One-third of Parents Lack Facts about Child Development One-third of parents of babies have a surprisingly low knowledge of child development, including basic concepts about what their children should know or how they should act, a new study finds. For instance, the study found that many parents don't know that 1-year-olds can't tell the difference between right and wrong, and often don't cooperate or share when playing with other children. The results are surprising because the parents who took part in the survey had young children , said lead author Dr. Heather Paradis, a pediatric fellow at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. "They were watching or had just watched their kids go through this development , and they were probably the most knowledgeable of anybody. " Paradis and her colleagues examined the results of a survey of parents—98. 6 percent of whom were mothers—of more than 10,000 9-month-old babies. As part of the survey, the parents were asked 11 questions designed to test their knowledge of a baby's development. The researchers also examined what the parents said about their interactions with their children, and watched videotapes of how the parents taught new things to their kids. One-third of those surveyed incorrectly answered four or more of the questions. Even when the researchers adjusted the statistics to account for such factors as education levels and income, those parents were still less likely to enjoy "healthy interactions" with their children. A lack of proper understanding of a child's development can cause assorted problems, Paradis said. For example, she said, a mother might expect an 18-month-old child to sit still for a doctor's appointment, even though children that age are normally curious and like to wander around. "A mom could misinterpret a child's normal curiosity as intentionally being defiant, and could respond with harsh discipline, withdrawal of affection and repetition of that pattern over time," Paradis said. "That could hinder the child's potential for full growth and development. " The findings were to be presented Sunday at the Pediatric Academic Societies' meeting in Honolulu. One solution, Paradis said, is for pediatricians to take a more active role in educating new parents. "By improving knowledge of child development among all parents, not just those who are at highest risk, there's an opportunity to enhance parent-child interaction," she said. " It can ultimately lead to better parenting. "

Better Control of TB Seen If a Faster Cure Is Found The World Health Organization estimates that about one-third of all people are infected with bacteria that cause tuberculosis(结核病). Most times, the infection remains inactive(不活跃的). But each year about eight million people develop active cases of TB, usually in their lungs. Two million people die of it. The disease has increased with the spread of AIDS and drug - resistant forms of tuberculosis. Current treatments take at least six months. Patients have to take a combination of several antibiotic(抗生素)drugs daily. But many people stop as soon as they feel belter. Doing that can lead to an infection(传染病)that resists treatment. Public health experts agree that a faster-acting cure for tuberculosis would be more effective. Now a study estimates just how effective it might be. A professor of international health at Harvard University led the study. Joshua Salomon says a shorter treatment program would likely mean not just more patients cured. It would also mean fewer infectious patients who can pass on their infection to others. The researchers developed a mathematical(数学的)model to examine the effects of a two -month treatment plan. They tested the model with current TB conditions in Southeast Asia. The scientists found that a two-month treatment could prevent about twenty percent of new cases. And it might prevent about twenty-five percent of TB deaths. The model shows that these reductions would take place between two thousand twelve and two thousand thirty. That is, if a faster cure is developed and in wide use by two thousand twelve. The World Health Organization developed the DOTS program in nineteen ninety. DOTS(短 期直接观察治疗)is Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course. Health workers watch tuberculosis patients take their daily pills to make sure they continue treatment. Earlier this year, an international partnership of organizations announced a plan to expand the DOTS program. The ten-year plan also aims to finance research into new TB drugs. The four most common drugs used now are more than forty years old. The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development(全球结核病药物开发联盟)says its long-term goal is a treatment that could work in as few as ten doses.

Her behaviour is extremely childish .

The story was very touching .

It is the movement,not the color,of objects that excites the bull.

