Questões de Inglês

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    Knowing your genetic code could lengthen your life

    Fifteen years ago this month, the full human genome sequence was published for the first time. Since then technology has markedly speeded up genomic sequencing and reduced the cost. But have those hoped-for medical breakthroughs materialised?
    Sequencing the human genome took 10 years and cost about $30 billion. Now advances in computing power have seen the cost fall to under $500. A British firm has even developed a hand-held reader that can sequence genetic material in minutes. Dr Gordon Sanghera, the firm’s chief executive, talks about creating “the internet of living things – real time connection of live DNA information” using such portable devices. And the applications won’t just be for healthcare, he argues, but for establishing the provenance of food in restaurants, or the presence of dangerous microbes in water supplies. It could also be used for analysing DNA evidence at crime scenes.
    Dr Sanghera believes the device could eventually be used to diagnose common infections at home and so reduce needless trips to the doctor. Within the next 10 years, “everyone will get sequenced at birth”, he says, and we’ll be able to assess whether we have genetic dispositions to particular diseases and take preventative steps accordingly.
    More than 500,000 human genomes have now been sequenced worldwide. But it is how this data will be combined with other data and analysed that is causing excitement. The UK Biobank has enlisted 500,000 volunteers who’ve shared their medical data anonymously in the hope of improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illnesses. Scientists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, used Biobank data to highlight the increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes among shift workers¹. The researchers found that people who worked irregular shift patterns were 44% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than people working permanent day shifts. Now, genetic data will be added to the mix.
    We are at the beginning of a revolution in healthcare. But dramatic medical breakthroughs have been tougher to come by than many had hoped at the start of the genomics era. “The completion of the human genome project held out much hope for the better understanding and treatment of diseases. But as is usually the case, we had underestimated the complexity of the relationship of genome to disease and health,” concludes IBM’s Laxmi Parida.
    Yet this is only the beginning – in the genomics era, healthcare is irrevocably changing.

(Adi Gaskell e Matthew Wall. www.bbc.com, 27.04.2018. Adaptado.)

¹ shift workers: those whose work takes place on a schedule outside the traditional 9 am-5 pm day.

In the excerpt from the first paragraph “technology has markedly speeded up genomic sequencing”, the underlined expression can be replaced by

Leia o texto para responder à questão.

    Knowing your genetic code could lengthen your life

    Fifteen years ago this month, the full human genome sequence was published for the first time. Since then technology has markedly speeded up genomic sequencing and reduced the cost. But have those hoped-for medical breakthroughs materialised?
    Sequencing the human genome took 10 years and cost about $30 billion. Now advances in computing power have seen the cost fall to under $500. A British firm has even developed a hand-held reader that can sequence genetic material in minutes. Dr Gordon Sanghera, the firm’s chief executive, talks about creating “the internet of living things – real time connection of live DNA information” using such portable devices. And the applications won’t just be for healthcare, he argues, but for establishing the provenance of food in restaurants, or the presence of dangerous microbes in water supplies. It could also be used for analysing DNA evidence at crime scenes.
    Dr Sanghera believes the device could eventually be used to diagnose common infections at home and so reduce needless trips to the doctor. Within the next 10 years, “everyone will get sequenced at birth”, he says, and we’ll be able to assess whether we have genetic dispositions to particular diseases and take preventative steps accordingly.
    More than 500,000 human genomes have now been sequenced worldwide. But it is how this data will be combined with other data and analysed that is causing excitement. The UK Biobank has enlisted 500,000 volunteers who’ve shared their medical data anonymously in the hope of improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illnesses. Scientists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, used Biobank data to highlight the increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes among shift workers¹. The researchers found that people who worked irregular shift patterns were 44% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than people working permanent day shifts. Now, genetic data will be added to the mix.
    We are at the beginning of a revolution in healthcare. But dramatic medical breakthroughs have been tougher to come by than many had hoped at the start of the genomics era. “The completion of the human genome project held out much hope for the better understanding and treatment of diseases. But as is usually the case, we had underestimated the complexity of the relationship of genome to disease and health,” concludes IBM’s Laxmi Parida.
    Yet this is only the beginning – in the genomics era, healthcare is irrevocably changing.

(Adi Gaskell e Matthew Wall. www.bbc.com, 27.04.2018. Adaptado.)

