Questões de Inglês

Question will be based on the text below. Read it carefully and then choose the best alternative that answers the question placed immediately after it.

Human embryos edited to stop disease

By James Gallagher, health and science reporter, BBC News website, 2 August 2017.

Scientists have, for the first time, successfully freed embryos of a piece of faulty DNA that causes deadly heart disease to run in families.

§1  It potentially opens the door to preventing 10,000 disorders that are passed down the generations. The US and South Korean team allowed the embryos to develop for five days before stopping the experiment.

§2  The study hints at the future of medicine, but also provokes deep questions about what is morally right.Science is going through a golden age in editing DNA thanks to a new technology called Crispr, named breakthrough of the year in 2015.Its applications in medicine are vast and include the idea of wiping out genetic faults that cause diseases from cystic fibrosis to breast cancer.US teams at Oregon Health and Science University and the Salk Institute along with the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea focused on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

§3  The disorder is common, affecting one in every 500 people, and can lead to the heart suddenly stopping beating.It is caused by an error in a single gene (an instruction in the DNA), and anyone carrying it has a 50-50 chance of passing it on to their children. In the study, described in the journal Nature, the genetic repair happened during conception.Sperm from a man with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was injected into healthy donated eggs alongside Crispr technology to correct the defect.It did not work all the time, but 72% of embryos were free from disease-causing mutations.

§4  Dr Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a key figure in the research team, said: “Every generation on would carry this repair because we’ve removed the disease-causing gene variant from that family’s lineage.”By using this technique, it’s possible to reduce the burden of this heritable disease on the family and eventually the human population.”

§5  There have been multiple attempts before, including, in 2015, teams in China using Crispr-technology to correct defects that lead to blood disorders. But they could not correct every cell, so the embryo was a “mosaic” of healthy and diseased cells.

§6  Their approach also led to other parts of the genetic code becoming mutated. Those technical obstacles have been overcome in the latest research. However, this is not about to become routine practice.The biggest question is one of safety, and that can be answered only by far more extensive research.There are also questions about when it would be worth doing - embryos can already be screened for disease through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. However, there are about 10,000 genetic disorders that are caused by a single mutation and could, in theory, be repaired with the same technology.

§7  Prof Robin Lovell-Badge, from the Francis Crick Institute, told the BBC: “A method of being able to avoid having affected children passing on the affected gene could be really very important for those families.”In terms of when, definitely not yet. It’s going to be quite a while before we know that it’s going to be safe.”

§8  Nicole Mowbray lives with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and has a defibrillator implanted in her chest in case her heart stops. But she is unsure whether she would ever consider gene editing: “I wouldn’t want to pass on something that caused my child to have a limited or painful life.That does come to the front of my mind when I think about having children. But I wouldn’t want to create the ‘perfect’ child, I feel like my condition makes me, me.”

§9  Darren Griffin, a professor of genetics at the University of Kent, said: “Perhaps the biggest question, and probably the one that will be debated the most, is whether we should be physically altering the genes of an IVF embryo at all.

§10  “This is not a straightforward question... equally, the debate on how morally acceptable it is not to act when we have the technology to prevent these life-threatening diseases must also come into play.”

§11  The study has already been condemned by Dr David King, from the campaign group Human Genetics Alert, which described the research as “irresponsible” and a “race for first genetically modified baby”.

§12  Dr Yalda Jamshidi, a reader in genomic medicine at St George’s University of London, said: “The study is the first to show successful and efficient correction of a disease-causing mutation in early stage human embryos with gene editing. Whilst we are just beginning to understand the complexity of genetic disease, gene-editing will likely become acceptable when its potential benefits, both to individuals and to the broader society, exceeds its risks.”

§13  The method does not currently fuel concerns about the extreme end of “designer babies” engineered to have new advantageous traits.

§14  The way Crispr is designed should lead to a new piece of engineered DNA being inserted into the genetic code.However, in a complete surprise to the researchers, this did not happen.Instead, Crispr damaged the mutated gene in the father’s sperm, leading to a healthy version being copied over from the mother’s egg. This means the technology, for now, works only when there is a healthy version from one of the parents. Prof Lovell-Badge added: “The possibility of producing designer babies, which is unjustified in any case, is now even further away.”

