7 4 U n i t1 0

Switchon
1 Look at the diagram of an artificial heart system,
and answer the questions.
ARTIFICIAL HEART
1 What kind of patient Ísthe artÍficÍai
heart for? MECHANISM

2 What does the artificial heart contain?

3 Why are there two batteries?
4 How is the internal batterycharged?
5 What is the controller for? .,/
,/
./
,/
l
WIRELESS ENERGY
TRANSFER SYSTEM
/
i
l
EXTERNAL
BATTERY PACK

INTERNAL
RECHARGEABLE
INTERNAL CONTROLLER UNIT
BATTERY

2 Now read the text and check your answers.

AbioCor artificial he art

The AbioCor is an artificial heart made of titanium and plastic.It is
for patients with very serious heart problems who are waiting for a
heart transplant.
It contains a hydraulic pump and a valve which lets the hydraulic
fluid move from one side of the heart to the other.When the fluid
moves to the right, blood is pumped to the lungs. When the fluid
moves to the left,blood is pumped to the rest of the body.
The system has two batteries:one internal, inside the patient's body,
and one external.The internal battery lasts up to forty minutes. This
is long enough for the patient to have a shower or to change the
external battery.The externai battery lasts four to five hours.
The external battery provides power using a wireless energy transfer
system.A coi] on the patient's skin induces power in a coil insÍdethe
body.ThÍsoperatesthe controller and chargesthe internal battery'
The controller contains a microprocessorwhich decidesthe best
heart rate for the patient at any time.
 M e d i c a l t e c h n o l o g y7 5

Inthis unit
o k e yt e r m si n m e d i c atl e c h n o l o g y
o d e f i n i n gr e l a t i v ec l a u s e s
o l o c a t i n gi n f o r m a t i o ni n a d i a g r a ma n d t e x t
o l i s t e n i n gf o r d e t a i l
o h o wt o l i n kw o r d sw h e n s p e a k i n g
o w r i t i n ga s h o r td e s c r i p t i o n

It'smy job I Make definitions of each person or device in column A

of the table by matching them with the informati.onin
columnB.
EXAMPLE
I A hearí'ngaid is a devicewhich helpsdeaf people.

ln
h e a r i n ga i d appliee s ngineering
Beforeyou Iisten,discuss with your partner possibie p r i n c i p l etso m e d i c a l
answers to the questions. problems
1 What is E AT 7 (A =Assistive) X-ray h e l p sp e o p l ew i t h
2 Name three ways in which severelydisabled people technician d a m a g e dk i d n e y s
can operate equipment.
3 X - r a yc a m e r a p e o p l ec an u s et o
3 What are the three branches of engineering which c a l l f o rh e l pi n a n
make up mechatronics? emergency
4 What doesapage-turner do?
4 lab t a k e s3 - Di m a g e so f
5 Howdoes apneumaticswitchwork? t e c h n i c in
a t h e b r a i na n d o t h e r
Q trlowlisten to Phillipe Rugeri,a Mechatronics o r g an s
Engíneer,and check your answers' 5 kidney p e r s o nw h o h e l p sp e o p l ew h o
machine c a n n o tw a l k

o Languagespot 6 personal d e v i c ew h i c h h e l p sp e o p l ew i t h
alarm h e a r tp r o b l e m s
Relativeclauses
7 bioengineer w o r k si n a s c i e n t i f i c
Study these examples:
laboratory
A pacemaker is a devicefor people.
Thepeople have heartproblems. 8 CATscanner h e l p sd e a fp e o p l e

We can join these sentencesiike this: 9 pacemaker s p e c i a l i z ei ns t a k i n g

A pacemaker Ísa devicefor people who have andprocessing
heart problems. X-rays

The part in bold is a relative clause.Itadds important 10 wheelchair t a k e sp i c t u r e so f

information - defining or telling us exactly who the b o n e sa n d o r g a n si n
people are.In the relative clause you replace Thepeople the body
with who. Whois used for a person or people.

