TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Marco A. Sotomayor: The surprising reason you feel awful when you're sick

Unscramble the Blue Letters

It satrts with a tickle in your throat that becomes a cough. Your mucesls begin to ache, you grow irritable, and you lose your appetite. It's official: you've got the flu. It's logical to assume that this mbilrseae mdleey of sytmmops is the result of the infection crsnioug through your body, but is that really the case? What's actually making you feel sick? What if your body itself was driving this vicious onslaught? You first get ill when a pathogen like the flu virus gets into your system, infecting and killing your cells. But this unwelcome intrusion has another effect: it alerts your body's immune system to your plight. As soon as it becomes aware of infection, your body lpeas to your defense. Cells called macrophages charge in as the first line of attack, searching for and destroying the viruses and infected cells. Afterwards, the macrophages release protein molecules called cytokines whose job is to recruit and organize more virus-busting cells from your immune system. If this cadrteoonid effort is strong enough, it'll wipe out the infection before you even notice it. But that's just your body setting the scene for some real action. In some cases, viruses spread further, even into the bolod and vital onrgas. To avoid this sometimes dangerous fate, your immune system must launch a sgontrer attack, coordinating its activity with the brain. That's where those unpleasant symptoms come in, starting with the surging temperature, ahecs and pnais, and sleepiness. So why do we experience this? When the immune system is under serious attack, it secretes more cytokines, which trigger two responses. First, the vagus nerve, which runs through the body into the brain, quickly timrtasns the information to the brain stem, passing near an important area of pain poserscnig. Second, cytokines travel through the body to the hypothalamus, the part of the brain responsible for controlling temperature, thirst, hunger, and sleep, among other things. When it riveeecs this message, the hypothalamus produces another molecule called prostaglandin E2, which gears it up for war. The hypothalamus sends signals that instruct your muscles to contract and causes a rise in body temperature. It also makes you sepely, and you lose your appetite and trshit. But what's the point of all of these unsanlapet symptoms? Well, we're not yet sure, but some theorize that they aid in recovery. The rise in temperature can slow bacteria and help your immune system destroy pathogens. Sleep lets your body channel more eenrgy towards fighting infection. When you stop eating, your liver can take up much of the iron in your blood, and since iron is essential for bacterial survival, that effectively svteras them. Your reduced thirst makes you mildly dehydrated, dnisihiming transmission through sneezes, coughs, vomit, or diarrhea. Though it's worth noting that if you don't drink enough water, that dehydration can become dangerous. Even the body's aches make you more sensitive, drawing antotietn to icentefd cuts that might be worsening, or even causing your cindioton. In addition to physical symptoms, sickness can also make you irritable, sad, and confused. That's because ctieoynks and prostaglandin can raceh even higher structures in your brain, duisirntpg the aivtticy of neurotransmitters, like glutamate, endorphins, serotonin, and dapiomne. This affects areas like the limbic sseytm, which oversees emotions, and your cerebral cortex, which is involved in reasoning. So it's actually the body's own immnue response that causes much of the discomfort you feel every time you get ill. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work pcterlfey. Most notably, millions of ppeole wrlwidode suffer from autoimmune deiaesss, in which the immune system treats normal bdlioy cues as tahetrs, so the body attacks itself. But for the majority of the human race, moliilns of years of evolution have fine-tuned the immune system so that it works for, rather than against us. The symptoms of our illnesses are annoying, but ceevtilllcoy, they signify an ancient process that will continue barricading our bodies against the outside wolrd for cnieretus to come.

