TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Céline Valéry: How does your body process medicine?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Have you ever wondered what happens to a painkiller, like ibuprofen, after you swallow it? Medicine that slides down your throat can help treat a headache, a sore back, or a throbbing sprained ankle. But how does it get where it needs to go in the first place? The answer is that it hitches a ride in your circulatory blood stream, cycling through your body in a race to do its job before it's snared by organs and molecules designed to nltzruaiee and expel foreign scutsanebs. This process starts in your digestive system. Say you swallow an ibuprofen tablet for a sore ankle. Within minutes, the tbelat starts dtasitniingreg in the acidic fluids of your stmaoch. The dissloved ifeuopbrn travels into the small intestine and then across the intestinal wall into a network of blood vseelss. These blood vessels feed into a vein, which carries the blood, and anything in it, to the lvier. The next step is to make it through the liver. As the blood and the drug molecules in it travel through liver blood vessels, enzymes attempt to react with the ibuprofen molecules to neutralize them. The damaged ibuprofen molecules, called metabolites, may no lnoegr be effective as painkillers. At this stage, most of the ibuprofen makes it through the liver unscathed. It ctuoienns its journey out of the liver, through veins, into the body's circulatory system. Half an hour after you saolwlw the pill, some of the dose has already made it into the circulatory blood stream. This blood loop tvlreas through every limb and organ, inlcnduig the heart, brain, kidneys, and back through the liver. When ibuprofen molecules encounter a litaoocn where the body's pain response is in full swing, they bind to specific target molecules that are a part of that reaction. Painkillers, like ibuprofen, block the puritocdon of compounds that help the body transmit pain signals. As more drug molecules accumulate, the pain-cancelling affect increases, reaching a maximum within about one or two hours. Then the body starts efficiently eliminating ibuprofen, with the blood dose drinscaeeg by half every two hours on average. When the ibuprofen molecules detach from their targets, the systemic blood stream crearis them away again. Back in the liver, another small fraction of the total amount of the drug gets tfmesrarnod into metabolites, which are eventually fetilerd out by the kidneys in the urine. The loop from liver to body to kidneys continues at a rate of about one blood cycle per minute, with a little more of the drug niaezrueltd and filtered out in each cycle. These basic steps are the same for any drug that you take orally, but the speed of the process and the amount of miceinde that makes it into your boold stream varies based on drug, psroen, and how it gets into the body. The dosing instructions on medicine labels can help, but they're averages based on a sample ptpooauiln that doesn't represent every consumer. And getting the dose right is iopamrtnt. If it's too low, the medicine won't do its job. If it's too high, the drug and its metabolites can be toxic. That's true of any drug. One of the hardest groups of patients to get the right dosage for are children. That's because how they process medicine changes quickly, as do their bodies. For instance, the level of liver enzymes that neutralize mdeaiitocn highly fluctuates during ifncnay and cohdlhoid. And that's just one of many complicating factors. Genetics, age, diet, disease, and even pregnancy influence the body's efficiency of perssonicg medicine. Some day, routine DNA tests may be able to dial in the precise dose of medicine peloszarenid to your liver efficiency and other frcotas, but in the meantime, your best bet is reading the leabl or cstunionlg your doctor or pharmacist, and taking the rnmmeedceod amounts with the recommended timing.

Open Cloze

Have you ever wondered what happens to a painkiller, like ibuprofen, after you swallow it? Medicine that slides down your throat can help treat a headache, a sore back, or a throbbing sprained ankle. But how does it get where it needs to go in the first place? The answer is that it hitches a ride in your circulatory blood stream, cycling through your body in a race to do its job before it's snared by organs and molecules designed to __________ and expel foreign __________. This process starts in your digestive system. Say you swallow an ibuprofen tablet for a sore ankle. Within minutes, the ______ starts ______________ in the acidic fluids of your _______. The _________ _________ travels into the small intestine and then across the intestinal wall into a network of blood _______. These blood vessels feed into a vein, which carries the blood, and anything in it, to the _____. The next step is to make it through the liver. As the blood and the drug molecules in it travel through liver blood vessels, enzymes attempt to react with the ibuprofen molecules to neutralize them. The damaged ibuprofen molecules, called metabolites, may no ______ be effective as painkillers. At this stage, most of the ibuprofen makes it through the liver unscathed. It _________ its journey out of the liver, through veins, into the body's circulatory system. Half an hour after you _______ the pill, some of the dose has already made it into the circulatory blood stream. This blood loop _______ through every limb and organ, _________ the heart, brain, kidneys, and back through the liver. When ibuprofen molecules encounter a ________ where the body's pain response is in full swing, they bind to specific target molecules that are a part of that reaction. Painkillers, like ibuprofen, block the __________ of compounds that help the body transmit pain signals. As more drug molecules accumulate, the pain-cancelling affect increases, reaching a maximum within about one or two hours. Then the body starts efficiently eliminating ibuprofen, with the blood dose __________ by half every two hours on average. When the ibuprofen molecules detach from their targets, the systemic blood stream _______ them away again. Back in the liver, another small fraction of the total amount of the drug gets ___________ into metabolites, which are eventually ________ out by the kidneys in the urine. The loop from liver to body to kidneys continues at a rate of about one blood cycle per minute, with a little more of the drug ___________ and filtered out in each cycle. These basic steps are the same for any drug that you take orally, but the speed of the process and the amount of ________ that makes it into your _____ stream varies based on drug, ______, and how it gets into the body. The dosing instructions on medicine labels can help, but they're averages based on a sample __________ that doesn't represent every consumer. And getting the dose right is _________. If it's too low, the medicine won't do its job. If it's too high, the drug and its metabolites can be toxic. That's true of any drug. One of the hardest groups of patients to get the right dosage for are children. That's because how they process medicine changes quickly, as do their bodies. For instance, the level of liver enzymes that neutralize __________ highly fluctuates during _______ and _________. And that's just one of many complicating factors. Genetics, age, diet, disease, and even pregnancy influence the body's efficiency of __________ medicine. Some day, routine DNA tests may be able to dial in the precise dose of medicine ____________ to your liver efficiency and other _______, but in the meantime, your best bet is reading the _____ or __________ your doctor or pharmacist, and taking the ___________ amounts with the recommended timing.

