TedTest

From the Ted Talk by George Zaidan and Charles Morton: How do cancer cells behave differently from healthy ones?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

We all satrt life as one slnige cell. Then that cell divides and we are two clels, then four, then eight. Cells form tissues, tissues form organs, organs form us. These cell diniosivs, by which we go from a single cell to 100 trillion cells, are claled growth. And growth seems like a spimle thing because when we think of it, we typically think of someone getting taller or, later in life, wider, but to cells, growth isn't simple. Cell division is an intricate chemical dance that's part individual, part community-driven. And in a neighborhood of 100 trillion cells, some tiems things go wrong. Maybe an individual cell's set of instructions, or DNA, gets a typo, what we call a mutation. Most of the time, the cell senses mistakes and suths itself down, or the ssyetm detctes a troublemaker and eliminates it. But, enough mutations can bypass the fail-safes, driving the cell to divide recklessly. That one rogue cell becomes two, then four, then eight. At every stage, the icceorrnt instructions are passed along to the cells' orifpsfng. Weeks, mtnohs, or years after that one rogue cell transformed, you might see your doctor about a lump in your breast. Difficulty going to the bathroom could reveal a problem in your intestine, prsttoae, or bladder. Or, a routine blood test might count too many white cells or elevated lvier enzymes. Your doctor delivers the bad news: it's cancer. From here your strategy will depend on where the cancer is and how far it's psesrgreod. If the tumor is slow-growing and in one place, surgery might be all you need, if anything. If the tumor is fast-growing or idvinnag nearby tissue, your doctor might recommend ratodiain or srgruey followed by radiation. If the cancer has spread, or if it's inherently everywhere like a leekiuma, your dootcr will most likely recommend chemotherapy or a combination of radiation and chemo. Radiation and most forms of chemo work by physically shredding the cells' DNA or drtniuspig the copying machinery. But neither radiation nor chemotherapeutic drugs target only ccaner cells. Radiation hits whatever you point it at, and your blood stream carries chemo-therapeutics all over your body. So, what happens when different cells get hit? Let's look at a healthy liver cell, a healthy hair cell, and a cancerous cell. The healthy liver cell divides only when it is stressed; the healthy hair cell divides frequently; and the cancer cell divides even more frequently and rcesslleky. When you take a chemotherapeutic drug, it will hit all of these cells. And remmeber that the drugs work tlclpyiay by disrupting cell division. So, every time a cell divides, it opens itself up to attack, and that means the more frequently a cell divides, the more likely the drug is to kill it. So, remember that hair cell? It divides frequently and isn't a teahrt. And, there are other frequently dividing cells in your body like skin cells, gut cells, and blood cells. So the list of unpleasant side effects of cancer treatment plralelas these tissue types: hair loss, skin rashes, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, weight loss, and pain. That makes sense because these are the cells that get hit the hardest. So, in the end, it is all about growth. Cancer hijacks cells' natural division machinery and forces them to put the pedal to the metal, growing rapidly and recklessly. But, using cpuhaoemeehrtitc dgurs, we take agatadvne of that aggressiveness, and we turn cancer's main strength into a weakness.

Open Cloze

We all _____ life as one ______ cell. Then that cell divides and we are two _____, then four, then eight. Cells form tissues, tissues form organs, organs form us. These cell _________, by which we go from a single cell to 100 trillion cells, are ______ growth. And growth seems like a ______ thing because when we think of it, we typically think of someone getting taller or, later in life, wider, but to cells, growth isn't simple. Cell division is an intricate chemical dance that's part individual, part community-driven. And in a neighborhood of 100 trillion cells, some _____ things go wrong. Maybe an individual cell's set of instructions, or DNA, gets a typo, what we call a mutation. Most of the time, the cell senses mistakes and _____ itself down, or the ______ _______ a troublemaker and eliminates it. But, enough mutations can bypass the fail-safes, driving the cell to divide recklessly. That one rogue cell becomes two, then four, then eight. At every stage, the _________ instructions are passed along to the cells' _________. Weeks, ______, or years after that one rogue cell transformed, you might see your doctor about a lump in your breast. Difficulty going to the bathroom could reveal a problem in your intestine, ________, or bladder. Or, a routine blood test might count too many white cells or elevated _____ enzymes. Your doctor delivers the bad news: it's cancer. From here your strategy will depend on where the cancer is and how far it's __________. If the tumor is slow-growing and in one place, surgery might be all you need, if anything. If the tumor is fast-growing or ________ nearby tissue, your doctor might recommend _________ or _______ followed by radiation. If the cancer has spread, or if it's inherently everywhere like a ________, your ______ will most likely recommend chemotherapy or a combination of radiation and chemo. Radiation and most forms of chemo work by physically shredding the cells' DNA or __________ the copying machinery. But neither radiation nor chemotherapeutic drugs target only ______ cells. Radiation hits whatever you point it at, and your blood stream carries chemo-therapeutics all over your body. So, what happens when different cells get hit? Let's look at a healthy liver cell, a healthy hair cell, and a cancerous cell. The healthy liver cell divides only when it is stressed; the healthy hair cell divides frequently; and the cancer cell divides even more frequently and __________. When you take a chemotherapeutic drug, it will hit all of these cells. And ________ that the drugs work _________ by disrupting cell division. So, every time a cell divides, it opens itself up to attack, and that means the more frequently a cell divides, the more likely the drug is to kill it. So, remember that hair cell? It divides frequently and isn't a ______. And, there are other frequently dividing cells in your body like skin cells, gut cells, and blood cells. So the list of unpleasant side effects of cancer treatment _________ these tissue types: hair loss, skin rashes, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, weight loss, and pain. That makes sense because these are the cells that get hit the hardest. So, in the end, it is all about growth. Cancer hijacks cells' natural division machinery and forces them to put the pedal to the metal, growing rapidly and recklessly. But, using ________________ _____, we take _________ of that aggressiveness, and we turn cancer's main strength into a weakness.

