full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Julian Burschka: Could a breathalyzer detect cancer?


Unscramble the Blue Letters


In addition to the volatile orgianc compounds like ethanol we counmse in food and drink, the biochemical processes of our cells produce many others. And when something disrupts those processes, like a disease, the collection of vlalitoe organic compounds in the breath may cgnahe, too. So could we detect deisase by analyzing a person’s breath, without using more invasive diagnostic tools like biopsies, blood draws, and radiation?

In theory, yes, but testing for disease is a lot more complicated than tstenig for alcohol. To iinefdty diseases, researchers need to look at a set of tens of compounds in the breath. A given disease may cause some of these cunmpdoos to increase or decrease in concentration, while others may not change— the profile is likely to be different for every disease, and could even vary for different stages of the same disease.

Open Cloze


In addition to the volatile _______ compounds like ethanol we _______ in food and drink, the biochemical processes of our cells produce many others. And when something disrupts those processes, like a disease, the collection of ________ organic compounds in the breath may ______, too. So could we detect _______ by analyzing a person’s breath, without using more invasive diagnostic tools like biopsies, blood draws, and radiation?

In theory, yes, but testing for disease is a lot more complicated than _______ for alcohol. To ________ diseases, researchers need to look at a set of tens of compounds in the breath. A given disease may cause some of these _________ to increase or decrease in concentration, while others may not change— the profile is likely to be different for every disease, and could even vary for different stages of the same disease.

Solution


  1. compounds
  2. change
  3. disease
  4. consume
  5. organic
  6. identify
  7. testing
  8. volatile

Original Text


In addition to the volatile organic compounds like ethanol we consume in food and drink, the biochemical processes of our cells produce many others. And when something disrupts those processes, like a disease, the collection of volatile organic compounds in the breath may change, too. So could we detect disease by analyzing a person’s breath, without using more invasive diagnostic tools like biopsies, blood draws, and radiation?

In theory, yes, but testing for disease is a lot more complicated than testing for alcohol. To identify diseases, researchers need to look at a set of tens of compounds in the breath. A given disease may cause some of these compounds to increase or decrease in concentration, while others may not change— the profile is likely to be different for every disease, and could even vary for different stages of the same disease.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
volatile organic 4
organic compounds 3
breath analysis 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
volatile organic compounds 3


Important Words


  1. addition
  2. alcohol
  3. analyzing
  4. biochemical
  5. biopsies
  6. blood
  7. breath
  8. cells
  9. change
  10. collection
  11. complicated
  12. compounds
  13. concentration
  14. consume
  15. decrease
  16. detect
  17. diagnostic
  18. disease
  19. diseases
  20. disrupts
  21. draws
  22. drink
  23. ethanol
  24. food
  25. identify
  26. increase
  27. invasive
  28. lot
  29. organic
  30. processes
  31. produce
  32. profile
  33. radiation
  34. researchers
  35. set
  36. stages
  37. tens
  38. testing
  39. theory
  40. tools
  41. vary
  42. volatile