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Wernicke’s aphasia, a condition in which people can hear language being spoken, but cannot understand it. An example of a Wernicke’s aphasic speaking is as follows:

“Well this is ....mother is away here working her work out o’here to get her better, but when she’s looking, the two boys looking in other part. One their small tile into her time here. She’s working another time because she’s getting, too.”

Clearly, the sentence structure does not follow correct grammatical patterns, and ultimately, there is no meaning.

Broca’s area is usually associated with maintenance a list of words used in producing speech. It has been linked to articulation of speech, and to assigning meanings to words we use. Damage to Broca’s area causes Broca’s aphasia, a condition in which people can understand what words mean, but have trouble performing the output aspects of speech. Here is an example of a Broca’s aphasic speech:

“Yes...ah...Monday...er Dad and Peter (his own name), and Dad...er hospital...and ah...Wednesday...Wednesday nine o’clock...and oh...ten o’clock, ah doctors...er...teeth...yah.”

This passage shows the difficulty in interpreting a patient with Broca’s aphasia. This particular aphasic may be trying to explain that he has a dental appointment at the hospital, or that his dad had an appointment. Broca’s area controls not only spoken, but also written and signed language production.

X. Organizing Ideas

Make a concept map on Human Body and fill it with basic concepts, associated words and phrases you’ve learned in this unit.

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Unit II

Genetics

I. Getting Started

Read the text "What is Cloning?" Divide it into several key parts and compose 3-5 questions to the each part. Put your questions to class.

II. Working With Vocabulary

Place the words and phrases below into the “Word“ column and complete the table:

Word

English

Examples

Russian

definition

of usage

translation

 

human cloning, umbrella term, to duplicate biological material, reproductive cloning, adult DNA, somatic cell nuclear transfer, genetic material, donor adult cell, nucleus, recombinant DNA technology, plasmid, foreign host cell, self-replicating extra-chromosomal circular DNA molecule, genome, cloning vector, DNA, BAC, YAC, mammalian cell, therapeutic cloning, stem cell, blastocyst, genetic engineering, degenerative disease.

III. Practising Translation Techniques

Make a written translation of the following text:

What Is Cloning?

Cloning is an an umbrella term traditionally used by scientists to describe different processes for duplicating biological material. There are different types of cloning: (1) reproductive cloning, (2) recombinant

DNA technology, and (3) therapeutic cloning.

Reproductive Cloning: This technology is used to generate an animal that has the same nuclear DNA as another currently or previously existing animal. Dolly, the first mammal to be cloned from adult DNA, was created by this technology. In a process called “somatic cell nuclear transfer” (SCNT), scientists transfer genetic material from the nucleus of a donor adult cell to an egg whose nucleus, and thus its genetic material, has been removed. The reconstructed egg contain-

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ing the DNA from a donor cell must be treated with chemicals or electric current in order to stimulate cell division. Once the cloned embryo reaches a suitable stage, it is transferred to the uterus of a female host where it continues to develop until birth. Dolly or any other animal created using nuclear transfer technology is not truly an identical clone of the donor animal. Only the clone’s chromosomal or nuclear DNA is the same as the donor.

Recombinant DNA Technology: The terms “recombinant DNA technology,” “DNA cloning,” “molecular cloning”, or “gene cloning” all refer to the same process: the transfer of a DNA fragment of interest from one organism to a genetic element such as a bacterial plasmid. The DNA of interest can then be propagated in a foreign host cell. Plasmids are self-replicating extra-chromosomal circular DNA molecules, distinct from the normal bacterial genome (see image 1).

By fragmenting DNA of any origin (human, animal, or plant) and inserting it in the DNA of rapidly reproducing foreign cells, billions of copies of a single gene or DNA segment can be produced in a very short time. DNA to be cloned is inserted into a plasmid that is separate from chromosomal DNA. When the recombinant plasmid is introduced into bacteria, the newly inserted segment will be replicated along with the rest of the plasmid.

Plasmids can carry up to 20,000 bp of foreign DNA. Besides bacterial plasmids, some other cloning vectors include viruses, bacteria artificial chromosomes (BACs), and yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs).

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BACs utilize naturally occurring plasmids to carry 100 to 300 kb DNA inserts. A YAC is a functional chromosome derived from yeast that can carry up to 1 MB of foreign DNA. Bacteria are most often used as the host cells for recombinant DNA molecules, but yeast and mammalian cells also are used.

