1. Answer the questions about myocardial infarction.

1. How does the article explain what myocardial infarction is?

2. What symptoms of MI are given in the article?

3. According to the article, why can it be a problem to diagnose MI?

2. Summarize your answers and explain why it was necessary to find a new way to diagnose MI in addition to existing tests, i.e. formulate the background of the research project described in the article.

3. Read the statements about the research project described in the article. Which of them are false? Correct them.

1) The research team wanted to find a more sensitive test to identify even minor MIs.

2) Troponin measured by the test is a hormone produced by the heart muscle.

3) The data for the study was collected from the patients with diagnosed MIs.

4) All of the patients had typical clinical manifestations of MI.

5) Heart pain if untreated can lead to larger MIs.

4. Summarize the information about the troponin study. Present your summary to the class.

5. Read the passage and answer the question: Why can it be a problem to diagnose a heart attack using ECG?

An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a recording of the electrical activity of the heart. Abnormalities in the electrical activity usually occur with heart attacks and can identify the areas of heart muscle that are deprived of oxygen and/or areas of muscle that have died. In a patient with typical symptoms of heart attack and characteristic changes of heart attack on the ECG, a secure diagnosis of heart attack can be made quickly in the emergency room and treatment can be started immediately. If a patient's symptoms are vague or atypical and if there are pre-existing ECG abnormalities, for example, from old heart attacks or abnormal electrical patterns that make interpretation of the ECG difficult, the diagnosis of a heart attack may be less secure. In these patients, the diagnosis can be made only hours later through detection of elevated cardiac enzymes in the blood.

UNIT 7. HAEMOPHILIA AND HEART RISK.

Read the article and do the tasks below.

While reading, find the words and expressions that mean the following:

1) свертываться (о крови); 2) кровоточить, терять кровь; 3) свертывающий фактор (крови) / свертывающая способность; 4) вероятность (напр., развития болезни); 5) выяснить; 6) смертность; 7) разработать способы защиты от; 8) незначительная рана.

'Hidden haemophilia' cuts heart risk

1) Haemophilia is a disease in which the patient is unable to make enough of a particular chemical which helps clot the blood. If untreated, patients can bleed uncontrollably from the slightest injury.

2) It is caused by a defective gene - but not everyone who carries the gene develops the illness. The gene is found on the X sex chromosome - males have just 1 copy of this, and women have 2. This means that if men have a defective gene, they will become haemophiliac. Women need defective copies on both of their X chromosomes before illness will start. But a woman with just 1 correct copy will still produce less of the vital clotting factor than someone with 2 good copies.

3) Scientists have believed for some time that the likelihood of getting heart disease might be in part related to the ability of the blood to clot - the more "sticky" the blood, the more likely the heart disease would follow.

4) The research team wanted to find out if having a reduced ability to clot blood might be a protective factor. They tracked down the records of mothers of more than 1,000 men who had developed haemophilia. All of the women must carry one copy of the haemophilia gene. The researchers studied how many of the women had died from causes related to heart disease. They found that mortality from this cause was down 22% compared with the general population - however, there was an increase in the risk of a serious brain haemorrhage.

5) This relationship between reduced clotting ability and heart disease could help doctors work out ways to protect people at risk from heart problems.

1. Write down the number of the passage that describes the mechanism of haemophilia. Ask 3 questions about it.

2. Write down the number of the passage that describes the study. Translate it into Russian.

3. Choose the one correct answer to the question: What was the aim of the study?

   1. To understand the mechanism of haemophilia.

   2. To protect women from haemophilia.

   3. To study haemophilia as a protection from heart problems.

   4. To study causes of brain haemorrhage.

4. Which of the statements are false? Correct them.

   1. Only women may have the gene that causes haemophilia.

   2. The risk of having heart disease depends on the ability of the blood to clot.

   3. People with haemophilia are at greater risk of having brain haemorrhage.

   4. The women who took part in the study had died of uncontrollable bleeding.

5. Write your summary of the article.

6. Read the passage and tell the class how modern medicine can help hemophiliac patients.

There's no cure for haemophilia and, although patients are treated with injections of the missing clotting factor, there's no permanent way of increasing its level. So the mainstay of treatment is replacement of the missing clotting factor. This is known as replacement therapy and these days it usually consists of injections of concentrates of artificially produced clotting factors (made using recombinant technology, rather the old method of extracting the clotting factors from donated blood). In severe haemophilia, injections may be given on a regular basis several times a week. This is called prophylaxis, and it aims to help prevent bleeding from happening. In mild or moderate haemophilia injections are given just when a bleed has or may have occurred (this is called on-demand therapy).

UNIT 8. GASTROENTERITIS.

Read the article and do the tasks below.

While reading, find the words and expressions that mean the following:

1) пищевое отравление; 2) озноб; 3) чувство слабости, физического истощения; 4) проводить исследование; 5) просроченные продукты; 6) ювелирные украшения; 7) миски домашних питомцев; 8) хранение продуктов; 9) тщательно мыть руки после туалета; 10) значительное уменьшение (напр., числа инфекций).

Health risk from bad food hygiene

Each year there are millions of cases of gastroenteritis(or “stomach flu”, although it is not caused by the influenza viruses). For an increasing number of people, it's due to food poisoning, something that can be prevented.

The symptoms of gastroenteritis are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pain. Food poisoning is the type of gastroenteritis caused by eating or drinking something contaminated with micro-organisms or germs, or by toxic substances produced by these germs. They are often accompanied by fever, muscle aches, shivering and feeling exhausted.

The survey, carried out for National Food Safety Week, found that 12% of people only change or disinfect their kitchen sponge once a month and 6% change it even less often. And a third of people find it possible to eat food that is past its use-by date. 4 out of 10 respondents said they never removed jewellery before preparing food and of those with pets, 14% said they washed their pets’ bowls with their own washing-up - risking cross contamination.

Food storage was also found to be a big area of getting infection. Nearly half did not know they needed to keep their fridge at 0C to 5C to store food safely. And 16% stored raw meat on the top shelf of the fridge - risking the chance that juices could drip onto ready-to-eat foods below. 1 in 6 does not use separate chopping boards for raw meat and vegetables.

Hugh Pennington, professor of bacteriology, said: "The bad news is that 79,283 cases of food poisoning in the UK is the tip of a very unpleasant iceberg - many suffer in silence and are too embarrassed to tell.

Professor Peter Borriello added: "Good food is one of life's great pleasures. However, food-poisoning can be one of our worst memories. If everyone washes their hands thoroughly after going to the toilet, before and after cooking food and before sitting down to eat, we will see massive reductions in a range of unpleasant infections."

"Apart from immunizing their children against disease, thorough hand-washing and safe storage, preparation and cooking of food are the most important things that people can do to protect themselves and others from infection."