Vitamins and their significance

Vitamin is a term applied to a group of substances which exist in minute quantities in natural foods, and which are necessary to normal nutrition, especially in connection with growth and development. Vitamins are widely used for medical purposes; many of them are produced synthetically. Different kinds of vitamins are designated by letters of the Latin alphabet. There are several groups of vitamins. All of them are very necessary for the life of the organism.

Vitamin A is found in cod-liver oil, eggs, liver, milk, butter and most green vegetables. Deficiency of vitamin A is considered to be responsible for serious inflammation of the eyes, various skin eruption, defective development of the teeth.

Vitamin B is present in the seeds of grains. The best sources of this vitamin are believed to be flour, bacon, liver, eggs. Its deficiency may result in a form of neuritis with muscular weakness, heart failure, etc., which is known as beri-beri.

Vitamin C is available in fresh fruits, berries, green vegetables, milk, meat and other fresh foods. It is quickly destroyed by high temperature. The deficiency of vitamin C leads to scurvy.

Vitamin D is of special importance for the growth of children. Only a few foods contain vitamin D naturally, viz. cod-liver oil, caviar, egg yolk, fresh vegetables and milk to a greater or lesser degree.

Cod-liver oil is a product with a high vitamin D content. Vitamin D is manufactured in very large amounts at the plants. The deficiency of this vitamin in children may cause rickets. Since vitamin D is known to be preventive as well as curative for rickets the doctors often prescribe the course of vitamin D treatment.

A lack of vitamins in food or an insufficient amount of them results in a serious breakdown in the organism. Prolonged deficiency of any vitamin is sure to result in a disease known as avitaminosis, e.g. scurvy, beri-beri, rickets. Most avitaminoses are accompanied by reduced working capacity, rapid fatigue, a sharp decrease in the resistance of the organism to infection, incorrect development and retarded growth (in children), etc. To prevent avitaminoses infants should be daily given cod-liver oil and fresh fruit and vegetable juices.

Any person using a diet containing such foods as milk, eggs, butter, cheese, fat, fish,

bread, fresh vegetables and fruit obtains a sufficient amount of vitamins to be protected from avitaminoses.

Explanatory Notes:

viz. – videlicet = namely

etc. – et cetera = and so on; eg. – exempli gratia = for example

Active Words to remember:

Substance; connection; growth; development; kind; responsible; various; eruption; source; heart failure; a few; as well as; capacity; to reduce; fatigue; sharp; to obtain.

EXERCISES.

I. Translate the sentences. Pay attention to the Subjective Infinitive Construction.

1. Children’s diet early in life is thought to have profound effects on their brain development, muscular coordination and behaviour. 2. A course of combined treatment, including physiotherapy and hormones is certain to have given positive results in curing disorders of internal secretion glands. 3. Protoplasm is known to be a living substance and to have a cellular structure. 4. Rheumatic fever and acute nephritis are most likely to occur when the infecting organism is the haemolytic streptococcus. 5. In animals heparin has been shown to reduce the severity of lesions. 6. Rickets is believed to be largely, if not entirely, the result of a deficiency of vitamin D. 7. The reduced amount of oxygen in the blood of anemic patients is stated to be a major cause of the dysfunction of the heart, skeletal muscles and brain. 8. Rheumatoid arthritis is sure to be more complex as well as more frequent than other forms. 9. Codein is known to be an efficient pain killer as well as cough remedy. 10. The right lung has been proved to be more frequently affected by pneumonia than the left one. 11. The great Russian scientist I. Mechnikov is considered to be one of the founders of comparative embryology. 12. Anemia in some pregnant women is seen to be due to a deficiency in folic acid, one of the B vitamins. 13. A large cerebral cyst which was supposed to be the result of an old hemorrhage was in the left frontal lobe. 14. Smallpox is known to have been entirely eliminated in our country. 15. The most prominent function of blood is known to be carrying oxygen to the tissue. 16. The pain in the stomach is likely to persist after administration of atropin. 17. Generalized convulsions are stated to be followed by complete weakness of the patient’s body.