Therapeutic Cloning: Therapeutic cloning, also called “embryo cloning,” is the production of human embryos for use in research. The goal of this process is not to create cloned human beings, but rather to harvest stem cells that can be used to study human development and to treat disease. Stem cells are important to biomedical researchers because they can be used to generate virtually any type of specialized cell in the human body. Stem cells are extracted from the divided egg which at this stage of development is called a blastocyst. As the extraction process destroys the embryo, it raises a variety of ethical concerns.

How can cloning technologies be used?

Recombinant DNA technology is important for learning about other related technologies, such as gene therapy, genetic engineering of organisms, and sequencing genomes. Gene therapy can be used to treat certain genetic conditions by introducing virus vectors that carry corrected copies of faulty genes into the cells of a host organism. Genes from different organisms that improve taste and nutritional value or provide resistance to particular types of disease can be used to genetically engineer food crops. With genome sequencing, fragments of chromosomal DNA must be inserted into different cloning vectors to generate fragments of an appropriate size for sequencing. If the low success rates can be improved (Dolly was only one success out of 276 tries), reproductive cloning can be used to develop efficient ways to reliably reproduce animals with special qualities.

Reproductive cloning also could be used to repopulate endangered animals or animals that are difficult to breed. In 2001, the first clone

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of an endangered wild animal was born, a wild ox called a gaur. Other endangered species that are potential candidates for cloning include the African bongo antelope, the Sumatran tiger, the giant panda, and a much greater challenge to scientists—extinct animals.

Therapeutic cloning technology may some day be used in humans to produce whole organs from single cells or to produce healthy cells that can replace damaged cells in degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.

IV. Knowing Ins And Outs

English is a language which permits agglutinative constructions, the legitimate extensions of existing words (especially in technical and medical spheres) to serve new purposes by the addition of affixes. For example, the word "contraneoantidisestablishmentarianalistically" consists of 45 letters. This word is an interesting study in just how complex a word can legitimately be assembled. The length of this word is enhanced by the use of the suffix -alistically which can frequently be added to words ending in -tion (eg. nationalistically, traditionalistically). The site Biography.ms offers the following analysis of this word:

establish—to set up, put in place (from the Latin stâre, to stand);

establish-ment—something established, in particular a church instituted by law, such as the Chirch of England;

dis-establishment—the separation of church and state (specifically in this context it is the political movement of the 1860s in Britain);

disestablishment-arian—a person in support of the movement designed to bring about the above, hereafter called the ‘first’ movement;

anti-disestablishmentarian—a person belonging to the movement opposed to the first movement;

neo-antidisestablishmentarian—a person belonging to the new version of the movement opposed to the first movement. (Appropriate because in this context the original antidisestablishment movement had become defunct);

contra-neoantidisestablishmentarian—a person belonging to the movement opposed to the new version of the movement opposed to the first movement;

contraneoantidisestablishmentarian-alistically—behaving in the manner of a person belonging to the movement opposed to the new version of the movement opposed to the first movement;

It could be further extended as follows:

pseudo-contraneoantidisestablishmentarianalistically — false behaviour in the manner of a person belonging to the movement opposed to the new version of the movement opposed to the first movement;

pro-pseudocontraneoantidisestablishmentarianalistically — in favour of the false behaviour in the manner of a person belonging to the movement op-

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posed to the new version of the movement opposed to the first movement. Of course, the original disestablishment can be broken down lin-

guistically into simpler forms. It is first based on establishment, then on the verb establish, to bring into being, or, literally, to make stable, which is then the ultimate root. Anyway, this is not the longest word ever existed in English. Say, the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is alleged to have about 3 billion letters, but has never been printed in full.

Split the following terms into morphological parts. Deduce the meanings of these words and find Russian equivalents to them:

nonbiodegradable,

subdermatoglyphic,

pseudolamellibranchiate,

generatingfunctionology,

pseudorhombicuboctahedron,

sexmilliaquingentsexagintillion,

hepaticocholangiocholecystentersotomies,

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis,

asseocarnisanguineoviscericartilaginonervomedullary,

aequeosalinocalcalinosetaceoaluminosocupreovitriolic.

V. Enhancing Skills In English-Russian Interpretation

Render orally the following text:

Stem Cells

Stem cells play a central role in the normal growth and development of animals and humans, and in supporting tissues such as blood, skin, and gut that undergo continuous turnover (cell replacement). Specialised cells, such as blood and muscle cells, are unable to divide and produce copies of themselves. Instead, they are replenished from populations of stem cells, which can produce both copies of themselves and other cell

types. Stem cells have three main properties:

1. Unlike a red blood cell, which carries oxygen through the blood stream, or a muscle cell that works with other cells to produce movement, a stem cell does not have any specialised physiological properties.

