When a study of aspirin’s ability to prevent heart attacks in humans yielded positive results, researchers immediately submitted those results to a medical journal, which published them six weeks later. Had the results been published sooner, many of the heart attacks that occurred during the delay could have been prevented.
The conclusion drawn above would be most undermined if it were true that
(A) the medical journal’s staff worked overtime in order to publish the study’s results as soon as possible
Irrelevant. (B) studies of aspirin’s usefulness in reducing heart attacks in laboratory animals remain inconclusive
The argument is about humans, so any info. about animals is irrelevant.(C) people who take aspirin regularly suffer a higher-than-average incidence of stomach ulcers
Yes, this statement highlights a disadvantage of using aspirin. However, it does not weaken our conclusion that says many heart attacks could have been prevented.(D) the medical journal’s official policy is to publish articles only after an extensive review process
This is an attractive choice(at least to me). However, it does not help us achieve our goal to weaken the conclusion. It justifies the time taken by medical journal. But the conclusion still stands that yes okay even if time of 6 weeks is justified had the results published sooner, heart attacks could have been prevented. (E) a person’s risk of suffering a heart attack drops only after that person has taken aspirin regularly for two years
This choice if true weakens the conclusion. It says even if what asked was done, heart attacks would not be prevented.Regards
SandySilva