Questões de Inglês

Teens' compulsive texting can cause neck injury, experts warn

[1] Dean Fishman, a chiropractor in Florida, was examining an X-ray of a 17-year-old patient's neck in 2009

when he noticed something unusual. The ghostly image of her vertebral column showed a reversal of the

curvature that normally appears in the cervical spine — a degenerative state he'd most often seen in

middle-aged people who had spent several decades of their life in poor posture.

[5] "That's when I looked over at the patient," Fishman says. She was slumped in her chair, head tilted

downward, madly typing away on her cellphone. When he mentioned to the patient's mother that the

girl's posture could be causing her headaches, he got what he describes as an "emotional response." It

seemed the teen spent much of her life in that position. Right then, Fishman says, "I knew I was on to

something."

[10] He theorized that prolonged periods of tilting her head downward to peer into her mobile device had

created excessive strain on the cervical spine, causing a repetitive stress injury that ultimately led to

spinal degeneration. He began looking through all the recent X-rays he had of young people — many of

whom had come in for neck pain or headaches — and he saw the same thing: signs of premature

degeneration.

[15] Fishman coined the term "text neck" to describe the condition and founded the Text Neck Institute (text

neck.com), a place where people can go for information, prevention and treatment.

"The head in neutral has a normal weight" of 10 to 12 pounds, says Fishman, explaining that neutral

position is ears over shoulders with shoulder blades pulled back. "If you start to tilt your head forward,

with gravity and the distance from neutral, the weight starts to increase."

[20] "When your head tilts forward, you're loading the front of the disks," says Dr. Kenneth Hansraj, study 20

author and chief of spine surgery at New York Spine Surgery & Rehabilitation Medicine. Though the study

didn't look at long-term effects of this position, Hansraj says that, after seeing approximately 30,000

spinal surgery patients, he's witnessed "the way the neck falls apart."

In addition, Fishman says, text-neck posture can lead to pinched nerves, arthritis, bone spurs and

[25] muscular deformations. "The head and shoulder blades act like a seesaw. When the head goes forward,

the shoulder blades will flare out … and the muscles start to change over time."

Much like tennis elbow doesn't occur only in people who play tennis, text neck isn't exclusive to people

who compulsively send text messages. Hansraj says people in high-risk careers include dentists,

architects and welders, whose heavy helmets make them especially vulnerable. He adds that many daily

[30] activities involve tilting the head down, but they differ from mobile-device use in intensity and 

propensity.

"Washing dishes is something nobody enjoys, so you do it quickly. And while your head is forward, it's

probably tilted at 30 or 40 degrees," he says. People tend to change position periodically while reading a

book, and they glance up frequently while holding an infant. But mobile devices are typically held with

[35] the neck flexed forward at 60 degrees or greater, and many users, particularly teens, use them

compulsively. The study reports that people spend an average of two to four hours a day with their heads

tilted at a sharp angle over their smartphones, amounting to 700 to 1,400 hours a year.

To remedy the problem, Hansraj has a simple message: "Keep your head up." While texting or scrolling,

people should raise their mobile devices closer to their line of sight. The Text Neck Institute has

[40] developed the Text Neck Indicator, an interactive app that alerts users when their smartphones are held 40

at an angle that puts them at risk for text neck.

Fishman also recommends that people take frequent breaks while using their mobile devices, as well as

do exercises that strengthen muscles behind the neck and between the shoulder blades in order to

increase endurance for holding the device properly.

[45] He adds, "I'm an avid technology user — and I use it in the proper posture."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/la-he-text-neck-20150404-story.html#page=1

Teens' compulsive texting can cause neck injury, experts warn

[1] Dean Fishman, a chiropractor in Florida, was examining an X-ray of a 17-year-old patient's neck in 2009

when he noticed something unusual. The ghostly image of her vertebral column showed a reversal of the

curvature that normally appears in the cervical spine — a degenerative state he'd most often seen in

middle-aged people who had spent several decades of their life in poor posture.

[5] "That's when I looked over at the patient," Fishman says. She was slumped in her chair, head tilted

downward, madly typing away on her cellphone. When he mentioned to the patient's mother that the

girl's posture could be causing her headaches, he got what he describes as an "emotional response." It

seemed the teen spent much of her life in that position. Right then, Fishman says, "I knew I was on to

something."

