Lorenzo's Oil Flashcards
How old was Lorenzo when he was diagnosed?
5
Who are Lorenzo’s parents?
Augusto Odone, Michaela Odone
What is the disease that Lorenzo has?
Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD)
What types of foods make this disease worse?
- red meat
- olive oil
- pizza
- spinach
- peanut butter
Why does Lorenzo’s mother blame herself for his illness?
she was the carrier of the disease and it was passed on to Lorenzo.
What are the symptoms of Lorenzo’s illness?
- blind
- deaf
- loss of muscle ability
- cannot talk/swallow
- Peratism
How did Lorenzo’s parents find a treatment for Lorenzo?
they researched a lot
How did Lorenzo’s Oil work?
sync model
What was in Lorenzo’s Oil?
olive oil –> oleic acid
rape seed oil –> erucic acid
Did the medical community help the Odones find a cute for Lorenzo or did they resist their efforts? Explain what happened. Do you understand why the doctors did what they did?
The doctors refused to help his parents find a cure in case the parents were wrong with their science. Yes, I understand, the doctors could lose their jobs.
Why was the support group angry about the Odones efforts to help Lorenzo? Can you see their point?
The support group was angry because the Odones aren’t doctors and they could send off false hope to the other parents.
Explain Augusto’s use of paperclips to represent the “good and bad” fatty acids. What did his dream help him to understand?
The paperclips represented the long chain of fatty acids, and his dream allowed understanding of competitive inhibition, one enzyme for two substrates.
How come the erucic acid had to be made in another country?
No one in the USA would do it and the FDA did not approve of it.
Why did the Odones have so much trouble getting Lorenzo’s oil made?
No one had the tools or the funds to make it.
Would you do the same thing as the Odones if Lorenzo were your child? Why or why not?
Yes, I would because I would do anything to keep my child alive.
Name an instance where Augusto used modeling to solve a scientific problem? Explain how modeling helped you understand what he was talking about.
Augusto used the paperclips and the sink to model. It helped to understand by manipulating the situation, and making it easier to understand.
We can learn anything we want to. Most of us should regard ourselves as “lifelong learners”. How did Augusto and Michaela prove that they are lifelong learners?
They figured out how to cure Lorenzo. The Odones were just a regular family, Augusto being a banker and Michael being a house wife, when they started to research on Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) and fatty acids.
As you reflect on this movie, how did Odones family use the Scientific method? Start with the problem statement and use examples from the movie to illustrate the steps.
The problem is Adrenoleukodystrophy. They set forth predictions on what Lorenzo’s outcome would be. Augusto and Micheala hypothesized together. They tested the Oil on Lorenzo. Lorenzo’s levels of fatty acid started to decline. Augusto was still doing research and he came to understand it by drawing a picture of the sink, using many different parts of the sink to explain the problem. He also understood it by using paperclips as the fatty acids. After this, they told the support group and at first they did not want it to go public in case of false hope.
