Questões de Concursos Vocabulário Vocabulary

Text1

Autism's Drug Problem

Many people on the spectrum take multiple medications, which can lead to serious side effects and may not even be effective

Connor was diagnosed with autism early — when he was just 18 months old. His condition was already obvious by then. “He was lining things up, switching lights on and off, on and off,” says his mother, Melissa. He was bright, but he didn’t speak much until age 3, and he was easily frustrated. Once he started school, he couldn’t sit still in class, called out answers without raising his hand and got visibly upset when he couldn’t master a math concept or a handwriting task quickly enough. “One time, he rolled himself up into the carpet like a burrito and wouldn’t come out until I got there,” Melissa recalls. (All families in this story are identified by first name only, to protect their privacy.)
Connor was prescribed his first psychiatric drug, methylphenidate (Ritalin), at age 6. That didn’t last long, but when he was 7, his parents tried again. A psychiatrist suggested a low dose of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine (Adderall), a stimulant commonly used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The drug seemed to improve his time at school: He was able to sit still for longer periods of time and focus on what his teachers were saying. His chicken-scratch handwriting became legible. Then, it became neat. Then perfect. And then it became something Connor began to obsess over.
“We were told that these are the gives and takes; if it’s helping him enough to get through school, you have to decide if it’s worth it,” Melissa says. It was worth it — for a while.
But when the Adderall wore off each day, Connor had a tougher time than ever. He spent afternoons crying and refusing to do much of anything. The stimulant made it difficult for him to fall asleep at night. So after a month or two, his psychiatrist added a second medication — guanfacine (Intuniv), which is commonly prescribed for ADHD, anxiety and hypertension, but can also help with insomnia. The psychiatrist hoped it might both ease Connor’s afternoons and help him sleep.
In some ways, it had the opposite effect. His afternoons did get slightly better, but Connor developed intense mood swings and was so irritable that every evening was a struggle. Rather than simply tossing and turning in bed, he refused to even get under the covers. “He wouldn’t go to bed because he was always angry about something,” Melissa says. “He was getting himself all wound up, carrying on, getting upset at night and crying.”
wound up, carrying on, getting upset at night and crying.” After seven months, his parents declared the combination unsustainable. They swapped guanfacine for over-the-counter melatonin, which helped Connor fall asleep with no noticeable side effects. But within a year, he had acquired a tolerance for Adderall. Connor’s psychiatrist increased his dosage and that, in turn, triggered tics: Connor began jerking his head and snorting. Finally, at his 9-year physical, his doctor discovered that he’d only grown a few inches since age 7. He also hadn’t gained any weight in two years; he’d dropped from the 50th percentile in weight to the 5th. That was the end of all the experiments. His parents took him off all prescription drugs, and today, at almost 13 years old, Connor is still medication-free. His tics have mostly disappeared. Although he has trouble maintaining focus in class, his mother says that the risk-benefit ratio of trying another drug doesn’t seem worth it. “Right now we’re able to handle life without it, so we do.”
(...)
For Connor, eliminating prescription drugs was difficult, but doable. For others, multiple medications may seem indispensable. It’s not unusual for children with autism to take two, three, even four medications at once. Many adults with the condition do so, too. Data are scant in both populations, but what little information there is suggests multiple prescriptions are even more common among adults with autism than in children. Clinicians are particularly concerned about children with the condition because psychiatric medications can have long-lasting effects on their developing brains, and yet are rarely tested in children.
In general, polypharmacy — most often defined as taking more than one prescription medication at once — is commonplace in people with autism. In one study of more than 33,000 people under age 21 with the condition, at least 35 percent had taken two psychotropic medications simultaneously; 15 percent had taken three.
“Psychotropic medications are used pretty extensively in people with autism because there aren’t a lot of treatments available,” says Lisa Croen, director of the Autism Research Program at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California. “Is heavy drug use bad? That’s the question. We don’t know; it hasn’t been studied.”

Disponível em: <https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/autisms-drug-problem/>. Texto adaptado.

Read text I to answer the question.

TEXT I

Teachers in the Movement: Pedagogy, Activism, and Freedom

In this year's Presidential Address, historian Derrick P. Alridge __________ his current research project, Teachers in the Movement: Pedagogy, Activism, and Freedom. The project builds on recent literature about teachers as activists be tween 1950 and 1980 and explores how and what secondary and postsecondary teachers taught. Focusing on teachers in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, the project investigates teachers' roles as agents of social change through teaching the ideals of freedom during the most significant social movement in the United States in the twentieth century. Drawing on oral history and archival research, the project plans to produce five hundred videotaped interviews that will generate extensive firsthand knowledge and fresh perspectives about teachers in the civil rights move ment. By examining teachers' pedagogical activism during this period of rapid social change, Alridge hopes to inspire and inform educators teaching in the midst of today's freedom and social justice movements.

(Disponível em: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1255911)

O texto seguinte servirá de base para responder à questão.

Vianden Castle History

(1º§) The rocky outcrop above the modern town of Vianden was first fortified in late antiquity. Excavations at the foot of the castle chapel in 1994 led to the discovery that parts of the crumbling masonry of the Late Antique tower must have existed in Merovingian times and that this square building, the only surviving structure from the period known as Late Antiquity, was incorporated into the first medieval castle.

(2º§) The first fortification was built at the beginning of Late Antiquity on the castle hill at an ancient crossroads, where a branch of the great Roman road Reims-Cologne through the Ardennes and the valley of Our led to the valley of the Sauer and through Echternach to Bitburg and Trier, at that time a thriving metropolis.

(3º§) After the Vianden fort was abandoned around 430/440 AD, the Roman Tower seems to have been sufficiently usable to remain a decisive element in the subsequent periods of castle building up to the High Middle Ages.

(4º§) The first medieval fortification was erected on the rocky spur overlooking Vianden around the year 1000. The main part of this fortification consisted of an oval ring wall. This defensive wall, meticulously reinforced with small slabs of slate, was exactly one meter wide. As with the ancient wall, this special construction technique allowed archaeologists to retrace it virtually its entire length. The old late antique moat also remained in use during this period. The entire inner surface of the fortification was leveled by filling the lower defensive wall with stones and earth. This complex also included a hall, used for administrative purposes, and a chapel, which was installed in the remains of the late antique tower.

(5º§) Vianden Castle was extensively rebuilt around 1170. The remains of the wooden scaffolding found in the new residential tower made it possible to determine the date of construction using the three-ring dating technique.

(6º§) Important architectural contributions were made, in Gothic style, between the 13th and 14th centuries by the Counts of Vianden. In 1417 the castle became a possession of the Orange-Nassau family who made changes in the Renaissance style. The castle was long in the possession of the grand-ducal family until it became state property in 1977. After this date, it was restored and shines in its former glory. Today, Vianden Castle is one of the most important architectural monuments in Europe being one of the largest and most beautiful feudal residences of the Romanesque and Gothic periods. In the entrance area there is a modern interactive visitor center.

https://www.histouring.com/en/historical-places/vianden-castle/