[10] He theorized that prolonged periods of tilting her head downward to peer into her mobile device had

created excessive strain on the cervical spine, causing a repetitive stress injury that ultimately led to

spinal degeneration. He began looking through all the recent X-rays he had of young people — many of

whom had come in for neck pain or headaches — and he saw the same thing: signs of premature

degeneration.

[15] Fishman coined the term "text neck" to describe the condition and founded the Text Neck Institute (text

neck.com), a place where people can go for information, prevention and treatment.

"The head in neutral has a normal weight" of 10 to 12 pounds, says Fishman, explaining that neutral

position is ears over shoulders with shoulder blades pulled back. "If you start to tilt your head forward,

with gravity and the distance from neutral, the weight starts to increase."

[20] "When your head tilts forward, you're loading the front of the disks," says Dr. Kenneth Hansraj, study 20

author and chief of spine surgery at New York Spine Surgery & Rehabilitation Medicine. Though the study

didn't look at long-term effects of this position, Hansraj says that, after seeing approximately 30,000

spinal surgery patients, he's witnessed "the way the neck falls apart."

In addition, Fishman says, text-neck posture can lead to pinched nerves, arthritis, bone spurs and

[25] muscular deformations. "The head and shoulder blades act like a seesaw. When the head goes forward,

the shoulder blades will flare out … and the muscles start to change over time."

Much like tennis elbow doesn't occur only in people who play tennis, text neck isn't exclusive to people

who compulsively send text messages. Hansraj says people in high-risk careers include dentists,

architects and welders, whose heavy helmets make them especially vulnerable. He adds that many daily

[30] activities involve tilting the head down, but they differ from mobile-device use in intensity and 

propensity.

"Washing dishes is something nobody enjoys, so you do it quickly. And while your head is forward, it's

probably tilted at 30 or 40 degrees," he says. People tend to change position periodically while reading a

book, and they glance up frequently while holding an infant. But mobile devices are typically held with

[35] the neck flexed forward at 60 degrees or greater, and many users, particularly teens, use them

compulsively. The study reports that people spend an average of two to four hours a day with their heads

tilted at a sharp angle over their smartphones, amounting to 700 to 1,400 hours a year.

To remedy the problem, Hansraj has a simple message: "Keep your head up." While texting or scrolling,

people should raise their mobile devices closer to their line of sight. The Text Neck Institute has

[40] developed the Text Neck Indicator, an interactive app that alerts users when their smartphones are held 40

at an angle that puts them at risk for text neck.

Fishman also recommends that people take frequent breaks while using their mobile devices, as well as

do exercises that strengthen muscles behind the neck and between the shoulder blades in order to

increase endurance for holding the device properly.

[45] He adds, "I'm an avid technology user — and I use it in the proper posture."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/la-he-text-neck-20150404-story.html#page=1

Teens' compulsive texting can cause neck injury, experts warn

[1] Dean Fishman, a chiropractor in Florida, was examining an X-ray of a 17-year-old patient's neck in 2009

when he noticed something unusual. The ghostly image of her vertebral column showed a reversal of the

curvature that normally appears in the cervical spine — a degenerative state he'd most often seen in

middle-aged people who had spent several decades of their life in poor posture.

[5] "That's when I looked over at the patient," Fishman says. She was slumped in her chair, head tilted

downward, madly typing away on her cellphone. When he mentioned to the patient's mother that the

girl's posture could be causing her headaches, he got what he describes as an "emotional response." It

seemed the teen spent much of her life in that position. Right then, Fishman says, "I knew I was on to

something."

[10] He theorized that prolonged periods of tilting her head downward to peer into her mobile device had

created excessive strain on the cervical spine, causing a repetitive stress injury that ultimately led to

spinal degeneration. He began looking through all the recent X-rays he had of young people — many of

whom had come in for neck pain or headaches — and he saw the same thing: signs of premature

degeneration.

[15] Fishman coined the term "text neck" to describe the condition and founded the Text Neck Institute (text

neck.com), a place where people can go for information, prevention and treatment.

"The head in neutral has a normal weight" of 10 to 12 pounds, says Fishman, explaining that neutral

position is ears over shoulders with shoulder blades pulled back. "If you start to tilt your head forward,

with gravity and the distance from neutral, the weight starts to increase."

[20] "When your head tilts forward, you're loading the front of the disks," says Dr. Kenneth Hansraj, study 20

author and chief of spine surgery at New York Spine Surgery & Rehabilitation Medicine. Though the study

didn't look at long-term effects of this position, Hansraj says that, after seeing approximately 30,000

spinal surgery patients, he's witnessed "the way the neck falls apart."

