Paper Example: Experimental Versus Observational Study

Observational and experimental studies differ in several ways. While observational studies are prone to bias since they depend on the researcher's perception, experiment studies are free from bias since they depend on valid facts (Concato, 2004). Observational studies involve just viewing development without any intervention whereas experimental studies involve observation of the intervention's effects. Experimental studies are always randomized while observational studies are systematic. Single randomized studies have been shown to be faulty, while single observational studies are prone to bias. This implies that before interpreting single randomized or observational studies, careful caution should be taken.

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Implications of evolution to health

There is a relationship between cancer, atherosclerosis, and other diseases with evolution. Evolutionary explanations for cough, fever, pain, vomiting, and anxiety is that they are evolved defense mechanism. Coughing enables people to clear foreign materials from their lungs and throats (Nesse and Williams, 1994). Painful feelings are also useful since it prevent prolonged tissue damage. People who do not feel pain fail to note discomfort when sitting in a particular position. This deteriorates their tissues by impairing blood supply to their joints, which causes them to die earlier due to tissue damage. Fever is also a defense since higher body temperatures help in the destruction of pathogens in the body. Blood iron is another natural defense mechanism as it prevents the development of chronic diseases. Morning sickness has been identified as an early sign of pregnancy. Nausea coincides with quick tissue differentiation of the fetus, which is more likely to be interfered with by toxins. Nausea prevents women from ingesting material that would otherwise be toxic to the fetus. Women who experience less or no morning sickness are highly likely to bear children with defects.

Back pain

Back pain main results from injury, a medical condition, or an activity. The human back consists of a complex structure of tendons, discs, muscles, ligaments, and bones that cooperate to support the body and movement. The spine is cushioned by disks. Problems with any of the components either through strain and poor posture might cause back pain. Somatic back pain develops when ligaments and muscles are strained, through muscle spasm and tension. Somatic pain occurs when tissue receptors are activated. Somatic pain is local, constant, and is initiated by movement. The pain may begin at one place and then spread out. Somatic pain may be triggered by arthritis, injuries, and bone fractures (Duggal, 2018). People should be educated to do fitness exercises properly and avoid strenuous activities. People should also know that it is important to see the doctor in time once they notice a backache.

Definitions

Sensory-motor amnesia is an adaptive response of the nervous system that can neither be diagnosed nor treated via conventional medical approaches.

The red light reflex is a reflective event observed when light passes via the pupil and is reflected backward the retina to a viewing opening, making a reddish-orange glow

Landau reaction is a reflex observed in infants when put in a horizontal position in the air, to keep a convex arc with a face-down position.

Alexander's technique refers to an approach of learning how to avoid harmful movement behavior that accumulates tension in the body.

Feldenkrais refers to an exercise therapy created to reorganize the association between the brain and the body, thus bettering the movement of the body and mental wellness.

Biofeedback is a technique that can be used to manage stress by people learning to manage some of their body functions like heart rate.

Therapeutic touch refers to alternative medicine that involves medical practitioners touching the patient body gently.

Imagery is the use of descriptive language to elucidate situations while visualization refers to the formation of a psychological image of a situation.

Placebo refers to a drug without any therapeutic value that is used as a control in clinical trials while nocebo, whereas nocebo an innocuous treatment that when given to a patient causes harmful side effects because of the negative anticipation of the patient.

False-negative is a test that wrongly rules out the presence of a condition when truly the condition exists.

Nosocomial disease refers to diseases that are acquired while one is in a hospital setting.

An observational study is one that involves the researcher observing research factors without introducing any intervention.

Learned disuse refers to the situation where a person fails to use a weaker thing and decides to only use the strong one.

References

Concato, J. (2004, Jul). Observational versus experimental studies: What’s the evidence for a hierarchy? NeuroRx.1(3): 341–3347 DOI: 10.1602/neurorx.1.3.341.

Duggal, N. (2018, Aug 29). Somatic pain vs. visceral pain. https://www.healthline.com/health/somatic-vs-visceral-pain#symptoms

Nesse, R. M & Williams, G. C. (1994). Why we get sick: The new science of Darwinian medicine. http://web.sbu.edu/physics/faculty/dimattio/Clare102/readings/evolution/evol-reading.htm