UNIT 1

Care in the immunity

I. Vocabulary focus

1. Useful words for learning:

debilitation - слабость, истощение

sniffle - шмыганье (носом)

bug (разг.) - вирус

cellular (мед.) - клеточный

fungi (pl. от fungus) (мед.) - грибок

saliva - слюна

enzyme (мед.) - фермент

mucous - слизистый

cilia (мед.) - реснички

acid - кислота

to inhale - вдыхать

bone marrow - костный мозг

gland (анатом.) - железа

to broadcast - извещать

nutrition - питание, пища

deficiency - нехватка, дефицит

to impair - ухудшать, ослаблять

to enhance - увеличивать

to prompt - вызывать

peptic ulcer (мед.) - язва желудка и

двенадцатиперстной кишки

recurrence - рецидив

immunity - иммунитет

II. Reading

1. Read and translate the text:

If you’re one of those guys who, come the great British winter, gets laid low by a series of debilitating sniffles and bugs, who feels perpetually jaded, lacking energy and enthusiasm, the chances are your immune system is trying to tell you something.

Immune responses protect your body from the millions of germs and other infections diseases that inhabit the air you breathe, the food you eat - even your partner’s kiss. Until the advent of HIV and AIDS, relatively little was known about the immune system, partly because it had always worked so well. Only in the past fifteen years have scientists begun intensive research into immune responses. They discovered an elegant design - a modern cellular army - that becomes progressively more sophisticated as it’s called on to defend the body against new, unknown invaders.

Researchers describe immunity as a “two-tiered filtering system” that rids the body of everything which isn’t a natural part of it, such as dust, bacteria, viruses, fungi and cancers. The first tier - non-specific immunity - is the all-purpose house-cleaning system that we are all born with. It’s non-specific because the component parts respond to all foreign invaders in the same way. This first tier includes: skin - which acts as a barrier against dirt and germs; tears and saliva - both of which contain a bacteria killing enzyme called lysozome; mucous membranes and cilia (tiny hairs) in the nose and upper respiratory tract which trap and/or flush out foreign particles such as viruses (one of the reasons smoking makes you more susceptible to infection is that the smoke, when inhaled, knocked out the cilia making them ineffective); and stomach acids which kill micro-organisms in food.

If the first tier doesn’t block, trap or poison invading organisms, the second - specific immunity - should destroy them. When germs or rogue cells manage to slip through the non-specific dragnet, the specific immune system’s highly specialized white blood cells move in to target invaders. Specific immunity is acquired - built up over time - in response to particular illnesses. If you had chicken pox as a child, for example, your specific immune system will have produced antibodies to wipe it out. Some of those antibodies will have remained, retaining a memory of the disease, so if another chicken pox virus invaders, it can be repelled before it makes you sick.

There are separate categories of white blood cells that constitute your specific immune system. B-cells (B for bone marrow, their place of manufacture) such as lymphocytes, neutrophils and monocytes, produce antibodies to certain types of foreign organisms - typically those found in body fluids. Additionally, there are three types of T-cells (T for the thymus gland where these cells develop) whose job is the direct disabling of infected cells, or the relaying of asuch as lymphocytes, neutrophils and monocytes, produce antibodies to certain types of foreign organisms - typically those found in body fluids. Additionally, there are three types of T-cells (T for the thymus gland where these cells develop) whose job is the direct disabling of infected cells, or the relaying of a signal that disabling has been accomplished. Helper T-cells set off an alarm in response to new intruders, identify organisms that have previously been fought off, and rouse the appropriate troops. People with AIDS have too few helper T-cells. Cytoxic T-cells cripples or destroy those of your own cells that have been infected or incorrectly divided, and suppressor T-cells broadcast when the danger has passed and turn off the system.

So how can we keep the system running smoothly? There are four main areas, all of which are complementary, that can help you attain and maintain a healthy standard of well-being.

1. DIET

The professor of nutrition at London University said that, «The health of the majority of human beings depends more on their nutrition than it does on any single factor. So if your daily diet consists of coffee, lager and snack foods, don’t expect peak mental and physical performance. If you are sitting in one place for most of the day, your muscles get tired and weakened. Muscular energy is depleted very rapidly if you don’t have the right nutrition to back you up.

People who consume too little vitamin C have depresses immune systems and iron deficiency impairs the ability of phagocytes (white blood cells that consume infecting organisms) to do their job. Eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables for vitamin C, and for extra iron consume red meat, fish, chicken, offal, eggs, bread, dried fruit, potatoes and red wine.