Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long.
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Question: The test examines more than 2 million spots in a person’s genetic code, seeking variants that individually nudge a person’s obesity risk up by a tiny amount. The researchers drew on previously published data about those variants to create a risk score. A high score didn’t guarantee obesity, nor a low score rule it out. But middle-aged people with scores in the top 10 percent were 25 times as likely to be severely obese as those in the bottom 10 percent, scientists reported in a paper released Thursday by the journal Cell. Those two groups were separated by an average weight difference of about 29 pounds (13 kilograms), researchers said. Analysis showed the genetic propensity to obesity began having an effect on weight around age 3. Up to about age 8, “you might be able to make a difference in the kids who are born susceptible to obesity,” said one author of the study, Dr. Sekar Kathiresan of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. But it will take further research to see whether intervening would work, Kathiresan said. The results for middle age came from a study of about 288,000 people. Overall, the risk-score research included data from more than 300,000 people at various ages. Severe obesity was defined as a body mass index of 40 or more. Results show genetic inheritance “plays a large role in how heavy one gets,” Kathiresan said. The risk score probably takes about half of a person’s genetic propensity into account, he said, and it shows similar accuracy in predicting ordinary obesity, defined as a BMI of 30 or more. Even if one inherits a propensity for obesity, he said, “you still have control over your fate. You’re not fated to be obese, but it’s very clear those individuals who’ve inherited susceptibility have to work that much harder to keep the weight off.” Among study participants with the highest scores, he noted, 17 percent were of normal weight. Other analyses show that people who remain lean despite an inherited propensity for obesity tend to eat better and have more physical activity than others with a high score who got fat. “So you can do something about it,” he said. Ruth Loos, a professor of environmental medicine and public health who did not participate in the study, said the risk score explains more of people’s genetic tendency than previous studies did. But she doubted it would be useful in a doctor’s office. It is “never going to be a good predictor,” said Loos, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai in New York. She noted that in one test of the score’s predictive power, only 58 of the 371 subjects scoring in the top 10 percent ended up severely obese. And many other severely obese people didn’t score in the top 10 percent, she said. Simply asking about family history of obesity would probably work better, she said. The large role of lifestyle in obesity means a purely gene-based predictor will never be perfect, she said. Kathiresan, a cardiologist, said the risk score is best seen as a risk indicator, like high cholesterol. Most people with high cholesterol don’t get heart attacks, he said, but they do run a higher risk than others. Jason Boardman of the University of Colorado Boulder said genetic variants might affect body size indirectly, through an impact on lifestyles or other social and behavioral traits. Other research suggests the effect of genes on size depends on what kind of social and physical environment a person lives in, including such factors as access to unhealthy foods, he said in an email. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Answer: Study: Genetic test predicts middle-aged obesity risk.


Question: Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expect this year’s bloom to rank among the top five since it began measuring their severity in 2002, according to their annual algae forecast for the lake. What’s not known is how toxic it might be or whether it will pose a threat for cities in Ohio and Michigan that draw their drinking water from the lake. Algae blooms that produce toxins and can sicken swimmers and harm fish are becoming an increasing concern nationwide, causing water warnings this year from Vermont to the Gulf Coast. Environmental officials in New Jersey have been telling people to stay out of the state’s largest lake since late June and beaches in Mississippi have been closed in recent weeks by a bloom fueled by polluted Midwest floodwaters pouring from the Mississippi River. Lake Erie, the shallowest and warmest of the Great Lakes, has been hit particularly hard over the past decade. It was five years ago when a toxic bloom caused a two-day shutdown of drinking water in Toledo. Researchers, using a scale for rating the severity of the bloom, expect it to be a 7.5 this year — short of the most severe outbreaks this past decade but still a significant one. Studies have shown that much of the phosphorus that fuels the algae comes from fertilizer runoff from farm fields along with sewage treatment plants and other sources. Unusually heavy rains this spring washed large amounts of nutrients into the lake, but the rain also prevented many farmers from planting corn and applying phosphorus-rich fertilizers on their fields. That may be why the amount of phosphorus found in the lake’s largest tributary, the Maumee River, was much lower than what would be expected, said Laura Johnson, director of the National Center for Water Quality Research at Heidelberg University. The forecasters say one thing they’re unsure about is how the record-setting water levels on the lake this year will impact the algae. “Each bloom is different in how they behave,” said Rick Stumpf, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Where the bloom will go on the lake’s western end along Ohio and Michigan will vary based on wind direction, but researchers point out that most of the lake will be fine for boaters and swimmers. Other factors that will determine the size and location of this year’s bloom in the coming weeks include rain amounts and the lake’s water temperature. Although some areas along the Ohio shoreline already have algae starting to form and drift into the lake, researchers don’t expect to see a large outbreak until the end of July.

Answer: Expect another huge blob of algae on Lake Erie this summer.


Question: The story did not discuss cost. There are dozens of fish oil supplements on the market and their cost varies widely. The story could have given some sense of the financial impact that this regimen would have. This was a strong point of the story, giving us both absolute and relative risk figures up front in the second paragraph: Among children whose mothers took fish-oil capsules, 16.9 percent had asthma by age 3, compared with 23.7 percent whose mothers were given placebos. The difference, nearly 7 percentage points, translates to a risk reduction of about 31 percent. Too often, even when stories do provide absolute risk figures, they highlight relative risks high up in the story and bury the absolute risk information far down in the text where it’s less likely to be read. The story explains that no adverse events were associated with the intervention. However, the harms assessed by the researchers were things like maternal or infant death, emergency caesarean delivery, and preterm birth. They didn’t assess (and the story didn’t mention) less serious harms like fishy taste, nausea, belching, and heartburn that are commonly associated with fish oil capsules and which might make this regimen burdensome for pregnant women. Moreover, it would have been useful if the story had also noted that the reason researchers want to replicate the results in a larger group of women is to make sure these very high doses of fish oil are indeed safe. The story gives us details of the study–how many women were enrolled, that there was a placebo group, and that the children were followed for seven years. An independent source also explains that the study was “well designed and carefully performed.” The story does not disease monger–childhood asthma is a common and often exasperating condition that many parents grapple with. The story clearly explains who funded the study, and includes an independent source. But it doesn’t note the extensive conflicts of interest reported by the lead author who’s quoted in the piece: Dr. Bisgaard reports receiving consulting fees from Chiesi Pharmaceuticals and Boehringer Ingelheim, and Drs. Bisgaard and Bønnelykke report being named on a pending patent related to the prevention of childhood asthma through FADS genotyping and the assessment of blood levels of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid in pregnant mothers. The patent filing related to genetic testing is particularly relevant, given that the researcher advocates genetic testing and testing of fish oil levels in pregnant women to determine who might benefit most from supplementation. Aside from avoidance of maternal smoking, there are no known ways to reduce the risk of developing asthma in childhood. The story explains this is why doctors are testing this method, and excited by the findings. The story explains that the “capsules were an over-the-counter product called Incromega TG33/22, a fish extract made by the British chemical company Croda Health Care.” And in regard to whether women should start taking the supplement to lower asthma risk in their babies, the story lets us know researchers “are not ready to recommend that pregnant women routinely take fish oil” due to the very high dose used in this study. Further research is needed first to establish safety and confirm benefit. We learn that previous studies on this topic were inconclusive, and so the inference is that this is the first time more conclusive results were seen, especially regarding the benefit in women who had lower-than-normal levels of the fatty acids in their blood. This story did not rely on the news release.

Answer:
Taking Fish Oil During Pregnancy Is Found to Lower Child’s Asthma Risk