2.Stem cells are able to divide and produce copies of themselves, over and over again. This process is called self-renewal and continues throughout the life of the organism.

3.In addition to self-renewal, stem cells can also divide and produce cells that have the potential to become more specialised cell types, such as blood and muscle cells. This process is called differentiation.

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Stem cells have been found in the early embryo, the foetus, the placenta and umbilical cord, and in many tissues of the body. Stem cells isolated from different tissues, and from different stages of development, vary in the number and types of cells that they can give rise to. In theory, stem cells derived from early embryos have the greatest potential to develop into all cell types. As an organism grows, the potential of a stem cell to produce any cell type in the body is gradually restricted.

Embryonic stem cells (ES) are derived from mammalian embryos which are 5-6 days old. At this early stage the embryo is just a ball of cells the size of a pinhead, called a blastocyst. ES cells are derived from a small group of pluripotent cells within the blastocyst, called the inner cell mass, which gives rise to all the highly specialised cells needed to produce an adult organism.

Tissue stem cells have been found in bone marrow, blood, skin, muscle, liver, brain, the cornea and retina of the eye, the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, and pancreas. The primary role of these stem cells is to maintain, and in some cases repair, the tissue in which they are found. This means that tissue stem cells only have the potential to make a limited range of cell types in the body.

With these abilities, stems cells can be widely used for medical aims. The potential use of stem cells in regenerative medicine is in the treatment of diseases, such as Parkinson’s, heart disease, and diabetes, for which there are currently no cures. Bone marrow transplants and skin grafting are established examples of regenerative medicine. During a bone marrow transplant, for example, haematopoietic stem cells are removed from the bone marrow and transplanted into the pa-

tient to generate new blood cells.

Stem cell therapies, like other tissue transplants, face the problem of being rejected by the patients’ immune system which protects the body against disease by recognising ”alien” microorganisms and destroying them. This has resulted in the failure of many organ transplants. In particular, stem cell-based therapies that have originated from ES cells will not be recognised by the patients’ body and the immune system will try to reject them. Immunosuppressant drugs could be used to repress the immune system and increase the chance that stem cell transplants are accepted by the body. An alternative is to use stem cells generated by a patient’s own body and, thus, not rejected by its immune system.

Biology is the only science in which multiplication means the same thing as division.

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VI. Enhancing Skills In English-Russian Interpretation

Render orally the following text:

Возможности Стволовых Клеток

Tермин «стволовая клетка» появился еще в начале ХХ века, но лишь в 1999 году журнал Science признал открытие стволовых клеток третьим по значимости событием в биологии после расшифровки двойной спирали ДНК и программы «Геном человека». Один из первооткрывателей структуры ДНК, Джеймс Уотсон отметил, что устройство стволовой клетки уникально, поскольку под влиянием внешних инструкций она может превратиться в зародыш либо в линию

специализированных соматических клеток.

Действительно, стволовые клетки способны восстанавливать и регенерировать организм человека с момента его рождения, обновляя и замещая клетки, утраченные в результате каких-либо повреждений во всех органах и тканях. Ученые надеются в ближайшем будущем создавать из стволовых клеток ткани и целые органы, необходимые больным для трансплантации взамен донорских органов. Их преимущество в том, что их можно вырастить из клеток самого пациента, и они не будут вызывать отторжения.

В процессе взросления человека количество стволовых клеток катастрофически снижается: при рождении 1 стволовая клетка встречается на 10 тысяч, к 20-25 годам—1 на 100 тысяч, к 30—1 на 300 тысяч. К 50-летнему возрасту в организме уже остается всего 1 стволовая клетка на 500 тысяч, причем именно в этом возрасте, как правило, уже появляются такие болезни, как атеросклероз, стенокардия, гипертония и т.д. Истощение запаса стволовых клеток вследствие старения или тяжелых заболеваний, а также нарушение механизма их выброса в кровь лишает организм возможностей эффективной регенерации, в результате чего жизнедеятельность тех или иных органов истощается. Увеличение количества стволовых клеток в организме приводит к интенсивной регенерации и восстановлению поврежденных тканей и больных органов за счет образования молодых, здоровых клеток на месте утраченных. Современная медицина уже обладает такой технологией - она называется клеточной терапией.

