Questões de Inglês

Dementia risk: Five-minute scan 'can predict cognitive decline'

A five-minute scan could be used to spot people at risk of dementia before symptoms appear, researchers claim.

Scientists used ultrasound scanners to look at blood vessels in the necks of more than 3,000 people and monitored
them over the next 15 years.
They found those with the most intense pulses went on to experience greater cognitive decline over the next decade
than the other study participants.
[05] Researchers hope it may offer a new way to predict cognitive decline.
An international team of experts, led by University College London (UCL), measured the intensity of the pulse
travelling towards the brain in 3,191 people in 2002.
A more intense pulse can cause damage to the small vessels of the brain, structural changes in the brain's blood
vessel network and minor bleeds known as mini-strokes.
[10] Over the next 15 years, researchers monitored participants’ memory and problem-solving ability.
Those with the highest intensity pulse (the top quarter of participants) at the beginning of the study were about 50%
more likely to show accelerated cognitive decline over the next decade compared with the rest of the participants, the
study found.
Researchers said this was the equivalent of about an extra one to one-and-half years of decline.
[15] Cognitive decline is often one of the first signs of dementia, but not everyone who experiences it will go on to develop
the condition.

Having a healthy diet, doing regular exercise and not smoking
can alii help to stave off dementia, evidence suggests.

Researchers said the test could provide a new way to identify people who are at risk of developing dementia, leading
to earlier treatments and lifestyle interventions.
Controlling blood pressure and cholesterol, having a healthy diet, doing regular exercise and not smoking can all help
[20] to stave off dementia, evidence suggests.
Dr Scott Chiesa, from UCL, said: "Dementia is the end result of decades of damage, so by the time people get
dementia it's too late to do anything.
"What we're trying to say is you need to get in as early as possible, identify a way to see who's actually progressing
towards possibly getting dementia and target them."
[25] However, the study, co-funded by the British Heart Foundation, does not contain data on which study participants
went on to develop dementia.
Researchers next plan to use MRI scans to check if people in the study also display structural and functional changes
within the brain that may explain their cognitive decline.
They also want to test whether the scan improves predictive risk scores for dementia which already exist.
[30] Dr Carol Routledge, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said it was not yet clear if the scan could
improve the diagnosis of dementia.
She added: “What we do know is that the blood supply in the brain is incredibly important, and that maintaining a
healthy heart and blood pressure is associated with a lower risk of developing dementia.” 

THERRIEN, Alex. Health. BBC News. 12 nov. 2018. Available in: . Accessed in: november, 18, 2018.

Dementia risk: Five-minute scan 'can predict cognitive decline'

A five-minute scan could be used to spot people at risk of dementia before symptoms appear, researchers claim.

Scientists used ultrasound scanners to look at blood vessels in the necks of more than 3,000 people and monitored
them over the next 15 years.
They found those with the most intense pulses went on to experience greater cognitive decline over the next decade
than the other study participants.
[05] Researchers hope it may offer a new way to predict cognitive decline.
An international team of experts, led by University College London (UCL), measured the intensity of the pulse
travelling towards the brain in 3,191 people in 2002.
A more intense pulse can cause damage to the small vessels of the brain, structural changes in the brain's blood
vessel network and minor bleeds known as mini-strokes.
[10] Over the next 15 years, researchers monitored participants’ memory and problem-solving ability.
Those with the highest intensity pulse (the top quarter of participants) at the beginning of the study were about 50%
more likely to show accelerated cognitive decline over the next decade compared with the rest of the participants, the
study found.
Researchers said this was the equivalent of about an extra one to one-and-half years of decline.
[15] Cognitive decline is often one of the first signs of dementia, but not everyone who experiences it will go on to develop
the condition.

Having a healthy diet, doing regular exercise and not smoking
can alii help to stave off dementia, evidence suggests.

Researchers said the test could provide a new way to identify people who are at risk of developing dementia, leading
to earlier treatments and lifestyle interventions.
Controlling blood pressure and cholesterol, having a healthy diet, doing regular exercise and not smoking can all help
[20] to stave off dementia, evidence suggests.
Dr Scott Chiesa, from UCL, said: "Dementia is the end result of decades of damage, so by the time people get
dementia it's too late to do anything.
"What we're trying to say is you need to get in as early as possible, identify a way to see who's actually progressing
towards possibly getting dementia and target them."
[25] However, the study, co-funded by the British Heart Foundation, does not contain data on which study participants
went on to develop dementia.
Researchers next plan to use MRI scans to check if people in the study also display structural and functional changes
within the brain that may explain their cognitive decline.
They also want to test whether the scan improves predictive risk scores for dementia which already exist.
[30] Dr Carol Routledge, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said it was not yet clear if the scan could
improve the diagnosis of dementia.
She added: “What we do know is that the blood supply in the brain is incredibly important, and that maintaining a
healthy heart and blood pressure is associated with a lower risk of developing dementia.” 