Dangers Await Babies with Altitude Women who live in the world's highest communities tend to give birth to underweight babies, a new study suggests. These babies may grow into adults with a high risk of heart disease and strokes. Research has hinted that newborns in mountain communities are lighter than average. But it wasn't clear whether this is due to reduced oxygen levels at high altitude or because their mothers are under-nourished—many people who live at high altitudes are relatively poor compared with those living lower down. To find out more,Dino Giussani and his team at Cambridge University studied the records of 400 births in Bolivia during 1997 and 1998. The babies were born in both rich and poor areas of two cities:La Paz and Santa Cruz. La Paz is the highest city in the world, at 3. 65 kilometers above sea level, while Santa Cruz is much lower, at 0.44 kilometers. Sure enough, Giussani found that the average birthweight of babies in La Paz was significantly lower than in Santa Cruz. This was true in both high and low-income families. Even babies born to poor families in Santa Cruz were heavier on average than babies born to wealthy families in lofty La Paz. "We were very surprised by this result,"says Giussani. The results suggest that babies born at high altitude are deprived of oxygen before birth. " This may trigger the release or suppression of hormones that regulate growth of the unborn child," says Giussani. His team also found that high-altitude babies tended to have relatively larger heads compared with their bodies. This is probably because a fetus starved of oxygen will send oxygenated blood to the brain in preference to the rest of the body. Giussani wants to find out if such babies have a higher risk of disease in later life. People born in La Paz might be prone to heart trouble in adulthood, for example. Low birthweight is a risk factor for coronary heart disease. And newborns with a high ratio of head size to body weight are often predisposed to high blood pressure and strokes in later life.

New U. S. Plan for Disease Prevention Urging Americans to take responsibility for their health, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on Tuesday launched a $ 15 million program to try to encourage communities to do more to prevent chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes(糖尿病). The initiative highlights the costs of chronic diseases—the leading causes of death in the United States—and outlines ways that people can prevent them, including better diet and increased exercise. "In the United States today,7 of 10 deaths and the vast majority of serious illness, disability and health care costs are caused by chronic diseases," the Health and Human Services Department said in a statement. The causes are often behavioral—smoking, poor eating habits and a lack of exercise. "I am convinced that preventing disease by promoting better health is a smart policy choice for our future," Thompson told a conference held to launch the initiative. " Our current health care system is not structured to deal with the rising costs of treating diseases that are largely preventable through changes in our lifestyle choices. " Thompson said heart disease and strokes will cost the country more than $351 billion in 2003. " These leading causes of death for men and women are largely preventable, yet we as a nation are not taking the steps necessary for us to lead healthier, longer lives," he said. The $ 15 million is designed to go to communities to promote prevention, pushing for changes as simple as building sidewalks to encourage people to walk more. Daily exercise such as walking can prevent and even reverse heart disease and diabetes,and prevent cancer and strokes. The money will also go to community organizations, clinics and nutritionists who are being encouraged to work together to educate people at risk of diabetes about what they can do to prevent it and encourage more cancer screening. The American Cancer Society estimates that half of all cancers can be caught by screening, including Pap tests(巴氏试验)for cervical cancer(宫颈癌), mammograms for breast cancer, colonoscopies(结肠镜检查),and prostate(前列腺的)checks. If such cancers were all caught by early screening, the group estimates that the survival rate for cancer would rise to 95 percent.

These products are inferior to those we bought last year.

Most Adults in U. S. Have Low Risk of Heart Disease More than 80 percent of U. S. adults have a less than 10-percent risk of developing heart disease in the next 10 years, according to a report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology(心脏病学). Just 3 percent have a risk that exceeds 20 percent. " I hope that these numbers will give physicians, researchers, health policy analysts, and others a better idea of how coronary(心脏冠状动脉的)heart disease is distributed in the U. S. population," lead(带头的)author Dr. Earl S. Ford, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said in a statement. The findings are based on analysis of data from 13 ,769 subjects, between 20 and 79 years of age, who participated in the Third National Health and Nutrition(营养的供给)Examination Survey from 1988 to 1994. Overall, 82 percent of adults had a risk of less than 10 percent, 15 percent had a risk that fell between 10 to 20 percent and 3 percent had a risk above 20 percent. The proportion of subjects in the highest risk group increased with advancing age, and men were more likely than women to be in this group. By contrast, race or ethnicity(种族划分)had little effect on risk distributions. Although the report suggests that most adults have a low 10 -year risk of heart disease, a large proportion have a high or immediate risk, Dr. Daniel S. Berman, from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and Dr. Nathan D. Wong, from the University of California at Irvine, note in a related editorial. Aggressive treatment measures and public health strategies are needed to shift the overall population risk downward, they add.