Question will be based on the text below. Read it carefully and then choose the best alternative that answers the question placed immediately after it.

Human embryos edited to stop disease

By James Gallagher, health and science reporter, BBC News website, 2 August 2017.

Scientists have, for the first time, successfully freed embryos of a piece of faulty DNA that causes deadly heart disease to run in families.

§1  It potentially opens the door to preventing 10,000 disorders that are passed down the generations. The US and South Korean team allowed the embryos to develop for five days before stopping the experiment.

§2  The study hints at the future of medicine, but also provokes deep questions about what is morally right.Science is going through a golden age in editing DNA thanks to a new technology called Crispr, named breakthrough of the year in 2015.Its applications in medicine are vast and include the idea of wiping out genetic faults that cause diseases from cystic fibrosis to breast cancer.US teams at Oregon Health and Science University and the Salk Institute along with the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea focused on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

§3  The disorder is common, affecting one in every 500 people, and can lead to the heart suddenly stopping beating.It is caused by an error in a single gene (an instruction in the DNA), and anyone carrying it has a 50-50 chance of passing it on to their children. In the study, described in the journal Nature, the genetic repair happened during conception.Sperm from a man with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was injected into healthy donated eggs alongside Crispr technology to correct the defect.It did not work all the time, but 72% of embryos were free from disease-causing mutations.

§4  Dr Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a key figure in the research team, said: “Every generation on would carry this repair because we’ve removed the disease-causing gene variant from that family’s lineage.”By using this technique, it’s possible to reduce the burden of this heritable disease on the family and eventually the human population.”

§5  There have been multiple attempts before, including, in 2015, teams in China using Crispr-technology to correct defects that lead to blood disorders. But they could not correct every cell, so the embryo was a “mosaic” of healthy and diseased cells.

§6  Their approach also led to other parts of the genetic code becoming mutated. Those technical obstacles have been overcome in the latest research. However, this is not about to become routine practice.The biggest question is one of safety, and that can be answered only by far more extensive research.There are also questions about when it would be worth doing - embryos can already be screened for disease through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. However, there are about 10,000 genetic disorders that are caused by a single mutation and could, in theory, be repaired with the same technology.

§7  Prof Robin Lovell-Badge, from the Francis Crick Institute, told the BBC: “A method of being able to avoid having affected children passing on the affected gene could be really very important for those families.”In terms of when, definitely not yet. It’s going to be quite a while before we know that it’s going to be safe.”

§8  Nicole Mowbray lives with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and has a defibrillator implanted in her chest in case her heart stops. But she is unsure whether she would ever consider gene editing: “I wouldn’t want to pass on something that caused my child to have a limited or painful life.That does come to the front of my mind when I think about having children. But I wouldn’t want to create the ‘perfect’ child, I feel like my condition makes me, me.”

§9  Darren Griffin, a professor of genetics at the University of Kent, said: “Perhaps the biggest question, and probably the one that will be debated the most, is whether we should be physically altering the genes of an IVF embryo at all.

§10  “This is not a straightforward question... equally, the debate on how morally acceptable it is not to act when we have the technology to prevent these life-threatening diseases must also come into play.”

§11  The study has already been condemned by Dr David King, from the campaign group Human Genetics Alert, which described the research as “irresponsible” and a “race for first genetically modified baby”.

§12  Dr Yalda Jamshidi, a reader in genomic medicine at St George’s University of London, said: “The study is the first to show successful and efficient correction of a disease-causing mutation in early stage human embryos with gene editing. Whilst we are just beginning to understand the complexity of genetic disease, gene-editing will likely become acceptable when its potential benefits, both to individuals and to the broader society, exceeds its risks.”

§13  The method does not currently fuel concerns about the extreme end of “designer babies” engineered to have new advantageous traits.

§14  The way Crispr is designed should lead to a new piece of engineered DNA being inserted into the genetic code.However, in a complete surprise to the researchers, this did not happen.Instead, Crispr damaged the mutated gene in the father’s sperm, leading to a healthy version being copied over from the mother’s egg. This means the technology, for now, works only when there is a healthy version from one of the parents. Prof Lovell-Badge added: “The possibility of producing designer babies, which is unjustified in any case, is now even further away.”

