Rhetorical Analysis: Second Hand Smoke and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Hostos Community College
Mary Encarnacion
Professor Stemburg
April,10, 2022
ADHD, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, is a brain disorder prevalent in children that causes inattentiveness, hyper impulsivity and the inability to control behavior. In this paper, two lab reports examine the effect second hand smoke exposure has on the development of ADHD in children. Consider the first lab reports as “Secondhand smoke as a risk factor for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children” and the second as “Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Low Blood Lead Levels in Association With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Its Symptom Domain in Children: A Community-Based Case-Control Study”. We will be analyzing and comparing each lab report side by side on the development of the ideas from a rhetorical perspective based on the criterias that include the following: title, abstract, materials and methods, introduction, results, discussion, conclusion, references and appendix.
A typical lab report states the variables being examined in the title and in this particular case both authors are comparing, second hand smoke exposure and the risk factor of ADHD in children. The titles clearly inform the reader the paper will be looking into exploring the symptom domain of ADHD especially in early childhood that is caused by the influence of second hand smoke. A title that consists of the topic, audience and methodology is helpful to cater to the right audience. Compared to lab report 1, the title for lab report 2 additionally states it is control based-study and is diverging into low blood lead levels as part of the papers focus.
In Lab report 1, we can see in the abstract the author educates the reader on the facts of the disorder by stating ADHD is a common childhood psychiatric disorder with a 5% worldwide prevalence. The purpose stated for the study was to discover the potential association between the level of exposure to secondhand smoke and the degree of the symptoms. In other words, how at risk are children are by being exposed to secondhand smoke. Moreover, blood levels of serum cotinine, a biomarker that reflects the current exposure to secondhand smoke, were examined from the control study. Cotinine, however, is not a reliable indicator of past and long-term exposure to SHS (second hand smoke) due its short half life. The second lab report discusses the levels of lead, a heavy metal found in the environment due to human activity, as well as a synergistically (working together) relationship leading to ADHD. Both abstracts’ results section state that second hand smoke is indeed associated with impulsivity in children. Additionally, both authors include background information of ADHD to open the reader’s mind about the relevance of the disorder and build a relationship that establishes what the findings will reveal.
In the introduction, both lab reports highlight the harm Second hand smoke exposure has on a child’s mental health. Lab report 2 additionally assesses the effect of Blood lead levels as recent studies have revealed an association between BLL and a diagnosis of ADHD (Taylor and Francis group, 2017). Lead and second hand smoke are examined in order to understand the symptom domain specific association with different toxic agents, alone or combined, and how it can be useful to know how toxicological mechanisms work (Taylor and Francis group, 2017). Lab report 2 uses a community control study to examine the associated risk for ADHD and the symptom domain with respect to low BLL and SHS in combination with mutual adjustments of each factor (Taylor and Francis group, 2017). The first lab report is similar to lab report two minus the BLL levels, in the sense they both investigate the association between SHS exposure and ADHD in children and the level of exposure to SHS and the degree of the symptoms.
The material and method section consist of the equipment and steps done to produce the results of the lab reports. Both lab reports used a case control study with ADHD diagnosed children and non ADHD children. Lab report 1 was conducted january 1st 2017 to december 31 2017. Group 1 consisted of the ADHD children where 70 of them were 4-12 years of age and group 2 were 30 healthy children. Two milliliters of blood were collected from all participants using a vacutainer collection system to test for level of cotinine using the cotinine ELISA kit instructions. The data was analyzed using the statistical package for social science. In lab report two, the study was done between 2008 and 2010 in Cheonan, a city of South Korea. The study subjects were assessed with questionnaires using a K-ARS ( Korean ADHD rating scale). The children were considered positive for ADHD symptoms if they had a total score of not less than 10 on the questionnaire. Some factors that were considered to ensure the comparability of the control subjects were background such as the same community. Overall, both lab reports had the same approach of study control groups to conduct the experiment which makes sense when examining the extent of the control variable in this case it is second hand smoke.
After the experiment was conducted, the results sum up the findings and are expressed usually in graphics such as bar graphs, statistical data, and pie graphs. The lab reports both confirmed that the symptoms domain from the exposure of secondhand smoke was severe hyperactivity and ODD, which stands for oppositional defiant disorder where the child experiences frequent anger and irritability issues (Taylor and Francis group, 2017). In addition, SHS exposure during the prenatal and postnatal periods was very highly associated with ADHD according to lab report two (Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 2017). The urinary cotinine levels illustrate a severe association with all types of ADHD and inattention symptom domain. This fact supports how the symptoms of SHS revolve around hyperactivity in children. The two lad reports reached the same results.