I catch cold now and then .

The curious looks from the strangers around her made her feel uneasy .

We cannot exist without air, food or water.

Ants as a Barometer of Ecological Change At picnics, ants are pests. But they have their uses. In industries such as mining,farming and forestry, they can help gauge the health of the environment by just crawling around and being antsy. It has been recognized for decades that ant—which are highly sensitive to ecological change—can provide a near-perfect barometer of the state of an ecosystem. Only certain species, for instance, will continue to thrive at a forest site that has been cleared of trees. 【B1】______ And still others will move in and take up residence. By looking at which species populate a deforested area, scientists can determine how "stressed" the land is. 【B2】______Ants are used simply because they are so common and comprise so many species. Where mine sites are being restored, for example, some ant species will recolonize the stripped land more quickly than others. 【B3】______Australian mining company Capricorn Coal Management has been successfully using ant surveys for years to determine the rate of recovery of land that it is replanting near its German Creek mine in Queensland. Ant surveys also have been used with mine-site recovery projects in Africa and Brazil, where warm climates encourage dense and diverse ant populations. "We found it worked extremely well there, " says Jonathan Majer, a professor of environmental biology. Yet the surveys are perfeetlv suited to climates throughout Asia, he says, because ants are so common throughout the region. As Majer puts it; "That's the great thing about ants. " Ant surveys are so highly-regarded as ecological indicators that governments worldwide accept their results when assessing the environmental impact of mining and tree harvesting. 【B4】______ Why not? Because many companies can't afford the expense or the laboratory time needed to sift results for a comprehensive survey. The cost stems, also, from the scarcity of ant specialists. 【B5】______A This allowed scientists to gauge the pace and progress of the ecological recovery.B Yet in other businesses, such as farming and property development, ant surveys aren't used widely.C Employing those people are expensive.D They do this by sorting the ants, counting their numbers and comparing the results with those of earlier surveys.E The evolution of ant species may have a strong impact on our ecosystem.F Others will die out for lack of food.

Most people find rejection hard to accept.

Young Adults Who Exercise Get Higher IQ Scores Young adults who are fit have a higher IQ and are more likely to go on to university, reveals a major new study carried out at the Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital. The results were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(PNAS)The study involved 1. 2 million Swedish men doing military service who were born between 1950 and 1976. The research group analyzed the results of both physical and IQ tests the youngsters took right after they started serving the army. The study shows a clear link between good physical fitness and better results for the IQ test. The strongest links are for logical thinking and verbal comprehension. But it is only fitness that plays a role in the results for the IQ test,and not strength. "Being fit means that you also have good heart and lung capacity and that your brain gets plenty of oxygen," says Michael Nilsson, professor at the Sahlgrenska Academy and chief physician at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital. " This may be one of the reasons why we can see a clear link with fitness, but not with muscular strength . We are also seeing that there are growth factors that are important. " By analyzing data for twins, the researchers have been able to determine that it is primarily environmental factors and not genes that explain the link between fitness and higher IQ. "We have also shown that those youngsters who improve their physical fitness between the ages of 15 and 18 increase their cognitive performance," says Maria Aberg, researcher at the Sahl-grenska Academy and physician at Aby health centre. "This being the case, physical education is a subject that has an important place in schools, and is an absolute must if we want to do well in maths and other theoretical subjects. " The researchers have also compared the results from fitness tests during national service with the socio-economic status of the men later in life. Those who were fit at 18 were more likely to go into higher education, and many secured more qualified jobs.

