The Magno-Blanket is probably able to relieve arthritic pain in older

Question

The Magno-Blanket is probably able to relieve arthritic pain in older dogs. A hospital study of people suffering from severe joint pain found that 76 percent of those who were treated with magnets reported reduced pain after just 3 weeks. Dogs and humans have similar physiologies and the Magno-Blanket brings magnets into the same proximity to the dog's joints as they were to patients' joints in the hospital study.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

(A) The Magno-Blanket is likely to be effective on cats and other pets as well if it is effective at reducing joint pain in arthritic dogs.
(B) Magnets have been shown to be capable of intensifying the transmission of messages from people's nerve cells to their brains.
(C) There are currently fewer means of safely alleviating arthritic pain in dogs than in humans.
(D) The patients in the hospital study suffering from severe joint pain who, after being treated with magnets, did not report reduced pain tended not to be those suffering from the most severe pain.
(E) Most of the patients in the hospital study suffering from severe joint pain who received a placebo rather than treatment with magnets did not report reduced pain.

Source: LSAT

Abhishek009 · Answer

None except (E) weakens the possibility of an alternative treatment that could have reduced the pain and directly supports the Highlighted part of the stimulus.

itisSheldon · Answer

Option A and E are contenders. The problem with option A is that it talks about the effectiveness of Magno-Blanket treatment. We are not interested to know how effective the treatment is. We are interested to know does Magno-Blanket treatment alleviates the suffering of arthritis or not. Clearly, Option E is the winner.

lfc · Answer

(A) No mention of cats/other pets. Main focus on humans.
(B) Not sure if he transmission of messages from people's nerve cells reduces the pain.
(C) The comparison does not affect the argument
(D) This weakens the argument as the most severe cases have not been attended to.
(E)  Correct  as this strengthens the validity of the study group. Removes doubt for erroneous results.

Manimoneyy · Answer

Strengthen Question:

To save time and apply with in time - Pre-think first

Here the possible way of strengthening is

1. The method will lessen the pain on humans too - Conclusion of the passage
2. There are some peculiar things which can make strengthen the logic - dogs and human will have similar response on this methods - strengthen the logic

A.B.C.D - No one talks about it

E - Pre-think method 1

Answer - E

AmeliaFraser · Answer

Have you tried the Magno-Blanke for your dogs?

sssanskaar · Answer

No, but maybe I will try it for myself because of all the severe pain I am suffering from because of this bloody GMAT

CEdward · Answer

I think A and E are the main contenders here. The passage establishes that the blanket is effective for people and concludes that it will probably be effective for dogs (a different species). So perhaps if it is effective for cats then it will work for dogs.

There are two things wrong with A though. One is that A) says 'it is likely to be effective on cats'...so the evidence is not even conclusive. Second, we don't know whether dogs and cats share the same physiology...unlikely.

E strengths because we have one additional reason to believe the blanket reduces the pain.

The Magno-Blanket is probably able to relieve arthritic pain in older dogs. A hospital study of people suffering from severe joint pain found that 76 percent of those who were treated with magnets reported reduced pain after just 3 weeks. Dogs and humans have similar physiologies and the Magno-Blanket brings magnets into the same proximity to the dog's joints as they were to patients' joints in the hospital study.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

(A) The Magno-Blanket is likely to be effective on cats and other pets as well if it is effective at reducing joint pain in arthritic dogs. X
(B) Magnets have been shown to be capable of intensifying the transmission of messages from people's nerve cells to their brains. X
(C) There are currently fewer means of safely alleviating arthritic pain in dogs than in humans. X
(D) The patients in the hospital study suffering from severe joint pain who, after being treated with magnets, did not report reduced pain tended not to be those suffering from the most severe pain. X
(E) Most of the patients in the hospital study suffering from severe joint pain who received a placebo rather than treatment with magnets did not report reduced pain. C

bidskamikaze · Answer

Even though a weak choice, Option E is the only choice that tends to strengthen the argument in anyway.

(E) Most of the patients in the hospital study suffering from severe joint pain who received a placebo rather than treatment with magnets did not report reduced pain.

It tells us that the treatment with Magno-Blanket works, at least in humans.
All other options either weaken the argument or are irrelevant to the argument.

eaat · Answer

Argument: Magno-blanket is probably able to relive arthritic pain in older dogs
Why? 
* Magnet helped people suffering from severe join pain reported reduced pain
* Dogs and humans have similar physiologies 
* Magno-blanket brings magnets into same proximity to dog’s joints as they were to the humans

Q: most strengths argument 
A - no we’re trying to find something to relate it to older dogs 
B - irrelevant, if anything it means they will feel more pain
C - fewer safe means, doesn’t tell us anything about the mango blankets ability to relive pain
D - people that didn’t report reduced pain didn’t suffer as much -> doesn’t support the argument 
E - yes this supports the argument

guddo · Answer

The Magno-Blanket is probably able to relieve arthritic pain in older dogs. A hospital study of people suffering from severe joint pain found that 76 percent of those who were treated with magnets reported reduced pain after just 3 weeks. Dogs and humans have similar physiologies and the Magno-Blanket brings magnets into the same proximity to the dog's joints as they were to patients' joints in the hospital study.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

The argument says a magnetic blanket for dogs will probably relieve arthritic pain because in a hospital study, 76 percent of humans with severe joint pain reported reduced pain after magnet treatment, and dogs have similar physiology and similar magnet proximity would be achieved.

(A) The Magno-Blanket is likely to be effective on cats and other pets as well if it is effective at reducing joint pain in arthritic dogs.

This doesn’t strengthen. It talks about cats and other pets, which doesn’t add support that it works on dogs.

(B) Magnets have been shown to be capable of intensifying the transmission of messages from people's nerve cells to their brains.

