108 年 國立臺灣大學生化科學系碩士班《專業英文（I）》

Part A. (32 pts, 8 pts for each) Read the following stories, and summarize precisely their center theme and provide at least 4 take-home messages per story to the readers.

1. Why Does Pain Hurt? Scientists Find the Neurons That Cause Our Aches. Pain can light up all regions of the body, making us feel bad. Scientists have now found the brain cells behind that agony (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2019/01/18/neurons-that-cause-pain-feel-bad/#.XEQ_z1wzY2w, accessed 1/2019).

A group of researchers have found the brain cells responsible for the emotional unpleasantness of pain - well, they've at least found them in mice. But the results, published in Science, could help scientists develop new treatments for chronic pain if that same cluster of cells exists in humans.

"While painful stimuli are detected by nerves," says Gregory Scherrer, one of the study's authors, in a press release, "this information doesn't mean anything emotionally until it reaches the brain. So we set out to find the cells in the brain that are behind the unpleasantness of pain."

Scherrer and his team, based at Stanford University, started by zeroing in on the amygdala, a part of the brain that's long been known to be key in regulating emotions. While exposing mice to a quick, painful stimulus - a drop of hot (but not scalding) water on one of their paws - the group, with the help of brain imaging, spotted some neurons that were more active than when the mice weren't dealing with any painful stimuli.

"But that really only tells you that those neurons were active at some point, and it's not specific enough," says Scherrer. "What we wanted was to look at the neurons of freely moving animals."

So they mounted a so-called miniscope, about the length of a paperclip, onto the rodents' heads. With these mobile microscopes tracking brain activity, the mice were free to wander their cages and encounter painful stimuli on their own. These stimuli included both uncomfortably hot and cold drops of water, neither of which were extreme enough in temperature to actually hurt the mice. When the critters came into contact with the drops, they withdrew. And the neurons the researchers had flagged earlier? They lit up again - a more concrete clue that pointed to these brain cells as the ones responsible for the unpleasantness the brain associates with pain.

To make sure this brain activity was actually linked to the negative emotions of pain and not just emotions in general, Scherrer and his team drilled down even more. This time, they gave the mice a sweet treat: sugar water. If those same neurons that lit up when the mice touched the hot and cold drops also lit up while the rodents were slurping away, then the team would know they were off-track. But the miniscopes showed nothing.

"After all of that, we concluded that this ensemble of neurons selectively responds during pain," Scherrer says. "But it still didn't fully demonstrate that they underpinned the emotional response."

One last test would help him and his team tie that emotional response to the neurons. They set up a surface divvied up into three invisible sections for the mice. One was uncomfortably hot, another uncomfortably cold and the last was a normal temperature. They let two different groups of mice explore this surface. One group was just a regular control group, but in the second group of mice, the scientists had muted the response of the amygdala neurons they'd flagged in previous portions of the study.

The control mice quickly realized which lane was a comfortable temperature and stuck to it. But the mice with the altered amygdalae, though they still reacted to the hot and cold lanes by pulling their paws away, quickly adjusted and walked about all of the lanes without preference. "Pain was just no longer unpleasant for them," Scherrer says.

And this distinction is an important one. If researchers can find this same cluster of cells in humans, it could help unlock new treatments for people suffering from chronic pain. "There's really no good treatment for chronic pain in humans," Scherrer says. "And that's a major driver of the opioid epidemic. But you'll notice, patients who take opioids for pain report that they can still feel the sensation of pain but say it's less bothersome. The emotions of pain are different."

2. Gut Bacteria Protects Against Food Allergies (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2019/01/18/gut-bacteria-food-allergies-microbiome/#.XERCN1wzY2w, accessed 1/2019).

In the study, Nagler and a team of researchers found that healthy infants have gut bacteria that prevents the development of food allergies. The researchers also pinpointed a species of gut bacteria that offers a protective effect against allergic reactions to food.

The finding came after the team transplanted gut microbes from babies - four with a cow's milk allergy, and four without - into mice via fecal samples. Mice that received microbes from babies without a cow's milk allergy didn't have an allergic reaction when exposed to the milk. But mice that received microbes from allergic babies experienced life-threatening anaphylaxis when exposed to cow's milk.

