Questões de Inglês - Grammar

How robot carers could be the future for lonely elderly people

Alessandro Di Nuovo

December 6, 2018

    The film Robot and Frank imagined a near-future
where robots could do almost everything humans
could. The elderly title character was given a “robot
butler” to help him continue living on his own. The
robot was capable of everything from cooking and
[5] cleaning to socializing and, it turned out, burglary. This
kind of science fiction may turn out to be remarkably
prescient. As growing numbers of elderly people
require care, researchers believe that robots could be
[10] one way to address the overwhelming demand. But
even though robots might be able to provide care and,
in some cases, social interaction, many wonder if they
really are the right solution to this uniquely human
issue.

[15]    Loneliness and social isolation are already
problems for many seniors and are even linked to
cognitive decline and a higher death rate. With the
population of seniors expected to rise, many worry
that experiences of loneliness will increase, especially
[20] if access to care is even more limited.

    But despite concerns, early studies already show
that social robots – autonomous robots trained to
interact and communicate with humans – really could
address issues of care and social interaction. The
[25] majority of robotics researchers are largely in favour
of introducing robotic technology on a wider scale
and believe it could reduce loneliness and increase
independence in elderly patients. The Japanese
government even supports introducing robots in
[30] care homes to solve the country’s ageing population
problem. However, many strongly recommend
carefully balancing the care benefits against the
ethical costs.

    A class of social robots – mobile robotic
[35] telepresence systems (MRTs) – have already been
shown to generate positive social interactions with
elderly patients. MRTs are essentially video screens
on wheels raised to head height that can be controlled
remotely using a simple smartphone app. They allow
[40] relatives and social workers to “visit” elderly people
more often, even if they live in rural or distant places.
Elderly patients don’t need to operate the device,
leaving them free to interact with their social worker
or family. Communication still happens through a
[45] computer screen, but the robot’s physical presence
mimics face-to-face interaction for elderly people.
Research has shown that people reacted more
positively when talking with someone through an MRT

    than through a regular video call or computer avatar –
[50] especially lonely people. However, MRTs still require
a human operator, which limits the amount of social
interaction seniors can have daily.

    To tackle this, developers worldwide have
started creating robot companions programmed with
[55] advanced artificial intelligence (AI), which can interact
with people on their own. Some examples include
pet-like companion robots, including Aibo and Paro,
which are made by Japanese developers, and MiRo,
which is manufactured in the UK. Other humanoid
[60] robots, such as the Care-O-bot and Pepper, are able
to provide more complex and comprehensive care.
Though “pet” robots offer limited interaction, they
have proved as effective – or even more so – than
real pets in reducing loneliness for elderly people in
[65] care homes. Robotic dogs introduced in one UK care
home this year were reported to bring happiness and
comfort to residents.

    On the other hand, humanoid robots are already
advanced enough to provide much-needed care to
[70] elderly people. These robots can pick things up and
move independently, and have a more natural, human
way of interacting, for example, using arm and hand
gestures. More advanced versions have additional
sensors and devices, including touchscreens. Many
[75] elderly people, finding the touchscreens hard to use,
preferred giving spoken commands to the robot and
reading its response off the screen. But for those with
age-related hearing loss or vision impairment, having
the option to use the touchscreen was indispensable.
[80] Humanoid robots are still being developed, so their
capabilities are still limited. Moreover, studies of
humanoid robots have mainly focused on evaluating
how well the technology functions without really
considering the social impact. There is also a general
[85] assumption that it will naturally reduce loneliness.

    Though research into social robots is just
beginning, we do know they can provide some solutions
to the challenges mounted by ageing populations, and
could even help reduce social isolation and loneliness.
[90] At this point, humans are still better in providing care
and social contact to the elderly, but robots might
be able to fill any gaps, especially as technologies
continue to improve. However, before social robots
can be fully integrated into care homes, researchers
[95] and service providers must address public anxiety
and make it clear that robots are designed to assist
social workers, not replace them. As long as humans
remain in full control to prevent any danger, robots
might well be the future of care.

Available at:https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgetsand-tech/features/robot-carer-elderly-people-lonelinessageing-population-care-homes-a8659801.html. Retrieved on: July 2, 2019. Adapted.

TEXT

Eat: A Diet to Ward Off Breast Cancer

Eating substantial amounts of fruits and vegetables may lower the risk for breast cancer, a new study has found, and some kinds may be more effective than others.

Researchers used well-validated nutrition questionnaires to examine the association of diet with the risk of invasive breast cancer in 182,145 women. They followed them with periodic examinations for an average of 24 years, during which there were 10,911 cases of invasive breast cancer. The study is in the International Journal of Cancer.

After controlling for many health, diet and behavioral variables, the scientists found that compared with having less than two and a half servings (about one cup) of fruits and vegetables a day, having five and a half servings or more was associated with an 11 percent lower breast cancer risk. The effect was especially significant with the most aggressive types of breast cancer.