THERRIEN, Alex. Health. BBC News. 12 nov. 2018. Available in: . Accessed in: november, 18, 2018.

TEXTO:

    From paleo to keto, low carb diets have been
hailed by some as the ultimate method for losing weight
in recent decades. A study involving 24,825 participants
who took part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition
[5] Examination Survey indicated that those who ate the
least carbohydrates had a 32 percent higher risk of
premature death compared with those who ate the most
carbohydrates. The participants were 47.6 years old
on average, and 51 percent were women. The risk of
[10] dying of heart disease was 51 percent higher for this
group, while cerebrovascular disease was 50 percent,
and cancer at 35 percent.

     According to Dr Maciej Banach, professor of
medicine in Poland, low carbohydrate diets have been
[15] regarded as beneficial for our health in the past, but
based on his team’s research it is now clear that is not
true. And even though such regimes aid weight loss,
the public should be very careful when following very
restrictive diets, particularly those that feature no
[20] carbohydrates for long periods of time.

    What makes low carb diets appear to be so
dangerous? Banach pointed to previous studies which
have linked animal protein, and red meat and processed
meat in particular, to a higher risk of cancer. “The
[25] reduced intake of fiber and fruits and increased intake
of animal protein, cholesterol, and saturated fat with
these diets may play a role. Differences in minerals,
vitamins and phytochemicals might also be involved,”
he said.

KASHMIRA, Gander. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 1 dez. 2018. Adaptado.

TEXTO:

    From paleo to keto, low carb diets have been
hailed by some as the ultimate method for losing weight
in recent decades. A study involving 24,825 participants
who took part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition
[5] Examination Survey indicated that those who ate the
least carbohydrates had a 32 percent higher risk of
premature death compared with those who ate the most
carbohydrates. The participants were 47.6 years old
on average, and 51 percent were women. The risk of
[10] dying of heart disease was 51 percent higher for this
group, while cerebrovascular disease was 50 percent,
and cancer at 35 percent.

     According to Dr Maciej Banach, professor of
medicine in Poland, low carbohydrate diets have been
[15] regarded as beneficial for our health in the past, but
based on his team’s research it is now clear that is not
true. And even though such regimes aid weight loss,
the public should be very careful when following very
restrictive diets, particularly those that feature no
[20] carbohydrates for long periods of time.

    What makes low carb diets appear to be so
dangerous? Banach pointed to previous studies which
have linked animal protein, and red meat and processed
meat in particular, to a higher risk of cancer. “The
[25] reduced intake of fiber and fruits and increased intake
of animal protein, cholesterol, and saturated fat with
these diets may play a role. Differences in minerals,
vitamins and phytochemicals might also be involved,”
he said.

KASHMIRA, Gander. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 1 dez. 2018. Adaptado.

TEXTO:

     Research shows there can be a link to impaired
vision and poor school performance. Correcting poor
vision with properly prescribed glasses results in a
greater impact on academic performance than any other
[5] health intervention. This has long-reaching implications
in student success as the risk of failing one grade level
is 3 times greater for school children who have a visual
acuity below 20/20 versus children with good visual
acuity. To put it in context, students in China who wore
[10] glasses for one year earned higher test scores
equivalent to six months of additional schooling, with
historically under-performing students benefiting the
most from vision correction.

    But vision isn’t the only health issue affecting
[15] student achievement. Fitness plays a vital role in the
success of students in the classroom that lasts long
after they graduate. Studies have shown that improving
physical fitness levels leads to improved academic
success. In a study of students in Mississippi, those
[20] who were in the healthy fitness zone were two-four times
more likely to have high achievement in a number of
areas, most notably in language arts and math.

     What we see from all of this is a clear indication
that it is vitally important to improve both vision and
[25] fitness if we want our students to succeed. Vision
screenings and fitness measurements are a good start,
but to really be effective we must also provide the
solutions — easier access to eye examinations and
corrective eyewear as well as improved physical
[30] education programming and more time for physical
activity. It’s not just for grades. Healthy, successful
students mean a healthy, successful workforce later
on and that’s good for all of us.