Question will be based on the text below. Read it carefully and then choose the best alternative that answers the question placed immediately after it.

Human embryos edited to stop disease

By James Gallagher, health and science reporter, BBC News website, 2 August 2017.

Scientists have, for the first time, successfully freed embryos of a piece of faulty DNA that causes deadly heart disease to run in families.

§1  It potentially opens the door to preventing 10,000 disorders that are passed down the generations. The US and South Korean team allowed the embryos to develop for five days before stopping the experiment.

§2  The study hints at the future of medicine, but also provokes deep questions about what is morally right.Science is going through a golden age in editing DNA thanks to a new technology called Crispr, named breakthrough of the year in 2015.Its applications in medicine are vast and include the idea of wiping out genetic faults that cause diseases from cystic fibrosis to breast cancer.US teams at Oregon Health and Science University and the Salk Institute along with the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea focused on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

§3  The disorder is common, affecting one in every 500 people, and can lead to the heart suddenly stopping beating.It is caused by an error in a single gene (an instruction in the DNA), and anyone carrying it has a 50-50 chance of passing it on to their children. In the study, described in the journal Nature, the genetic repair happened during conception.Sperm from a man with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was injected into healthy donated eggs alongside Crispr technology to correct the defect.It did not work all the time, but 72% of embryos were free from disease-causing mutations.

§4  Dr Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a key figure in the research team, said: “Every generation on would carry this repair because we’ve removed the disease-causing gene variant from that family’s lineage.”By using this technique, it’s possible to reduce the burden of this heritable disease on the family and eventually the human population.”

§5  There have been multiple attempts before, including, in 2015, teams in China using Crispr-technology to correct defects that lead to blood disorders. But they could not correct every cell, so the embryo was a “mosaic” of healthy and diseased cells.

§6  Their approach also led to other parts of the genetic code becoming mutated. Those technical obstacles have been overcome in the latest research. However, this is not about to become routine practice.The biggest question is one of safety, and that can be answered only by far more extensive research.There are also questions about when it would be worth doing - embryos can already be screened for disease through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. However, there are about 10,000 genetic disorders that are caused by a single mutation and could, in theory, be repaired with the same technology.

§7  Prof Robin Lovell-Badge, from the Francis Crick Institute, told the BBC: “A method of being able to avoid having affected children passing on the affected gene could be really very important for those families.”In terms of when, definitely not yet. It’s going to be quite a while before we know that it’s going to be safe.”

§8  Nicole Mowbray lives with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and has a defibrillator implanted in her chest in case her heart stops. But she is unsure whether she would ever consider gene editing: “I wouldn’t want to pass on something that caused my child to have a limited or painful life.That does come to the front of my mind when I think about having children. But I wouldn’t want to create the ‘perfect’ child, I feel like my condition makes me, me.”

§9  Darren Griffin, a professor of genetics at the University of Kent, said: “Perhaps the biggest question, and probably the one that will be debated the most, is whether we should be physically altering the genes of an IVF embryo at all.

§10  “This is not a straightforward question... equally, the debate on how morally acceptable it is not to act when we have the technology to prevent these life-threatening diseases must also come into play.”

§11  The study has already been condemned by Dr David King, from the campaign group Human Genetics Alert, which described the research as “irresponsible” and a “race for first genetically modified baby”.

§12  Dr Yalda Jamshidi, a reader in genomic medicine at St George’s University of London, said: “The study is the first to show successful and efficient correction of a disease-causing mutation in early stage human embryos with gene editing. Whilst we are just beginning to understand the complexity of genetic disease, gene-editing will likely become acceptable when its potential benefits, both to individuals and to the broader society, exceeds its risks.”

§13  The method does not currently fuel concerns about the extreme end of “designer babies” engineered to have new advantageous traits.