¹ shift workers: those whose work takes place on a schedule outside the traditional 9 am-5 pm day.

O texto foi publicado em abril de 2018, especificamente,

About the text, choose the best option.

 

Breast cancer: Changing tumor cells into fat cells stops spread

Among women, cancer of the breast is the most common cancer and is responsible for most deaths that doctors relate to the disease. Estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest that around 2.1 million women receive a diagnosis of breast cancer every year. These also suggest that 627,000 women died of the disease in 2018.The vast majority of breast cancer deaths are due to cancer spreading locally and setting up new tumors in other parts of the body. Prof. Christofori and his team investigated the EMT molecular processes that enhance plasticity in breast cancer cells to enable metastasis. Using human cells and mouse models, they found that they could exploit this plasticity and force the cancer cells to turn into fat cells with a particular combination of compounds.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324189.php Access: March,2019.

 

I. Fat stops metastasis.

II. The changing characteristic of the tumor cells was used to stop their proliferation.

III. Fat women are less likely to develop breast cancer.

IV. The deaths occur mainly due to other cancers formed by the cells’ multiplication.

V. Ingesting more fat could reduce the chance of breast cancer.

About the text, it is CORRECT to state that

 

Millennials ditch the pill for high-tech pull & pray

Millennials are increasingly ditching the pill — that miracle tablet that ushered in female empowerment and free love — and opting for more old-fashioned methods of contraception, from condoms to the rhythm method to diaphragms. A new survey of 2,000 US women by Cosmopolitan magazine found that 70 percent of millennials who have used the pill have stopped taking it or thought about stopping in the past three years. In its place, some are using new fertility apps designed to tell a woman when she’s ovulating — and thus likely to become pregnant — such as MyFLO, Clue and Natural Cycles, the first app certified for contraception in Europe. These companies, featured in sponsored Instagram posts depicting beautiful women on restorative vacations drinking coconut water, make going off the pill look as trendy as green juices and SoulCycle.

https://nypost.com/2018/03/19/why-millennial-women-are-ditching-the-pill/ Access: March,2019.

 

I. women are reducing the contraceptive pill use.

II. technology has evolved so the pill is considered old-fashioned.

III. about contraceptive methods four of them are mentioned in the text.

IV. the concept of going off pill is presented like drug addiction rehabilitation program.

V. Millennials are reducing the pill use due to its side effects.

Read the news about a study results and answer: which aspect still needs to be proved from further research?

 

This Robotic Prosthetic Could Help Long-term Amputees

 

US-based neuroscientists at the University of Chicago are developing prosthetics for amputee Rhesus monkeys. It is being used as a testbed to showcase how amputees could control prosthetics, even if born with missing limbs.

Nicho Hatsopoulos, Ph.D., professor of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago said that "That’s the novel aspect to this study, seeing that chronic, long-term amputees can learn to control a robotic limb,"

"But what was also interesting was the brain’s plasticity over long-term exposure and seeing what happened to the connectivity of the network as they learned to control the device."

This study used Rhesus monkeys instead of human patients. They were rescue monkeys who needed emergency amputation owing to serious injuries prior to their rescue.

Using electrode arrays implanted into their brains the monkeys were trained to reach for objects using the robotic appendages.

https://interestingengineering.com/13-prosthetic-arms-and-legs-and-more-that-appear-to-have-come-from-the-future Access: March,2019.

Choose the alternative which answers the question from the title.

 

WHY DID A SWEDISH FIRM INJECT ITS EMPLOYEES WITH MICROCHIPS?

 

Swedish firm Epicenter hit the headlines in April for offering RFID implants to its employees.

The Startup offers workers microchips the size of grains of rice that function as swipe cards, to open doors, operate printers, or buy smoothies with a wave of the hand.

The injections have become so popular that workers at Epicenter hold parties for those willing to get implanted.

But, experts say the ethical dilemmas will become bigger the more sophisticated the microchips become.

While biologically safe, the data generated by the chips can show how often an employee comes to work or what they buy.

Unlike company swipe cards or smartphones, which can generate the same data, a person cannot easily separate themselves from the chip.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6306569/Thousands-Swedes-getting-microchip-IDs-inserted-hands.html Access: March,2019.