Questões de Inglês

That sense of well-being, freedom and extra energy that runners often experience is not just a matter of endorphins. A study at the Université de Montréal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) shows that the "runner’s high" phenomenon is also caused by dopamine, an important neurotransmitter for motivation.

"We discovered that the rewarding effects of endurance activity are modulated by leptin, a key hormone in metabolism. Leptin inhibits physical activity through dopamine neurons in the brain", said Stephanie Fulton, a researcher at the CRCHUM and lead author of an article published today in the journal Cell Metabolism. Secreted* by adipose tissue, leptin helps control the feeling of satiety. This hormone also influences physical activity. "The more fat there is, the more leptin there is and the less we feel like eating. Our findings* now show that this hormone also plays a vital role in motivation to run, which may be related to searching for food", explained Stephanie Fulton, who is also a professor at Université de Montréal’s Department of Nutrition.

Hormone signals that modulate feeding and exercise are in fact believed to be closely linked. Endurance* running capacity in mammals, particularly humans, is thought to have evolved* to maximize the chances of finding food. This study suggests that leptin plays a critical role both in regulating energy balance and encouraging behaviours that are "rewarding" for the person’s metabolism, i.e., engaging in physical activity to find food. The researchers studied voluntary* wheel running in mice in cages. These mice can run up to seven kilometres a day. In a laboratory, the physical activity of normal mice was compared with that of mice who underwent* a genetic modification to suppress a molecule activated by leptin, STAT3 (signal transducer* and activator of transcription-3). The STAT3 molecule is found in the neurons that synthesize dopamine in the midbrain. This “mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway” is a like a motivational highway in the brain.

"Mice that do not have the STAT3 molecule in the dopaminergic neurons run substantially more. Conversely, normal mice are less active because leptin then activates STAT3 in the dopamine neurons, signalling that energy reserves in the body are sufficient and that there is no need to get active and go looking for food", explained Maria Fernanda Fernandes, first author of the study. And is leptin as important for motivation to be active in humans? Yes. "Previous studies have clearly shown a correlation between leptin and marathon run times. The lower leptin levels are, the better the performance. Our study on mice suggests that this molecule is also involved in the rewarding effects experienced when we do physical exercise. We speculate that for humans, low leptin levels increase motivation to exercise and make it easier to get a runner’s high", summed up Stephanie Fulton. Mice, humans and mammals in general are thought to have evolved to increase the return on effective food acquisition behaviours. Ultimately, hormones are sending the brain a clear message: when food is scarce, it’s fun to run to chase some down.

Source: Université de Montréal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM). About the study The study “Leptin suppresses the rewarding effects of running via STAT3 signaling in dopamine neurons” was published in Cell Metabolism. http://crchum.chumontreal.qc.ca/en/news-briefs/why-does-running-make-us-happy

 

 

São perguntas cujas respostas estão apresentadas no texto:

 

I. What levels of leptin are necessary for a human being to feel the “runner’s high”?

II. Where is leptin synthesized?

III. Where was the study performed?

IV. What role does leptin perform besides influencing physical activity?

V. When was the study performed?

VI. Why was a specific kind of molecule genetically suppressed for the study?

VII. What kind of hormone was genetically suppressed for the study?

VIII. Why are higher levels of leptin responsible for increased motivation to exercise?

IX. Whose levels of leptin rouse?

Spanish Speaking Countries Trivia

 

• The United States has almost 40 million native Spanish speakers. By 2050 it will become the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. There are more Spanish speakers in the United States than there are speakers of Chinese, French, Italian, Hawaiian, and the Native American languages combined. (Source: Instituto Cervantes)

• Las Glosas Emilianenses (Glosses of Saint Emilianus) was the first written Spanish record dating back to 964. It is the first known document, consisting of notes in both Spanish and Basque in the margins of a religious manuscript in Latin. The first literary work fully written in Spanish was El Cantar del Mio Cid, an anonymous poem from the 12th century. (Source: BBC)

• Spanish is the official language of 22 countries and the second largest native language in the world, the second language used for international communication and the third most used language on the Internet. (Source: Instituto Cervantes)

• In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President, making Spanish language teaching mandatory in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. (Source: Wikipedia)

• The first Spanish grammar was created by Elio Antonio de Nebrija and published in 1492, the same year Columbus discovered America. (Source: BBC)

• Mexico contains the largest population of Spanish speakers with 114 million followed by the United States with 50 million. (Source: Wikipedia)

Disponível em: http://www.speakinglatino.com/13-cool-and-interesting-facts-about-the-spanish-language/. Acesso em 28/08/15.

 

Tick the INCORRECT statement, according to the text.

