In this series of posts, we’re looking at words in the news that are related to various work environments, with the goal of helping you move forward with your career. Health care has been in the news lately, and we’ve picked six vocabulary words to study:

• epidemic
• antibodies
• inflammation
• chronic
• dementia
• cognitive

In the last post, we discussed how the yearly influenza epidemics attack people, causing their immune systems to create antibodies to fight off the disease. A high fever is a frequent symptom, as the body’s temperature rises, trying to burn out the problem. On a smaller scale, a localized inflammation is the body’s high-temperature reaction to an infection from something like a cut or scrape.

The common but usually short-term inflammation of the mucous membranes in the nasal passages – that is, the runny nose you get with a cold or seasonal allergy – is something almost everyone has to deal with at some point. Most of us are able to get over a cold relatively quickly, and not all of us have allergies to pollen or dust. However, people with severe allergies may experience chronic inflammation. “Chronic” means something that lasts a long time, or comes back frequently, or both. Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease that can cause painful inflammation of the joints.

At this point in time, there is no cure for rheumatoid arthritis. Doctors and other health professionals can only treat the symptoms, and attempt to develop methods of preventing the worst symptoms from developing. Anyone considering entering the healthcare field must be prepared to deal with the fact that sometimes there’s nothing they can do to make things better for a patient, except keep them safe and comfortable. This is the case for many patients with dementia, an often non-reversible loss of brain function due to head trauma, disease, or old age. Although the word “dementia” comes from the Latin word demens, or “madness”, many symptoms of dementia are what we usually consider as part of the normal aging process: absent-mindedness, forgetting words or where things were left, slowing down physically and mentally.

It can be difficult dealing with a person who is experiencing a loss of cognitive skills. “Cognitive” refers to the thinking, aware, perceptive, logical part of your brain function. One of the problems with dementia is that a person who is losing their cognitive skills is also losing the ability to be aware that they’re losing those skills. Being a caregiver in a hospital or hospice situation, or caring for a family member at home, may require a great deal of patience and understanding on your part.

Whether you’re studying health-related vocabulary to improve your job prospects, or to help you understand the healthcare needs of your family, the Ultimate Vocabulary program gives you access to thousands of words and their definitions. Keep your mind sharp, and keep learning!

Over the next few years, the demand for new healthcare professionals is expected to rise. If you’re thinking of a new career in the healthcare industry, it might be time to look into getting a degree or license that will allow you to get a position in this field. Whether you’re looking for a first job or working towards advancement, knowing the vocabulary used in the healthcare industry is important. While physicians and specialists need to know all of the medical terminology for diseases, diagnoses, and drugs, anyone connected with the medical profession, from office worker to laboratory assistant, should be familiar with basic terms and concepts. Here are six vocabulary words related to healthcare that have been in the news recently:

• epidemic
• antibodies
• inflammation
• chronic
• dementia
• cognitive

In this post, we’ll talk about the first three words: epidemic, antibodies, and inflammation.

Every winter, the news broadcasts are full of stories about the latest influenza (usually shortened to “flu”) outbreaks, and the worry that not enough people will get vaccinated to prevent an epidemic. “Epidemic” means a widespread infection of the same disease. If a significant percentage of one country’s population, or more than one country, is involved, an epidemic may be reclassified as a pandemic. In 2009, the swine flu pandemic made over one million people ill worldwide, and at least sixteen thousand people died of the disease.

For every new strain of flu virus that appears, there is at least one new vaccine developed to fight it, but the human body does a great deal of its own to fight off viruses and infections. Proteins called antibodies (also known as “immunoglobins”) are created by the human immune system to detect and neutralize infection. Different antibodies react to different types of infections or viruses, and once a particular type has been recognized and destroyed, the immune system will “remember” what that virus or infection was like, and will “recognize” it the next time it appears, and fight it off immediately. The purpose of a vaccine is to give the immune system a very weak form of a new disease, so that it can create the antibodies and have them ready to go in case the real disease appears.

The body has many ways to fight off infection, including trying to destroy harmful organisms by burning them out of the system. A high fever is a symptom of many diseases, and is often the immune system’s response to an bacterial or viral infection, as it tries to raise the body’s temperature high enough to kill off the infection. This also happens on a smaller scale – one you’ve probably seen yourself, after getting an infected cut or scrape. The hot, red area that develops around the cut before it heals is the inflammation caused by the immune system. Inflammation (from the Latin for “to set on fire”) like this is usually short-lived and acute. However, inflammation can become chronic – a word we’ll look at next time.

If you’re looking for a job in the financial industry, it’s a good idea to read the national and international papers (on line or in print) every week to make sure that you’re aware of the latest developments and, most importantly, the vocabulary that describes them. Knowing the jargon – the specific terminology related to and used in a particular field or industry – will make a good impression on your future employers, and will set you apart from the average interviewee. Here are five words taken from today’s news stories that you should be able to define and easily use in conversation in a banking, investment, or other financial setting:

• fiscal
• monetary
• recession
• equity
• deficit

In general, fiscal is an adjective meaning “relating to financial matters.” A government’s fiscal policy is how that government (whether state, local, or federal) manages its money, particularly how it handles income (such as taxes) and expenditures. The fiscal year is the twelve-month period under which such budget considerations are grouped; this may or may not coincide with the calendar year beginning in January.

The word monetary is another adjective, more specifically referring to money (legal tender), rather than financial matters in general. If you receive a cash bonus at work, it’s your monetary reward for a job well done.

During a recession, businesses probably won’t be handing out too many bonuses to their employees. A recession is a period during which economic growth slows on a regional, national, or global scale. To distinguish a recession from the normal ups and downs of the economy, this slowdown must continue for at least half or all of a fiscal year. If a recession continues for a year or more, it is usually reclassified as a depression.

In a recession, investors often lose money as the value of the equity they hold in various businesses declines. “Equity” is the monetary value of stocks, shares, or other investments owned by a person or company.

When the value of equity declines, this often creates a deficit in a company’s budget. Generally speaking, a deficit is a deficiency or lack of something. In finance, it refers to a situation where the amount of money that is being earned or acquired (revenue) is less than the amount of money being spent. Deficit spending is how a government or business continues to pay for its day-to-day operations in that situation. If you use credit cards, you may be engaging in deficit spending yourself, on occasion!

Make an investment in your career and take the time to study the vocabulary and phrases used in that industry. You’ll feel more confident in your daily work, and the rewards – monetary and otherwise – that you gain will help you achieve your career goals.