In addition, Fishman says, text-neck posture can lead to pinched nerves, arthritis, bone spurs and

[25] muscular deformations. "The head and shoulder blades act like a seesaw. When the head goes forward,

the shoulder blades will flare out … and the muscles start to change over time."

Much like tennis elbow doesn't occur only in people who play tennis, text neck isn't exclusive to people

who compulsively send text messages. Hansraj says people in high-risk careers include dentists,

architects and welders, whose heavy helmets make them especially vulnerable. He adds that many daily

[30] activities involve tilting the head down, but they differ from mobile-device use in intensity and 

propensity.

"Washing dishes is something nobody enjoys, so you do it quickly. And while your head is forward, it's

probably tilted at 30 or 40 degrees," he says. People tend to change position periodically while reading a

book, and they glance up frequently while holding an infant. But mobile devices are typically held with

[35] the neck flexed forward at 60 degrees or greater, and many users, particularly teens, use them

compulsively. The study reports that people spend an average of two to four hours a day with their heads

tilted at a sharp angle over their smartphones, amounting to 700 to 1,400 hours a year.

To remedy the problem, Hansraj has a simple message: "Keep your head up." While texting or scrolling,

people should raise their mobile devices closer to their line of sight. The Text Neck Institute has

[40] developed the Text Neck Indicator, an interactive app that alerts users when their smartphones are held 40

at an angle that puts them at risk for text neck.

Fishman also recommends that people take frequent breaks while using their mobile devices, as well as

do exercises that strengthen muscles behind the neck and between the shoulder blades in order to

increase endurance for holding the device properly.

[45] He adds, "I'm an avid technology user — and I use it in the proper posture."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/la-he-text-neck-20150404-story.html#page=1

Teens' compulsive texting can cause neck injury, experts warn

[1] Dean Fishman, a chiropractor in Florida, was examining an X-ray of a 17-year-old patient's neck in 2009

when he noticed something unusual. The ghostly image of her vertebral column showed a reversal of the

curvature that normally appears in the cervical spine — a degenerative state he'd most often seen in

middle-aged people who had spent several decades of their life in poor posture.

[5] "That's when I looked over at the patient," Fishman says. She was slumped in her chair, head tilted

downward, madly typing away on her cellphone. When he mentioned to the patient's mother that the

girl's posture could be causing her headaches, he got what he describes as an "emotional response." It

seemed the teen spent much of her life in that position. Right then, Fishman says, "I knew I was on to

something."

[10] He theorized that prolonged periods of tilting her head downward to peer into her mobile device had

created excessive strain on the cervical spine, causing a repetitive stress injury that ultimately led to

spinal degeneration. He began looking through all the recent X-rays he had of young people — many of

whom had come in for neck pain or headaches — and he saw the same thing: signs of premature

degeneration.

[15] Fishman coined the term "text neck" to describe the condition and founded the Text Neck Institute (text

neck.com), a place where people can go for information, prevention and treatment.

"The head in neutral has a normal weight" of 10 to 12 pounds, says Fishman, explaining that neutral

position is ears over shoulders with shoulder blades pulled back. "If you start to tilt your head forward,

with gravity and the distance from neutral, the weight starts to increase."

[20] "When your head tilts forward, you're loading the front of the disks," says Dr. Kenneth Hansraj, study 20

author and chief of spine surgery at New York Spine Surgery & Rehabilitation Medicine. Though the study

didn't look at long-term effects of this position, Hansraj says that, after seeing approximately 30,000

spinal surgery patients, he's witnessed "the way the neck falls apart."

In addition, Fishman says, text-neck posture can lead to pinched nerves, arthritis, bone spurs and

[25] muscular deformations. "The head and shoulder blades act like a seesaw. When the head goes forward,

the shoulder blades will flare out … and the muscles start to change over time."

Much like tennis elbow doesn't occur only in people who play tennis, text neck isn't exclusive to people

who compulsively send text messages. Hansraj says people in high-risk careers include dentists,

architects and welders, whose heavy helmets make them especially vulnerable. He adds that many daily

[30] activities involve tilting the head down, but they differ from mobile-device use in intensity and 

propensity.

