The Respiratory System through the Ages

When a baby is born, it must convert from getting all of its oxygen through the placenta to absorbing oxygen through its lungs. This is a complicated process, involving many changes in both air and blood pressures in the baby’s lungs. For a baby born preterm (before 37 weeks gestation), the change is even harder. This is because the baby’s lungs may not yet be mature enough to cope with the transition. The major problem with a preterm baby’s lungs is a lack of something called ‘surfactant’. This is a substance produced by cells in the lungs which helps keep the air sacs, or alveoli, open. Without surfactant, the pressures in the lungs change and the smaller alveoli collapse.

This reduces the area across which oxygen and carbon dioxide can be exchanged, and not enough oxygen will be taken in. Normally, a fetus will begin producing surfactant from around 28-32 weeks gestation. When a baby is born before or around this age, it may not have enough surfactant to keep its lungs open. The baby may develop something called ‘Neonatal Respiratory Distress Syndrome’, or NRDS. Signs of NRDS include tachypnoea (very fast breathing), grunting, and cyanosis (blueness of the lips and tongue). Sometimes NRDS can be treated by giving the baby artificially made surfactant by a tube down into the baby’s lungs.

The normal process of ageing is associated with a number of changes in both the structure and function of the respiratory system. They include:

· Enlargement of the alveoli. The air spaces get bigger and lose their elasticity, meaning that there is less area for gases to be exchanged across. This change is sometimes referred to as ‘senile emphysema’.

· The compliance (or springiness) of the chest wall decreases, so that it takes more effort to breathe in and out. The strength of the respiratory muscles (the diaphragm and intercostal muscles) decreases. This change is closely connected to the general health of the person.

 

All of these changes mean that an older person might have more difficulty coping with increased stress on their respiratory system, such as with an infection like pneumonia, than a younger person would.

 

What is the main idea of the text? Is it expressed in the title of the text? Express in a word combination.

Read the first sentence of each abstract. What issues are mentioned in the text?

Divide the text into logical parts. Give the title to each part.

Underline key word (words) in each abstract.

Find key sentences in each abstract. How can they be shortened without changing the meaning?

Look through the list of the words. What words can you use for rendering?

 

Baby, mother, preterm, digestive system, surfactant, NRDS, collapse, marriage, ages, the strength of respiratory muscles, bony framework, enlargement of the alveoli, alveoli collapse

 

Choose several verbs from each abstract you can use for rendering.

Complete the conceptual map with key words from the text.

 

 

42. Using the concept map of the text and key words tell about the Respiratory System through the Ages using the following succession of the principal items of the plan and expressions:

The title of the article.

The article is headlined…

The headline of the article I have read is…