The mice included in the study were raised in a sterile, germ-free environment and were fed the same formula as the infants to ensure bacteria colonized properly. Because the mice had no bacteria of their own, they offered a "blank slate" that allowed researchers to study how microbiome composition can affect allergic responses.

The results of the experiment were clear: The microbiome plays a role in determining whether someone develops an allergic reaction to food, Nagler said.

"We showed that the microbiome alone can determine whether or not you get an allergic response," Nagler said.

The researchers identified a single bacteria species that protects a person from having an allergic reaction to food: Anaerostipes caccae, which belongs to a common class of bacteria known as Clostridia. In a previous study, Nagler and the research team observed that the presence of Clostridia in the gut prevented allergic reactions triggered by nuts. Nagler said the researchers were "overjoyed" to again observe Clostridia's role in allergy protection - this time to an entirely different food allergen.

The microbiome's defense mechanisms against food allergens are rooted in butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid produced by the bacteria. Butyrate, which is critical to a healthy microbial community, is currently the focus of new microbiome-based therapies that could treat many common food allergies.

"When you have this disordered microbiome... you're susceptible to allergic responses to all the food allergens," she said. "The drugs we're making should treat all the food allergies."

A treatment for food allergies perhaps can't come soon enough. Food allergies, once considered rare, now affect 15 million Americans, including 5.9 million children. That's 1 in 13 children, or roughly two in every classroom.

Because there is currently no treatment for food allergies, sufferers must strictly avoid the allergen, which can be difficult. Common food allergens - like milk, nuts, or soy - are everywhere. Exposure to food allergens can cause digestive problems, hives, and swollen airways. In severe cases, life-threatening anaphylaxis can strike. Once anaphylaxis has started, the sufferers' only hope may only be an epinephrine injection and timely medical intervention. Allergic reactions to food can be unpredictable - a food that triggered mild symptoms on one occasion may cause more severe symptoms in the future.

About 90 percent of allergic reactions come from just eight foods: Milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, fish, and shellfish. Although researchers don't know for sure why the world is becoming more allergic to food, they believe modern lifestyles have altered our internal bacterial communities. The paper says the "misuse of antibiotics, dietary changes, and higher rates of Caesarean birth and formula feeding" are some of the culprits that may be changing our microbiomes and fueling what could be considered a food allergy epidemic.

"The microbiome is the new frontier in science and medicine. We have at least as many microbes living in our bodies as we do cells, if not more. They control every aspect of our physiology and control our response to drugs. Understanding how they interact with us are going to be key to the medicines of the future," Nagler said.

3. Light-activated, Nano-sized Protein Factories Show Promise For Drug Delivery (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2012/08/13/light-activated-nano-sized-protein-factories-show-promise-for-d
   rug-delivery/#.XERFBlwzY2w, accessed 1/2019)

Some of the most exciting medical research these days involves light. Light therapy for cancer, in which a tumor-seeking dye
becomes toxic as soon as a light is switched on, manages to avoid slaughtering nearby healthy cells. Optogenetics-using light to
turn on or off the expression of neurons-has advanced researchers' understanding of neurological diseases.

Light might someday be used for exquisitely tailored drug delivery: tiny packages bearing all the molecular machinery to build a
protein are idle when injected into mice, but spring into action when exposed to UV light.

The nanoparticles are little envelopes of cellular membrane, wrapped around a basic set of protein-building machinery and the
gene for whatever you'd like manufactured--the researchers used a glowing fluorescent protein for their test. The gene can't be
accessed by the machinery because it is sealed into a loop by a piece of molecular adhesive, but shine a UV light on it, and the
adhesive unsticks. Then the machinery transcribes the gene, and the protein is expressed. The researchers found that when they
injected the particles into mice and turned on the UV light, the injection site glowed.

Though we're far from swapping drugs or medically helpful proteins into these remote-control nano-factories just yet, showing
that they can function in a live animal is an exciting advance.

