PrepTest 34, Section 3, Question 11
The present goal of the field of medicine seems to be to extend life indefinitely. Increasingly, the ability to transplant such organs as hearts, lungs, livers, and kidneys will allow us to live longer. But we can never achieve brain transplants. There are, for a start, ten million nerves running from the brain down the neck, not to mention the millions joining the brain to the sensing organs. Clearly, then, as the transplantation of organs allows more and more people to live longer, those with degenerative brain disorders will form an ever-increasing proportion of the population.
The present goal of the field of medicine seems to be to extend life indefinitely. Increasingly, the ability to transplant such organs as hearts, lungs, livers, and kidneys will allow us to live longer. But we can never achieve brain transplants. There are, for a start, ten million nerves running from the brain down the neck, not to mention the millions joining the brain to the sensing organs. Clearly, then, as the transplantation of organs allows more and more people to live longer, those with degenerative brain disorders will form an ever-increasing proportion of the population.
The present goal of the field of medicine seems to be to extend life indefinitely. Increasingly, the ability to transplant such organs as hearts, lungs, livers, and kidneys will allow us to live longer. But we can never achieve brain transplants. There are, for a start, ten million nerves running from the brain down the neck, not to mention the millions joining the brain to the sensing organs. Clearly, then, as the transplantation of organs allows more and more people to live longer, those with degenerative brain disorders will form an ever-increasing proportion of the population.
The present goal of the field of medicine seems to be to extend life indefinitely. Increasingly, the ability to transplant such organs as hearts, lungs, livers, and kidneys will allow us to live longer. But we can never achieve brain transplants. There are, for a start, ten million nerves running from the brain down the neck, not to mention the millions joining the brain to the sensing organs. Clearly, then, as the transplantation of organs allows more and more people to live longer, those with degenerative brain disorders will form an ever-increasing proportion of the population.
The argument above is based on which one of the following assumptions?
Degenerative brain disorders will increasingly strike younger and younger patients.
It is still quite rare for people to live long enough to need more than one transplant of any given organ.
There are degenerative brain disorders that will not be curable without brain transplants.
Degenerative brain disorders account for a very small proportion of deaths in the population at large.
More is being spent on research into degenerative brain disorders than on research into transplantation.
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