Text D. Research Against Disease.

Although medical science has made great strides to eradicate disease, many ailments remain unconquered. Medical scientists have not yet discovered what causes sudden death syndrome, or crib death, a disease that fatally strikes infants less than a year old. They know what causes AIDS but have not yet found a cure for it. Nevertheless, research is under way against these and other baffling diseases in the hope that someday they will be wiped out or at least made manageable.

Medical scientists perform many kinds of experiments when they are researching a disease. They may grow cells in test tubes, infect them with germs or chemicals, and watch the aftereffects. Or they might infect a laboratory animal with a disease and observe how its body fights off or succumbs to the ailment. Medical scientists also may test the effects of a drug, a pathological environment, or a possible disease organism on human volunteers. However, human volunteers must be fully aware of the harmful as well as helpful consequences possible before taking part in the research. Prior experiments will have been made on laboratory animals to establish some idea of the project’s safety, and before the study can begin, the volunteers must give their informed consent to any unconventional treatment.

Medical research is an ongoing and global endeavor. Medical schools and major hospitals maintain research programs for the benefit of their patients with unchecked or rare diseases. Research programs are also undertaken at many universities.

In the late 20^th century, researchers made great strides in biotechnology, especially in genetic engineering. Although not without controversy, the use of genetically manipulated microorganisms in medicine has had considerable success. The most notable example is the production of genetically engineered insulin, which has been used successfully for more than 20 years in the treatment of diabetes.

Prior to the 1980s, the insulin used by diabetics was extracted from the pancreas of animals, usually pigs or sheep. Researchers then developed a technique for inserting the human gene for insulin into the plasmid of the bacterium Escherichia coli. The bacteria are cultivated of a special solution in large vats that hold millions of microbes, each of which then produces human insulin from the inserted gene. The bacteria excrete the insulin into the solution; it can then be purified and used by humans. Studies have shown that the human insulin has better success than pig insulin in treating the disease in humans. Furthermore, it is less costly to produce and eliminates the use of animals in its production.

Notes:

to make great strides делать большие успехи

eradicate уничтожать; ликвидировать

crib death внезапная смерть ребенка грудного возраста

baffling загадочные (необъяснимые) заболевания

to wipe out уничтожить; истребить

manageable контролируемый; управляемый

endeavor старание, усилие

 

EXERCISES

 

Exercise 1. Make up sentences of your own using the following words and phrases from the text “The Scientific Basis of Medicine”.

 

to explain the meaning, to fight against disease, the causes of disease, vaccination, can be prevented by, a similar treatment, perfect health, signs and symptoms, an exact bacterium, to be responsible for, common cold, to realize, to be common among, to suffer from, to understand the causes of diseases.

 

Exercise 2. Study the text “Different Types of Disease” and say whether these statements are right or wrong. Correct them if they are wrong.

1. We know that the causes of disease are not multiple.

2. Catching diseases are those transmitted by indirect contact with the sick person or some immediate discharge from him.

3. Control of disease is effect by removing the agents of disease from the envivironment, by treating patients and by building up general resistance to disease processes.

4. Public health officials use hygiene to study and manage society’s response to disease.

5. A physician looks for several types of information about a disease.

6. Epidemiologists try to predict how likely it is that one or more diseases will occur in an area where the population is affected by a common circumstance.

7. When a disease stubbornly remains in the different regions year after year, it is called an endemic disease.

8. The common cold is a relatively mild acute disease of fairly short duration.

9. A chronic disease has a quick onset and a short duration that can last for years.

10. If the infection invades deeper tissues and spreads to the bloodstream, the infectious organism can be carried to every organ in the body.

Exercise 3. Summarize the text “Research against Disease” using the following introductory expressions.

 

The text deals with…

It is said that…

I’d like to note/to point out that…

In addition I’d like to mention that…

According to the text…

Summing it up…

It may be concluded that…

 

Exercise 4. Discuss the meanings of the following special terms.

 

symptom, syndrome, infection, nausea, pathogen (germ), vaccine, immunity, acute, chronic.

 

Exercise 5. Answer the following questions to the text “Diseases and treatments”.