4. Nanotech Breathalyzer Detects Telltale Signs of Lung Cancer (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/08/31/nanotech-breathalyzer-detects-telltale-signs-of-lung-cancer/,
   accessed 1/2019)

In a doctor's office in the near future, part of a smoker's routine checkup could involve blowing into a tube connected to a small
sensor. The doctor will look at the sensor's display and know immediately whether she has to deliver the grim diagnosis: lung
cancer. Researchers in Israel have invented a new "breathalyzer" that can detect chemical compounds produced by lung cancer
cells. The finished device should be portable and inexpensive and provide a faster, easier, and more sensitive way to screen for
tumors than X-rays or blood tests. Such screening should help doctors detect cancer early, when it's most treatable.

The new device, described in Nature Nanotechnology, is not the first to find evidence of cancer on a person's breath. Other
attempts to do this have yielded promising results, but those devices require a higher concentration of the telltale biomarker
chemicals than the Israeli device. The chemicals, called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are metabolic products present in the
vapors that we breathe out, but they occur in such small amounts that researchers have had to find ways to increase their
concentrations before testing. But the new sensor has such sensitivity that it can detect traces of the compound in their natural
concentrations in human breath, and it can therefore give results immediately, without processing and analyzing the sample in a
lab.

The sensor relies on a film of gold nanoparticles, which conducts electricity, layered over a carbon-based substrate. When a patient
breathes into the device, particulates in the breath accumulate on the carbon layer and the sensor swells pushing the gold
nanoparticles further apart, which, in turn, alters the resistance of the film. Each type of particulate has a unique effect on the
resistance which can be measured by having a current flow through the sensor. "The user gets a figure on the device's display
panel that indicates whether the person is healthy or has cancer", says lead researcher Hossam Haick.

Lung cancer kills 1.3 million people a year and is the leading cause of cancer death across the world. Only 15 percent of patients
live more than 5 years, in part because the disease is usually diagnosed so late. The new sensor was able to clearly differentiate
between healthy people and patients with stage-3 or stage-4 lung cancer, meaning that the disease had already progressed
significantly. The researchers note that the sensor would be of even greater medical value if it can pick out people in the earlier
stages of the disease.

Part B. (18 pts, 1.5 pt for each) Match the following drawings with the Chemical Lab Equipment in the below list (A to L). Write the letter for the drawing that matches in the blank.

5. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
6. [Image of an Erlenmeyer flask]
7. [Image of a beaker]
8. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
9. [Image of a buret]
10. [Image of a volumetric flask]
11. [Image of a funnel]
12. [Image of a volumetric pipet]
13. [Image of micropipettes]
14. [Image of gel electrophoresis apparatus]
15. [Image of a Bunsen burner]
16. [Image of spatulas]

(A) Micropipettes
(B) Volumetric flask
(C) Graduated cylinder
(D) Buret
(E) Graduated pipet
(F) Volumetric pipet
(G) Funnel
(H) Spatula
(I) Pipet filler
(J) Erlenmeyer flask
(K) Beaker
(L) Gel electrophoresis

Part B. (18 pts, 1.5 pt for each) Match the following drawings with the Chemical Lab Equipment in the below list (A to L). Write the letter for the drawing that matches in the blank.

5. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
6. [Image of an Erlenmeyer flask]
7. [Image of a beaker]
8. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
9. [Image of a buret]
10. [Image of a volumetric flask]
11. [Image of a funnel]
12. [Image of a volumetric pipet]
13. [Image of micropipettes]
14. [Image of gel electrophoresis apparatus]
15. [Image of a Bunsen burner]
16. [Image of spatulas]

(A) Micropipettes
(B) Volumetric flask
(C) Graduated cylinder
(D) Buret
(E) Graduated pipet
(F) Volumetric pipet
(G) Funnel
(H) Spatula
(I) Pipet filler
(J) Erlenmeyer flask
(K) Beaker
(L) Gel electrophoresis

Part B. (18 pts, 1.5 pt for each) Match the following drawings with the Chemical Lab Equipment in the below list (A to L). Write the letter for the drawing that matches in the blank.

5. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
6. [Image of an Erlenmeyer flask]
7. [Image of a beaker]
8. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
9. [Image of a buret]
10. [Image of a volumetric flask]
11. [Image of a funnel]
12. [Image of a volumetric pipet]
13. [Image of micropipettes]
14. [Image of gel electrophoresis apparatus]
15. [Image of a Bunsen burner]
16. [Image of spatulas]

(A) Micropipettes
(B) Volumetric flask
(C) Graduated cylinder
(D) Buret
(E) Graduated pipet
(F) Volumetric pipet
(G) Funnel
(H) Spatula
(I) Pipet filler
(J) Erlenmeyer flask
(K) Beaker
(L) Gel electrophoresis

Part B. (18 pts, 1.5 pt for each) Match the following drawings with the Chemical Lab Equipment in the below list (A to L). Write the letter for the drawing that matches in the blank.

5. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
6. [Image of an Erlenmeyer flask]
7. [Image of a beaker]
8. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
9. [Image of a buret]
10. [Image of a volumetric flask]
11. [Image of a funnel]
12. [Image of a volumetric pipet]
13. [Image of micropipettes]
14. [Image of gel electrophoresis apparatus]
15. [Image of a Bunsen burner]
16. [Image of spatulas]

(A) Micropipettes
(B) Volumetric flask
(C) Graduated cylinder
(D) Buret
(E) Graduated pipet
(F) Volumetric pipet
(G) Funnel
(H) Spatula
(I) Pipet filler
(J) Erlenmeyer flask
(K) Beaker
(L) Gel electrophoresis

Part B. (18 pts, 1.5 pt for each) Match the following drawings with the Chemical Lab Equipment in the below list (A to L). Write the letter for the drawing that matches in the blank.

5. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
6. [Image of an Erlenmeyer flask]
7. [Image of a beaker]
8. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
9. [Image of a buret]
10. [Image of a volumetric flask]
11. [Image of a funnel]
12. [Image of a volumetric pipet]
13. [Image of micropipettes]
14. [Image of gel electrophoresis apparatus]
15. [Image of a Bunsen burner]
16. [Image of spatulas]

(A) Micropipettes
(B) Volumetric flask
(C) Graduated cylinder
(D) Buret
(E) Graduated pipet
(F) Volumetric pipet
(G) Funnel
(H) Spatula
(I) Pipet filler
(J) Erlenmeyer flask
(K) Beaker
(L) Gel electrophoresis

Part B. (18 pts, 1.5 pt for each) Match the following drawings with the Chemical Lab Equipment in the below list (A to L). Write the letter for the drawing that matches in the blank.

5. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
6. [Image of an Erlenmeyer flask]
7. [Image of a beaker]
8. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
9. [Image of a buret]
10. [Image of a volumetric flask]
11. [Image of a funnel]
12. [Image of a volumetric pipet]
13. [Image of micropipettes]
14. [Image of gel electrophoresis apparatus]
15. [Image of a Bunsen burner]
16. [Image of spatulas]

(A) Micropipettes
(B) Volumetric flask
(C) Graduated cylinder
(D) Buret
(E) Graduated pipet
(F) Volumetric pipet
(G) Funnel
(H) Spatula
(I) Pipet filler
(J) Erlenmeyer flask
(K) Beaker
(L) Gel electrophoresis

Part B. (18 pts, 1.5 pt for each) Match the following drawings with the Chemical Lab Equipment in the below list (A to L). Write the letter for the drawing that matches in the blank.

5. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
6. [Image of an Erlenmeyer flask]
7. [Image of a beaker]
8. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
9. [Image of a buret]
10. [Image of a volumetric flask]
11. [Image of a funnel]
12. [Image of a volumetric pipet]
13. [Image of micropipettes]
14. [Image of gel electrophoresis apparatus]
15. [Image of a Bunsen burner]
16. [Image of spatulas]

(A) Micropipettes
(B) Volumetric flask
(C) Graduated cylinder
(D) Buret
(E) Graduated pipet
(F) Volumetric pipet
(G) Funnel
(H) Spatula
(I) Pipet filler
(J) Erlenmeyer flask
(K) Beaker
(L) Gel electrophoresis

Part B. (18 pts, 1.5 pt for each) Match the following drawings with the Chemical Lab Equipment in the below list (A to L). Write the letter for the drawing that matches in the blank.

5. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
6. [Image of an Erlenmeyer flask]
7. [Image of a beaker]
8. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
9. [Image of a buret]
10. [Image of a volumetric flask]
11. [Image of a funnel]
12. [Image of a volumetric pipet]
13. [Image of micropipettes]
14. [Image of gel electrophoresis apparatus]
15. [Image of a Bunsen burner]
16. [Image of spatulas]

(A) Micropipettes
(B) Volumetric flask
(C) Graduated cylinder
(D) Buret
(E) Graduated pipet
(F) Volumetric pipet
(G) Funnel
(H) Spatula
(I) Pipet filler
(J) Erlenmeyer flask
(K) Beaker
(L) Gel electrophoresis

Part B. (18 pts, 1.5 pt for each) Match the following drawings with the Chemical Lab Equipment in the below list (A to L). Write the letter for the drawing that matches in the blank.

5. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
6. [Image of an Erlenmeyer flask]
7. [Image of a beaker]
8. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
9. [Image of a buret]
10. [Image of a volumetric flask]
11. [Image of a funnel]
12. [Image of a volumetric pipet]
13. [Image of micropipettes]
14. [Image of gel electrophoresis apparatus]
15. [Image of a Bunsen burner]
16. [Image of spatulas]

(A) Micropipettes
(B) Volumetric flask
(C) Graduated cylinder
(D) Buret
(E) Graduated pipet
(F) Volumetric pipet
(G) Funnel
(H) Spatula
(I) Pipet filler
(J) Erlenmeyer flask
(K) Beaker
(L) Gel electrophoresis

Part B. (18 pts, 1.5 pt for each) Match the following drawings with the Chemical Lab Equipment in the below list (A to L). Write the letter for the drawing that matches in the blank.

5. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
6. [Image of an Erlenmeyer flask]
7. [Image of a beaker]
8. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
9. [Image of a buret]
10. [Image of a volumetric flask]
11. [Image of a funnel]
12. [Image of a volumetric pipet]
13. [Image of micropipettes]
14. [Image of gel electrophoresis apparatus]
15. [Image of a Bunsen burner]
16. [Image of spatulas]

(A) Micropipettes
(B) Volumetric flask
(C) Graduated cylinder
(D) Buret
(E) Graduated pipet
(F) Volumetric pipet
(G) Funnel
(H) Spatula
(I) Pipet filler
(J) Erlenmeyer flask
(K) Beaker
(L) Gel electrophoresis

Part B. (18 pts, 1.5 pt for each) Match the following drawings with the Chemical Lab Equipment in the below list (A to L). Write the letter for the drawing that matches in the blank.

5. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
6. [Image of an Erlenmeyer flask]
7. [Image of a beaker]
8. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
9. [Image of a buret]
10. [Image of a volumetric flask]
11. [Image of a funnel]
12. [Image of a volumetric pipet]
13. [Image of micropipettes]
14. [Image of gel electrophoresis apparatus]
15. [Image of a Bunsen burner]
16. [Image of spatulas]

(A) Micropipettes
(B) Volumetric flask
(C) Graduated cylinder
(D) Buret
(E) Graduated pipet
(F) Volumetric pipet
(G) Funnel
(H) Spatula
(I) Pipet filler
(J) Erlenmeyer flask
(K) Beaker
(L) Gel electrophoresis

Part B. (18 pts, 1.5 pt for each) Match the following drawings with the Chemical Lab Equipment in the below list (A to L). Write the letter for the drawing that matches in the blank.

5. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
6. [Image of an Erlenmeyer flask]
7. [Image of a beaker]
8. [Image of a graduated cylinder]
9. [Image of a buret]
10. [Image of a volumetric flask]
11. [Image of a funnel]
12. [Image of a volumetric pipet]
13. [Image of micropipettes]
14. [Image of gel electrophoresis apparatus]
15. [Image of a Bunsen burner]
16. [Image of spatulas]

(A) Micropipettes
(B) Volumetric flask
(C) Graduated cylinder
(D) Buret
(E) Graduated pipet
(F) Volumetric pipet
(G) Funnel
(H) Spatula
(I) Pipet filler
(J) Erlenmeyer flask
(K) Beaker
(L) Gel electrophoresis