Questões de Inglês - Grammar

    Second-Class Citizen (1974) was Buchi Emecheta’s second novel. She called it a “documentary novel”, closely based on her life as an immigrant in England in the 1960s. The center of the book is Adah Ofili, a young woman who pursues a series of dreams: to go to school, to win a scholarship and, ultimately, to go to England. On the last, “she dared not tell anyone; they might decide to have her head examined or something”, but when she sees Nigerian educated doctors coming from England to work in Nigeria, she knows she is right.

     Adah must forge her own way while complying with local traditions: she marries at a young age (to Francis) and soon has two children. Life in Nigeria is described only partially — her marriage and first job occupy less than a page — and it’s clear that Emecheta, like her heroine, is impatient for life in England. Adah and Francis arrive by boat — “Liverpool was grey, smoky and looked uninhabited by humans” — and head to London, where they struggle to find somewhere to live (“Sorry, No Colored People”).

    They end up among other immigrants, but Adah, who had been a member of the elite in their country of origin, is appalled* at having to live alongside Nigerians who were “of the same educational background as her paid servants”. But as Francis points out, “the day you land in England, you are a second-class citizen. So, you can’t discriminate against your own people, because we are all second class.”

*appalled: shocked, horrified

Internet: theguardian.com (adapted).

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Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease? The Lifestyle Heart Trial.

Abstract

In a prospective, randomised, controlled trial to determine whether comprehensive lifestyle changes affect coronary atherosclerosis after 1 year, 28 patients were assigned to an experimental group (low-fat vegetarian diet, stopping smoking, stress management training, and moderate exercise) and 20 to a usual-care control group. 195 coronary artery lesions were analysed by quantitative coronary angiography. The average percentage diameter stenosis regressed from 40.0 (SD 16.9)% to 37.8 (16.5)% in the experimental group yet progressed from 42.7 (15.5)% to 46.1 (18.5)% in the control group. When only lesions greater than 50% stenosed were analysed, the average percentage diameter stenosis regressed from 61.1 (8.8)% to 55.8 (11.0)% in the experimental group and progressed from 61.7 (9.5)% to 64.4 (16.3)% in the control group. Overall, 82% of experimental-group patients had an average change towards regression. Comprehensive lifestyle changes may be able to bring about regression of even severe coronary atherosclerosis after only 1 year, without use of lipidlowering drugs.

Adaptado de: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1973470 Acessado em 27 de outubro de 2017.

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Does a C-section affect the baby’s immune system?

The natural birth process can be messy, stressful, and long remembered by both moms and dads. However, there is an unexplained link between decreasing rates of vaginal delivery and increasing rates of chronic inflammatory and metabolic disease in children growing up in today’s world.

Nowadays, 20% of Cesarean sections performed worldwide have no medical justification. Although often preferred by both patients and obstetricians, Cesarean sections are not risk-free and might have a hidden impact on the baby immune system.

During the natural birth process, the baby is exposed to microorganisms from the mother. This normal exposure process has been connected to healthy gut microbiome growth, further affecting baby immune system development. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether disruption of the exposure process occurring during cesarean section affects gut microbiome formation in neonates.

A recent study published in Nature Communications determined whether the mode of delivery does affect the baby immune system. The researchers examined stool samples taken one to five days after the birth of 33 babies born by either vaginal or cesarean deliveries. They performed an analysis of the genetic material from uncultured microorganisms found in these samples. This method allows the detection of numerous bacterial strains and the evaluation of any differences in bacterial classification among samples.

The study found differences in the microbiome of babies born naturally or by a Cesarean section. Stool samples of babies delivered by Cesarean section lacked the bacteria present in samples taken from naturally born babies. In addition, the researchers extracted an immune stimulating factor called lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from the samples. This bacteria-derived substance is known to cause chronic inflammatory disease and metabolic disease in children and adults.

They used extracted LPS to stimulate cultured immune cells and quantifies the expression of several inflammationcausing factors. Interestingly, the study discovered that LPS isolated from stool samples of naturally born babies stimulates higher levels of inflammation-related substances secretion. On the other hand, LPS isolated from stool samples of babies delivered by Cesarean section had lower inflammatory effects.

The results suggest that Cesarean section procedures divert the process of gut microbiome development to alternative pathways. This alteration might underlie the increase in the prevalence of chronic inflammatory and metabolic diseases in developed countries.

It seems that the mode of delivery might have lifelong influences on a newborn’s health.

Adaptado de: https://medicalnewsbulletin.com/c-section-babyimmune-system/ Acessado em 02 de março de 2020.

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    Because it is locked away inside the skull, the brain is hard to study. Looking at it requires finicky machines which use magnetism or electricity or both to bypass the bone. There is just one tendril of brain tissue that can be seen from outside the body without any mucking about of this sort. That is the retina. Look into someone’s eyes and you are, in some small way, looking at their brain.

    This being so, a group of researchers decided to study the structure of the eye for signs of cognitive decline. Changes in the brain, they reasoned, might lead to changes in the nervous tissue connected to it. They focused on a part of the eye called the retinal nerve-fibre layer (RNFL). This is the lowest layer of the retina and serves to link the light-sensitive tissue above to the synapses which lead to the brain. The team’s results show that people with a thin RNFL are more likely to fail cognitive tests than those with a thick one. They are also more likely to suffer cognitive decline as they age.

(www.economist.com, 30.06.2018. Adaptado.)

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Reasons why plastic bags should be banned

    Plastic bags are everywhere in our environment. When we go to purchase our groceries, we use plastic bags because they are convenient. In fact, in our modern lives, they have become part of us. However, the convenience of these plastic bags come at a very high cost to the environment and negatively affect human health. Several cities globally have begun banning the use of plastic bags while some have enforced restricted laws against the use of plastic bags because of the negative effects of their usage.

    Besides, the use of plastic bags is considered as one of the 11 issues that humans are facing in their contemporary life. Countries such as China have banned the use of plastics. Bangladesh and India have only banned the use and sale of polyethylene bags which basically have thickness of less than 50 microns.

    Plastic bags do not only pollute our water but also our land. Plastic bags are usually lightweight and, as such, they can travel very long distances by either water or wind. Wind blows these plastic bags and trashes a whole area. These litters get caught up in between trees, fences and float in water bodies, then moving to the world’s oceans.

(www.conserve-energy-future.com. Adaptado.