shyara Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 Cats' spontaneous remission is a puzzle to veterinarians, according to some I have spoken to. According to the research I have done for the topic on the internet, weightloss and certain types of insulin can contribute to remission of diabetes in cats. In Austraila, Burmese cats seem to be most prone to diabetes, but not in other countries. I am curious as to if there is also a genetic factor in the remission of diabetes in cats. As remission is uncommon in dogs and humans, I am curious if an application can be made to diabetes in humans. However, I don't know if there is a genetic factor, so if I find that none exists based on my research, does this mean my topic is invalid? Please help me decide if I sould stick with this topic. Thank you! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyfaery Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 How do you plan to go about testing your hypothesis exactly? Strictly research-based essays generally do not score as highly as experiment-based essays, although they are certainly possible. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shyara Posted February 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 I plan on surveying past and current owners of cats with diabetes and analyzing trends in the data. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
biochem Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 but your trying to conclude that its a genetic disorder, which means that you would be making a relatively unacceptable hypothesis in science, that a simple survey of diabetic cats would conclude a genetic disorder. and testing in general should be out of the question, because your putting stress on the cats (assuming you are working wiht live diabetic specimens, which only makes sense, dead ones won't allow analysis). So based on this, and with the time u have, I would suggest switching a topic. Heres a summary of why: 1. thats is a generally difficult topic 2. Not feasible in the lab 3. working with animals 4. your current hypothesis is not really valid. yes, to a starting researcher. But not to an EE. change the topic why u have the time Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shyara Posted March 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2009 [quote name='biochem' post='38508' date='Feb 28 2009, 04:19 PM']but your trying to conclude that its a genetic disorder, which means that you would be making a relatively unacceptable hypothesis in science, that a simple survey of diabetic cats would conclude a genetic disorder. and testing in general should be out of the question, because your putting stress on the cats (assuming you are working wiht live diabetic specimens, which only makes sense, dead ones won't allow analysis). So based on this, and with the time u have, I would suggest switching a topic. Heres a summary of why: 1. thats is a generally difficult topic 2. Not feasible in the lab 3. working with animals 4. your current hypothesis is not really valid. yes, to a starting researcher. But not to an EE. change the topic why u have the time [/quote] I am trying to prove that the remissions are as a result of genetic switches in the cats that are turned on by the supplemental insulin and other treatments. I am trying to prove epigenetic factors in the cat becoming suddenly non-diabetic. I would see if there are any trends in breed or appearance of cats and their remission. For example, say as a result of the survey it was found that none of the black cats with diabetes went into remission or only cats with blue eyes went into remission, it could point to a switch in the genes the cats carried being turned on by the treatment. I am not to sure if that changes things or if the hypothesis is still invalid. I am still looking for other topics just in case this does not get approved. Thanks for your help! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyfaery Posted March 1, 2009 Report Share Posted March 1, 2009 [quote name='shyara' post='38520' date='Feb 28 2009, 08:17 PM']I am trying to prove that the remissions are as a result of genetic switches in the cats that are turned on by the supplemental insulin and other treatments. I am trying to prove epigenetic factors in the cat becoming suddenly non-diabetic. I would see if there are any trends in breed or appearance of cats and their remission. For example, say as a result of the survey it was found that [b]none of the black cats with diabetes went into remission or only cats with blue eyes went into remission[/b], it could point to a switch in the genes the cats carried being turned on by the treatment. I am not to sure if that changes things or if the hypothesis is still invalid. I am still looking for other topics just in case this does not get approved. Thanks for your help! [/quote] A hypothesis like that sounds superficial and without academic rigor. Like biochem said, this would be an interesting topic, however it seems unsuitable for an IB extended essay. Better to choose something that you can conduct an experiment for! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
biochem Posted March 1, 2009 Report Share Posted March 1, 2009 Like Irene supported my earlier post, I just want to notify you once again, that from the preliminary start you have a topic that is lacking quality for an EE for IB. as you may already know, Biology is difficult to score in, and your results and topic won't impress someone doing the grading. Just want to help you out, so that you don't go along with a already bad foot in the bonus point category of your diploma. Even with your reply, that really makes no sense at all to me. And it could be because I have just touched upon and am learning genetics in HL bio. But the practicality is there. Genes which would code for such things that effect diabetic-quality of an organism have no correlation to eye color. And I know this is what your trying to prove, but even a veterinarian wouldn't work in this paradigm. I am in no way really qualified to make this judgment, but it is something to explore. Again to just reiterate and reflect on another idea, genetics is very complex. I would really try to do something more quantified, with several trials, and the ability to interpret and analyze. If I were you, I would completely get out of this range of genetics, and look at something feasible and never really explored before. These are the topics which would score high in biology EE submissions. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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