1. What was the primary disease in this movie and whom did it affect?  The disease was ADL, adenoleukodystrophy. It affected Lorenzo and only affects males.

2. How would you classify the disease' impact on the patients functional status. mild, moderate or severe, and why?  I would say Lorenzo had a severe cause because once diagnosed he progressed quickly. He went form being a normal kid to pretty much a vegetable.

3. In your opinion, how did the research doctors regard Lorenzo's parents? The doctors I think saw the Odones as being crazy. The Odones didn’t care about the research; they were concerned with one thing and that was Lorenzo.

4. "The roles of the researchers were juxtaposed or changed in this movie." Explain why this is true.  Well the researchers were to busy with the rules and regulations that they were slowed down in the search for a treatment. The Odones had no such barriers.

5. Dad had a breakthrough at the library - explain the paperclip analogy/model.  He used paper clips to form fatty acid chains: one good and one bad. He realized the same enzyme controlled both chains. He theorized that if they could make the good chains build faster and the bad ones slow that it would be a good treatment.

6. Dad was concerned when Lorenzo's friend came from Africa to live with the Adone's and care for Lorenzo. What was Dad's primary concern?  He thought it would be hard and different for his friend to see the state Lorenzo was in.

7. Who was the first human subject to consume the oil and how was it dosed and administered through what portal (ingested, injected, absorbed, inhaled, or other)?  Lorenzo was the first to receive the treatment via a nasogastric tube. Then his aunt ingested it since she was a carrier.

8. What is the role of money in this research product? Who paid for most of the early groundbreaking research?  Money in research is the real determining factor of whether or not research is done. Without money there is no research. In the beginning the Odones paid for the majority of the research.

9. The critical mass theory suggests that multiple researchers conclusively find (or frequently stumble upon) an answer to a scientific inquiry. Were the researchers on a single path to finding a cure for this disease? No. They had three theories and it was a matter of finding which one worked. 

10. Consider ethics for a moment. Does this movie represent an appropriate ethical model for research? Defend your answer. I think so. Research takes steps to be safe and effective. I also think in extreme cases that research could be slightly bypassed. If it were my child I would have tried everything to help them.

Paula Widner