invaders. Um, but, as you say, the white cells can sometimes actually gobble up invaders. So the clever thing is that once the infection has attacked our body, the immune system seems to have a memory of the invader, so that the next time it sees the invader it can attack very quickly.
The immune system in the human body fights invading disease. Immunity occurs because the immune system can remember the chemical makeup of invading germs and attack them very quickly.
Presenter: There are some things which we're not naturally immune to and that's where vaccination comes in, isn't it?
Grime: Exactly. Vaccination plays on the body's ability to remember infection. So what happens is that someone is given a version of an illness, for instance, measles or polio, or tuberculosis, and the body thinks that it is actually being infected with that infection. And the next time it sees it, um, the body can respond very quickly. And all the troops of its immune system can come into play. Vaccination can be used to protect the body against specific infections.
Presenter: Now sometimes the immune system doesn't work very well, does it? Grime: No. It's a remarkably complex system. It's a very complicated system. And sometimes it can go wrong. Either it can be overactive, so it actually starts to attack our own body self, or it can be underactive sometimes, and we are more likely to be infected in that situation.
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Presenter: Are there any important illnesses which result from the immune system so that it's turning on our bodies themselves?
Grime: There are. And one example would be a disease like multiple-sclerosis, where the body's own immune system, we think, attacks the lining of nerves, which means that people's nerves don't work properly.
Presenter: We're able to assist the body in its fight against the illness in many cases, but there are some diseases which we don't seem to be able to produce a vaccine for. Um, AIDS is one of them. Why not?
Grime: Well, the problem is AIDS, which is caused by the HIV virus, is that HIV itself attacks the human immune system, which means that our normal defenses aren't there to fight off that infection, or indeed many other sorts of infection. The other problem with trying to produce a vaccine against HIV or AIDS is that the virus, HIV, can change itself so easily. Um, that's very difficult to find a vaccine which can recognize all the different types of HIV, which there are. So one vaccine may be effective against one type of the virus but it may absolutely be no good for another type.
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. HIV destroys the body's immune system, and puts the body at greater risk from other common infections.
Presenter: I was talking to Dr. Grime Easton of the Science In It about immunity. The reason why he, I, and I hope you, are able to remain as healthy as we are.
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Part IV More about the topic: The Circulatory System Supply the missing words.
Para. 1: parts, waste, body, needed, heart, defense, cells, invaders Para. 2: two, lungs, blood, back, arteries
Para. 3: walls, cell, heart, oxygen, blood, digestive, liver, heart
Part V Memory test: Hair
Now listen to this radio phone-in. Complete the following chart.
Caller’s name Problem Caller’s doctor’s opinion Solution Advice Jim Baillie losing hair nothing he can do about it; hereditary not a lot he can do about it; try to accept don’t comb it over; don’t wear any false hairpiece anything Tapescript:
Radio presenter: All right. Thank you for that call, Rosemary. We go now, I think,
to Glasgow and our next caller, er, Jim Baillie. Hello Jim. Jim: Hello?
Radio presenter: Hello Jim. What's your problem?
Jim: Er … well I'm er … beginning to lose my hair. Er, I went to the
doctor, but he just said there was nothing I can do about it. He said it was probably hereditary. My father was bald by the time he was thirty.
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Maurice: Hello, Jim. And how old are you?
Jim: Me. I'm twenty-eight.
Maurice: And are you losing a lot of hair, then?
Jim: Well, it comes out a lot when I comb my hair and you can see a thin part
on the top of my head.
Maurice: And does that really worry you, Jim?
Jim: Well. I don't like it. It's old … you know … looks old … I don't want to
look like a middle-aged man at twenty-eight. And I wondered if there was some special shampoo I should use … if you could tell me one that I should buy … something like that … you know … to stop it getting worse.
Maurice: Well, you know, Jim, to be honest with you there's not really a lot you can
do about it, actually, I'm afraid. I mean, baldness is one of those things that, in my experience, you just have to try to accept. Some men find it more difficult to accept baldness than others …
Tessa: There is one piece of advice, though, Jim, and that's don't try to comb your
hair over the bald or thin patch. Don't try to hide it. Whatever you do, don't comb it over because that usually looks ridiculous. And the other thing that usually looks ridiculous is a man with a wig. Don't let anyone persuade you to buy one of those false hairpiece things, because they usually look much
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worse than a bald man. I actually think bald men can look very attractive. My husband's bald and I think it really suits him.
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