Now study these examples:

A page turner is a device.
The deviceturns the pages oJ booksor magazines.
We can join these sentenceslike this:
A page-turner is a devicewhich turns the pages of books
ormagazines.
WhÍchis used for things.
)) Go to Grammar reference p.120
7 6 U n i t1 0

Gadgetbox
RP6(RemotePresence) is the U K'sfirst robotdoctor.lt a llows
doctorsanywherein the worldto communicatedirectlywith

.\.!ü.
t ,'.." patientsin their hospitalbeds.Therobotis controlledbythe
doctorusinga joystick.lt is fittedwith a cameraso that the
doctorcan examinethe patient.
.rY What arethe advantagesand disadvantages
ofthe robotdoctorT
i
2 Look at the pictures of the Uitracane.Who do you think Problem-solving
will use it? How do you think it works?
Put devices a-e in order ofhow useful they are to a
blind person (1= most useful, 5 = least useful).Then
work in small groups,and compare your answers.Try
to agreeon the best order.
a a scanner which reads books and documents out
loud -
b a voice-operatedcomputer -
c a global positioning device which tells you where
you are with an accuracy of + 3 metres -
d a fridge which reports when food is past its sell-by
date -
e software which allows your computer to read
onscreen information out loud -

Usefullanguage
3 pitttfre gaps in the description of the Ultracane with
information a-g. Add who when the information DÍsagreement
describespeople.Add whichfor things. I don't really agreewÍthyou.
a inventedthecane I don't think you're quite right.

b calculatesthe position and size ofthe object Agreement

That sounds like a good idea.
c areneartheblindperson
I think so too.
d havetriedthe cane
Persuasion
e helps blind people to avoÍdobstaclesin their path
Isn'tX more useful than Y?
f cannot see well
g are for objectsinfront and overhead

Blind peopleor people 1often use a cane to feel their way when walking. The
Ultracane is a new type of cane 2.It uses echo-location,like a bat,to detect obiects
around the blind person.Some people call it the Batcane.Thecane transmits ultrasound signals.These are
reflectedby objects 3.Sensorson the cane receivethe reflectedsignals which are
passedto a microprocessor 4

There are four buttons on the handle ofthe cane - the two s are on the top, and the two
which are for objectson the left and right are on the back.These buttons vibrate when an object is detected.The
larger the object,the larger the vibration.

People 6say that with a little practicethey can use these vibrations to make a mental
map of their surroundings as they walk. Becausethe cane uses vÍbrations,not noise,they can also use their ears for
additional information about their surroundings.The engineers 7are now planning
new uses of echo-locationto helo the blind.
 M e d i c a l t e c h n o l o g7y7

Vocabulary Study the extract from instructions for using a medical

inhaier. Discuss with your partner if these instructions
Opposites are easv to understand and follow.
When a word and its opposÍteare often used together,
try to rememberthem as a pair.Completethe missing H o w t o u s ey o u r r- n h a l e r ^
words (theyare all used in this book)
the r-rght way
1 backwards a
2 b anticlockwise Usingan inholermoy seemslrnpie,but mony
3 c external potlentsdo not use theirinholerin the rightwoy.
Á input lf you useyourinholerthe wrongwoy,/essmedicine
d
goes to your lungs.For the flrsttwo weeks,reod
5 open e theselnstructlons out loudos voufollowthem,
6 f step-downgear
Getting ready
7 wind ltll a
t
I Takeoffthecapandshakethe inhaler
2 Breatheout allthe way.
Customercare 3 Hold your inhalerin the correctway (seepicture)]

Breathein slowly
Givingclearinstructions
4 As you start breathingin slowly through your
mouth.pressthe ,nhalerdown once,(lfyou use
a space[Dressdown on the inha|erÍ]rst.Then
within íve seconds Startto breathe in s|ow|y.)
5 Take as long a breath as you can,slowly.

Hold your breath

6 Holdyourbreathandcountslowlyto ten

Study the description of how to charge the batteries for

an electric wheelchair. Use it to make a set of clear
instructions for a wheelchair user.Give titles to the
steps of your instructions.