"Washing dishes is something nobody enjoys, so you do it quickly. And while your head is forward, it's

probably tilted at 30 or 40 degrees," he says. People tend to change position periodically while reading a

book, and they glance up frequently while holding an infant. But mobile devices are typically held with

[35] the neck flexed forward at 60 degrees or greater, and many users, particularly teens, use them

compulsively. The study reports that people spend an average of two to four hours a day with their heads

tilted at a sharp angle over their smartphones, amounting to 700 to 1,400 hours a year.

To remedy the problem, Hansraj has a simple message: "Keep your head up." While texting or scrolling,

people should raise their mobile devices closer to their line of sight. The Text Neck Institute has

[40] developed the Text Neck Indicator, an interactive app that alerts users when their smartphones are held 40

at an angle that puts them at risk for text neck.

Fishman also recommends that people take frequent breaks while using their mobile devices, as well as

do exercises that strengthen muscles behind the neck and between the shoulder blades in order to

increase endurance for holding the device properly.

[45] He adds, "I'm an avid technology user — and I use it in the proper posture."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/la-he-text-neck-20150404-story.html#page=1

Rubem Alves was born on September 15, 1933 in Boa Esperança, when the city was still called Dores da Boa Esperança, in Minas Gerais. After high school, he studied theology at Seminário Presbiteriano do Sul. After graduating, he returned to his home state to serve as pastor amid the simple and poor people. 

After a period of study in New York, he returned to Brazil after the military coup in 1964 and was denounced as subversive by the Presbyterian Church. To escape those who were persecuting him, he returned to the United States with his family. There, at the invitation of the United Presbyterian Church - USA and the president of Princeton Theological Seminary, he wrote his doctoral thesis entitled "Towards a Theology of Liberation". 

He returned to Brazil with a Ph.D, broke with the Presbyterian Church, and became unemployed. He went to work teaching in higher education at the Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras in Rio Claro, and, starting in 1974, was a professor at Unicamp until his retirement. 

In 1959, he married Lídia Nopper and they had two sons and a daughter together. Thanks to the girl, he began writing stories for children. He devoted himself to literature and poetry, understanding that both were food for the body and pleasing to the soul. Writing fulfilled his frustrated dream of being a pianist. He channeled into words the gift he lacked for musical notes. 

Inspired by Albert Camus, Nietzsche, Jorge Luis Borges, Roland Barthes, Fernando Pessoa and Manoel de Barros, among many others, he became one of the most prolific and beloved Brazilian writers. 

His opus includes more than a hundred books, divided among children’s books, chronicles, education, religion, theology and even biography, and the book “O velho que acordou menino” (2005), which narrates memories of his childhood. 

In the 1980’s, he became a psychoanalyst, calling himself heterodox since he believed that beauty inhabited the depths of the unconscious. He had his own clinic until 2004 and drew inspiration from his patients for many of his chronicles. In a statement published on Rubem Alves’ web site, Leonardo Boff said his friend "became a master with original points of view on many different subjects. He can speak poetically about the prosaic and prosaically about poetry. In my opinion, he is one of those who has the best command of the Portuguese language in our generation, with an elegance and lightness of style that truly fascinates us." 

Adapted from http://iglesiadescalza.blogspot.com.br/2014/07/writer-and-theologian-rubem-alves-dies.html, May 2015

“Isolation”, “consolidation” and “self-reliance” are different

terms used among Moscow´s political and business elite to

mean the same thing. In the face of international sanctions

occasioned by its support of the rebels in eastern Ukraine and its

[5]  earlier annexation of Crimea, Russia is preparing to pull inward

and face a long period of diplomatic antagonism and economic

hardship. That process appears to be accelerating. On August

6th the Kremlin responded to Western pressure by announcing

that it will ban agricultural import from countries imposing

[10]  sanctions on Russia.

By increasing his support of the rebels last month, Mr. Putin

has shown that he values his own understanding of Russia´s

historic destiny more than the economic well-being of his

country and its global reputation. He is making a risky bet that

[15]  challenging the architecture of the post-cold-war order will reap

its own rewards and compensate for a drop in living standards.

Despite the crisis, such problems have not yet hurt Mr. Putin.

Indeed he is more popular than ever and his propaganda

apparatus is proving to be highly effective.

[20]  Mr. Putin may be sending in Russian troops on the pretence

of a “humanitarian” operation. According to NATO, 20,000

Russian soldiers have amassed at the Ukrainian border. Even if

troops do not cross the border, the confrontation between

Russia and the West looks set to continue through the rule of

[25]  President Vladimir Putin and, perhaps, beyond.

(from How to Lose Friends in THE ECONOMIST, August 9th 2014)