II. Translate the sentences. Pay attention to the subordinate clauses.

1. That prolonged deficiency of any vitamin results in avitaminosis is known to everybody nowadays. 2. Whether the bronchitis was primary or whether it was the complication after some disease should be cleared. 3. The fact is that grippe is dangerous for its complications. 4. That the microbes exist everywhere is a well-known fact. 5. The doctor’s opinion was that the appendix should be removed immediately. 6. That the fungi are capable of fermentation was spoken about at the last lecture. 7. The thing is that chemical structure of vitamins remained unknown for a long time. 8. The doctor’s supposition is that the sudden eruption on the skin of the patient was associated with the large dose of streptomycin. 9. That vitamins are of vast importance is well-known. 10. That sunshine is necessary nearly to all forms of plant life has been recognized for a very long time. 11. That sunshine has a definite influence on certain body tissues has been demonstrated with striking vividness.

III. Group the following nouns, adjectives and adverbs:

Nutrition, natural, different, connection, especially, growth, development, responsible, deficiency, serious, widely, various, defective, inflammation, eruption, naturally, weakness, available, special, importance, preventive, quickly, treatment, resistance.

IV. Give Russian equivalents of the following word-combinations:

In connection with; to be responsible for; minute quantities; skin eruptions; to be present in; to a greater or lesser degree, to result in, to be available in, cod-liver-oil; to be of importance; as well as; to be used for; a lack of vitamins; reduced working capacity; rapid fatigue; insufficient amount; retarded growth; a breakdown in the organism.

V. Form nouns adding the following suffixes to the given words, translate them into Russian:

(-ment, -th, -ence, -(t)ion, -sion, -ness, -ity)

Restless, treat, infect, resist, connect, responsible, exist, mortal, develop, grow, enlarge, erupt, disturb, prevent, ail, appear, contribute, anxious, congest, hoarse, occur, irritable, transmit.

VI. Form adjectives adding the following suffixes to the given words, translate them:

(-al, -ant, -ent, -ic, -ive, -ous)

Differ, vary, connect, infect, resist, system, result, prevent, experiment.

VII. Form adverbs adding ‘ly’ to the following adjectives, translate them:

Wide, natural, serious, necessary, easy, correct, particular, active, severe, sufficient, consequent, gradual, total, vital, constant.

VIII. Give the singular of the following words:

Teeth, feet, children, quantities, cavities, possibilities, varieties, foci, data, bacteria, bases, fungi, analyses, strata, bacilli, phenomena, cocci, avitaminoses.

IX. Find the word nearest in the meaning to the given one:

1. to continue: a) to last, b) to shorten, c) to terminate, d) to diminish.

2. to complete: a) to decrease, b) to delay, c) to check, d) to finish.

3. nowadays: a) whenever, b) any way, c) at present, d) by means of.

4. to care for: a) to watch, b) to take care of, c) to note, d) to train.

5. direction: a) incidence, b) institution, c) contribution, d) contraction.

6. immediately: a) gradually, b) regularly, c)at once, d) promptly.

7. available: a) obtainable, b) considerable, c)suitable, d) advisable.

8. to cause: a)to produce, b)to obtain, c) to reach, d) to require.

9. efficiently: a) largely, b) effectively, c) consequently, d) particularly.

10. to vary: a) to offer, b) to involve, c) to change, d) to include. :

OBESITY

Obesity in children is actually more frequent than the number of overweight children who came for treatment. Parents are inclined to overlook obesity in a young child and to resent having attention to it.

Pathogenesis. Children grow fat when they persistently eat more than they need. At the same time there is usually marked physical inactivity. Obesity is only the symptomatic expression of some underlying disturbance in the weight-regulatory mechanism. In most children the reflex tends to persist into adult life.

