GROUP PRESENTATION:
DUE 11/27-12/8
The goal of group presentations is to learn and work within a team. After finishing
your undergraduate work, most learning takes place in the context of working
with other people to achieve a common goal. This is true whether you are
working in medicine (attending physicians, residents, medical students, nurses,
dietitians, etc.), athletics (coaches, assistant coaches, athletes, trainers, etc.),
industry (research, development, marketing, advertising, legal, etc.), or
academics (faculty, post-doctoral fellows, grad students, etc.). There is a large
and compelling body of experience/literature that supports the idea that students
learn material more effectively in a group as opposed to learning only in a
lectured format.
You will be assigned to work in groups of 5-6 students and you will put together a
class presentation (20 minutes with 5 minutes for questions). Your presentation
is in the form of a research proposal.
Group assignments will be made by me and are not negotiable.
The assignment is to design a clinical research trial testing the efficacy or the
safety of a dietary supplement.
Each group is responsible for the following sections of the presentation.
Intro
Literature Review (at least 5 primary resources)
Methods
Expected Results
Study Limitations
Questions
Presentations must be done in Microsoft Power Point.
(Approximately 12-18 slides.)
This project is worth 20% of your final grade. Please play nice!
****** It is the responsibility of the members of each group to set goals, organize
and divide the workload, and keep the group on track to produce an interesting
presentation relevant to the material covered in class... In this endeavor you will
depend on each other to share the work, get it done on time, and create
something the whole group is proud of. You will have an opportunity to rate both
your own, and your teammates, contributions to the project and these ratings will
be used in determining grades. It is strongly recommended that interpersonal
issues (e.g. someone not doing their share of the work) be mediated within the
group but, if that fails, problems should be reported to the instructor, who will take
the appropriate action.
Groups will be posted online over the weekend, we will go over this again on
Monday and you will be given time in class to work on your project on 10/20 and
11/13. We do not have class on Friday November 10th (NEACSM Conference).
Group pre-proposals will be due to me at the end of class on October 20th. This
includes a general outline of your idea.
The best presentation (meaning the one that makes the most scientific sense)
will be voted on by the class.
CRITICAL REVIEW PAPER
DUE the last day of class... 12/14
As future leaders in health/wellness, medicine, nutrition and athletics you will be
asked to make decisions regarding the efficacy and public safety of weight loss
systems, fad diets, dietary supplements, performance enhancing drugs, etc. As
an “expert” in your field, you will be inundated with written, oral and web-based
material that will make claims (for example: creatine supplementation enhances
performance of high-intensity exercise) and provide evidence to support that
claim (studies showing that people taking creatine improved performance
compared with people taking a placebo). Separating relevant from irrelevant
information is a difficult and important skill for “experts” to have in their decision
making process. You will have to ask yourself of the studies you read: What
evidence is included? What evidence is left out? If the results from studies are
mixed (some show a positive effect, some don’t) how can you judge the
effectiveness of a supplement or nutritional practice? Also what factors (power
vs. strength trained, female vs. male, trained vs. untrained) may affect the results
of the study? When the evidence is unconvincing on an issue, how will you make
recommendations knowing that other people's lives will be affected by your
interpretation of the information available to you?
Each student will write a 5-8 page paper (double-spaced) that is focused on
critiquing the evidence on ONE of the following questions.
A. Ephedra: After enormous pressure from Congress in the wake of some deaths
of some high-profile athletes, the FDA severely restricted the sale of ephedra and
ephedra-containing products in the U.S. This was somewhat surprising given that
4 years ago, when the FDA tried to restrict ephedra sales, the General
Accounting Office of the US Government prevented them for doing so, agreeing
with supplement manufacturers argument that the number of lives saved by
ephedra (because it helped people lose weight and excess weight was related to
death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, etc.) was far greater than the number
of people who were dying from side effects. What is your opinion about the FDA
decision? Present the arguments for and against your viewpoint and explain why
you were convinced to take a stand on one side or the other.
B. Low fat vs. Low carbohydrate diets: In the past 25 years, the percent of fat in
the average American diet has gone down but the average weight of American
has gone up. Proponents of low-carbohydrate diets like the Atkins and the South
Beach diets point to that statistic as proof that trading fat for carbohydrate was in
fact a healthy lifestyle change as was promised by nutritionists - in fact,
increased carbohydrate intake may be contributing to America’s epidemic of
obesity, heart disease, diabetes and hypertension. From this viewpoint,
Americans would benefit greatly from a diet that severely restricts carbohydrate
while increasing the contribution of protein and fat. Should Americans be strongly
encouraged to follow a low-carbohydrate diet plan in order to maintain a healthy
weight? What benefits might a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet have in contrast?
Present the arguments for and against your viewpoint and explain why you were
convinced to take a stand on one side or the other.
C. Steroid Use: Recently in the news a lot of attention has been given to steroid
use by professional athletes. In particular attention has been focused on Major
League Baseball and its new drug-testing policy. The negative consequences of
steroid use have been well-documented. Steroid use damages internal organs,
may stunt growth, elevates cholesterol, increases the risk of heart disease,
causes aggressive behavior, and increases the risk of contracting HIV through
needle sharing. In addition, steroid use is illegal in most major sports
organizations (IOC, NFL, NBA, NHL). In fact, MLB is late in the effort to promote
fairness in sport. Moreover, drug testing policies in these major organizations are
tough in order to level the playing field among athletes. Evidence strongly
suggests that steroids are dangerous to athletes’ health. In addition, steroids are
banned from sport and tested for extensively, yet athletes still use them to their
enhance performance. If athletes are responsible people, know the health risks
associated with steroid use, and have equal access to them- why should steroids
be banned in competitive sports? Give a specific example (with some
physiological background) how steroid use has benefited/or tainted a sport and
what the dangers are associated with that sport’s steroid use. Do the
performance benefits outweigh the health dangers? What recommendation, as a
scientist, would you give regarding steroid use and its regulation in
professional/elite sport?
Choose one topic and write a concise, coherent paper discussing the issues
presented in the question. Include your opinion but be sure to include evidence
that both supports and refutes your argument. The paper receiving an “A” will
have a clear introduction and conclusion, have topic sentences at the beginning
of each paragraph linking the argument together, and will include a minimum of
five primary scientific references, as well as, some anecdotal flavor. (References
must be cited within the document with a number (23) and listed in alphabetical
order at the end-use refworks write & cite). I encourage you to turn in your
papers early because the end of the semester crunch can be overwhelming.