Solution

travels
medication
transformed
dissolved
infancy
disintegrating
personalized
ibuprofen
decreasing
consulting
processing
important
longer
neutralize
factors
carries
filtered
including
liver
location
recommended
population
blood
swallow
production
tablet
substances
childhood
label
vessels
medicine
person
neutralized
stomach
continues

Original Text

Have you ever wondered what happens to a painkiller, like ibuprofen, after you swallow it? Medicine that slides down your throat can help treat a headache, a sore back, or a throbbing sprained ankle. But how does it get where it needs to go in the first place? The answer is that it hitches a ride in your circulatory blood stream, cycling through your body in a race to do its job before it's snared by organs and molecules designed to neutralize and expel foreign substances. This process starts in your digestive system. Say you swallow an ibuprofen tablet for a sore ankle. Within minutes, the tablet starts disintegrating in the acidic fluids of your stomach. The dissolved ibuprofen travels into the small intestine and then across the intestinal wall into a network of blood vessels. These blood vessels feed into a vein, which carries the blood, and anything in it, to the liver. The next step is to make it through the liver. As the blood and the drug molecules in it travel through liver blood vessels, enzymes attempt to react with the ibuprofen molecules to neutralize them. The damaged ibuprofen molecules, called metabolites, may no longer be effective as painkillers. At this stage, most of the ibuprofen makes it through the liver unscathed. It continues its journey out of the liver, through veins, into the body's circulatory system. Half an hour after you swallow the pill, some of the dose has already made it into the circulatory blood stream. This blood loop travels through every limb and organ, including the heart, brain, kidneys, and back through the liver. When ibuprofen molecules encounter a location where the body's pain response is in full swing, they bind to specific target molecules that are a part of that reaction. Painkillers, like ibuprofen, block the production of compounds that help the body transmit pain signals. As more drug molecules accumulate, the pain-cancelling affect increases, reaching a maximum within about one or two hours. Then the body starts efficiently eliminating ibuprofen, with the blood dose decreasing by half every two hours on average. When the ibuprofen molecules detach from their targets, the systemic blood stream carries them away again. Back in the liver, another small fraction of the total amount of the drug gets transformed into metabolites, which are eventually filtered out by the kidneys in the urine. The loop from liver to body to kidneys continues at a rate of about one blood cycle per minute, with a little more of the drug neutralized and filtered out in each cycle. These basic steps are the same for any drug that you take orally, but the speed of the process and the amount of medicine that makes it into your blood stream varies based on drug, person, and how it gets into the body. The dosing instructions on medicine labels can help, but they're averages based on a sample population that doesn't represent every consumer. And getting the dose right is important. If it's too low, the medicine won't do its job. If it's too high, the drug and its metabolites can be toxic. That's true of any drug. One of the hardest groups of patients to get the right dosage for are children. That's because how they process medicine changes quickly, as do their bodies. For instance, the level of liver enzymes that neutralize medication highly fluctuates during infancy and childhood. And that's just one of many complicating factors. Genetics, age, diet, disease, and even pregnancy influence the body's efficiency of processing medicine. Some day, routine DNA tests may be able to dial in the precise dose of medicine personalized to your liver efficiency and other factors, but in the meantime, your best bet is reading the label or consulting your doctor or pharmacist, and taking the recommended amounts with the recommended timing.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
ibuprofen molecules	3
blood stream	3
circulatory blood	2
blood vessels	2
drug molecules	2

Important Words

accumulate
acidic
affect
age
amount
amounts
ankle
answer
attempt
average
averages
based
basic
bet
bind
block
blood
bodies
body
brain
called
carries
childhood
children
circulatory
complicating
compounds
consulting
consumer
continues
cycle
cycling
damaged
day
decreasing
designed
detach
dial
diet
digestive
disease
disintegrating
dissolved
dna
doctor
dosage
dose
dosing
drug
effective
efficiency
efficiently
eliminating
encounter
enzymes
eventually
expel
factors
feed
filtered
fluctuates
fluids
foreign
fraction
full
genetics
groups
hardest
headache
heart
high
highly
hitches
hour
hours
ibuprofen
important
including
increases
infancy
influence
instance
instructions
intestinal
intestine
job
journey
kidneys
label
labels
level
limb
liver
location
longer
loop
maximum
medication
medicine
metabolites
minute
minutes
molecules
network
neutralize
neutralized
orally
organ
organs
pain
painkiller
painkillers
part
patients
person
personalized
pharmacist
pill
place
population
precise
pregnancy
process
processing
production
quickly
race
rate
reaching
react
reaction
reading
recommended
represent
response
ride
routine
sample
signals
slides
small
snared
sore
specific
speed
sprained
stage
starts
step
steps
stomach
stream
substances
swallow
swing
system
systemic
tablet
target
targets
tests
throat
throbbing
timing
total
toxic
transformed
transmit
travel
travels
treat
true
unscathed
urine
varies
vein
veins
vessels
wall
wondered