LSAT 104 – Section 1 – Question 19

LSAT 104 - Section 1 - Question 19

December 1998

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Target time: 1:13

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT104 S1 Q19
+LR
Must be true +MBT
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
6%
163
B
0%
169
C
29%
166
D
2%
162
E
62%
170
146
161
176
 +Hardest 149.106 +SubsectionMedium

J.Y.’s explanation

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Pollen and other allergens can cause cells in the nose to release histamine, a chemical that inflames nasal tissue and causes runny nose, congestion, and sneezing. Antihistamines minimize these allergy symptoms by blocking the action of histamine. In addition, antihistamines have other effects, including drowsiness. However, histamine plays no role in the processes by which colds produce their symptoms.

Summary
Pollen/allergens can cause cells in nose to release histamine.
Histamine causes certain allergy symptoms.
Antihistamines can reduce these allergy symptoms by blocking the action of histamine.
Antihistamines also have other effects. One of those effects is drowsiness.
Histamine doesn’t play any role in how colds produce symptoms.

Notable Valid Inferences
We’re looking for what must be true. This set of facts doesn’t produce any obvious inferences, so I’d mainly rely on process of elimination.

A
Pollen and other allergens do not cause colds.
Could be false. We know that histamine doesn’t play role in how colds produce symptoms. But what causes colds? We don’t know that pollens and allergens don’t cause colds.
B
Colds are more difficult to treat than allergies.
Could be false. We don’t know what’s more difficult to treat. Although antihistamines can reduce allergy symptoms, that doesn’t mean allergies are easier to treat than colds. Maybe antihistamines can also reduce cold symptoms, or there are other things that can treat colds.
C
Antihistamines, when taken alone, are ineffective against congestion caused by colds.
Could be false. We were told antihistamines have “other effects.” Those effects might include reducing cold symptoms; we don’t know. Although histamines aren’t part of cold symptoms, antihistamines might still reduce those symptoms through some means besides blocking histamines.
D
The sleeplessness that sometimes accompanies allergies can be effectively treated with antihistamines.
Could be false. We don’t know whether antihistamines can “effectively treat” sleeplessness. Although antihistamines can cause drowsiness, that doesn’t guarantee that they can treat sleeplessness.
E
Any effect antihistamines may have in reducing cold symptoms does not result from blocking the action of histamine.
Must be true. Histamines play no role in how colds produce symptoms. So, if antihistamines can reduce cold symptoms, it won’t be through blocking histamines. It would be through some other mechanism that’s related to producing cold symptoms.

Note: J.Y. says "sleepiness" instead of "sleeplessness" for answer choice (D). While his 'verbal typo' is wrong, the explanation given is still right.

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