RESEARCH SHOWS... Disponível em: <https://www.cooperin stitute.org/2018/10/09/vision-and-fitness...student-achievement>. Acesso em: 1 dez. 2018. Adaptado.

Irena Sendler

    Irena Sendler, who has died in a Warsaw hospital at the age of 98, was one of the heroes of the
Nazi occupation ____ Poland. As a member of Zegota, the Council for Providing Aid to the Jews, an
organisation set up by the Polish underground state and financed by the Polish government-in-exile in
London, she succeeded ____ saving around 2,500 Jewish children in the Warsaw ghetto ____ certain
[05] death in the Nazi extermination camps.

    Born in Otwock, a resort town near Warsaw much frequented by Jews before the war, Sendler was
the only daughter of a doctor, Stanislaw Krzyzanowski, known for his sympathetic approach towards his
Jewish neighbours. Unusually for a Catholic child, Sendler was allowed to play with Jewish children as she
grew up. She studied Polish literature and became active in the Polish Socialist party. At the time of the
[10] Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, she was also working as a social care nurse for the Warsaw city welfare
department.

    During the Nazi occupation, conditions for the Jews in Warsaw deteriorated dramatically as more than
400,000 people were confined in the city’s ghetto, an area of perhaps four square kilometres, which was
then, in 1940, sealed off. Sendler was involved in providing assistance to those in need, and in December
[15] 1942 – soon after the deportation of Jews had begun to the Treblinka death camp – she became head of
the children’s department of Zegota. She was motivated, above all, by her sense of social justice and her
feelings of obligation to her Jewish friends. 

    When the German authorities decided finally to liquidate the Warsaw ghetto in 1943, Sendler was
one of a group of around 20 Zegota members who organised the evacuation of children, placing them in
[20] Polish families, orphanages and convents. She was able to move around the ghetto legally, disguised as
a public-health nurse responsible for investigating a suspected typhus epidemic. Sometimes, the children
were hidden in a lorry driven by a fellow conspirator, Antoni Dzbrowski. A mechanic reportedly hid babies
in his toolbox. At other times, they were given sleeping draughts and transported to what was known as
the “Aryan” side – outside the ghetto – in baskets, or chests in ambulances or streetcars. German officials
[25] were told they had died of typhus.

     The escaping children were provided with false identities, and many of those who remained in Poland
were taught Christian prayers, so they would blend into the community more easily. But their real names
and details of their families were written down in code and buried in jam jars, which were dug up after the
war. This meant that once the conflict was over the children were able to discover who they really were.

 [30]   In October 1943, at the height of this rescue operation, Sendler was arrested by the Gestapo. She was
brutally tortured in the notorious Pawiak prison and sentenced to death. But she never revealed details of
her contacts and, by bribing her guards, other members of Zegota were able to obtain her release. 

    After Poland’s liberation in 1945, Sendler returned to the Warsaw welfare department, co-founding an
orphanage and an old people’s home and organising a service to deal with women and children in need.
[35] She stayed in contact with some of the children she had rescued, many of whom eventually found their
way to Palestine. 

     There was little recognition for Sendler’s work in Poland in the immediate aftermath of the war, but in
1965 she was awarded the title of “Righteous Among the Nations” by the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial
centre in Jerusalem, and in 1991 was granted honorary citizenship by the state of Israel. In 2006 she
[40] was nominated for the Nobel peace prize by an American teacher, Norman Conrad, whose students had
written a play and made a documentary film about her, entitled Life in a Jar. Her Polish awards included
the Jan Karski award for moral courage (named after a Polish resistance fighter), the Order of the White
Eagle and honorary citizenship of Warsaw. In 2006, a biography of her appeared in Germany and Poland.

    The greatness of Sendler’s achievements was widely accepted. According to Elzbieta Ficowska, one
[45] of those saved as a five-month-old baby in July 1942 and now the wife of a leading Polish poet: “It took a
miracle to save a Jewish child. Sendler saved not only us, but also our children and grandchildren and the
generations to come”. 

She died on the same day as a ceremony naming a Warsaw school, Gymnasium Nº 23, in her honour.

Disponível em: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/14/secondworldwar.poland. Acesso em: 16 ago. 18. (Adaptado.)