Вариант II

Часть А

1. Прочитайте и запомните новые слова и словосочетания:

1.inflammation воспаление

2.blood clotting свертывание крови

3.digestive disorders расстройство пищеварения

4.ease pain облегчать боль

5.cure illnesses лечить болезни

6. laxative слабительное средство

7.scientific научный

8. randomization рандомизация, метод слепого отбора, безвыборочный метод

9. randomized trial исследование методом случайной выборки, рандомизированное

исследование.

10. substitute заменитель

11. treatment лечение

12. dependency зависимость

13. affect воздействовать, влиять

14. throe сильная боль

2. Прочитайте и письменно переведите текст.

Early in human history, our ancestors discovered that certain plants could ease pain and cure illness. Prayer and magic came into it too, and symbolic actions such as drinking the blood of a warrior to take his strength, and using leaves and roots as medicine for body parts they somehow resembled, were logical extensions of the beliefs of the time.

The first pharmacopoeia (list of medicinal plants) was produced in 3,500BC by the Chinese emperor Shen Nung, and herbal remedies remained the basis for medicines for centuries. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they were supplemented by frightening preparations of poisonous substances such as mercury, arsenic, and phosphorous, and used alongside leeches, bleeding, and laxatives. This period was many inventions and discoveries away from the white coats, stethoscopes, and the smell of disinfectant that characterize medical care today. However, the developments that went on did give rise to a new understanding of the chemistry and biology of the natural world, and eventually generated medicines that could be said to have changed the way people live: analgesics like Aspirin, anaesthetics, vaccinations, Penicillin and antibiotics, contraceptives, and Viagra.

Scientists who design and produce new drugs assume that a drug's effects are directly related to its molecular structure, and either synthesize medicines by reproducing the medicinally active parts of plants, or extract the medicinally active parts of plants and use them. Medicines are classified by:

- their chemical properties. The opioids are a well-known example of a chemical group of medicines, as are benzodiazepines and barbiturates.

-their mode of administration. Medications can be taken in a variety of different ways - orally, for example, in the form of pills, capsules, and liquid, through the skin via patches, by subcutaneous (under the skin) injection, or by intravenous (into a vein) injection.

- the biological system affected. For example, there are laxatives and antacids for the digestive system, and beta blockers and anticoagulants for the cardiovascular system.

Medicines are either over the counter (bought from pharmacies), or prescription only (prescribed by a doctor), and they often have two names - a generic name and a brand name. 'Paracetamol', for example, is a generic name, but it is sold by different companies under different brand names (Panadol, Calpol, Anadin, etc).

One hundred years ago fewer people died from heart disease than they do today because fewer people lived long enough to get it. Major killers in those days were diphtheria, chickenpox, scarlet fever, rubella, gastrointestinal diseases, pneumonia, measles, tuberculosis, syphilis, meningitis, and so on. There were no medicines for them. Hospitals were filled with patients in the throes of fever; febrile convulsions, sweating, and vomiting, and the few weapons against illnesses that did exist, such as quinine, plant-based purgatives, digitalis, and mercury were often ineffective and frequently dangerous. If you got ill, you generally died.

Advances in chemistry and biology along with pharmaceutical inventions have changed things dramatically. Medicines have turned health care from a palliative practice, by which relief may be provided but not a cure, into something more hopeful and scientific. They have defeated a number of infectious diseases, made mental illness treatable, and enabled old age to be active. There are now a huge number of medicines on the market and they are grouped here according to the condition they target.

Because medicines are such a core element of health care, nurses are trained in mathematics in order to ensure safe working practices with them. Student nurses have number work incorporated into their training related to calculating dosages of tablets, fluids, and IV rates such as formulae, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios, proportions, and conversions.

There is a strong argument that says we are becoming dependent on prescription drugs – that it is easier to pop a pill when we are ill than change the lifestyle that makes us that way. The argument goes that although a chemical therapy may have one positive effect, it throws off balance the body's physiology and creates new problems that are only solved by prescribing more drugs. So how did we get to be taking so many drugs? Some people say that our dependency is partly because of aggressive marketing by pharmaceutical companies which artificially boosts our belief in their compounds and partly due to the influence they have on doctors' prescribing decisions.

Drugs are tested before going on to the market. Firstly they are tested on animals, and then on people. This is done in randomized controlled trials which involve the random allocation of drugs to trial participants in a procedure known as a double blind. In a double-blind trial, neither the researcher nor the patient knows the details of the treatment. They don't know who is getting the drug and who is getting a harmless substitute. This is done because it is common for the simple administering of treatment to cure – the placebo effect.