§14  The way Crispr is designed should lead to a new piece of engineered DNA being inserted into the genetic code.However, in a complete surprise to the researchers, this did not happen.Instead, Crispr damaged the mutated gene in the father’s sperm, leading to a healthy version being copied over from the mother’s egg. This means the technology, for now, works only when there is a healthy version from one of the parents. Prof Lovell-Badge added: “The possibility of producing designer babies, which is unjustified in any case, is now even further away.”

Question will be based on the text below. Read it carefully and then choose the best alternative that answers the question placed immediately after it.

Human embryos edited to stop disease

By James Gallagher, health and science reporter, BBC News website, 2 August 2017.

Scientists have, for the first time, successfully freed embryos of a piece of faulty DNA that causes deadly heart disease to run in families.

§1  It potentially opens the door to preventing 10,000 disorders that are passed down the generations. The US and South Korean team allowed the embryos to develop for five days before stopping the experiment.

§2  The study hints at the future of medicine, but also provokes deep questions about what is morally right.Science is going through a golden age in editing DNA thanks to a new technology called Crispr, named breakthrough of the year in 2015.Its applications in medicine are vast and include the idea of wiping out genetic faults that cause diseases from cystic fibrosis to breast cancer.US teams at Oregon Health and Science University and the Salk Institute along with the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea focused on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

§3  The disorder is common, affecting one in every 500 people, and can lead to the heart suddenly stopping beating.It is caused by an error in a single gene (an instruction in the DNA), and anyone carrying it has a 50-50 chance of passing it on to their children. In the study, described in the journal Nature, the genetic repair happened during conception.Sperm from a man with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was injected into healthy donated eggs alongside Crispr technology to correct the defect.It did not work all the time, but 72% of embryos were free from disease-causing mutations.

§4  Dr Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a key figure in the research team, said: “Every generation on would carry this repair because we’ve removed the disease-causing gene variant from that family’s lineage.”By using this technique, it’s possible to reduce the burden of this heritable disease on the family and eventually the human population.”

§5  There have been multiple attempts before, including, in 2015, teams in China using Crispr-technology to correct defects that lead to blood disorders. But they could not correct every cell, so the embryo was a “mosaic” of healthy and diseased cells.

§6  Their approach also led to other parts of the genetic code becoming mutated. Those technical obstacles have been overcome in the latest research. However, this is not about to become routine practice.The biggest question is one of safety, and that can be answered only by far more extensive research.There are also questions about when it would be worth doing - embryos can already be screened for disease through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. However, there are about 10,000 genetic disorders that are caused by a single mutation and could, in theory, be repaired with the same technology.

§7  Prof Robin Lovell-Badge, from the Francis Crick Institute, told the BBC: “A method of being able to avoid having affected children passing on the affected gene could be really very important for those families.”In terms of when, definitely not yet. It’s going to be quite a while before we know that it’s going to be safe.”

§8  Nicole Mowbray lives with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and has a defibrillator implanted in her chest in case her heart stops. But she is unsure whether she would ever consider gene editing: “I wouldn’t want to pass on something that caused my child to have a limited or painful life.That does come to the front of my mind when I think about having children. But I wouldn’t want to create the ‘perfect’ child, I feel like my condition makes me, me.”

§9  Darren Griffin, a professor of genetics at the University of Kent, said: “Perhaps the biggest question, and probably the one that will be debated the most, is whether we should be physically altering the genes of an IVF embryo at all.

§10  “This is not a straightforward question... equally, the debate on how morally acceptable it is not to act when we have the technology to prevent these life-threatening diseases must also come into play.”

§11  The study has already been condemned by Dr David King, from the campaign group Human Genetics Alert, which described the research as “irresponsible” and a “race for first genetically modified baby”.

§12  Dr Yalda Jamshidi, a reader in genomic medicine at St George’s University of London, said: “The study is the first to show successful and efficient correction of a disease-causing mutation in early stage human embryos with gene editing. Whilst we are just beginning to understand the complexity of genetic disease, gene-editing will likely become acceptable when its potential benefits, both to individuals and to the broader society, exceeds its risks.”

§13  The method does not currently fuel concerns about the extreme end of “designer babies” engineered to have new advantageous traits.

