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Question

The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Zombie cells may contribute to age-related chronic inflammation: this finding could help scientists understand more about the aging process and why the immune system becomes less effective as we get older. Zombie or “senescent” cells are damaged cells that can no longer divide and grow like normal cells. Scientists think that these cells can contribute to chronic health problems when they accumulate in the body. In younger people, the immune system is more effective at clearing senescent cells from the body through a process called apoptosis, but as we age this process becomes less efficient. As a result, there is an accumulation of senescent cells in different organs in the body, either through increased production or reduced clearance by the immune system. The zombie cells continue to use energy though they do not divide, and often secrete chemicals that cause inflammation, which if persistent for longer periods of time can damage healthy cells leading to chronic diseases.

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The correct answer is

Aging leads to less effective apoptosis, and therefore zombie cells start to accumulate in the body, causing inflammation, which accelerates aging and leads to chronic diseases.

The passage traces a chain: with age, clearance of senescent cells by apoptosis becomes less efficient, the cells pile up, they release inflammatory chemicals, and lasting inflammation damages healthy cells and leads to chronic disease.

The first summary says the zombie cells resist apoptosis, but the passage blames the weaker clearance by the immune system, and it also drops the inflammation link.

The third summary only defines senescent cells and gives none of the cause and effect chain.

The fourth summary calls them dead cells, though the passage says they are alive and using energy, and it reverses the cause by saying they weaken the immune system.

The second summary follows the full chain of weaker apoptosis, accumulation, inflammation and chronic disease.

Hence, Aging leads to less effective apoptosis, and therefore zombie cells start to accumulate in the body, causing inflammation, which accelerates aging and leads to chronic diseases.

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