Questões de Inglês

TEXTO:
 

How Smartphones Help Farmers in Rural India
    In India, small farmers cultivate 50 percent of the
land, but they are often held back by inefficient methods.
The goal of the development project I work on is to help
spread information on agriculture among farmers through
[5] information technology. In 2009, I traveled to Devarahati,
a village three hours from Bangalore in order to better
understand the situation.
    At first glance, Devarahati’s residents seem to use
little technology. In fact, few things in this poor community
[10] remind me of life in the 21^st century. No toilets are
available except for a foot-wide (0.3 meter) hole in the
ground. Drinking water comes from a well. However, the
pump for the well can only be used during a six-hour
period each day when electricity is available.
[15]     When one looks again, however, one sees signs of
20^th century developments. A few homes that look like
they were constructed a thousand years ago have satellite
dishes. Plastic garbage covers the ground, and in the
distance, two cell phone towers mark the age of mobile
[20] communication.
    Mobile phones allow residents of rural India to
communicate with their families in cities and obtain
information on market prices. They also provide
unexpected side benefits. As I am walking around the
[25] village, my translator Suma points out farmers wearing
earphones. According to her, they “don’t even have a SIM
card but just use their phones as music players.”
    Suma seems upset that people in her home
community use technology for such everyday activities
[30] as entertainment, but I’m thrilled. It is clear that people
are spending money on technology, charging their phones
when power is available, and using phones not designed
for illiterate people.
    For our project, the mobile phone is the most
[35] promising way to spread information throughout the
farming community. The application we have developed
for touch-screen phones lets literate and illiterate farmers
share information about prices, seeds, fertilizers, and
pesticides. Touch-screen technology combined with
[40] sound and video enables illiterate people to use digital
information.
    In a trial this summer, we hope to learn if and how
farmers in Devarahati will use this new technology in their
decision-making. For farmers who do not own TVs, the
[45] mobile phone will probably become a source of
entertainment and serve as a flashlight during power cuts.

However, we hope that farmers will adopt agricultural
innovations if trusted peers have had good experiences
with them. Our goal is to use the word-of-mouth approach
[50] that locals trust, rather than coming into communities
and telling them what to do. It’s just that we’re using
technology to make word-of-mouth bigger and better.
Disponível em: <http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2012/06/05/mobilelearning- how-smartphones-help-illiterate-farmers-in-rural-india/>. Acesso em: 21 jul. 2016.

Read the text below and answer the following question based on it.

The Healing Power of Music

What better “medicine” than a “treatment” that has only positive side effects and “therapy” that is actually enjoyable? Music is shown to have the ability to help organize the brain; especially vital to those who are afflicted with Alzheimer’s.
Studies have shown that the results of a musical therapy session last for several hours afterward. Positive results include elevated mood, increased socialization and appetite and reduction in agitation. These benefits are attributed to the stimulation the brain receives during a music therapy session, a sort of “cognitive workout”.
As speech, writing and traditional forms of communication are compromised, music provides an alternative means of maintaining a connection, thereby helping to normalize interaction between caregiver and patient. Music used therapeutically creates an environment where the patient can be nurtured and cared for in a way that is safe, gentle and appropriate. Music is central to maintaining human bonds when those with dementia have lost the ability to initiate communication or to respond verbally.

The powers of music when focused and used therapeutically are many. Critical to maintaining quality of life for those with Alzheimer’s is management of emotions and preserving the connection with others. Music is conducive to keeping those connections strong as long as possible while helping the participant to focus, increase awareness and orient to the environment. A number of research studies have looked at music therapy as an important adjunct to medical treatment and findings suggest a possible link between the use of music and slowing the progression of dementia.
Music is primal to life and expressed by each of us every day whether through dancing to a favorite tune, keeping rhythm with a pencil or remembering a special time when hearing a forgotten melody. It is central to our lives and is embedded in our culture, defining how we acknowledge milestones, rites of passage and celebrations as well as providing comfort, transformation and inspiration. 

http://www.caregiver.com/articles/print/healing_power_of_music.ht m Acessado em 14 de abril de 2017. Adaptado

  Women taking pill more likely to be treated for depression, study finds

Millions of women worldwide use hormonal contraceptives, and there have long been reports that they can affect mood. A research project was launched in Denmark to look at the scale of the problem, involving the medical records of more than a million women and adolescent girls.

It found that those on the combined pill were 23% more likely to be prescribed an antidepressant by their doctor, most commonly in the first six months after starting on the pill. Women on the progestin-only pills, a synthetic form of the hormone progesterone, were 34% more likely to take antidepressants or get a first diagnosis of depression than those not on hormonal contraception.

The study found that not only women taking pills but also those with implants, patches and intrauterine devices were affected.

Adolescent girls appeared to be at highest risk. Those taking combined pills were 80% more likely and those on progestin-only pills more than twice as likely to be prescribed an antidepressant than their peers who were not on the pill.