§14  The way Crispr is designed should lead to a new piece of engineered DNA being inserted into the genetic code.However, in a complete surprise to the researchers, this did not happen.Instead, Crispr damaged the mutated gene in the father’s sperm, leading to a healthy version being copied over from the mother’s egg. This means the technology, for now, works only when there is a healthy version from one of the parents. Prof Lovell-Badge added: “The possibility of producing designer babies, which is unjustified in any case, is now even further away.”

Question will be based on the text below. Read it carefully and then choose the best alternative that answers the question placed immediately after it.

Human embryos edited to stop disease

By James Gallagher, health and science reporter, BBC News website, 2 August 2017.

Scientists have, for the first time, successfully freed embryos of a piece of faulty DNA that causes deadly heart disease to run in families.

§1  It potentially opens the door to preventing 10,000 disorders that are passed down the generations. The US and South Korean team allowed the embryos to develop for five days before stopping the experiment.

§2  The study hints at the future of medicine, but also provokes deep questions about what is morally right.Science is going through a golden age in editing DNA thanks to a new technology called Crispr, named breakthrough of the year in 2015.Its applications in medicine are vast and include the idea of wiping out genetic faults that cause diseases from cystic fibrosis to breast cancer.US teams at Oregon Health and Science University and the Salk Institute along with the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea focused on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

§3  The disorder is common, affecting one in every 500 people, and can lead to the heart suddenly stopping beating.It is caused by an error in a single gene (an instruction in the DNA), and anyone carrying it has a 50-50 chance of passing it on to their children. In the study, described in the journal Nature, the genetic repair happened during conception.Sperm from a man with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was injected into healthy donated eggs alongside Crispr technology to correct the defect.It did not work all the time, but 72% of embryos were free from disease-causing mutations.

§4  Dr Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a key figure in the research team, said: “Every generation on would carry this repair because we’ve removed the disease-causing gene variant from that family’s lineage.”By using this technique, it’s possible to reduce the burden of this heritable disease on the family and eventually the human population.”

§5  There have been multiple attempts before, including, in 2015, teams in China using Crispr-technology to correct defects that lead to blood disorders. But they could not correct every cell, so the embryo was a “mosaic” of healthy and diseased cells.

§6  Their approach also led to other parts of the genetic code becoming mutated. Those technical obstacles have been overcome in the latest research. However, this is not about to become routine practice.The biggest question is one of safety, and that can be answered only by far more extensive research.There are also questions about when it would be worth doing - embryos can already be screened for disease through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. However, there are about 10,000 genetic disorders that are caused by a single mutation and could, in theory, be repaired with the same technology.

§7  Prof Robin Lovell-Badge, from the Francis Crick Institute, told the BBC: “A method of being able to avoid having affected children passing on the affected gene could be really very important for those families.”In terms of when, definitely not yet. It’s going to be quite a while before we know that it’s going to be safe.”

§8  Nicole Mowbray lives with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and has a defibrillator implanted in her chest in case her heart stops. But she is unsure whether she would ever consider gene editing: “I wouldn’t want to pass on something that caused my child to have a limited or painful life.That does come to the front of my mind when I think about having children. But I wouldn’t want to create the ‘perfect’ child, I feel like my condition makes me, me.”

§9  Darren Griffin, a professor of genetics at the University of Kent, said: “Perhaps the biggest question, and probably the one that will be debated the most, is whether we should be physically altering the genes of an IVF embryo at all.

§10  “This is not a straightforward question... equally, the debate on how morally acceptable it is not to act when we have the technology to prevent these life-threatening diseases must also come into play.”

§11  The study has already been condemned by Dr David King, from the campaign group Human Genetics Alert, which described the research as “irresponsible” and a “race for first genetically modified baby”.

§12  Dr Yalda Jamshidi, a reader in genomic medicine at St George’s University of London, said: “The study is the first to show successful and efficient correction of a disease-causing mutation in early stage human embryos with gene editing. Whilst we are just beginning to understand the complexity of genetic disease, gene-editing will likely become acceptable when its potential benefits, both to individuals and to the broader society, exceeds its risks.”

§13  The method does not currently fuel concerns about the extreme end of “designer babies” engineered to have new advantageous traits.