Организм человека развивается до 25 лет, после чего начинается процесс старения, причем возрастные изменения кожи, нарушения деятельности эндокринных желез, мышечных тканей, иммунной и нервной систем связаны именно с истощением запаса стволовых клеток. Для компенсации этого запаса и необходима клеточная терапия.

С помощью терапевтической трансплантации стволовых клеток возможно лечить или использовать в качестве сопровожда-

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ющей терапии целый спектр заболеваний—сахарный диабет, атеросклероз, ишемическую болезнь сердца, хронические заболевания суставов, застарелые травмы, гепатиты и циррозы печени, аутоиммунные заболевания, болезни Альцгеймера и Паркинсона, синдром хронической усталости. С помощью клеточной терапии быстро заживают ожоги, раны, язвы и рубцы кожи, осуществляется реабилитация после инсультов и черепно-мозговых травм, проводится комплексная программа регенерации (улучшение функциональных способностей организма и качества жизни).

The Human Genome Project

Began officially in 1990, Human Genome Project was a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health and undertaken by the Wellcome Trust funded Sanger Institute in the UK, US laboratories funded by the National

Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the US Department of

Energy, and several other centres worldwide. The largest international project ever undertaken in biology—sequencing the 3 billion bases of genetic information that resides in every human cell—originally was planned to last 15 years, but rapid technological advances accelerated the completion date to 2003. The most surprising discovery was that humans have only about 30 000 genes—many people had expected humans to have about 100 000 genes. Some other results:

Mice also have about 30 000 genes; in the nematode (C. elegans), the number is around 19 000; in yeast (S. cerevisiae) there are approximately 6000 genes; and the microbe responsible for tuberculosis has around

4000. Our DNA is 98 per cent identical to chimpanzees.

Between humans, our DNA differs by only 0.2%, or 1 in 500 base (letters). There are 100 trillion (100 000 000 000 000) cells and 3 billion (3 000 000 000) letters in the DNA code in every cell in human body.

If we recited the genome at one letter per second for 24 hours a day it would take a century to recite. If two different people started reciting their individual books at a rate of one letter per second, it would take nearly eight and a half minutes (500 seconds) before they reached a difference.

A typist typing at 60 words per minute (around 360 letters) for 8 hours a day would take around 50 years to type the genome.

If all the DNA in the human body was put end to end it would reach to the sun and back over 600 times [100 trillion x 6 ft (1.8m) divided by 92 million miles (148 800 000 km) = 1200].

The vast majority of DNA in the human genome, about 97 percent, consists of non-genetic sequences with unknown function, sometimes called ”junk DNA.”

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VII. Solving Translation Problems

Find in the text and write out 15-20 words and phrases which can be grouped into: (1) words with permanent Russian equivalents, and (2) those which need an explanation to convey their meaning. Translate the entire text into Russian.

Selective Breeding

Scientists from the past harnessing the knowledge of genetics had resulted in many scientific breakthroughs and uses of this knowledge.

Most notably, Gregor Mendel's studies into Monohybrid and Dihybrid crossing and Charles Darwin's study of evolution and natural selection meant that humans learnt to actively manipulate the phenotype of offspring by selective breeding in animals and plants.

Breeders of today are looking to produce organisms that will possess desirable characteristics, such as high crop yields, resistance to disease, high growth rate and many other phenotypical characteristics that will benefit the organism and species in the long term.

This is usually done by crossing two members of the same species which possess dominant alleles for particular genes, such as long life and quick metabolism in one organism crossed with another organism possessing genes for fast growth and high yield. Since the both organisms have dominant genes for these desirable characteristics, the crossing will result in producing at least some offspring (termed a hybrid) that will show ALL of the targeted features. The offspring will become heterozygous, meaning the allele for each characteristic will possess one dominant and one recessive gene. Most professional breeders have a true breeding cross (ie AAbb with AAbb) so that they will produce a gene bank of these qualities that can be crossed with aaBB to produce heterozygous offspring. This way the dominant features are retained in the first breeding group and can be passed on to offspring in the second instance. This process of developing a cultivated breed over time is called artificial selection or selective breeding, and poses no threat to nature from man manipulating the the course of nature.

For all its advantages, continuous inbreeding and selective breeding of particular genes run the risk of losing some of the other genes from the gene pool altogether, which is irreversible. This is called inbreeding depression, where the exclusivity of the advantageous genes mean that some other less desirable genes are phased out. Genetic diversity in the long term is reduced, because many organisms end up with similar genomes due breeding with each other constantly. Genetic diversity means the gene pool of a species is prepared for a wide range of scenarios such as food shortage or an epidemic of disease. Some genes

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