapitation, the rats could have been exposed to slowly rising isoflurane levels, which is a gas that appears undetectable to animals [ CITATION Placeholder2 \l 3081 ]. This method is more humane than rapid decapitation in my opinion as it requires less manual handling, but studies have shown that there is evidence that euthanasia may affect the quality and quantity of the serum[ CITATION Placeholder3 \l 3081 ]. The question then becomes whether