Question and paper review

Posted: September 3rd, 2013

Question and paper review

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Question and peer review

Additional literature on your study proposal

The topic you have chosen is very informative, educative and eye opening on the effects lead exposure has on children. It illuminates and enhances comprehension as to why children from low-income neighborhoods drop out of school due to poor academic performance and cognitive functioning. One primary means of exposure to a child is during pregnancy where the mother passes lead to the baby through the placenta by either diet or skeletal formation. Women who do not breast feed their children expose them to lead since infant formula and infant’s food contain lead (American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), 2005).

Questions

1. The type of data (pg 8) to be included, each child has lived in that neighborhood for varying period. How will you know how long each child below 6 years has been living in that neighborhood? How will determine if their intelligence has been affected by level of lead in their blood?
2. In the study, participants section (pg 7) besides the information acquired from the city of Houston what other way will you identify these zip codes with the highest risk?
3. In the study design section (pg 7), which other criteria will you employ in choosing children who are most vulnerable to lead exposure besides being from low income neighborhoods?
4. In the introduction sectioned (pg 5) there is statistics on children who have blood lead level at toxic range. What is the specific toxic range of blood lead level?
5. In the abstract section (pg 3), you have mentioned about prevention measures. What are the methods of preventing lead poisoning?

Peer review

The format and style of the paper is good; I would suggest that the table on proposed budget allocation and the table on proposed timeline be inserted under study budget and study schedule sections respectively instead of the appendix section.

Below are my constructive criticisms on your study proposal

– on the type of data to be collected I would recommend that you include the period of time each child below the age of six has been living in that neighborhood. This is important for the study

Since the objective is to test the blood lead level and the lead concentration in this environment. Other data that should be collected is the children’s performance in school since they started attending.

– I would recommend that you do a research on the current low-income neighborhoods in Houston so that when you obtain the documents from the city of Houston you verify if they are updated and if they contain all the necessary information that you require.

– Although the study is about lead exposure in low-income areas, I would suggest that you come up with other criteria besides low income to determine the children at the highest risk of exposure. For even in these low-income areas the exposure differs from one child to another (Illinois General Assembly, 2011).

– If, possible include the specific range of blood lead level that is considered as toxic if a child has reached that level in their body since different research have given different toxic levels (Burke & Miller, 2011). Include the recommended maximum range for each age that is contained in the blood that does not affect the child in any way. This is in order to avoid speculation and confusion to anyone reading this proposal.

– Lastly, on the abstract you mentioned that you would include the relevant methods of preventing lead poisoning but you did not mention. Therefore, add these methods in your proposal to educate people who will read your proposal on ways to prevent their children from exposure of lead.

References

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). (October 2005). Lead Exposure in Children: Prevention, Detection, and Management. Pediatrics, 116(4), 1036-1046.

Burke, M & Miller, M. (January 2011). Practical Guidelines for Evaluating Lead Exposure in Children with Mental Health Conditions. Post graduate medicine, 123(1).

Illinois General Assembly. (2011). Lead Poisoning Prevention Act. Retrieved from http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=1523&ChapterID=35