Questões de Inglês

Some European doctors think Chinese medicine should come with a health warning

    One of the basic principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as it is usually defined, is that vital energy, or
qi, circulates through channels in the body which connect to various organs and functions. TCM therapies,
such as cupping, acupuncture or herbal treatments, seek to activate these channels, or balance someone's
qi.
[5]   Though the methods have been in use for hundreds of years, critics argue that there is no verifiable
scientific evidence that qi actually exists.
    While the TCM industry is worth an estimated $130 billion in China alone – and the country's leaders have
thrown themselves behind promoting the practice – it has until recently largely struggled to gain widespread
acceptance outside of east Asia.
[10]    The sheer range of claimed benefits of some forms of TCM can be staggering. In a review of acupuncture
alone, the Society for Science-Based Medicine, a US-based pressure group, found practitioners offering
treatments for everything from cancer, stroke, Parkinson's, and heart disease, to asthma and autism.
    In 2009, researchers at the University of Maryland surveyed 70 systematic reviews of traditional medicines,
including acupuncture, herbal treatments and moxibustion, the burning of herbs near the skin. They found that
[15] no studies demonstrated a solid conclusion in favor of TCM due to the sparsity of evidence or the poor
methodology of the research.
    This lack of scientific rigor has created space for often outlandish claims about TCM's capabilities in
treating certain disorders – something boosted by the handful of TCM-related treatments which have been
scientifically proven to be beneficial. In 2015, Chinese scientist Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in medicine
[20] for her work on malaria which drew on traditional practices and folklore.
    Other products derived from herbs used in TCM have also shown benefits in scientifically-controlled
experiments, vindicating TCM in the eyes of many practitioners, and there have been calls for renewed
research in this area, as well as on other ancient remedies that might hold clues to future medical advances.
    What concerns many scientists and doctors, however, is that instead of these experiments and findings
[25] boosting the reputation of an individual medicine, they are often held up as proof of the validity of the entire
field of TCM, much of which has no basis in science and can be potentially dangerous.
    "Treatments included within the wide TCM category are very different from one another," the European
doctors said. "They can only be considered to form a group of therapies from the perspective of
history/ethnology ('traditional') and geography (Chinese)."

(Adaptado de: GRIFFITHS, James. Some European doctors think Chinese medicine should come with a health warning. CNN Health. Data de publicação: 17 nov. 2019. Disponível em: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/16/health/traditional-chinese-medicine-facebook-intl-hnkwellness/index.html. Acesso em: 22 out. 2020).

Some European doctors think Chinese medicine should come with a health warning

    One of the basic principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as it is usually defined, is that vital energy, or
qi, circulates through channels in the body which connect to various organs and functions. TCM therapies,
such as cupping, acupuncture or herbal treatments, seek to activate these channels, or balance someone's
qi.
[5]   Though the methods have been in use for hundreds of years, critics argue that there is no verifiable
scientific evidence that qi actually exists.
    While the TCM industry is worth an estimated $130 billion in China alone – and the country's leaders have
thrown themselves behind promoting the practice – it has until recently largely struggled to gain widespread
acceptance outside of east Asia.
[10]    The sheer range of claimed benefits of some forms of TCM can be staggering. In a review of acupuncture
alone, the Society for Science-Based Medicine, a US-based pressure group, found practitioners offering
treatments for everything from cancer, stroke, Parkinson's, and heart disease, to asthma and autism.
    In 2009, researchers at the University of Maryland surveyed 70 systematic reviews of traditional medicines,
including acupuncture, herbal treatments and moxibustion, the burning of herbs near the skin. They found that
[15] no studies demonstrated a solid conclusion in favor of TCM due to the sparsity of evidence or the poor
methodology of the research.
    This lack of scientific rigor has created space for often outlandish claims about TCM's capabilities in
treating certain disorders – something boosted by the handful of TCM-related treatments which have been
scientifically proven to be beneficial. In 2015, Chinese scientist Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in medicine
[20] for her work on malaria which drew on traditional practices and folklore.
    Other products derived from herbs used in TCM have also shown benefits in scientifically-controlled
experiments, vindicating TCM in the eyes of many practitioners, and there have been calls for renewed
research in this area, as well as on other ancient remedies that might hold clues to future medical advances.
    What concerns many scientists and doctors, however, is that instead of these experiments and findings
[25] boosting the reputation of an individual medicine, they are often held up as proof of the validity of the entire
field of TCM, much of which has no basis in science and can be potentially dangerous.
    "Treatments included within the wide TCM category are very different from one another," the European
doctors said. "They can only be considered to form a group of therapies from the perspective of
history/ethnology ('traditional') and geography (Chinese)."