The botteriesmustbe chorgedwhen the

c o p o c i t yh o s f o l l e nt o l 0 % . T h i si s
indicotedby two red llghtsfloshingot the
top of the ioystick.When the chorgeris
connected, o c h o r g i n gi n d i c o t o r
One way of communicating with customers is by will show on thecontroloonel.When the
instruction manuals or leaflets for your company's green indicotorlights,thisshowsthotthe
products.These need to be written in clear,simple botteriesore fullychorged.Botteries
language which cannot be misunderstood.This is shouldbe chorgedin o well-ventiloted
o r e o u s i n go n l yt h ec h o r g e rs u p p l i e d .
particularly important in medical technology,where
there is a high degreeof risk to the user or damageto
the product if it is used wrongly.
3 Exchange your set of instructÍonsfrom 2 with another
student and decide if it can be followed easily.Mark
any placeswhere the instructionsare not clearenough
7 8 U n i t1 0

lf somebodya few years ago saw the medicaItechnology

w e m a k en o w , t h e y 'cda l l u sm i r a c l e w o r k e r s .
D rJ . W . S t e a d n r a n
lnstituteof Electricaland ElectronicsEngineers

Pronunciation keyboard a l l o w st h e o p e r a t o tro k e yi n

p a t i e ndt e t a i l sa n do t h e r
Linkingwords information
When a word beginswith a vowel sound,the final
prnter p r i n t st h e i m a g e
consonantsound of the word beforelinks to it.
(-) Listento thls example.
a door opener An ultrasoundmachine is used to
t.It consistsof a transducer
Mark where the words línkin compound nouns 1-10.
Then read them out loud probe,computer,LCD,monitor,keyboard,and
1 r rrrriein nncnPr 6 a domesticappliance 2.The probe
2 a wlndow opener 7 a gear box contarns
3 a personalalarm R e dipsel p noinc
'^ 'b-' ''
which
4 a remote control 9 a digital radio
The computerincludesa CPU which
c
J
^ li^L+ -,^,i+-L
d rlBrrL JvvlLLlr 10 an MP3 player
s .T hi s i s d i s p l a y e do n -
3 (-) Listenand checkyour pronunclatlon 6.It also containsa hard disk

which ?.This information

Writing is keyedin by the 8

Shortdescription Imagescan be printed or copiedto DVDs.

1 Studythe information
about an ultrasound Find out about CAT scanners(CTscanners),and write
machine which makes y o u r o w n d e s c r i p t i o nr n t h e s a m e w a y .
images of internal parts of ?
the body.Use it to complete
t h e s h o r td e s c r i p t i o n
be1ow.

Maincomponents F un c t i o n

t r a n s d u c eprr o b e g e n e r a t e tsr, an s m i t sa, n d

r e c e i v ehs i g h - f r euqe n c ys o u n d
O
WAVES

p i e z o e l e c t rci cr y s t al s p r o d u c es o u n dw a v e sw h e n
c u r r e nits a p p l i e da c r o s tsh e m

Computer

C P U ( c e n t r Ia p r o c e s s etsh e d a t af r o mt h e
nrnrecqino . ö r-r'n'i't .\ / t r a n s d u c et ro p r o d u c ae n i m a g e

h a r dd i s ks t o r a g e s t o r e tsh e i m a g ea l o n gw i t h
device p a t i e ndt e t a i l sa n do t h e r
information

L C Dm o n i t o r d i s p l a ytsh e i m a g e
 M e d i c a l t e c h n o l o g y7 9

Checklist
AssessyourpÍogress in this unit.
Tick(/) the statementswhicharetrue.
I knowkeytermsin medicaltechnology
Icanmakedefinitions
withrelative
clauses
Icanlocateinformation
in a diagram
Pairwork andtext
I knowhowto linkwordswhenspeaking
Work in pairs,A and B.Discussways in which
technologycouldprovidea safeenvironmentfor an Icanwritea shortdescription
elderlypersonliving alone and makea list.
aregood
My readingandlistening
Eachofyou has a list ofdevicesproducedby a company enoughto understandmostofeachtext
specializingin telecarefor the elderly.Make notesin inthisunit
the table and then describeto your partnerwhat you
think thesedevicesarefor,and how they work.
StudentA Goto p.112.
Keywords
StudentB
Adjectives
Device a)Whatit'sfor b)Howit works artificial
hydraulic
Pressu
re-sensitive
floortiles rechargeable
Movementdetector Nouns
P i l l o wa l e r ts m o k ea l a r m accuracy
coil
Temperatu
reextremes
sensor image
Personal
radioalarmtrigger joystick
scanner
Boguscallerbutton sell-bydate
ultrasound
I Choosefrom your combinedliststhe six most valve
ÍmportantdevÍces to ensurea safeenvironmentfor an webpage
elderlypersonliving alone.
Verbs
calculate
reflect
vibrate

NotehereanythingabouthowEnglishis used
thatis newto you.
intechnology