§14  The way Crispr is designed should lead to a new piece of engineered DNA being inserted into the genetic code.However, in a complete surprise to the researchers, this did not happen.Instead, Crispr damaged the mutated gene in the father’s sperm, leading to a healthy version being copied over from the mother’s egg. This means the technology, for now, works only when there is a healthy version from one of the parents. Prof Lovell-Badge added: “The possibility of producing designer babies, which is unjustified in any case, is now even further away.”

Question will be based on the text below. Read it carefully and then choose the best alternative that answers the question placed immediately after it. 

What causes antibiotic resistance?

§1  Most of us will have taken antibiotics at some point in our lives. But what if nothing happens the next time you pop one of those little bug-busting pills? Your life could be in serious danger.

§2  The WHO (World Health Organization) calls antibiotic resistance ‘one of the biggest threats to global health.’ The need for new drugs is great.

§3  Bacteria are an integral part of our ecosystem and we share our bodies with many of these tiny creatures. However, they can be the root of serious health problems.

§4  There are roughly as many human cells as bacterial cells in our bodies, and our microscopic passengers pay their way by helping our immune system and contributing to our metabolism.

§5  But bacteria come in all manner of guises. Some can turn from friend to foe, while others are just plain nasty and will make us sick at any chance they get.

§6  Since their discovery in the 1920s and their introduction into mainstream medicine after World War Two, we’ve been relying on antibiotics to keep pathogenic bacteria at bay.

§7  Antibacterial resistance is on the rise, however. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year in the United States, at least 2,049,442 illnesses are caused by resistance to medicines prescribed to treat bacterial or fungal infections. What is more, 23,000 people die each year when these drugs fail to work.

§8  So, why have our once reliable antibacterials stopped working, and how do the pesky bugs manage to outfox us? It’s all about mutations. Mutations are a ‘natural phenomenon’.

§9  Bacteria are prone to DNA mutations. This is part of their natural evolution and allows them to constantly adapt their genetic makeup. When one bug naturally becomes resistant to a drug, it survives when all others are killed.

§10  Now it’s a race against the clock. How quickly can this one bacterium adapt to the new mutation, and how quickly can it replicate in the face of species eradication? If the bug comes on out top, it’s bad news for the infected individual and bad news for society at large: the drug-resistant bacterium will likely spread.

§11  Not only has it evaded the grim reaper, but it can also now spread the love by passing the resistance to its numerous offspring, who will soon be the dominant species on the block.

§12  Bacteria are also able to pass genes to other bacteria. This is known as horizontal gene transfer, or “bacterial sex.” While this process is actually quite rare, bacteria are highly mobile creatures, which gives them plenty of opportunity to come into contact with other microbes and pass on their mutated genes.

§13  But how do genetic mutations equip bacteria with the skills to outsmart antibiotics?

§14  A study recently published in Nature Communications sheds new light on how Echerichia coli and other members of the Enterobacteria family fight off commonly used antibiotics. A gene called mar is commonly shared by family members. Some of the proteins encoded in this gene can switch on other genes, explain researchers from the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Microbiology and Infection in the United Kingdom.

§15  “We found two completely unexpected mechanisms,” says senior study author Prof. David Grainger, “that bacteria use to protect themselves from antibiotics. One protected their DNA from the harmful effects of fluoroquinolone antibiotics, and the other prevented doxycyline getting inside bacteria.” But finding out how Enterobacteria combat antibiotics is only the first step in this decade-long research project.

§16  First study author Prateek Sharma, Ph.D., says that “the resistance mechanisms that we identified are found in many different species of bacteria therefore, our research could lead to the discovery of molecules that could be developed into new drugs that can treat bacterial infections.”

§17  This week is World Antibiotic Awareness Week. The WHO aims to warn people that inappropriate use of antimicrobials makes drug resistance worse. This includes both overuse and underuse. This year, they urge everyone to “seek advice from a qualified healthcare professional before taking antibiotics.”

(Published on 14 November 2017 By Yella Hewings-Martin PhD Fact checked by Jasmin Collier) (Adapted from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320070.php)