Easier, quicker test helps heart health

Previewing the Article

Do you know how many people in the world suffer from heart diseases? Many scientists say that a heart attack is one of the most frequent ones on earth and hundreds of thousands of people die without proper and speedy treatment. Can anything be done in this area? The British cardiologists say “yes” and they have done a lot in this sphere in the last decade. So probably very soon a better treatment and care can save many people’s lives.

Before You Read

Before you read the article, discuss these questions.

1. Do you know much about heart diseases? What are the symptoms of a heart attack?

2. Have you ever had anything like that in your life? Are you able to help a person with a heart attack?

3. Have you passed a blood test in your life? Is it painful or dangerous in any way?

As You Read

As you read, look for the disadvantages of the old method of blood testing and try to find out what the main advantage of new atherosclerosis test is.

Easier, quicker test helps heart health

by David Welsh

London Press Service

London - A rapid blood test developed by scientists may help predict the likelihood of a heart attack without the expensive, time-consuming and invasive procedures usually involved.

The United Kingdom researchers from Imperial College London and Cambridge University use a new science - called metabonomics - developed in the Imperial College laboratories to test the coronary artery disease.

This is a main health problem which can affect about one in three people before the age of 70 in the developing world. The new test takes a few minutes and only needs a few drops of blood.

It measures the magnetic properties of molecules in the blood using high frequency radio waves which are then analysed by an advanced computer program capable of detecting abnormal patterns of signals associated with heart disease.

5 At present angiography - radiologically imaging obstructions to the flow of blood to the heart - is the best method of testing for coronary heart disease. But this procedure is costly and highly invasive and in a small number of cases, can have serious adverse effects including stroke and kidney damage.

The UK research was published in the journal “Nature Medicine” in November. Dr. David Grainger of the University of Cambridge, eastern England, said, “Thousands of people die in the UK each year from heart attacks. Many of these lives would be saved if we could pick out people with heart disease quickly and cheaply. Through new techniques, such as this, doctors may be able to provide an effective screening service, saving many lives”.

Professor Jeremy Nickolson, from Imperial College London, believes the new test completely revolutionise heart medicine. “Although epidemiological studies have proven effective in underpinning public health policy on a range of issues, such as smoking and healthier diets, they have not been effective in diagnosing the presence of heart disease on an individual by individual basis”, he added.

Metabonomics technology, originally developed to test the toxic effect of drugs, has many other clinical applications. Testing can be carried out on samples of urine as well as serum or plasma, without the need for any specialist preparation. It can help detect and diagnose a range of clinical problems from bone disease to cancer and gene function.

A large trial to the new test for atherosclerosis is under way at Papwoth Hospital near Cambridge, one of the leading heart hospitals in the UK, and if these are successful the test could be widely available within two years.

10 Professor Nickolson said the new approach is the “closest that science has come so far” to the hand-held diagnostic analyser used by Dr. McCoy in the futuristic Star Trek science-fiction dramas, “but that is still a very long way away”.

“In the meantime the large instruments needed for the analysis could easily be housed in most hospital environments and instrument manufacturers have already built machines that could be used in this way using the new mathematical processing methods developed at Imperial”, he said.

Dr. Elaine Holmes, from Imperial College London, added, “A visit to the doctor a decade from now could be very different. A single blood or urine test might tell the doctor in minutes which diseases you are likely to suffer from and even what drugs might be most effective. Advanced technology will never replace doctors but it will make their lives much easier and ours much safer”.

Metabometrix Ltd, an Imperial College spin-out biotechnology and diagnostics company, holds the commercial rights to the atherosclerosis tests.

I. Getting the Message

After reading the article, indicate if each item is true (T) or false (F).

___ 1. The new science used by the researchers from the UK to test for coronary heart disease is called metabolics.

___ 2. This problem can affect about one in three people before the age of 50 in the developing world.

___ 3. The new test takes a few minutes and only needs a few drops of blood.

___ 4. Thousands of people die in the UK each year from heart attacks, according to the report published by Dr. David Grainger.

___ 5. Metabonomics technology was originally developed to test for heart diseases.

___ 6. It would take about 2 years to introduce the test into hospitals throughout the UK.

___ 7. Only a thorough analysis made in a specialised medical centre might tell the doctor in minutes which diseases you are likely to suffer from and even what drugs might be most effective

___ 8. No company is interested in getting the commercial rights to the atherosclerosis tests.

II. Expanding Your Vocabulary

Getting Meaning from Context

Use context clues to determine the meaning of each word, found in the paragraph(s) indicated in parentheses. Choose the right definition.

1. likelihood (1):	the chance that something will happen the thing that you like most of all
2. invasive (1):	spoiling the situation with selfish behaviour moving into all areas of something and difficult to stop
3. obstruction (5):	preventing the police from doing their jobs preventing from moving freely
4. revolutionise (7):	to renew and have a great effect to make a great change in social life
5. underpin (7):	to give support and strength to form a basic structure
6. trial (9):	legal process of hearing statements and showing objects in a court of law a person or thing that is annoying and causes a lot of problems
7. handheld (10):	the thing designed to be used with 1 or 2 hands the thing designed by hands
8. spin-out (13):	of great importance advanced

III. Working with Idioms

Study the meanings of these idioms and expressions.

time-consuming (1) = taking a very long time

to be under way (9) = to do something

to be available (9) = to have something at one’s disposal

in the meantime (11) = at the moment

a decade from now (12) = ten years after

to suffer from (12) = to experience pain

Complete the sentences, using the idioms and expressions. Use the correct verb tenses.

1. You can find this information in the booklet. It ___ to everybody. 2. Getting a visa in the Embassy takes a long time nowadays. It’s a ____ procedure. 3. Why are you so upset? Are you O.K.? - Not really. I ___ a toothache the whole day. 4. Many economists think that life would be completely different ___. 5. Has he published his new novel yet? - Not yet, but it ___ . 6. He never loses a minute. He works on some kind of a new project ___ .

IV. Talking and Writing

Discuss the following topics. Then choose one of them to write about.

1. Why do you think many people suffer from heart diseases nowadays? How can you explain the high rate of heart attacks among young people?

2. Do you find it important for the government to pay special attention to the health problems of a younger generation? What is the best way to prevent such diseases?

Article 16