Open Cloze

It ______ with a tickle in your throat that becomes a cough. Your _______ begin to ache, you grow irritable, and you lose your appetite. It's official: you've got the flu. It's logical to assume that this _________ ______ of ________ is the result of the infection ________ through your body, but is that really the case? What's actually making you feel sick? What if your body itself was driving this vicious onslaught? You first get ill when a pathogen like the flu virus gets into your system, infecting and killing your cells. But this unwelcome intrusion has another effect: it alerts your body's immune system to your plight. As soon as it becomes aware of infection, your body _____ to your defense. Cells called macrophages charge in as the first line of attack, searching for and destroying the viruses and infected cells. Afterwards, the macrophages release protein molecules called cytokines whose job is to recruit and organize more virus-busting cells from your immune system. If this ___________ effort is strong enough, it'll wipe out the infection before you even notice it. But that's just your body setting the scene for some real action. In some cases, viruses spread further, even into the _____ and vital ______. To avoid this sometimes dangerous fate, your immune system must launch a ________ attack, coordinating its activity with the brain. That's where those unpleasant symptoms come in, starting with the surging temperature, _____ and _____, and sleepiness. So why do we experience this? When the immune system is under serious attack, it secretes more cytokines, which trigger two responses. First, the vagus nerve, which runs through the body into the brain, quickly _________ the information to the brain stem, passing near an important area of pain __________. Second, cytokines travel through the body to the hypothalamus, the part of the brain responsible for controlling temperature, thirst, hunger, and sleep, among other things. When it ________ this message, the hypothalamus produces another molecule called prostaglandin E2, which gears it up for war. The hypothalamus sends signals that instruct your muscles to contract and causes a rise in body temperature. It also makes you ______, and you lose your appetite and ______. But what's the point of all of these __________ symptoms? Well, we're not yet sure, but some theorize that they aid in recovery. The rise in temperature can slow bacteria and help your immune system destroy pathogens. Sleep lets your body channel more ______ towards fighting infection. When you stop eating, your liver can take up much of the iron in your blood, and since iron is essential for bacterial survival, that effectively _______ them. Your reduced thirst makes you mildly dehydrated, ___________ transmission through sneezes, coughs, vomit, or diarrhea. Though it's worth noting that if you don't drink enough water, that dehydration can become dangerous. Even the body's aches make you more sensitive, drawing _________ to ________ cuts that might be worsening, or even causing your _________. In addition to physical symptoms, sickness can also make you irritable, sad, and confused. That's because _________ and prostaglandin can _____ even higher structures in your brain, __________ the ________ of neurotransmitters, like glutamate, endorphins, serotonin, and ________. This affects areas like the limbic ______, which oversees emotions, and your cerebral cortex, which is involved in reasoning. So it's actually the body's own ______ response that causes much of the discomfort you feel every time you get ill. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work _________. Most notably, millions of ______ _________ suffer from autoimmune ________, in which the immune system treats normal ______ cues as _______, so the body attacks itself. But for the majority of the human race, ________ of years of evolution have fine-tuned the immune system so that it works for, rather than against us. The symptoms of our illnesses are annoying, but ____________, they signify an ancient process that will continue barricading our bodies against the outside _____ for _________ to come.

Solution

perfectly
diminishing
cytokines
medley
starts
disrupting
organs
system
reach
condition
activity
energy
collectively
people
transmits
coordinated
blood
infected
starves
coursing
worldwide
bodily
diseases
threats
aches
symptoms
sleepy
miserable
dopamine
receives
immune
muscles
pains
world
unpleasant
thirst
attention
stronger
leaps
processing
millions
centuries