This somewhat supports a possible mechanism, but it’s vague and about “messages from nerve cells,” not specifically about reducing joint pain from magnets near joints, so the link to the blanket’s claim is weak.

(C) There are currently fewer means of safely alleviating arthritic pain in dogs than in humans.

This doesn’t strengthen. It’s about how many safe options exist, not whether magnets work.

(D) The patients in the hospital study suffering from severe joint pain who, after being treated with magnets, did not report reduced pain tended not to be those suffering from the most severe pain.

This doesn’t strengthen and may slightly hurt. If non responders tend to be the less severe cases, that suggests magnets might not reliably help the full range, and it doesn’t add confidence about dogs.

(E) Most of the patients in the hospital study suffering from severe joint pain who received a placebo rather than treatment with magnets did not report reduced pain.

This strengthens the most.  It adds the key missing control comparison: if placebo patients mostly did not report reduced pain, then the improvement is much more likely due to magnets rather than expectation or time, making the human evidence more credible and therefore the dog inference stronger.

Answer: (E)

agrasan · Answer

Hi  KarishmaB   MartyMurray   IanStewart

Conclusion: The Magno-Blanket is probably able to relieve arthritic pain in older dogs

Is my reasoning to eliminate (D) correct? Also, please help me understand how (E) is correct.

(D) The patients in the hospital study suffering from severe joint pain who, after being treated with magnets, did not report reduced pain tended not to be those suffering from the most severe pain.

Patients who didn't report reduced pain were not likely to be those suffering from most severe pain. This option doesn't say how magnets reduce the pain and can be of help to dogs, thus, not much relevant for us.

(E) Most of the patients in the hospital study suffering from severe joint pain who received a placebo rather than treatment with magnets did not report reduced pain.

I don't understand how a comparison between a placebo and magnet effectiveness will strengthen the conclusion, the argument is simply about how magnets can be helpful for dogs to relieve the arthritic pain. I rejected this option due to the comparison reason.

ParamjitDasGMAT · Answer

Hi  agrasan ,

I’m happy to help out with option (E)

It says that the improvement didn’t occur for a reason other than the magnets. Because those who received a placebo didn’t experience improvement, we can conclude that the only difference between the two scenarios was the presence vs absence of magnets.

This is quite a common way to strengthen causality-based arguments of X causes Y (When X is absent, Y also doesn’t occur).

Hope this helps.

agrasan · Answer

Thanks  ParamjitDasGMAT , is my reasoning on (D) correct to eliminate it or did I falter somewhere?

MartyMurray · Answer

The Magno-Blanket is probably able to relieve arthritic pain in older dogs. A hospital study of people suffering from severe joint pain found that 76 percent of those who were treated with magnets reported reduced pain after just 3 weeks. Dogs and humans have similar physiologies and the Magno-Blanket brings magnets into the same proximity to the dog's joints as they were to patients' joints in the hospital study.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

Conclusion of the argument:

The Magno-Blanket is probably able to relieve arthritic pain in older dogs.

Support for the conclusion:

A hospital study of people suffering from severe joint pain found that 76 percent of those who were treated with magnets reported reduced pain after just 3 weeks. Dogs and humans have similar physiologies and the Magno-Blanket brings magnets into the same proximity to the dog's joints as they were to patients' joints in the hospital study.

We see that, at the foundation of the argument is that assumption that, since people treated with magnets reported reduced pain, it is likely that magnets cause reduction in pain.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

This is a Strengthen question, and the correct answer will be the choice that strengthens the support for the conclusion.

(A) The Magno-Blanket is likely to be effective on cats and other pets as well if it is effective at reducing joint pain in arthritic dogs.

The fact that the Magno-Blanket is likely to be effective on other animals IF it is effective in reducing pain in dogs does not mean that it is in fact effective on dogs.

In other words, this choice brings up something that basically follows from the conclusion of the argument rather than a reason to believe the conclusion of the argument.

Eliminate.

(B) Magnets have been shown to be capable of intensifying the transmission of messages from people's nerve cells to their brains.

Since there's no clear reason to believe that "intensifying the transmission of messages from people's nerve cells to their brains" results in pain reduction, this choice does not strengthen the case for the conclusion.

Eliminate.

(C) There are currently fewer means of safely alleviating arthritic pain in dogs than in humans.

The fact that there are fewer means of alleviating pain in dogs than in humans does not mean that this particular method of using the Magno-Blanket will work.

Eliminate.

(D) The patients in the hospital study suffering from severe joint pain who, after being treated with magnets, did not report reduced pain tended not to be those suffering from the most severe pain.

The fact that those suffering with the most severe pain did not report reduced pain does not indicate that the magnets worked.

After all, there's nothing special about "the most severe pain" such that one would expect that something that actually works would not work on the most severe pain.

So, this information on exactly who did not report reduced pain doesn't materially add to what we already know, which is that most people reported reduced pain while some didn't.

Eliminate.

(E) Most of the patients in the hospital study suffering from severe joint pain who received a placebo rather than treatment with magnets did not report reduced pain.

This choice is interesting because it indicates the following.

When the presumed cause, magnet treatment, was present, the effect, reduced pain, was also present, and, when the presumed cause was not present, the effect was not either.

That information is interesting because it confirms the association between a single variable, magnet treatment, and reduced pain.

After all, the fact that reduced pain occurred only with magnet treatment even though, presumably, everything else was basically the same tends to indicate that the magnet treatment was indeed the cause of the reduced pain.

So, this choice strengthens the aspect of the argument involving the connection between magnet treatment and reduced pain and thus strengthens the support for the final conclusion about dogs.

Keep.

Correct answer:   E

The Magno-Blanket is probably able to relieve arthritic pain in older

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The Magno-Blanket is probably able to relieve arthritic pain in older

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