2013职称英语卫生C完形填空小抄

A Biological ClockEvery living thing has what scientists call a biological clock that controls behavior. The biological clock tells plants when to form flowers and when the flowers should open. It tells __insects when to leave the protective cocoons and fly away，and it tells animals and human beings when to eat, sleep and wake.Events outside the plant and animal __affect the actions of some biological clocks. Scientists recently found, for example, that a tiny animal changes the color of its fur __because of the number of hours of daylight. In the short _days of winter, its fur becomes white. The fur becomes gray brown in color in the longer hours of daylight in summer.Inner signals control other biological clocks. German scientists found that some kind of internal clock seems to order birds to begin their long migration _flight twice each year. Birds _ prevented from flying become restless when it is time for the trip， _but they become calm again when the time of the flight has ended.Scientists say they are beginning to learn which _parts of the brain contain biological clocks. An American researcher, Martin Moorhead, said a small group of cells near the front of the brain _seems to control the timing of some of our actions. These _cells tell a person when to _awaken，when to sleep and when to seek food . Scientists say there probably are other biological clock cells that control other body activities.Dr. Moorhead is studying _how our biological clocks affect the way we do our work. For example, most of us have great difficulty if we must often change to different work hours.It can take many days for a human body to accept the major change in work hours. Dr. Moorhead said industrial officials should have a better understanding of biological clocks and how they affect workers. He said _with understanding could cut sickness and accidents at work and would help increase a factory’s production,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.Most times,the infection remains inactive.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 drugs daily. But many people stop as soon as they feel better.Doing that can lead to an infection 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 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 thousand twelve.The World Health Organization developed the DOTS program in nineteen ninety.DOTS 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 pian to expand the DOST program. The ten-year pian 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 says its long-term goal is a treatment that could work in as few as ten doses.One Good Reason to Let Smallpox LiveIt’snow a fair bet that we will never see the total extinction of the smallpox virus.The idea was to cap the glorious achievement of 1980,when smallpox was eradicated in the wild, by destroying the killer virus in the last two labs that are supposed to have it--one in the US and one in Russia.If smallpox had truly gone from the planet, what point was there in keeping these reserves?In reality,of course, it was naive to imagine that everyone would let go of such a potent potential weapon.Undoubtedly several nations still have a few vials.And the ,last “official”stocks of live virus bred mistrust of the US and Russia for no obvious gain.Now American researchers have found an animal model of the human disease, opening the way for tests on new treatments and vaccines. So once again there’s a good reason to keep the virus --just in case the disease puts in a reappearance.How do we deal with the mistrust of the US and Russia? Simple .Keep the virus under international auspices in a well-guarded UN laboratory that’s open to all countries.The US will object, of course, just as rejects a multilateral approach to just about everything .But it does n’t mean the idea is wrong. If the virus is useful, then let’s make it the servant of all humanity--not just a part of it.Diet,Alcohol Linked to Nearly One Third of Cancers Diet is second only to tobacco as a leading cause of cancer and, along with alcohol, is responsible for nearly one third of the disease in developed countries, a leading researcher said on Tuesday.Dr. Tim Key, of the University of Oxford, told a cancer conference that scientists are still discovering how certain foods contribute to cancer ,but they know that diet, alcohol and obesity play a major role.“Five percent of cancers could be avoided if nobody was obese,”he said.While tobacco is linked to about 30 percent of cancer cases, diet is involved in an estimated 25 percent and alcohol in about six percent.Obesity raises the risk of breast, womb, bowel and kidney cancer, while alcohol is known to cause caners of the mouth, throat and liver. Its dangerous impact is increased when combined with smoking.Key told the meeting of the charity Cancer Research UK that other elements of diet linked to cancer are still unknown but scientists are hoping that the EPIC study, which is comparing the diets of 500,000 people in 10 countries and their risk of cancer, will provide some answers .Early results of the study have revealed that Norway, Sweden and Denmark have the lowest consumption of fruit and vegetables among European countries while Italy and Spain have the highest.Eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day is recommended to reduce the risk of cancer.Key, principal scientist on the EPIC study, said it is looking at dietary links to some of the most common cancers including colorectal, breast and prostate.Men Too May Suffer from Domestic ViolenceNearly three in 10 men have experienced violence at the hands of an intimate partner during their lifetimes,according to one of the few studies to look at domestic violence and health among men.“Many men actually do experience domestic violence, although we don’t hear about it often ,”Dr. Reid of the University of Washington in Seattle, one of the stud’s authors, told Reuters Health “They often don’t tell and we don’t ask. We want to get the message out to men who do experience domestic violence that they are not alone and there are resources available to them.The researchers asked study participants about physical abuse and non-physical abuse, such as threats that made them fear for their safety, controlling behavior (for example,being told who they could associate with and where they could go ),and constant name-calling.Among men 18 to 54 years old ,14.2 percent said they had experienced intimate partner violence in the past five years, while 6.1 percent reported domestic violence in the previous year.Rates were lower for men 55 and older ,with 5.3 percent reporting violence in the past five years and 2.4 percent having experienced it in the past 12 months.Overall, 30.5 percent of men younger than 55 and 26.5 percent of older men said they had been victims of domestic violence at some point in their lives. About half of the violence the men experienced was physical.Men who reported experiencing domestic violence had more emotional and mental health problems than those who had not, especially older men, the researchers found.。