''There are few potentially modifiable risk factors for breast cancer,'' said the lead author, Maryam S. Farvid, a research scientist at Harvard, ''and eating more fruits and vegetables would be a simple way to help lower the risk.''

The researchers found that cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower, brussels sprouts and kale were especially strongly associated with reduced risk, as were yellow or orange vegetables including carrots, winter squash, yams and sweet potatoes.

Bakalar, Nicholas. "Eat: A Diet to Ward Off Breast Cancer." New York Times, 31 July 2018, p. D4(L). Health & Wellness Resource Center, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A548285773/HWRC? u=pwpls_remote&sid=HWRC&xid=5c48640c. Accessed 20 Sept. 2018.

TEXT I

"A new crop of potential antibiotics may soon help fighting antibiotic-resistant infections, such as this batch of methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.”

    "Antibiotics have been taking it on the chin lately. Not only has resistance to the medications been growing, but also drug companies have been dropping antibiotic research programs because the drugs are difficult and expensive to make. Now, help is on the way. Researchers report today that they’ve found a way to churn out new members of one of the most widely used classes of antibiotics, called macrolides. The work could lead to new weapons against antibiotic-resistant infections, and possibly save millions of lives.

    Macrolides, drugs that include erythromycin and azithromycin, were first developed in the 1950s. Since then they’ve become a safeguard against bacterial and fungal infections. Chemically, macrolides are giant rings containing 14 to 16 carbon atoms, with one or more sugar appendages dangling off the side. Bacteria synthesize them to fight off their neighbors. Yet, bacteria didn’t evolve to make macrolides good drugs in people. So, medicinal chemists — the group of researchers that actually build new drugs — start with the natural versions and tweak their bonds one at a time in an effort to make them safer and more effective. But, in most cases, it’s impossible to confine the changes to just one bond on a large molecule. When multiple bonds react, the result is an unwanted broad mixture of end products, none of which contain just the one specific change desired for making a better drug.

    To solve that problem, Harvard University chemist Andrew Myers and colleagues adapted a divide-and-conquer strategy that they had applied to tetracycline antibiotics back in 2005. They started with three basic macrolide ring structures and broke each one down into eight molecular “modules.” They then carefully mapped out reactions needed to put the pieces back together. For two such linkers, they even invented new chemical reactions to forge the bonds. This allowed them to tinker with the modules individually, and then reassemble them. By repeating the strategy over and over, they forged more than 300 entirely new macrolides.

    When given to a panel of bacterial lab cultures, several of these compounds showed potent antibiotic activity against antibiotic-resistant microbes, including methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, the team reports online today in Nature. Perhaps equally important, Myers says, is that all the reactions used for the assembly produce high yields of the final products. That’s essential, he notes, because bacteria don’t produce the starting material for the new compounds. So, if any of them proves a valuable medicine, chemists will be able to synthesize large quantities of it cheaply from scratch.

    “This is a great example of beautiful chemistry that will have a tangible societal benefit,” says Phil Baran, a synthetic organic chemist at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, California.”
(Adapted from: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/05/new-way-makepowerful- antibiotics)

Read the text to answer question.

Early dinosaur relative walked like a croc

  One of the earliest relatives of dinosaurs had some features we associate today with crocodiles and alligators, a study suggests.

  Many palaeontologists have wondered what the earliest dinosaur relatives looked like, as the fossil record in this time period is sparse. Some assumed they walked on two legs, looking a bit like miniature dinosaurs. But the newly described creature walked on four legs like a croc, the journal Nature reports.

  The 2-3m (7-10ft) carnivorous animal, unearthed in southern Tanzania, lived some 245 million years ago during the Triassic Period. It pre-dated the earliest dinosaurs. Prof Paul Barrett, one of the authors on the new paper, said: “This is a little animal that we call Teleocrater. It’s not very big...it probably would have weighed about the same as the average family dog.”

  Teleocrater rhadinus appeared just after a large group of animals known as archosaurs split into one branch that led to dinosaurs, and another branch that led to today’s alligators and crocodiles. Its anatomy combines features present in the last common ancestor of these groups, such as a crocodilian-like ankle joint, with some features considered characteristic of dinosaurs.

  The first fossils belonging to Teleocrater were discovered in 1933 in Tanzania. They were studied at London’s Natural History Museum in the 1950s. But these specimens were missing crucial bones, such as the ankle. Therefore, scientists at the time could not tell whether they were more closely related to crocs or to dinosaurs.

  The new specimens were uncovered in the East African country in 2015, resolving some of those outstanding questions. They show that it is one of the earliest members of the archosaur family tree and that it walked like a crocodilian.

  Teleocrater, along with other dinosaur relatives, lived across a wide range of different regions, from Russia to India to Brazil. The team’s next steps are to return to southern Tanzania to look for more remains and missing pieces of the Teleocrater skeleton.

(Paul Rincon. www.bbc.com, 12.04.2017. Adaptado.)