The researchers, Øjvind Lidegaard of the University of Copenhagen and colleagues, point out that women are twice as likely to suffer from depression in their lifetime as men, though rates are equal before puberty. The fluctuating levels of the two female sex hormones, oestrogen and progesterone, have been implicated. Studies have suggested raised progesterone levels in particular may lower mood.

The impact of low-dose hormonal contraception on mood and possibly depression has not been fully studied, the authors say. They used registry data in Denmark on more than a million women and adolescent girls aged between 15 and 34. They were followed up from 2000 until 2013 with an average follow-up of 6.4 years.

The authors call for more studies to investigate this possible side-effect of the pill.

Adaptado de:  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/28/women-takingcontraceptive-pill-more-likely-to-be-treated-for-depression-studyfinds Acessado em 29 de setembro de 2016.

  Women taking pill more likely to be treated for depression, study finds

Millions of women worldwide use hormonal contraceptives, and there have long been reports that they can affect mood. A research project was launched in Denmark to look at the scale of the problem, involving the medical records of more than a million women and adolescent girls.

It found that those on the combined pill were 23% more likely to be prescribed an antidepressant by their doctor, most commonly in the first six months after starting on the pill. Women on the progestin-only pills, a synthetic form of the hormone progesterone, were 34% more likely to take antidepressants or get a first diagnosis of depression than those not on hormonal contraception.

The study found that not only women taking pills but also those with implants, patches and intrauterine devices were affected.

Adolescent girls appeared to be at highest risk. Those taking combined pills were 80% more likely and those on progestin-only pills more than twice as likely to be prescribed an antidepressant than their peers who were not on the pill.

The researchers, Øjvind Lidegaard of the University of Copenhagen and colleagues, point out that women are twice as likely to suffer from depression in their lifetime as men, though rates are equal before puberty. The fluctuating levels of the two female sex hormones, oestrogen and progesterone, have been implicated. Studies have suggested raised progesterone levels in particular may lower mood.

The impact of low-dose hormonal contraception on mood and possibly depression has not been fully studied, the authors say. They used registry data in Denmark on more than a million women and adolescent girls aged between 15 and 34. They were followed up from 2000 until 2013 with an average follow-up of 6.4 years.

The authors call for more studies to investigate this possible side-effect of the pill.

Adaptado de:  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/28/women-takingcontraceptive-pill-more-likely-to-be-treated-for-depression-studyfinds Acessado em 29 de setembro de 2016.

  Women taking pill more likely to be treated for depression, study finds

Millions of women worldwide use hormonal contraceptives, and there have long been reports that they can affect mood. A research project was launched in Denmark to look at the scale of the problem, involving the medical records of more than a million women and adolescent girls.

It found that those on the combined pill were 23% more likely to be prescribed an antidepressant by their doctor, most commonly in the first six months after starting on the pill. Women on the progestin-only pills, a synthetic form of the hormone progesterone, were 34% more likely to take antidepressants or get a first diagnosis of depression than those not on hormonal contraception.

The study found that not only women taking pills but also those with implants, patches and intrauterine devices were affected.

Adolescent girls appeared to be at highest risk. Those taking combined pills were 80% more likely and those on progestin-only pills more than twice as likely to be prescribed an antidepressant than their peers who were not on the pill.

The researchers, Øjvind Lidegaard of the University of Copenhagen and colleagues, point out that women are twice as likely to suffer from depression in their lifetime as men, though rates are equal before puberty. The fluctuating levels of the two female sex hormones, oestrogen and progesterone, have been implicated. Studies have suggested raised progesterone levels in particular may lower mood.

The impact of low-dose hormonal contraception on mood and possibly depression has not been fully studied, the authors say. They used registry data in Denmark on more than a million women and adolescent girls aged between 15 and 34. They were followed up from 2000 until 2013 with an average follow-up of 6.4 years.

The authors call for more studies to investigate this possible side-effect of the pill.

Adaptado de:  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/28/women-takingcontraceptive-pill-more-likely-to-be-treated-for-depression-studyfinds Acessado em 29 de setembro de 2016.

  Treating the UK’s loneliness epidemic

Over a million people in the UK aged over 65 now experience chronic loneliness. This figure will only rise as our population ages. And research shows that severe loneliness affects people across their life course, including children and young people.

Chronic loneliness is as bad for our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and as damaging as obesity and physical inactivity. It is linked with depression, dementia and high blood pressure alongside a number of other conditions. Loneliness impacts on our struggling health and social care system, with evidence showing that those living with loneliness are far more likely to visit their local doctor or A&E. New research shows the health cost alone of loneliness is equivalent to some £12,000 per person over 15 years.

National and local policymakers are now waking up. Health and wellbeing boards across England are making loneliness a priority and the Welsh and Scottish governments have recently announced commitments to develop national cross-governmental strategies to address loneliness and social isolation.

We are calling on the UK government to follow suit and commit to the development of a UK-wide strategy for tackling loneliness and social isolation to help end this growing crisis.

Adaptado de: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/04/treating-ukloneliness-epidemic Acessado em 4 de outubro de 2016.