Symptoms. Physical complaints due directly to the burden of weight are relatively rare in otherwise normal obese children. However, we know obesity to be a troublesome complication in children with cardiac conditions, diabetes and orthopedic disorders. Increase in blood pressure is frequently associated with severe degrees of obesity. Fatigue, perspiration, poor coordination and shortness of breath may be due to overweight, but these symptoms may also be related to emotional factors. The real suffering is experienced in the field of social relations. They often become objects of ridicule and are excluded from the activities of their age group. The social and psychological problems which obesity creates for a child become more serious with increasing age. Obesity in an adolescent may lead to complete withdrawal.

Treatment. As a physiological problem the treatment of the obese child is simple. Doctors suppose restriction alone or combined with increased physical activity to invariably result in a predictable loss of weight. In a rapidly growing child who is only moderately overweight, it may not be necessary or desirable to plan for weight reduction. It may be preferable merely to retard or arrest the rate of gain until the child grows up to his weight. Caution should be exercised in employing complete starvation, a procedure that has been recently recommended.

Active words to remember:

Obesity, to be inclined, avoidance, to persist, to respond, to achieve, to justify, to predispose, perspiration, to experience, adjustment, restriction, to retard, to arrest, caution, starvation, withdrawal.

EXERCISES

1. Translate sentences paying attention to the Objective with the Infinitive Construction:

1. Some specialists consider complete starvation to be effective in the treatment of obesity. 2. We know obesity to be defined as a degree of overweight which interferes with health or well-being. 3. The doctors believe obesity to develop only in those children whose physiological regulatory and metabolic mechanisms predispose them to this type of reaction. 4. The parents often let their children eat persistently more than they need. 5. It is difficult to make parents pay proper attention to overweight children and consult the doctor in due time. 6. We see the view on obesity have changed greatly during the last two decades. 7. The doctors believe overeating to help obese children in combating anxiety and achieving a sense of comfort. 8. We know restriction in food to help obese patients in losing superfluous weight. 9. The students heard the professor speak about successful use of controlled hunger for the treatment of stomach ulcers. 10. We know the best possible food for the infant to be its mother’s milk particularly during the earlier months of life.

II. Translate sentences, define the types of the subordinate clauses.

1. To what extent obesity is the result of genetic factors and to what extent it depends on environmental conditions is not yet clear. 2. Quite often children who have been only moderately obese in infancy show a rapid gain in weight later on. 3. Life histories of obese children sometimes reveal that the tendency toward isolation and withdrawal has often preceded the development of obesity. 4. If weight reduction is to be attempted its success will depend greatly on the patient’s desire and cooperation. 6. Medicine should never be given to a child unless it is ordered by a physician. 7. The child’s food should contain a good amount of carbohydrates for these are a source of energy. 8. In some individuals obesity corrects itself at the time of puberty as the desire to appear pleasing to the opposite sex develops. 9. It is an often debated question whether a child is in a state of blooming health with excellent nutrition or whether he suffers from obesity. 10. When the winter months come the food becomes rather poor in vitamins.

III. Translate sentences, point out the forms of the Subjunctive Mood.

1.There would be no life on the earth without sunlight. 2. The doctor advised that the baby should be weighed before and after feeding so that he could see how much milk he gets. 3. If young mothers knew how important it is to feed the child properly they would give much more attention to it. 4. It is necessary that the nursing child should be fed at regular intervals. 5. If the doctor recommended the mother to wean her child she would start it without delay. 6. It is desirable that the nursing mother should keep in good physical condition, eat properly and have enough rest. 7. The child was given cod-liver oil containing vitamin A and D lest he should develop rickets. 8. If my child were as strong as yours! 9. The doctors insist that obese children should come to regular check-ups. 10. The lecturer stepped aside so that the students could see the diagram drawn on the blackboard.

IV. Translate into Russian paying attention to the Subjective Infinitive Construction.

1. Cough is likely to be one of the symptoms most frequently complained of in childhood. 2. Cough appears to be mostly observed in many conditions associated with the respiratory infection, though there seem to be some cases having no connection with a respiratory infection. 3. In some cases cough is apt to be worse at night especially during the first few hours. 4. Surgery is likely to yield the required outcome. 5. A combination of many infection producing agents is apt to give very serious complications. 6. Early diagnosis seems not to be the only way to improve survival rate after operations. 7. Increased coagulability of the blood id most likely to be an etiological factor in ischemic heart disease. 8. In some cases cough appears to depend on irritation of the nerve centers solely. 9. Many conditions are likely to be mentioned in which cough occurs, these being most likely to be bronchitis, tracheitis, laryngitis, pneumonia, pleurisy and so on. 10. I have estimated that at least 75per cent of children seem to suffer one or more colds each year.11. Congenital cardiac disease appears to be less frequent than acquired heart disease. 12. Headache, although but a symptom, is likely to be dependent upon many and diverse conditions. 13. The acidity of the gastric contents appears to vary widely, depending upon the amount, concentration, time after ingestion and the character of the food. 14. Season is most likely to have an influence on morbidity. 15. Measles as a disease is dangerous chiefly because of certain complications which are apt to arise during its course, more especially inflammatory infections of lungs.

V. Fill in the blanks with suitable words from the list in brackets.

( in spite of; either … or; not only … but also; both … and; that; after; and; before; if; for;)

1.Eating … … serves to appease bodily hunger … … is charged with emotional significance. 2. … the mother’s diet is insufficient, the milk will be poor in quality. 3. Parents should know … obesity may develop at any age. 4. The typical obese patient tends to be … broader … taller than his age peers. 5. This child is … in a state of blooming health with excellent nutrition … suffers from obesity.6. The child’s health was poor … … … the fact that he was carefully nursed. 7. Avoidance of fats is not necessary … in most individuals they inhibit gastric emptying and delay the onset of hunger. 8. In some instances there is colic … some food is ingested to which the patient is allergic. 9. Parents’ questions concerning hygienic … general care of infants engage an increasing proportion of the time of the pediatrician. 10. A baby must learn to creep … he begins to walk.

VI. Translate sentences. Pay attention to the Construction there is / are.

1.There is a great range in the weight of the newborn even within physiologic limits. 2. There are no special elements of any kind which are peculiar only to living matter and are not found in inorganic nature. 3. There are more that three scores of diseases that are caused by viruses. 4. There are three main medical fields in Russia: adult medicine, child medicine, hygiene and sanitation. 5. There is no apparent indication that the children in whom rheumatic fever occurred early in childhood have shorter span of life than those in whom the onset of the disease came later. 6. Bacteria appear in the mouth soon after birth, and increase decidedly in number of forms. 7. There are many diseases which are almost or entirely peculiar to early life. 8. There is a predisposition to certain diseases during infancy and childhood as contrasted with adult life. There is a difference, too, in the susceptibility to particular diseases at the various periods of early life. 9. There is a high mortality in elderly patients especially those with arteriosclerotic heart disease.

VII. Translate sentences into Russian.

1.Excessive eating and avoidance of activity influence the child’s personality development and life experiences. 2. An evaluation of the emotional problems of an obese child and an appraisal of the difficulties inherent in his family interrelationships constitute a necessary part of the diagnostic study. 3. Mere weight reduction without attention to underlying problems will almost invariably be followed by another increase in weight. 4. Vitamin deficiency is to be prevented. 5. Although opinion as to how often to feed the baby varies, most doctors seem to favour a three or four hour schedule. 6. Obesity is the result of positive energy balance. 7. Caloric intake is regulated in accordance with energy expenditure. 8. Food requirements of individuals are affected by several factors: muscular activity, age, weight, pathologic conditions, climate etc. 9. The most rapid growth period in a child’s life is the first months.

CRACK COMES TO NURSERY

More and more cocaine using mothers are bearing afflicted infants. Numerous reports that appeared in 1980s showed that cocaine use by pregnant women could cause serious physical and mental impairment to their newborns. It was another warning that the snowy white drug was not as harmless as some believed. Since then the situation has only changed for the worse. Despite wide-spread publicity many pregnant women underestimate the extent of the problem. There are women who would not smoke and would not drink but they can’t stay away from cocaine.

Cocaine is a powerful stimulant drug that has become increasingly popular and available in the United States. Smoking cocaine results in short periods of intense euphoric feelings, during which energy and self-esteem are enhanced and anxiety is decreased. However, within hours of use cocaine rebound effects result in anxiety, exhaustion and depressive feelings. The dependent person has to take cocaine repeatedly to avoid these “crash” rebound effects. Because of cocaine’s low molecular weight and its water and lipid solubility it readily crosses the placenta and the fetal blood brain barrier.

The growing number of women are using crack, the cheap purified form of cocaine that plagues American’s inner cities and has spread into middle class suburbs. More than 100.000 babies born in the US annually are believed to have been exposed to cocaine or other drugs during the critical period of fetal development. Doctors found that cocaine like heroin and alcohol could be passed from the user-mother to the fetus with disastrous results.

As doctors see more and more crack-damaged infants – many of them premature – a clear picture of the effects of the drug is emerging. It is not a pretty one. Because a mother’s crack binge triggers spasms in the baby’s blood vessels the vital flow of oxygen and nutrients can be severely restricted for long periods. Fetal growth including head and brain size may be impaired, strokes and seizures may occur and malformations of the kidneys, genitals, intestines and spinal cord may develop. If cocaine dose is large enough, the blood supply can be cut so sharply that the placenta may tear loose from uterus, putting mother in danger and killing the fetus. In this way even one “fit” of crack can irreparably damage the fetus. At birth the babies display obvious signs of crack exposure – tremors, irritability and lethargy that may belie the seriousness of the harm done. These symptoms may disappear in a week or more but the underlying damage remains.

Cocaine-exposed neonates have been found to have lower birth weight, smaller head circumference, inferior visual and auditory orienting skills, poorer motor abilities, decreased consolability and more abnormal reflexes.

Because there is no specific treatment for cocaine babies doctors must work with mothers. Parenting programs are teaching women how to handle the baby’s long bouts of inconsolable crying and unresponsiveness. But such programs are usually designed for motivated women with some financial resources.

Note: an inner city –

Active words and expressions:

To afflict, to bear, to warn, to believe, to underestimate, to stay away, to enhance, to purify, to tear loose, to display, to impair, to plague, to avoid, to underlie, to emerge, to handle, to trigger, euphoria, self-esteem, exhaustion, placenta, fetus, uterus, malformation, behavior, bout, hit, irritability, lethargy, cheap, disastrous, inferior, inconsolable, despite.

EXERCISES

1.Translate into Russian paying attention to the infinitive constructions:

1. Cocaine use over long periods is known to lead to severe forms of psychosis. 2. The stimulant properties of cocaine are believed to have been recognized for over 1000 years. 3. There seem to be several reasons for the phenomenal increase in cocaine abuse, the stimulant effects, euphoria and increased energy level having contributed to its popularity. 4. Available studies uniformly indicate that cocaine-using women are likely also to be heavy users of other drugs, particularly, alcohol, marijuana and cigarettes. 5. Some pregnant women are likely to underestimate the disastrous results of having passion for cocaine. 6. Cocaine has been shown to be the largest producer of illicit income in the United States. 7. Huge amounts of money are believed to be spent on cocaine. 8. Despite widespread propaganda about the dramatic results of cocaine abuse the situation does not appear to have changed for the better.

II. Translate into Russian paying attention to different meanings of the verb would.

1. She would do anything in the world to make her child happy. 2. Your doctor warned you but you would not follow his advice. 3. Parents would be happy if their children are well-brought up, educated and well-settled in life. 4. Even if the mother’s diet does not contain all the essential nutrients, the milk would contain practically all the ingredients which the milk of a well-fed mother would have. 5. The doctor tried to persuade the patient to give up smoking but he would not listen. 6. She would develop acute attacks of asthma in June. 7. Severe hypertension, even if temporary would be likely to increase the risk of infarction in any part of the brain with reduced blood supply and reduce the chances of recovery of a damaged area.

III. Translate into Russian.

Cocaine using pregnant women, cocaine-exposed neonates, cocaine-related admissions to drug clinics, intense euphoric feelings, stimulating drugs, parents teaching programs, serious impairments, laboratory obtained findings.