The Drink Your Body Needs Most1 Our bodies are estimated to be about 60% to 70% water. Blood is mostly water, and our muscles , lungs and brain all contain a lot of water. Water is needed to regulate body temperature and to provide the means for nutrients(滋养物)to travel to all our organs. Water also transports oxygen to our cells,removes waste, and protects our joints and organs.2 We lose water through urination(排尿), respiration(呼吸),and by sweating. If you are very active, you lose more water than if you do not take much exercise. Symptoms of mild dehydration(脱水)include chronic pains in joints and muscles, lower back pain, headaches, and constipation(便秘). A strong smell to your urine, along with a yellow color indicates that you are not getting enough water. Thirst is an obvious sign of dehydration and in fact, you need water long before you feel thirsty.3 A good rule of thumb(好的做法)is to take your body weight in pounds and divide that number in half. That gives you the number of ounces(盎司)of water per day that you need. For example, if you weigh 160 pounds, you should drink at least 80 ounces of water per day. If you exercise you should drink another 8-ounce glass of water for every 20 minutes you are active. If you drink coffee or alcohol, you should add at least an equal amount of water. When you are traveling on an airplane,it is good to have 8 ounces of water for every hour you are on board the plane.4 It may be difficult to drink enough water on a busy day. Be sure you have water handy at all times by keeping a bottle for water with you when you are working, traveling, or exercising. If you get bored with plain water, add a bit of lemon for a touch of flavor. There are some brands of flavored water available, but some of them have sugar or artificial sweeteners that you don't need.A Ounces of water needed per dayB Importance of waterC Composition of waterD Signs of dehydrationE Supply of waterF Necessity for bringing a bottle for water

阅读理解Adaptation of Living Things Certain animals and plants develop characteristics that help them cope with their environment better than others of their kind. This natural biological process is called adaptation. Among the superior characteristics developed through adaptation are those that may help in getting food or shelter, in providing protection, and in producing and protecting the young. That results in the evolution of more and more organisms that are better fitted to their environments. Each living thing is adapted to its way of life in a general way, but each is adapted especially to its own distinct class. A plant, for example, depends upon its roots to fix itself firmly and to absorb water and inorganic chemicals. It depends upon its green leaves for using the sun''s energy to make food from inorganic chemicals. These are general adaptations, common to most plants. In addition, there are special adaptations that only certain kinds of plants have. Many animals have adaptations that help them escape from their enemies. Some insects are hidden by their body color or shape, and many look like a leaf or a little branch. The coats of deer are colored to mix with the surroundings. Many animals have the ability to remain completely still when an enemy is near. Organisms have a great variety of ways of adapting. They may adapt in their structure, function, and genetics; in their development and production of the young; and in other respects. An organism may create its won environment, as do warm-blooded mammals, which have the ability to adjust body heat exactly to maintain their ideal temperature despite changing weather. Usually adaptations are an advantage, but sometimes an organism is so well adapted to a particular environment that, if conditions change, it finds it difficult or impossible to readapt to the new conditions.

阅读理解On Antibodies Substances foreign to the body, such as disease-causing bacteria and viruses and other infectious agents, are recognized by the body s immune system as invaders. Our natural defenses against these infectious agents are antibodies, proteins that seek out the antigens (抗原) and help destroy them. Antibodies have two very useful characteristics. First, they are extremely specific; that is, each antibody binds to and attacks one particular antigen. Second, some antibodies, once activated by the occurrence of a disease, continue to confer resistance against that disease. Classic example are the antibodies to the childhood diseases of chickenpox(水痘) and measles. The second characteristic of antibodies makes it possible to develop vaccines. A vaccine (痘苗) is a preparation of killed or weakened bacteria or viruses that, when introduced into the body, stimulates the production of antibodies against the antigens it contains. It is the first trait of antibodies, their specificity, that makes monoclonal antibody technology so valuable. Not only can antibodies be used therapeutically(在治疗上), to protect against disease; they can also help to .diagnose a wide variety of illnesses, and can detect the presence of drugs, viral and bacterial products, and other unusual or abnormal substances in the blood. Given such a diversity of uses for these diseased-fighting substances, their production in pure quantities has long been the focus of scientific investigation. The conventional method was to inject a laboratory animal with an antigen and then, after antibodies had been formed, collect those antibodies from the blood serum(血清) (Antibody containing blood serum is called antiserum (抗血清)). There are two problems with this method: It yields antiserum that contains undesired substances, and it provides a very small amount of usable antibody. Monoclonal antibody technology allows us to produce large amounts of pure antibodies. in the following way: we can obtain cells that produce antibodies naturally; we also have available a class of cells that can grow continually in cell culture (培养). If we form a hybrid (混血儿) that combines the characteristic of "immortality"(永生)with the ability to produce the desired substance, we would have, in effect, a factory to produce antibodies that work around the clock. In monoclonal antibody technology, tumor cells that can replicate (重复) endlessly are fused with mammalian cells that produce an antibody. The result of this cell fusion is a "hybridoma" (杂交瘤), which will continually produce antibodies. These antibodies are called monoclonal because they come from only one type of cell, the hybridoma cell; antibodies produced by conventional methods, on the other hand, are derived from preparations containing many kinds of cells, and hence are called polyclonal. An example of how monoclonal antibodies are derived is described below. A myeloma is a tumor of the bone marrow (骨髓) that can be adapted to grow permanendy in cell culture. When myeloma cells were fused with antibody-producing mammalian spleen cells, it was found that the resulting hybrid cells, or hybridomas, produced large amounts of monoclonal(骨髓瘤) antibody. This product of cell fusion combined the desired qualities of the two different types of cells: the ability to grow continually, and the ability to produce large amounts of pure antibody. Because selected hybrid cells produce only one specific antibody, they are more pure than the polyclonal antibodies produced by conventional techniques. They are potentially more effective than conventional drugs in fighting disease, since drugs attack not only the foreign substance but the body’s own cells as well, sometimes producing undesirable side effects such as nausea(恶心) and allergic reactions. Monoclonal antibodies attack the target molecule and only the target molecule, with no or greatly diminished side effects.

