Science Homework Help

• A number of endurance athletes have lately been caught using EPO (erythropoietin) as a performance-enhancing drug. How does EPO give an athlete an unfair advantage?
• Scientists have some initial evidence that the differences in the gene that codes for one form of the alpha subunit of HIF (HIF-1α) seem to affect athletic performance. Elite athletes in endurance sports had a higher frequency of one form of the gene, whereas a different form of the gene was more frequent in power-oriented athletes like weight lifters. Would you want to know your genotype for HIF-1α to help you decide what types of physical activities you might want to pursue? Why or why not?
• Evidence for the flowcharts you and your partners constructed comes from studies in other animals. How does an understanding of evolution help explain why studies in other organisms are relevant to humans?

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Examine the data data from a scientific article written by Dr. Lorna Moore and colleagues in 2011 (Figure 5). The data show the birth weight for babies born to mothers living at different elevations for two groups of people, Europeans and Han Chinese.

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Answer the following questions about the graphs.

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• What pattern do you see in the data?
• What do you think is causing the pattern you see?
• How would you explain the data?

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Reflect on the fact that Tibetans have been living near 4000 m (13,120 ft) for at least 10,000 years. The general term for groups of people with a long history of living at high elevation is “highlanders.” “Lowlanders,” in contrast, are groups of people who have historically lived at low altitudes.

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Now consider the following data for lowlanders at sea level (from Beall, C., [2006], Andean, Tibetan, and Ethiopian patterns of adaptation to high-altitude hypoxia, Integrative and Comparative Biology, 46(1), 18–24).

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• Average Sao2 (the percentage of hemoglobin that is saturated with oxygen in arterial blood) = 97 percent.
• Average hemoglobin concentration [Hb] in adult males = 15.3 grams/

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deciliter (g/dL).

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Predict the following.

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• If the Sao2 and [Hb] in Tibetans are higher, lower, or the same as the average values for lowlanders
• If Tibetan infants born at high altitude will have birth weights above, below, orabout the same as infants born to lowlanders at high elevation
• How did the actual results compare to your prediction?

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Prediction (Include your reasoning.)

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Prediction (Include your reasoning.)

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Actual Results: