Questões de Inglês

According to the information in the article, which of the following was a characteristic found exclusively in those snails trained in epi-infused water?

MEMORY

by Adam Hadhazy

 

1 Flavonoids, a group of chemicals commonly found in plants, are often credited as having

“superfood” powers. One of them, epicatechin (epi)—abundant in chocolate, green tea, and red wine—

allegedly reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, among other virtues. It is also thought to

improve memory. But is that so? The answer, for the memory benefit, is yes, at least if you are a snail.

2 Neuroscientist Kenneth D. Lukowiak of the University of Calgary, Canada, and two colleagues

tested the power of epi as a memory enhancer in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis. Pond snails breathe

through their skin when in waters rich in oxygen, but if oxygen becomes scarce, the mollusks go to the

surface and breath through an orifice—the pneumostome—connected to a simple lung. By gently poking

the pneumostome with a stick when a snail tries to open it, researchers can condition snails to come up for

air less frequently. And that is what the team did.

3 They trained snails with the stick in plain pond water and in epi-infused water and compared the

duration of their memory. After a half-hour session, snails in plain water learned to attempt fewer

breaths—and remembered their lessons for about three hours. Snails exposed to epi, on the other hand,

kept up their modified behavior a full day later. And snails trained in epi-rich water for two half-hour

sessions continued to surface less often for air three days on. Snails trained in epi also had stronger

memories than snails trained in regular water—that is, it was harder to train them to ignore what they

had learned.

4 Epi still improved snail memory after the researchers blocked the animals’ serotonin receptors and

after they severed innervation to the osphradium, a chemical sensory organ, suggesting that epi might act

via a mechanism different from those previously known in snails. “Our present, as yet unproved,

hypothesis is that epi directly works on neurons,” says Lukowiak.

Adapted from Natural History, November, 2012

According to the information in the article, which of the following is most likely one of Kenneth D. Lukowiak’s opinions?

MEMORY

by Adam Hadhazy

 

1 Flavonoids, a group of chemicals commonly found in plants, are often credited as having

“superfood” powers. One of them, epicatechin (epi)—abundant in chocolate, green tea, and red wine—

allegedly reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, among other virtues. It is also thought to

improve memory. But is that so? The answer, for the memory benefit, is yes, at least if you are a snail.

2 Neuroscientist Kenneth D. Lukowiak of the University of Calgary, Canada, and two colleagues

tested the power of epi as a memory enhancer in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis. Pond snails breathe

through their skin when in waters rich in oxygen, but if oxygen becomes scarce, the mollusks go to the

surface and breath through an orifice—the pneumostome—connected to a simple lung. By gently poking

the pneumostome with a stick when a snail tries to open it, researchers can condition snails to come up for

air less frequently. And that is what the team did.

3 They trained snails with the stick in plain pond water and in epi-infused water and compared the

duration of their memory. After a half-hour session, snails in plain water learned to attempt fewer

breaths—and remembered their lessons for about three hours. Snails exposed to epi, on the other hand,

kept up their modified behavior a full day later. And snails trained in epi-rich water for two half-hour

sessions continued to surface less often for air three days on. Snails trained in epi also had stronger

memories than snails trained in regular water—that is, it was harder to train them to ignore what they

had learned.

4 Epi still improved snail memory after the researchers blocked the animals’ serotonin receptors and

after they severed innervation to the osphradium, a chemical sensory organ, suggesting that epi might act

via a mechanism different from those previously known in snails. “Our present, as yet unproved,

hypothesis is that epi directly works on neurons,” says Lukowiak.

Adapted from Natural History, November, 2012

According to the information in the article, Kenneth D. Lukowiak and his team discovered in one test that

MEMORY

by Adam Hadhazy

 

1 Flavonoids, a group of chemicals commonly found in plants, are often credited as having

“superfood” powers. One of them, epicatechin (epi)—abundant in chocolate, green tea, and red wine—

allegedly reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, among other virtues. It is also thought to

improve memory. But is that so? The answer, for the memory benefit, is yes, at least if you are a snail.

2 Neuroscientist Kenneth D. Lukowiak of the University of Calgary, Canada, and two colleagues

tested the power of epi as a memory enhancer in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis. Pond snails breathe

through their skin when in waters rich in oxygen, but if oxygen becomes scarce, the mollusks go to the

surface and breath through an orifice—the pneumostome—connected to a simple lung. By gently poking

the pneumostome with a stick when a snail tries to open it, researchers can condition snails to come up for

air less frequently. And that is what the team did.

3 They trained snails with the stick in plain pond water and in epi-infused water and compared the

duration of their memory. After a half-hour session, snails in plain water learned to attempt fewer

breaths—and remembered their lessons for about three hours. Snails exposed to epi, on the other hand,

kept up their modified behavior a full day later. And snails trained in epi-rich water for two half-hour

sessions continued to surface less often for air three days on. Snails trained in epi also had stronger

memories than snails trained in regular water—that is, it was harder to train them to ignore what they

had learned.

4 Epi still improved snail memory after the researchers blocked the animals’ serotonin receptors and

after they severed innervation to the osphradium, a chemical sensory organ, suggesting that epi might act

via a mechanism different from those previously known in snails. “Our present, as yet unproved,

hypothesis is that epi directly works on neurons,” says Lukowiak.

Adapted from Natural History, November, 2012

According to the information in the article, pond snails

MEMORY

by Adam Hadhazy

 

1 Flavonoids, a group of chemicals commonly found in plants, are often credited as having

“superfood” powers. One of them, epicatechin (epi)—abundant in chocolate, green tea, and red wine—

allegedly reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, among other virtues. It is also thought to

improve memory. But is that so? The answer, for the memory benefit, is yes, at least if you are a snail.

2 Neuroscientist Kenneth D. Lukowiak of the University of Calgary, Canada, and two colleagues

tested the power of epi as a memory enhancer in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis. Pond snails breathe

through their skin when in waters rich in oxygen, but if oxygen becomes scarce, the mollusks go to the

surface and breath through an orifice—the pneumostome—connected to a simple lung. By gently poking

the pneumostome with a stick when a snail tries to open it, researchers can condition snails to come up for

air less frequently. And that is what the team did.

3 They trained snails with the stick in plain pond water and in epi-infused water and compared the

duration of their memory. After a half-hour session, snails in plain water learned to attempt fewer

breaths—and remembered their lessons for about three hours. Snails exposed to epi, on the other hand,

kept up their modified behavior a full day later. And snails trained in epi-rich water for two half-hour

sessions continued to surface less often for air three days on. Snails trained in epi also had stronger

memories than snails trained in regular water—that is, it was harder to train them to ignore what they

had learned.

4 Epi still improved snail memory after the researchers blocked the animals’ serotonin receptors and

after they severed innervation to the osphradium, a chemical sensory organ, suggesting that epi might act

via a mechanism different from those previously known in snails. “Our present, as yet unproved,

hypothesis is that epi directly works on neurons,” says Lukowiak.

Adapted from Natural History, November, 2012

According to the information in the article, Kenneth D. Lukowiak and two colleagues

MEMORY

by Adam Hadhazy

 

1 Flavonoids, a group of chemicals commonly found in plants, are often credited as having

“superfood” powers. One of them, epicatechin (epi)—abundant in chocolate, green tea, and red wine—

allegedly reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, among other virtues. It is also thought to

improve memory. But is that so? The answer, for the memory benefit, is yes, at least if you are a snail.

2 Neuroscientist Kenneth D. Lukowiak of the University of Calgary, Canada, and two colleagues

tested the power of epi as a memory enhancer in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis. Pond snails breathe

through their skin when in waters rich in oxygen, but if oxygen becomes scarce, the mollusks go to the

surface and breath through an orifice—the pneumostome—connected to a simple lung. By gently poking

the pneumostome with a stick when a snail tries to open it, researchers can condition snails to come up for

air less frequently. And that is what the team did.

3 They trained snails with the stick in plain pond water and in epi-infused water and compared the

duration of their memory. After a half-hour session, snails in plain water learned to attempt fewer

breaths—and remembered their lessons for about three hours. Snails exposed to epi, on the other hand,

kept up their modified behavior a full day later. And snails trained in epi-rich water for two half-hour

sessions continued to surface less often for air three days on. Snails trained in epi also had stronger

memories than snails trained in regular water—that is, it was harder to train them to ignore what they

had learned.

4 Epi still improved snail memory after the researchers blocked the animals’ serotonin receptors and

after they severed innervation to the osphradium, a chemical sensory organ, suggesting that epi might act

via a mechanism different from those previously known in snails. “Our present, as yet unproved,

hypothesis is that epi directly works on neurons,” says Lukowiak.

Adapted from Natural History, November, 2012

In paragraph 1, the sentence “But is that so?” most likely means approximately the same as which of the following?