Emphasis on prevention

While the American medical community has been making strides in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, the American public also has become more aware of the relationship between disease and personal behavior. Since the U.S. surgeon general first warned Americans about the dangers of smoking in 1964, the percentage of Americans who smoke has declined from almost 50 percent to approximately 25 percent. Smoking is no longer permitted in most public buildings or on trains, buses, and airplanes traveling within the United States and most American restaurants are divided into areas where smoking is permitted and those where it is not. Studies have linked a significant drop in the rate of lung cancer to a nationwide decline in cigarette smoking.

The federal government also encourages Americans to exercise regularly and to eat healthful diets, including large quantities of fruits and vegetables. More than 40 percent of Americans today exercise or play a sport as part of their regular routine.

Donna E.Shalala, secretary of health and human services in the Clinton administration, frequently speaks out in support of scientific research and preventive medicine. Addressing a conference of medical and public health professionals in 1996 she said, “We must continue to unlock the incremental mysteries in basic science that culminate in blockbuster discoveries over time. But, we must cast our net wider than that. It must encompass behavioral research, occupational research, and environmental research – all of which hold the potential to prevent disease – and help Americans live healthier lives.”

Vocabulary:

Consumption - потребление

Mortality- смертность

Decrease - падение

Physic - врач

Incremental - прибыльный

Encompass - осуществлять

Preventive - предупредительный

Decline- наклонять

Surgeon- хирург

Focal - фокусный

Susceptibility- восприимчивость

Vocabulary exercises:

Exercise1. Write down the transcription of the following words and practice on their pronunciations:

Biomedical, diagnose, genetic, molecular genetics, pharmaceutical, diet, laboratory, disease, genome, protease, inhibitor, virus, susceptibility.

Exercise2. Complete the sentences with appropriate words from the table:

Death rate, stroke, cure, cancer, drugs, prevent, diagnose, disease, virus, mortality

1. She was diagnosed with … of breast.

2. The … rate has recently increased.

3. For last 30 years … … of cancer has declined to 35 per cent a year.

4. Your doctor may prescribe … for this condition.

5. Regular cleaning may help … infection.

6. There’s no … for diabetes but the symptoms can be managed.

7. When Eva was first … with stroke she was 20.

8. The face was partly paralyzed after the suffered a … .

9. Studies have revealed that vegetarians suffer less from heart … .

10. Malaria is caused by a … carried by mosquitoes.