Solution

surgery
months
cells
shuts
remember
times
recklessly
progressed
disrupting
detects
system
doctor
leukemia
threat
radiation
prostate
start
cancer
parallels
drugs
called
advantage
chemotherapeutic
invading
incorrect
offspring
divisions
simple
typically
single
liver

Original Text

We all start life as one single cell. Then that cell divides and we are two cells, then four, then eight. Cells form tissues, tissues form organs, organs form us. These cell divisions, by which we go from a single cell to 100 trillion cells, are called growth. And growth seems like a simple thing because when we think of it, we typically think of someone getting taller or, later in life, wider, but to cells, growth isn't simple. Cell division is an intricate chemical dance that's part individual, part community-driven. And in a neighborhood of 100 trillion cells, some times things go wrong. Maybe an individual cell's set of instructions, or DNA, gets a typo, what we call a mutation. Most of the time, the cell senses mistakes and shuts itself down, or the system detects a troublemaker and eliminates it. But, enough mutations can bypass the fail-safes, driving the cell to divide recklessly. That one rogue cell becomes two, then four, then eight. At every stage, the incorrect instructions are passed along to the cells' offspring. Weeks, months, or years after that one rogue cell transformed, you might see your doctor about a lump in your breast. Difficulty going to the bathroom could reveal a problem in your intestine, prostate, or bladder. Or, a routine blood test might count too many white cells or elevated liver enzymes. Your doctor delivers the bad news: it's cancer. From here your strategy will depend on where the cancer is and how far it's progressed. If the tumor is slow-growing and in one place, surgery might be all you need, if anything. If the tumor is fast-growing or invading nearby tissue, your doctor might recommend radiation or surgery followed by radiation. If the cancer has spread, or if it's inherently everywhere like a leukemia, your doctor will most likely recommend chemotherapy or a combination of radiation and chemo. Radiation and most forms of chemo work by physically shredding the cells' DNA or disrupting the copying machinery. But neither radiation nor chemotherapeutic drugs target only cancer cells. Radiation hits whatever you point it at, and your blood stream carries chemo-therapeutics all over your body. So, what happens when different cells get hit? Let's look at a healthy liver cell, a healthy hair cell, and a cancerous cell. The healthy liver cell divides only when it is stressed; the healthy hair cell divides frequently; and the cancer cell divides even more frequently and recklessly. When you take a chemotherapeutic drug, it will hit all of these cells. And remember that the drugs work typically by disrupting cell division. So, every time a cell divides, it opens itself up to attack, and that means the more frequently a cell divides, the more likely the drug is to kill it. So, remember that hair cell? It divides frequently and isn't a threat. And, there are other frequently dividing cells in your body like skin cells, gut cells, and blood cells. So the list of unpleasant side effects of cancer treatment parallels these tissue types: hair loss, skin rashes, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, weight loss, and pain. That makes sense because these are the cells that get hit the hardest. So, in the end, it is all about growth. Cancer hijacks cells' natural division machinery and forces them to put the pedal to the metal, growing rapidly and recklessly. But, using chemotherapeutic drugs, we take advantage of that aggressiveness, and we turn cancer's main strength into a weakness.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
cell divides	4
single cell	2
cell division	2
rogue cell	2
healthy liver	2
healthy hair	2

Important Words

advantage
aggressiveness
attack
bad
bathroom
bladder
blood
body
breast
bypass
call
called
cancer
cancerous
carries
cell
cells
chemical
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dividing
division
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dna
doctor
driving
drug
drugs
effects
elevated
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enzymes
fatigue
forces
form
forms
frequently
growing
growth
gut
hair
hardest
healthy
hijacks
hit
hits
incorrect
individual
inherently
instructions
intestine
intricate
invading
kill
leukemia
life
list
liver
loss
lump
machinery
main
means
metal
mistakes
months
mutation
mutations
natural
nausea
nearby
neighborhood
offspring
opens
organs
pain
parallels
part
passed
pedal
physically
place
point
problem
progressed
prostate
put
radiation
rapidly
rashes
recklessly
recommend
remember
reveal
rogue
routine
sense
senses
set
shredding
shuts
side
simple
single
skin
spread
stage
start
strategy
stream
strength
surgery
system
taller
target
test
threat
time
times
tissue
tissues
transformed
treatment
trillion
troublemaker
tumor
turn
typically
typo
unpleasant
vomiting
weakness
weeks
weight
white
wider
work
wrong
years