Original Text

It starts with a tickle in your throat that becomes a cough. Your muscles begin to ache, you grow irritable, and you lose your appetite. It's official: you've got the flu. It's logical to assume that this miserable medley of symptoms is the result of the infection coursing through your body, but is that really the case? What's actually making you feel sick? What if your body itself was driving this vicious onslaught? You first get ill when a pathogen like the flu virus gets into your system, infecting and killing your cells. But this unwelcome intrusion has another effect: it alerts your body's immune system to your plight. As soon as it becomes aware of infection, your body leaps to your defense. Cells called macrophages charge in as the first line of attack, searching for and destroying the viruses and infected cells. Afterwards, the macrophages release protein molecules called cytokines whose job is to recruit and organize more virus-busting cells from your immune system. If this coordinated effort is strong enough, it'll wipe out the infection before you even notice it. But that's just your body setting the scene for some real action. In some cases, viruses spread further, even into the blood and vital organs. To avoid this sometimes dangerous fate, your immune system must launch a stronger attack, coordinating its activity with the brain. That's where those unpleasant symptoms come in, starting with the surging temperature, aches and pains, and sleepiness. So why do we experience this? When the immune system is under serious attack, it secretes more cytokines, which trigger two responses. First, the vagus nerve, which runs through the body into the brain, quickly transmits the information to the brain stem, passing near an important area of pain processing. Second, cytokines travel through the body to the hypothalamus, the part of the brain responsible for controlling temperature, thirst, hunger, and sleep, among other things. When it receives this message, the hypothalamus produces another molecule called prostaglandin E2, which gears it up for war. The hypothalamus sends signals that instruct your muscles to contract and causes a rise in body temperature. It also makes you sleepy, and you lose your appetite and thirst. But what's the point of all of these unpleasant symptoms? Well, we're not yet sure, but some theorize that they aid in recovery. The rise in temperature can slow bacteria and help your immune system destroy pathogens. Sleep lets your body channel more energy towards fighting infection. When you stop eating, your liver can take up much of the iron in your blood, and since iron is essential for bacterial survival, that effectively starves them. Your reduced thirst makes you mildly dehydrated, diminishing transmission through sneezes, coughs, vomit, or diarrhea. Though it's worth noting that if you don't drink enough water, that dehydration can become dangerous. Even the body's aches make you more sensitive, drawing attention to infected cuts that might be worsening, or even causing your condition. In addition to physical symptoms, sickness can also make you irritable, sad, and confused. That's because cytokines and prostaglandin can reach even higher structures in your brain, disrupting the activity of neurotransmitters, like glutamate, endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine. This affects areas like the limbic system, which oversees emotions, and your cerebral cortex, which is involved in reasoning. So it's actually the body's own immune response that causes much of the discomfort you feel every time you get ill. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work perfectly. Most notably, millions of people worldwide suffer from autoimmune diseases, in which the immune system treats normal bodily cues as threats, so the body attacks itself. But for the majority of the human race, millions of years of evolution have fine-tuned the immune system so that it works for, rather than against us. The symptoms of our illnesses are annoying, but collectively, they signify an ancient process that will continue barricading our bodies against the outside world for centuries to come.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
immune system	7

Important Words

ache
aches
action
activity
addition
affects
aid
alerts
ancient
annoying
appetite
area
areas
assume
attack
attacks
attention
autoimmune
avoid
aware
bacteria
bacterial
barricading
blood
bodies
bodily
body
brain
called
case
cases
causing
cells
centuries
cerebral
channel
charge
collectively
condition
confused
continue
contract
controlling
coordinated
coordinating
cortex
cough
coughs
coursing
cues
cuts
cytokines
dangerous
defense
dehydrated
dehydration
destroy
destroying
diarrhea
diminishing
discomfort
diseases
disrupting
dopamine
drawing
drink
driving
eating
effectively
effort
emotions
endorphins
energy
essential
evolution
experience
fate
feel
fighting
flu
gears
glutamate
grow
higher
human
hunger
hypothalamus
ill
illnesses
immune
important
infected
infecting
infection
information
instruct
intrusion
involved
iron
irritable
job
killing
launch
leaps
lets
limbic
line
liver
logical
lose
macrophages
majority
making
medley
message
mildly
millions
miserable
molecule
molecules
muscles
nerve
neurotransmitters
normal
notably
notice
noting
onslaught
organize
organs
oversees
pain
pains
part
passing
pathogen
pathogens
people
perfectly
physical
plight
point
process
processing
produces
prostaglandin
protein
quickly
race
reach
real
reasoning
receives
recovery
recruit
reduced
release
response
responses
responsible
result
rise
runs
sad
scene
searching
secretes
sends
sensitive
serotonin
setting
sick
sickness
signals
signify
sleep
sleepiness
sleepy
slow
sneezes
spread
starting
starts
starves
stem
stop
strong
stronger
structures
suffer
surging
survival
symptoms
system
temperature
theorize
thirst
threats
throat
tickle
time
transmission
transmits
travel
treats
trigger
unpleasant
unwelcome
vagus
vicious
virus
viruses
vital
vomit
war
water
wipe
work
works
world
worldwide
worsening
worth
years