Warnings

When a doctor wants to warn a patient that the consequence of ignoring the advice could be serious, he or she may say:

- If you aren’t feeling better in 7 to 14 days, you really must come back and see me again.

- If you feel that things aren’t settling, aren’t getting back to normal, it’s important that see me again.

- If you keep smoking much, you are going to end up with a long-term problem.

- It’s very important you don’t stop taking the tablets suddenly or your symptoms will return.

Exercises:

1. Complete the advice.

1. If you __________________ smoking, you increase the risk of lung cancer and heart disease.

2. Your health would improve if you _______________ alcohol completely.

3. You could ____________ __________ with a serious drug problem.

4. I’m going to ____________ you ___________ with some tablets. If they don’t help, we’ll need to think about surgery.

5. ___________ ___________ on the amount of salt you take with your food.

6. I expect things will ____________ in a few days and you’ll be able to get up.

7. Try to _______________ situations where you feel stressed.

2. Match the two parts of the sentences.

1. If you still have pain,

2. If you find it difficult to give up smoking,

3. Your symptoms will return

4. If you can’t get to sleep,

5. Come back and see me again

6. If you are still concerned,

a. try to avoid caffeine later in the day.

b. if you find your breathlessness has increased.

c. keep taking paracetamol.

d. I can refer you to a consultant.

e. if you start smoking again.

f. I can arrange for nicotine replacement therapy.

4. Advise a patient with high blood pressure about physical activity. Look at the information in the table, and C to help you.

Unit 24 Data Presentation

Referring to a table or figure

In an article, you can write:

In a presentation, you can use the same expressions, or you can say:

Comparing variables

When you refer to a table you will often need to compare one variable with another:

Or you may need to compare the same variable at different times:

Approximating

When referring to the data presented on slides, numbers are often rounded, for example 41.3 becomes 41 or even 40. When this is done, it is common to use expressions of approximation:

Numbers are frequently presented as fractions or percentages, even when the exact number is given.

When you want to emphasize a number, for example 9.8%, you can say:

and when you want to make the number seem small:

less than 10%

Exercises:

1. Complete the description of the data in the table.

Table 1: Incidence of ulcer perforation 1967-1982

Table 1 (1) …………… trends in the frequency of hospital admission for perforated peptic ulcer in the United Kingdom (2) …………… with changes in the annual prescription rates for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

For women over 65 the annual number of prescriptions increased (3) …………… from 1967 to 1982, during which rates of perforation of duodenal ulcers (4) …………… for those aged 65 to 74 and more than (5) …………… for those aged 75 and over. For men over 65, prescriptions showed a similar increase. Although perforation rates were actually lower for those aged 65 to 74 in 1982, there was a (6) …………… increase in those aged 75 and above.

(BMJ 1986; 292: 614 Amended with permission from the BMJ Publishing Group)

2. The data in the table is adapted from an article entitled 'Alcohol drinking in middle age'. Choose the correct words to complete the description below.

Only 54, or (1) …………… (under/less) than 20%, of the non-drinkers smoked compared with 204, or (2) …………… (almost/over) 70%, of the frequent drinkers. 41, or just (3) …………… (less/under) 14% of the non-drinkers had had a myocardial infarction at the end of the follow-up period, compared with 54, or (4) …………… (almost/over) 18%, of the frequent drinkers. At the end of the follow-up period, (5) …………… (about/over) 90% in all three groups had no cognitive impairment. There was mild impairment in (6) …………… (under/around) 8% of the non-drinkers, and in 7% of the frequent drinkers, but in (7) …………… (less/under) than 4% of the infrequent drinkers. 14, or (8) …………… (approximately/over) 5%, of the non-drinkers had dementia, while 17, or 4% of the infrequent drinkers, and (9) …………… (more than/nearly) 6% of the frequent drinkers had dementia.

(BMJ 2004; 329: 539 Amended with permission from the BMJ Publishing Group)

impairment – слабость, нарушение

Unit 25 Research articles and Abstracts