Critical Thinking Activities - Chapter 44

Question 1. Most people are familiar with hospital "oxygen tents" used to increase the percentage of oxygen inhaled in patients who have respiratory or circulatory problems. Why would breathing such a rich oxygen atmosphere not be recommended for a healthy person, or even for such patients over a prolonged time? Consider all gases involved in the respiratory process.

Question 2: In Hong Kong, the population has not been exposed to tuberculosis, and most Chinese residents are not resistant to the bacteria, in comparison to Westerners whose European ancestors have survived around tuberculosis for many centuries. Therefore, health officials have chosen to give the children BCG, a vaccine of related harmless bacteria that bestows some immunity to tuberculosis. Therefore, the "TB test" does not work and screening has to be done with more expensive X rays. Meanwhile, in the U.S. we use the "TB test" and do not use BCG. Why don't they adopt our system; or why don't we adopt their's?

Answers are available to instructors in the Instructor's Manual.
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