阅读理解Cigars Instead? Smoking one or two cigars a day doubles the risk of cancers of the lip, tongue, mouth, and throat, according to a government study. Daily cigars also increase the risk of lung cancer and cancer of the esophagus, and increase the risk of cancer of the larynx (voicebox) sixfold, say researchers at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. In addition, the report revealed that smoking three or four cigars a day increased the risk of oral cancer to 8.5 times the risk for nonsmokers and the risk of esophageal cancer by four times the risk of nonsmokers. The health effects of smoking cigars is one of eight sections of the article " Cigars: Health Effects and Trends". The researchers report that, compared with a cigarette, a large cigar emits up to 90 times as much carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines "This article provides clear and invaluable information about the disturbing increase in cigar use and the significant public health consequences for the country," said Dr. Richard Klausner, director of the National Cancer Institute, in a statement. "The data are clear-the harmful substances and carcinogens in cigar smoke, like cigarettes, are associated with the increased risks of several kinds of cancers as well as heart and lung diseases," he added. " In other words, cigars are not safe alternatives to cigarettes and may be addictive. " "To those individuals who may be thinking about smoking cigars, our advices is — don''t. To those currently smoking cigars, quitting is the only way to eliminate completely the cancer, heart and lung disease risks," warned Klausner. According to a National Cancer Institute press release, there haven''t been any studies on the health effects on nonsmokers at cigar social events, but "... a significant body of evidence clearly demonstrates an increased lung cancer risk from secondhand smoke. "

阅读理解Most Adults in U. S. Have Low Risk of Heart Disease More than 80 percent of US adults have a less than 10 percent risk of developing heart disease in the next 10 years, according to a report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Just 3 percent have a risk that exceeds 20 percent. "I hope that these numbers will give physicians, researchers, health policy analysts, and others a better idea of how coronary heart disease is distributed in the US population, " lead author Dr. Earl S. Ford, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said in a statement. The findings are based on analysis of data from 13,769 subjects, between 20 and 79 years of age, who participated in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1988 to 1994. Overall, 82 percent of adults had a risk of less than 10 percent, 15 percent had a risk that fell between 10 to 20 percent, and 3 percent had a risk above 20 percent. The proportion of subjects in the highest risk group increased with advancing age, and men were more likely than women to be in this group. By contrast, race or ethnicity had little effect on risk distributions. Although the report suggests that most adults have a low 10-year risk of heart disease, a large proportion have a high or immediate risk, Dr. Daniel S. Berman, from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and Dr. Nathan D. Wong, from the University of California at Irvine, note in a related editorial. Aggressive treatment measures and public health strategies are needed to shift the overall population risk downward, they add.