OET Reading Part C - Lexical Questions

 OET Reading Part C - Lexical Questions

1. What does the writer mean by the word cost in the paragraph?

A) overwhelming evidence

B) placental insufficiency

C) viable progeny

D) reduced growth

Text: Pregnancies are complicated by sub-optimal conditions in the womb, such as happens during pre-eclampsia or placental insufficiency, enforced physiological adaptations in the unborn child and placenta. While these adaptations are necessary to maintain viable pregnancy and sustain life before birth, they come at a cost. The biological trade off is reduced growth, which may in turn affect the development of key organs and systems such as the heart and circulation, thereby increasing the risk of cardiovascular  disease in adult life. Overwhelming evidence in more than a dozen countries has linked development under adverse intrauterine conditions leading to low birthweight with  increased rates in adulthood of coronary heart disease and its major risk factors - hypertension, atheroscierosis, and diabetes.

2. What does Cole imply when he says that socially isolated people are being "undermined by their own biology" in the paragraph?

A. That they are biologically prone to be undermined.

B. That at a biological level they are prone to disease. 

C. That they are prone to wounds.

D. That they are biologically prone to seek out omit help.

Are people isolated socially being further undermined by their own biology"? There are two plausible evolutionary explanations. Cole says, The best theory is that this pattern of altered immunology is a kind of defensive reaction mounted by your body if it thinks you are going to be wounded in the near future. Another theory is that if you feel bad, you may be more inclined to seek out others for help. 

3. What does "linear" suggest in the paragraph?

A. That the more people drank coffee,  the lower the risk of colon cancer was

B. That  coffee intake had no significant impact on colon cancer

C. That drinking coffee is proportional to the recurrence of of colon cancer

D. That drinking coffee is proportional to the prevention of the recurrence of colon cancer

Another study, led by Charles Fuchs, MD, director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Centre at Boston's Dana- Farber Cancer Centre  Institute, found regular coffee drinking may help prevent colon cancer coming back after treatment. In his study of nearly 1,000 patients, Fuchs says, there was a significant and linear association  between drinking coffee and lowering risk of colon cancer returning in those  who drank four or more cups a day. "The coffee you drink, the lower the risk of recurrence"........... 

4. What does "palliative" refer to in the paragraph. 

A. Soothing

B. Life-saving

C. Routine

D. Delicate

"For all intents and purposes, this [ling-sparing surgical approach] is the largest palliative operation known to man, since chances of curing mesothelioma are vanishingly small". said Friedberg. He completed the research while at his previous post at the University of Pennsylvania. "Plus , most of these patients are elderly, so preserving quality of life was really the goal", he said. 

5. The phrase a thorn in medicine's side highlights the way that the placebo effect:

A. varies from one trial to another

B. affects certain patients more than others

C. increases when researchers begin to study it

D. complicates the process of testing new drugs

Ted Kaptchuk is a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. For the last 15 years, he and fellow researchers have been studying the placebo effect - something that, before the 1990s, was simply as "a thorn in the medicine's side". To prove a medicine is effective, pharmaceutical companies must show not only that their drug has the desired effect, but that the effects are significantly greater than those of a placebo control group. However, both groups often show healing effects. Kaptcchuk's innovative studies were among the first to study the placebo effect in clinical trials and tease apart its separate components. 

6. What does the phrase "This new visibility" refer to?

A. improvements in the design of placebo studies.

B. the increasing acceptance of placebo research

C. innovations in the technology used in placebo studies

D. the willingness of placebo researchers to admit mistakes.

But to really change minds in mainstream medicine, researchers have to show biological evidence - a feat achieved only in the last decade through imaging technology such as positron emission tomography  (PET) scans and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Kaptchuk's team has shown with these technologies that placebo treatments affect the areas of the brain that modulate pain reception. It's those advances in "hard science, said one of Kaptchuk researchers, that have given placebo research legitimacy it never enjoyed before. "This new visibility"  has encouraged not only research funds but also interest from healthcare organisations and pharmaceutical companies. As private in the US run by healthcare companies increasingly reward doctors for maintaining patients health. 

7. What is meant by the phrase "the tide is turning"?

A. Doctors now believe in the existence of CRPS

B. Beneficial treatment is now more readily available

C. Recent investigations are indicating a cure is in sight

D. Possible reasons for the multitude of symptoms experienced. 

CRPS is a chronic pain condition that develops following trauma to a limb, such as surgery or a fracture. As Debbie learned, "this is a very controversial condition that not a lot of doctors understand", says Oaklander. "Historically, the field of medicine has been very sceptical of patients with CRPS. On top of their illness, patients have had  to navigate a medical system that is suspicious of them and hasn't had effective treatment to offer. It adds insult to injury. "But those who treat CRPS are hopeful the tide is turning. Recent atte3mpts to better comprehend CRPS have produced consensus guidelines for which patient outcomes should be included in future research, as well as internationally agreed upon diagnostic criteria. 

 

8. What is meant by one of the pillars in the paragraph?

A. An innovation that changed the healthcare industry

B. A permanent fixture in the field of medicine

C. An essential component of the medical system

D. A remedy that is among the greatest inventions.

Dr Keji Fukuda, WHO's assistant director-general for health security, said of the report's findings: "Effective antibiotics have been one of the pillars of recent generations, and unless we take significant actions, to improve efforts to prevent infections and change how we produce, prescribe and use antibiotics, the world will lose more and more of these global public health goods that allow us to live longer, healthier lives and the implications will be devastating. We're heading for a post-antibiotic era effectively wiping out what a marvel of modern medicine".

9. What does the phrase, "form the cornerstone" mean regarding BPD treatment?

A. Psychological therapies are generally the basis of treatment. 

B. There is more evidence for using mentalisation than dialectical behaviour therapy

C. Dialectical behaviour therapy is the optimum treatment for depression

D. In some unusual cases, prescribing medication is the preferred therapy

It is often difficult to tackle the topic of depression co-occurring with borderline personality disorder (BPD). People with BPD have, as part of the core disorder, a perturbation of affect associated with marked variability of mood. This can be very difficult for the patient to deal with and can feed self-injurious and other harmful behaviour. Use of mentalisation-based techniques is gaining support, and psychological treatments such as dialectical behaviour therapy form the cornerstone of care.  Use of medications tend to be secondary, and prescription needs to be judicious and carefully targeted at particular symptoms.

10.  What does the phrase "walked the walk" imply about physician leaders?

A. They have earned credibility through experience 

B. They have ascended the ranks of their workplace

C. They appropriately-incentivize employees.

D. They share the same concerns as other doctors.

What are the attributes of physician leaders that might account for tis association with enhanced organizational performance? When asked this question, Dr Toby Cosgrove, CEO of Cleveland, responded with hesitation, "credibility"... peer-to-peer credibility. In other words, when an outstanding physician heads a major hospital, it signals that they have "walked the walk". The Mayo website notes that it is physician-based because, "Havving spent their careers looking through a patient-focused lens, physicians  moving into executive positions might be expected to bring a patient-focused strategy.