Short answer questions

THE PEACE CORPS

On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kenedy issued an order creating the Peace Corps. Its
mission was to promote world peace and friendship by providing qualified volunteers to
interested countries. Today it sends an average of 6,000 U.S citizens abroad each year.

Volunteers live at a local level in their host countries. They are paid in local currency. Each
month they receive a small sum of money that covers basic living expenses, and varies with the
local economy. For example, volunteers in Micronesia make the equivalent of $300 per month,
while those in Turkmenistan make $75. Most volunteers live with host families. This is a great
chance to learn the language and the culture.

For each month that they spend overseas, volunteers receive a sum of about $200. This money
helps them to get back on their feet in the United States.

Serving countries all over the world, the Peace Corps lives up to its promise as “the toughest job
you’ll ever love.” Volunteers do everything from teaching English to sharing tips on growing
food to providing preventive health care. However, the application process to become a Peace
Corps volunteer is very competitive. You must be a U.S citizen, at least eighteen years old, in
good health, and willing to serve for two years. Nearly all volunteers have a bachelor’s degree in
their chosen fields, and about 18 per cent have their master’s or doctorate degrees. Knowing a
language, especially French and Spanish, helps.

1. What kind of U.S citizens does the Peace Corps send abroad to fulfil its mission?

2. What does the monthly payment in local currency to volunteers cover?

3. Whom do the volunteers stay with in their host countries?

4. What is the shortest time that volunteers can work for the Peace Corps?

5. Which languages are given as an example of what can benefit volunteers?

Flow chart completion

No treatment on the market today has been proved to slow human aging. But one intervention,
consumption of a low-calorie yet nutritionally balanced diet, works incredibly well in a broad
range of animals, increasing longevity and prolonging good health. Those findings suggest that
caloric restriction could delay aging and increase longevity in humans, too. But what if someone
could create a pill that mimicked the physiological effects of eating less without actually forcing
people to eat less, a 'caloricrestriction mimetic'?

The best-studied candidate for a caloric-restriction mimetic, 2DG (2-deoxy-D-glucose), works by

interfering with the way cells process glucose. It has proved toxic at some doses in animals and
so cannot be used in humans. But it has demonstrated that chemicals can replicate the effects of
caloric restriction; the trick is finding the right one.

Cells use the glucose from food to generate ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the molecule that
powers many activities in the body. By limiting food intake, caloric restriction minimizes the
amount of glucose entering cells and decreases ATP generation. When 2DG is administered to
animals that eat normally, glucose reaches cells in abundance but the drug prevents most of it
from being processed and thus reduces ATP synthesis. Researchers have proposed several
explanations for why interruption of glucose processing and ATP production might retard aging.
One possibility relates to the ATPmaking machinery’s emission of free radicals, which are
thought to contribute to aging and to such age-related diseases as cancer by damaging cells.
Reduced operation of the machinery should limit their production and thereby constrain the
damage. Another hypothesis suggests that decreased processing of glucose could indicate to cells
that food is scarce (even if it isn’t) and induce them to shift into an anti-aging mode that
emphasizes preservation of the organism over such ‘luxuries’ as growth and reproduction.

HOW A CALORIC-RESTRICTION MIMETIC

WORKS
CR minetic

less (1)__________is processed

production of ATP is decreased

Theory 1 Theory 2
cells less damaged by disease because cells focus on (3)__________
fewer (2)_____________are emitted because food is in short supply