(Adaptado de: GRIFFITHS, James. Some European doctors think Chinese medicine should come with a health warning. CNN Health. Data de publicação: 17 nov. 2019. Disponível em: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/16/health/traditional-chinese-medicine-facebook-intl-hnkwellness/index.html. Acesso em: 22 out. 2020).

Some European doctors think Chinese medicine should come with a health warning

    One of the basic principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as it is usually defined, is that vital energy, or
qi, circulates through channels in the body which connect to various organs and functions. TCM therapies,
such as cupping, acupuncture or herbal treatments, seek to activate these channels, or balance someone's
qi.
[5]   Though the methods have been in use for hundreds of years, critics argue that there is no verifiable
scientific evidence that qi actually exists.
    While the TCM industry is worth an estimated $130 billion in China alone – and the country's leaders have
thrown themselves behind promoting the practice – it has until recently largely struggled to gain widespread
acceptance outside of east Asia.
[10]    The sheer range of claimed benefits of some forms of TCM can be staggering. In a review of acupuncture
alone, the Society for Science-Based Medicine, a US-based pressure group, found practitioners offering
treatments for everything from cancer, stroke, Parkinson's, and heart disease, to asthma and autism.
    In 2009, researchers at the University of Maryland surveyed 70 systematic reviews of traditional medicines,
including acupuncture, herbal treatments and moxibustion, the burning of herbs near the skin. They found that
[15] no studies demonstrated a solid conclusion in favor of TCM due to the sparsity of evidence or the poor
methodology of the research.
    This lack of scientific rigor has created space for often outlandish claims about TCM's capabilities in
treating certain disorders – something boosted by the handful of TCM-related treatments which have been
scientifically proven to be beneficial. In 2015, Chinese scientist Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in medicine
[20] for her work on malaria which drew on traditional practices and folklore.
    Other products derived from herbs used in TCM have also shown benefits in scientifically-controlled
experiments, vindicating TCM in the eyes of many practitioners, and there have been calls for renewed
research in this area, as well as on other ancient remedies that might hold clues to future medical advances.
    What concerns many scientists and doctors, however, is that instead of these experiments and findings
[25] boosting the reputation of an individual medicine, they are often held up as proof of the validity of the entire
field of TCM, much of which has no basis in science and can be potentially dangerous.
    "Treatments included within the wide TCM category are very different from one another," the European
doctors said. "They can only be considered to form a group of therapies from the perspective of
history/ethnology ('traditional') and geography (Chinese)."

(Adaptado de: GRIFFITHS, James. Some European doctors think Chinese medicine should come with a health warning. CNN Health. Data de publicação: 17 nov. 2019. Disponível em: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/16/health/traditional-chinese-medicine-facebook-intl-hnkwellness/index.html. Acesso em: 22 out. 2020).

TEXT FOR QUESTION

WHAT ARE THE WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS FOR ANTACIDS?

• Antacids (for example, calcium carbonate) when consumed in high doses and for long periods of time may cause acid rebound. Acid rebound is a condition in which the stomach produces even more acid after the consumption of foods and drinks. Fortunately, the effects of acid rebound are not clinically important.

