Unit 9 Stress and brain size

Pre-listening tasks

Before listening pay attention to the following words and collocations and their translation. They will help you to understand the text.

shed light – проливать свет

persistent –стойкий, упорный, постоянный

shrinkage – сморщивание

magnetic resonance imaging- магнитно-резонансная томография

predispose – провоцировать

utility – полезность, практичность

in terms of – в смысле ч-л, с точки зрения

I. Do you know anything about the link between stress and brain size?

II. Choose the correct alternatives in the following sentences.

1. …the size of a brain region involves wuth memory and stress might / have to affect how a person

reacts on/to trauma.

2. …patients with posttraumatic stress disorder PTSD have smaller / the smallest than normal hippocampal region.

3. …most researchers concluded that PTSD causes the shrinkage founded / found in people suffering the

disorder.

4. There seems to be some / an evidence…

5. The results indicate that a larger hippocampus could protect a person for / against PTSD.

6. An editorial warns that many / much more research is necessary…

7. At this point, the utility is mostly in terms of getting better understanding of what structure or function in the brain may underlie / underline vulnerability to stress disorders…

After listening tasks

I. Listen to the text and check your answers.

II. Listen again and mark the following statements as T (true) or F (false). Correct the false ones.

1. Their research suggests that people who have suffered persistent post-traumatic stress disorder were born with a smaller hippocampus.

2. Hippocampus is the area where long term memory is stored.

3. The new research led by Mark Gilbertson challenges the view that shrinkage is followed by trauma.

4. The hippocampus was smaller than normal in the Vietnam War veterans.

5. The size of hippocampus helps to predict which individuals might be vulnerable to stressful situations.

III. Discuss the problem in class, using the information in the exercises.

Unit 10 Tests on Rats Suggest Promising New Treatment for Humans with Spinal Cord Injuries

Pre-listening tasks

Before listening pay attention to the following words and collocations and their translation. They will help you to understand the text.

spinal cord – спинной мозг

paralysis – паралич

sheath – оболочка

paraplegia – параплегия, паралич верхних или нижних конечностей

rolipram – ролипрам

debilitate – ослаблять, изнурять

quadriplegic – человек с диагнозом квадриплегия (паралич четырех конечностей)

I. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English, paying attention to different meanings of the word use.

1. I’m used to getting up very early.

2. We used this technique while conducting the experiment.

3. He used to be very energetic in his youth.

II. Match the words in column A with the most suitable words from column B. Translate the collocations into Russian.

A	B
promote	benefits
inhibit	ability
yield	trials
research	axons
apply	250,00 victims
estimated	treatment
dramatic	growth
regain	improvement

After listening tasks

I. Listen to the text. While listening note down the sentences with the word use.

II. Fill in the gaps in the following sentences with the collocations from task II in the Pre-listening section. Use the verbs in the proper form.

1. Research scientists in Miami have developed a new treatment that allows rats with spinal cord injuries ________ most of their ________ to walk again.

2. The treatment helps ________ the ________ of axons which would normally be ________ by an injury to the spine.

3. The animals also showed a ________ ________ in motor control involved in the use of their limbs.

4. Because of the multitude of ________ ________ by this research it is very exciting.

5. The ________ is ________ at the time of injury.

6. So far no humans have been involved in the ________ ________.

7. There are an ________ ________ victims of spinal cord injury in the Unites States.

III. Listen again. Check your answers to task II. Tick the things that have already been done and the things which are to be done. Compare your answers with the rest of the class.

IV. Work in pairs or groups. Make a summary of the text.

Unit 11 Cloned monkey embryos produce stem cells

Pre-listening tasks

Before listening pay attention to the following words and collocations and their translation. They will help you to understand the text.

embryo – эмбрион

tissue – ткань

valuable – ценный

tool – инструмент

to cure - излечивать

enormously – очень, чрезвычайно

toward – к, по направлению к

desperately – отчаянно, очень сильно

recipient – получатель

reject – отторгать, отвергать

means – средства

entire – целый

claim – утверждать, требовать

expand – расширять(ся), увеличивать(ся)

I. Match the words in the left column with their synonyms in the right column

treat	aim
coax	cure
tool	extremely
enormously	increase
goal	induce
entire	instrument
expand	whole

After listening tasks

I. Answer the following questions

What trait makes stem cells so valuable?

What do supporters of therapeutic stem cell research say is the goal of stem cell research?

What did South Korean scientist Hoo Suk Hwang claim and what did it lead to?

II. Match the words in the left column with the words in the right column to make up collocations used in the interview, then translate them into Russian.

a matter	back
claim	cells
from	certainty
marked by	controversy
master	disease
once and	falsely
rhesus	for all
set	is on
stem cell	lines
the race	monkeys
to treat	of time
virtual	scratch

III. Fill in the gaps with the correct forms of words from the list below; in both sentences of a set or an abstract you should use the same word

coax / desperately / entire / expand / extract / recipient / reject / tool / transplant

1a. As a transplant physician, I know first-hand how __________ mankind needs alternatives to the current state of medicine.

1b. Human embryonic stem cells are so exciting because they provide a pathway of making many __________ -needed cell types for use in medicine.

2a. A stem cell __________ may be necessary if your bone marrow stops working and doesn't produce enough healthy stem cells.

2b. The healthy, __________ stem cells can restore the bone marrow’s ability to produce the blood cells the patient needs.

3a. Researchers __________ human stem cells to become motor neurons.

3b. Once we can __________ stem cells to go into places in the body and repair decayed tissue we are well on the way toward achieving the ability to do full body rejuvenation.