美国国家公共电台 NPR Failure To Save A Child In Wartime Inspires Wound-Healing Tech

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And experience in a country with enormous numbers of war wounds has led to techniques that heal them more quickly. A Harvard team developed the new technologies. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports the work was inspired by one scientist's encounter with a wounded child in Afghanistan.

JON HAMILTON, BYLINE¹: The scientist's name is Kit² Parker. Back in 2003, he was an Army officer. The child was a patient at a military hospital in Kandahar. Aaron Chapman was a member of Parker's unit.

AARON CHAPMAN: A child had been brought to the front gate who had been severely³ burned.

HAMILTON: Doctors called in Chapman and Parker because they'd been acting⁴ as liaisons⁵ with the local villagers. That evening, they went to the base hospital to see the child. He was about 5, and Chapman says they realized right away that his burns were really bad.

CHAPMAN: There's no greater sense of helplessness than to stare into this child's eyes knowing that you can't save them, you can't help them.

HAMILTON: The boy died, and Kit Parker says the death had a powerful effect on him.

KIT PARKER: Horror. Despair. Rage.

HAMILTON: Parker says those emotions continued to haunt him after he returned to his civilian⁶ job as a biophysicist.

PARKER: I couldn't save that kid. There was nothing I could do. But that doesn't mean there's not something I can do. I'm a father, I'm a soldier and I'm a professor at Harvard.

HAMILTON: So Parker assembled a team of young scientists. Their job, find a better way to heal burns and other wounds. Christophe Chantre is one of those young scientists. He says the team focused on a discovery made decades earlier. In the 1970s, surgeons began correcting birth defects in babies who were still in the womb. And Chantre says after these babies were born, doctors took a close look at the sites where incisions⁷ had been made.

CHRISTOPHE CHANTRE: And they realized that they typically healed with a lot less scars, or, in some case, without any scars at all.

HAMILTON: One reason is that fetal skin, unlike adult skin, contains large amounts of a substance called fibronectin. So Chantre says the team set out to create a bandage made of the stuff.

CHANTRE: Our idea was to actually try to replicate⁸ this fibronectin-rich environment to get a better healing process.

HAMILTON: To do that, they needed to spin fibronectin into incredibly thin strands⁹ known as nanofibers. Eventually they were able to do this using a kind of souped-up cotton candy machine. Then the team applied¹⁰ these nanofibers to wounds in mice. Sure enough, the wounds healed with very little scarring. And, Chantre says, they also healed faster.

CHANTRE: The wounds treated with the fibronectin treatments closed at around Day 11, and the control was several days later, on average, at Day 14.

HAMILTON: Perhaps most impressive, the new skin contained hair follicles, which are not found in scar tissue. And in a second study, the team showed that another sort of nanofiber could also help wounds heal faster.

SEUNGKUK AHN: This nanofiber is made up of cellulose and soy protein.

HAMILTON: Seungkuk Ahn says the soy protein releases a form of estrogen, which promotes skin regeneration. Parker says these discoveries bring him a bit closer to his goal of healing patients like the child he saw in Afghanistan.

PARKER: I don't know if my technology would have helped that night. I doubt it.

HAMILTON: Because the child's burns were just too extensive. But Parker hopes the dressings¹¹ will someday help another injured child.

PARKER: Once we've saved a kid then we're evening the score a little bit.

HAMILTON: Jon Hamilton, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

3 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 liaisons   

n.联络( liaison的名词复数 )；联络人；（尤指一方或双方已婚的）私通；组织单位间的交流与合作

参考例句：

• She embarked on a series of sexual liaisons with society figures. 她开始接二连三地与社会名流有染。 来自辞典例句
• One of Wentworth's favorite movies is Dangerous Liaisons. went最喜欢的电影之一是《危险关系》。 来自互联网

6 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

7 incisions   

n.切开，切口( incision的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cruciate incisions heal poorly and are not required. 不需要愈合差的十字形切口。 来自辞典例句
• After two days red incisions appear on their bodies. 一两天内身体会出现粉红色的损伤。 来自电影对白

8 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

9 strands   

n.（线、绳、金属线、毛发等的）股( strand的名词复数 )；缕；海洋、湖或河的)岸；（观点、计划、故事等的）部份v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Twist a length of rope from strands of hemp. 用几股麻搓成了一段绳子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She laced strands into a braid. 她把几股线编织成一根穗带。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

11 dressings   

n.敷料剂；穿衣( dressing的名词复数 )；穿戴；（拌制色拉的）调料；（保护伤口的）敷料

参考例句：

• He always made sure that any cuts were protected by sterile dressings. 他总是坚持要用无菌纱布包扎伤口。 来自辞典例句
• I waked the orderly and he poured mineral water on the dressings. 我喊醒勤务，他在我的绷带上倒了些矿质水。 来自辞典例句