• High-dose calcium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate when taken together can cause a condition called milkalkali syndrome. Its symptoms include headache, nausea, irritability, and weakness, hypercalcemia (high blood calcium levels), and reduced function of the kidneys.

• Extensive use of aluminum-containing antacids may cause hypophosphatemia (low phosphate levels in the blood), which in severe cases could lead to muscle weakness, anorexia, and osteomalacia (softening of the bones due to defective bone mineralization).

• Antacids containing aluminum hydroxide should be used with caution in patients who have recently suffered massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

• For patients with conditions such as high blood pressure, chronic heart failure, renal failure and those who have sodium or salt-restricted diets, it is important to pay attention to the sodium level in sodium-based antacid preparations such as sodium bicarbonate.

• Antacids should not be given to children under six years of age.

(Disponível em https://www.rxlist.com/antacids/drug-class.htm. Acesso em 20 fev. 2021.)

TEXT FOR QUESTION

Pain in upper back and neck: how to get relief

    Neck pain is extremely common. In fact, 70% of the population will experience neck pain. In order to better understand neck pain, we must understand the difference between actual neck pain and arm or upper extremity pain. Neck pain is generally considered to be pain which stays in the neck while arm or upper extremity pain is pain which travels down the shoulder, arm, and hand. Pain down the arm also referred to as radicular pain, is generally caused by compression upon the nerve usually as it courses through the spinal canal or as it leaves the spine. This pressure may be caused by a ruptured or herniated disc, or by thickened ligament known as spinal stenosis, or by bone spurs known as osteophytes. When one vertebral body slips upon another, a condition known as spondylolisthesis, the nerve roots leaving the spine may be compressed by the slipped bone.

    Mechanical neck pain may be caused by strain or sprain of the muscles and ligaments connected to the spine. It may also be caused by inflammation of the joints in the spine or by degeneration of the disc spaces located between the vertebral bodies. Fractures of the spine due to trauma result in neck pain as well. Also, tumors and infection of the spine may cause neck pain. Mechanical instability as ____________ in spondylolisthesis may result in neck pain as well.

    It is important for the neurosurgeon to find out the cause of pain in order to treat it accordingly. This ______________ by taking the patient’s history to identify when the pain began, where the pain travels to, the nature of the pain (shooting, stabbing, burning) and what makes the pain better or worse. The neurosurgeon then performs a physical examination and confirms with detailed MRI or CT scans of the spine, as well as x-rays.

(Disponível em https://medium.com/@cdrrahul/neck-pain-causes- -dr-rahul-chaudhari-84d61a802366. Acesso em 19 fev. 2021.)

TEXT FOR QUESTION

Healthy Vision: Take care of your eyes!

    It’s important to take care of your eyes. Poor vision makes it harder to read, drive, and cook. The good news: Many eye problems and diseases can be treated if caught early. To make sure you keep seeing clearly, get a comprehensive dilated eye exam. An eye care professional will examine your eyes for signs of vision problems or eye diseases. It’s the best way to find out if you need glasses or contacts, or are in the early stages of a serious but treatable eye disease.

    You ___________ have a dilated eye exam regularly to check for common eye problems. If you haven’t had an exam for some time, schedule one this month. CDC’s Vision Health Initiative and the National Eye Institute are encouraging Americans to take care of their eyes to make sure they can see well throughout their lives.

    ______________ older adults tend to have more vision problems, preschoolers may not see as well as they should. Just 1 out of every 7 preschoolers receives an eye exam, and fewer than 1 out of every 4 receives some type of vision screening. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends vision screening for all children ages 3 to 5 years to find conditions such as amblyopia, or lazy eye that can be treated effectively if caught early.

(Disponível em https://www.cdc.gov/media/matte/2012/08- heathy-vision.pdf?cid=2012_08_ healthy_vision#:~:text=Taking%20care%20of%20your%20eyes, for%20falls%2C%20injury%20and%20depression. Acesso em 19 fev. 2021.)