In this section of the lab report, authors discuss the results by interpreting them with the purpose of the study. In lab report 1 and 2, the mean serum cotinine level was higher in the ADHD group compared to the control group (non ADHD children). Lab report one found out that children who reported home exposure to SHS insignificantly had higher levels of cotinine in comparison to those who did not report home exposure to SHS exposure due to the half-life of cotinine being short; a single measure in serum may not accurately assess the extent of smoke exposure during childhood. Lab report two’s findings proved that very low concentrations of lead is in fact related to ADHD in children particularly inattention symptoms. With that being said, SHS exposure is associated with the hyperactivity and impulsivity symptom domain of ADHD.
The findings in these lab reports concluded that SHS exposure is associated with ADHD particularly hyperactivity and impulsivity symptoms in children. It was also discovered that the duration and amount of exposure contributes to the level of severity in the symptoms of ADHD. The biomarker in serum cotinine is not the most reliable in reflecting the exposure of second hand smoke due to its short half life of 15-19 hours. Moreover, lab report 2, in particular, concludes that the combined exposure to lead and SHS increased the risk for ADHD synergistically in both symptom domains. Overall, the exposure of early second hand smoke is dangerous to pregnant women and children.
A lab report has the option of creating an acknowledgement section where the authors mention and thank individuals that contributed toward the fulfillment of the paper. While lab report 1 does not have an acknowledgment section, lab report 2 does. Lab report 2 acknowledges the individuals who helped assist in the collection and management of the data. The reference section is a list with all the used sources structured in a specific format. For scientific experiments, the list is lengthy as in the case for lab report 1 and 2. Citation in scientific studies is imperative to avoid plagiarism and build the credibility of the experiments being performed.
In conclusion, ADHD is highly associated with secondhand smoke in children. This is a serious problem in society as many people are not aware of the danger they are putting children’s mental health in. Each part of the lab reports shared similarities but, entirely the papers had differences in data presentation as well as an additional factor from lab report 2. Children who grow up exposed to constant second hand smoke will struggle with concentration, behavior and attentive issues as concluded by the results in these lab reports. It truly is an alarming situation for the lives that are at stake and parents should be more conscious about this in respect to their children’s mental health.
References
Lab report 1:
Abdel Hamed, N. A., Hammad, E. E.-D. M., Salama, R. H., Yassa, H. A., & Awaga, M. M. (2019). Secondhand smoke as a risk factor for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children. Inhalation Toxicology, 31(11/12), 420–427. https://doi-org.hostos.ezproxy.cuny.edu/10.1080/08958378.2019.1705440
Lab report 2:
Hyunjoo Joo, Myung-Ho Lim, Mina Ha, Ho-Jang Kwon, Seung Jin Yoo, Kyung-Hwa Choi, & Ki-Chung Paik. (2017). Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Low Blood Lead Levels in Association With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Its Symptom Domain in Children: A Community-Based Case-Control Study. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 19(1), 94–101. https://doi-org.hostos.ezproxy.cuny.edu/10.1093/ntr/ntw152
Self-Reflection
From doing this paper, I learned that understanding the results section is the hardest part of a lab report. I was challenged particularly by lab report 1 because the data was presented in many figures making it hard for me to understand so much scientific information. In addition, it also made 8 different connections from the data and I had to contextualize my understanding to the best of my ability. I will be using proper annotations before writing an assignment because this one in particular was a lot to take in. The objectives this assignment addressed were to write and evaluate formal lab reports. In this assignment, we had to compare the lab reports section by section in order to understand the reason the author structured the lab reports the way they did. I believe that the lab reports I choose to analyze had similar concepts to present the situation. It did not feel as if I had to dissect between the two because they appeared to be entirely similar. However, lab report 2 has an additional component which was the effect of blood lead levels. Recently, I learned microplastics were found in the human bloodstream. Microplastics are very small fragments made out of human waste. The news revealed that scientists reported they had found multiple types of plastic in blood samples supplied by 17 out of 22 anonymous healthy adult donors for the first time on March 24 of this year. This is alarming because the effects of human plastic pollution are not yet known on human health. This topic of ADHD and second hand smoke is considered new as well as the topic of human plastic pollution on human health. I chose this topic after reading this news because I wanted to explore how certain pollutants, like smoke from smoking, can be impacting the health of children. Children are a vulnerable group and smoke is everywhere in New York city. The simple air we breathe can be impacting us negatively and we do not even know until we educate ourselves about it.