1. What is the difference between a symptom and a syndrome?

2. What diseases are a cough and fever usually associated with?

3. What may cause nausea?

4. What is a vaccine? What does it do?

5. What do germs do? Name two general types of germs?

6. What causes the human body to become immune to a particular disease?

7. What are three differences between acute and chronic conditions?

8. What is allergy? What does it mean “to be allergic to”?

 

Exercise 6. Match the opposites by writing the numbers on the lines.

1. acute not contagious
2. benign minor
3. communicable fever
4. major mental
5. normal body temperature chronic
6. physical malignant
7. susceptible resistant

 

Exercise 7. After each type of drug listed below, write a disease or condition that it is used to treat:

1. anticoagulant
2. antiseptic
3. aspirin
4. codeine
5. decongestant
6. digitalis
7. diuretic

8. insulin

9. laxative
10. penicillin

Exercise 8. Underline the correct word or phrase to complete each sentence.

 

1. The expression treatment of choice means (a) the patient’s choice; (b) the doctor’s choice.

2. A tentative diagnosis is made (a) after all relevant medical facts are known; (b) before all the relevant facts are known.
3. If you have had German measles, then you won’t get the disease again because you have (a) an acquired immunity to it; (b) a natural immunity to it.
4. Gargling with salt water and sucking on lozenges can (a) cure the common cold; (b) relieve discomfort caused by some of the symptoms.

Exercise 9. Match the definitions with the terms.

1. the long-term results of an illness a. disease

of treatment

2. identifying several illnesses which b. symptoms

the patient may have

3. things wrong with the body which c. history

the patient complains of or experiences

4. a study of the patient’s body d. examination

5. the causes leading to an illness e. prevention

6. an unusual feature which may f. consultation

be worrying or dangerous

7. a meeting between patient and g. abnormality

doctor to discuss problems

8. the identification of a particular illness h. sequelae

9. a change in the structure or function i. aetiology

of the organs or tissue of the body

10. taking away the cause of illness or j. complications

finding it early

11. a group of signs which are characteristic k. prognosis

of a particular illness

12. additional problems to the original illness l. signs

13. likely outcome of an illness m. syndrome

14. a patient’s medical background, n. differential diagnosis

problems, behaviour and lifestyle

15. what the doctor can see of the illness o. diagnosis

 

Exercise 10. Complete each sentence below by underlining the correct word to complete the idea.

1. A tuberculin skin test is used for ___.

diagnosis treatment vaccination cure

2. One abnormal condition which is not common among elderly pa­tients is

cataracts acne atherosclerosis hypertension

3. A disease that may be fatal if not detected and treated early is

arthritis acne cancer headache

4. A disease that affects the neuromuscular system is.

diabetes leukemia nephritis multiple sclerosis

5. A vaccine can provide immunity against__.

tuberculosis poliomyelitis muscular dystrophy cancer

6. One ailment that attacks the intestinal tract is __.

Parkinson's disease mumps angina diarrhea

7. Which of the following is not transmitted through sexual contact?
AIDS diabetes gonorrhea syphilis

8. A person who is sensitive to a certain substance is said to be allergic
to it. Which of the following is not usually a sign of an allergy?

sneezing a rash difficult and/or noisy breathing hiccups

9. Many varieties of______ cause pain, swelling, and stiffness in

the joints.

dysentery dementia rheumatism diphtheria

10. Which one of the following is not an infectious condition? tuberculosis hay fever polio chickenpox

Exercise 11. Match the common name for a disease with its medical equivalent.

Medical name Common name

alopecia German measles

arteriosclerosis polio

bursitis thrush

candida warts

cerebral palsy heart attack

cerebral infarction/ heart spots/nettle rash

bleeding

dyspepsia cold sore

eructation swelling

erythema pernio (to be) spastic

flatulence belching

haemorrhoids glandular fever

halitosis heartburn

herpes simplex baldness

herpes zoster chikenpox

hordeolum hardening of the arteries

infectious mononucleosis measles

myocardial infarction bad breath

oedema indigestion

poliomyelitis housmediad’s knee

pyrosis piles

rubella shingles

rubeola; morbilli tennis elbow

tendonitis stroke

urticaria chilblains

varicella stye

verrucae wind

 

Exercise 12. Speak on the following.

1. Disease (meaning).

2. Different types of disease (acute or chronic, infectious and noninfectious).

3. Common symptoms of ill-health.

4. The challenge of modern medicine.

 

SECTION 2