How Einstein Discovered General Relativity amid War, Divorce and Rivalry

 

Albert Einstein created his most famous theory amid personal strife, political tension and a scientific rivalry that almost cost him the glory of his discovery

By Walter Isaacson

 

The general theory of relativity began with a sudden thought. It was late 1907, two years after the “miracle year” in which Albert Einstein had produced his special theory of relativity and his theory of light quanta, but he was still an examiner in the Swiss patent office. The physics world had not yet caught up with his genius. While sitting in his office in Bern, a thought “startled” him, he recalled: “If a person falls freely, he will not feel his own weight.” He would later call it “the happiest thought in my life.”

The tale of the falling man has become an iconic one, and in some accounts it actually involves a painter who fell from the roof of an apartment building near the patent office. Like other great tales of gravitational discovery—Galileo dropping objects from the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the apple falling on Isaac Newton\\'s head—it was embellished in popular lore. Despite Einstein\\'s propensity to focus on science rather than the “merely personal,” even he was not likely to watch a real human plunging off a roof and think of gravitational theory, much less call it the happiest thought in his life.

 

Disponível em: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-einstein-discovered-general-relativity-amid-war-divorce-and-rivalry/. Acesso em 29/07/15.

Match dates and facts.

A. 1905 B. Late 1907

 

( ) Theory of light quanta.

( ) Einstein as an examiner in the Swiss patent office.

( ) General theory of relativity.

( ) Miracle year.

( ) Special theory of relativity.

How Einstein Discovered General Relativity amid War, Divorce and Rivalry

 

Albert Einstein created his most famous theory amid personal strife, political tension and a scientific rivalry that almost cost him the glory of his discovery

By Walter Isaacson

 

The general theory of relativity began with a sudden thought. It was late 1907, two years after the “miracle year” in which Albert Einstein had produced his special theory of relativity and his theory of light quanta, but he was still an examiner in the Swiss patent office. The physics world had not yet caught up with his genius. While sitting in his office in Bern, a thought “startled” him, he recalled: “If a person falls freely, he will not feel his own weight.” He would later call it “the happiest thought in my life.”

The tale of the falling man has become an iconic one, and in some accounts it actually involves a painter who fell from the roof of an apartment building near the patent office. Like other great tales of gravitational discovery—Galileo dropping objects from the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the apple falling on Isaac Newton\\'s head—it was embellished in popular lore. Despite Einstein\\'s propensity to focus on science rather than the “merely personal,” even he was not likely to watch a real human plunging off a roof and think of gravitational theory, much less call it the happiest thought in his life.

Disponível em: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-einstein-discovered-general-relativity-amid-war-divorce-and-rivalry/. Acesso em 29/07/15.

 

The main idea of the excerpt above is:

[...]

AGATHA

Wishwood was always a cold place, Amy.

 

IVY

I have always told Amy she should go south in the winter.

Were I in Amy\\'s position, I would go south in the winter.

I would follow the sun, not wait for the sun to come here.

I would go south in the winter, if I could afford it,

Not freeze, as I do, in Bayswater, by a gas-fire counting shillings.

 

VIOLET

Go south! to the English circulating libraries,

To the military widows and the English chaplains,

To the chilly deck-chair and the strong cold tea—

The strong cold stewed bad Indian tea.

 

CHARLES

That\\'s not Amy\\'s style at all. We are country-bred people.

Amy has been too long used to our ways

Living with horses and dogs and guns

Ever to want to leave England in the winter.

But a single man like me is better off in London:

A man can be very cosy at his club

Even in an English winter.

[...]

 

ELIOT, T. S. Family reunion. Disponível em https://archive.org/stream/familyreunionpl00elio/familyreunionpl00elio_djvu.txt. Acesso em 27/10/2015.

One cannot infer from the excerpt that

[...]

AGATHA

Wishwood was always a cold place, Amy.

 

IVY

I have always told Amy she should go south in the winter.

Were I in Amy\\'s position, I would go south in the winter.

I would follow the sun, not wait for the sun to come here.

I would go south in the winter, if I could afford it,

Not freeze, as I do, in Bayswater, by a gas-fire counting shillings.

 

VIOLET

Go south! to the English circulating libraries,

To the military widows and the English chaplains,

To the chilly deck-chair and the strong cold tea—

The strong cold stewed bad Indian tea.

 

CHARLES

That\\'s not Amy\\'s style at all. We are country-bred people.

Amy has been too long used to our ways

Living with horses and dogs and guns

Ever to want to leave England in the winter.

But a single man like me is better off in London:

A man can be very cosy at his club

Even in an English winter.

[...]

 

ELIOT, T. S. Family reunion. Disponível em https://archive.org/stream/familyreunionpl00elio/familyreunionpl00elio_djvu.txt. Acesso em 27/10/2015.

Tick the alternative that shows the CORRECT combination according to the exerpt above.

 

I. Only Agatha thinks Wishwood is a cold place.

II. Ivy thinks Amy should go south, but Violet doesn’t.

III. Both Ivy and Violet have few financial resources.

IV. Both Violet and Charles think Amy should not got south.

V. Amy and Agatha agree that Wishwood is a cold place.