美国国家公共电台 NPR Can A Cocktail Of Vitamins And Steroids Cure A Major Killer In Hospitals?

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

NPR has learned that hospitals in Michigan and New York this week started testing an experimental treatment that could tackle one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. More than 700 Americans die every day from sepsis. This is when the body rages out of control in a desperate effort to fight infection. Last year, one respected doctor said he had developed an effective treatment. His claim is now being put to the test in large, carefully designed studies. NPR's Richard Harris reports.

RICHARD HARRIS, BYLINE¹: The researcher is Dr. Paul Marik, and his claims of an effective treatment for deadly sepsis were so audacious, Marik says, some doctors called it snake oil.

PAUL MARIK: There obviously was enormous resistance at the beginning, but it seems that, you know, with time, you know, people started thinking about it and saying, you know what? Maybe this is not so outrageous² as we first thought.

HARRIS: The treatment involves a cocktail³ of intravenous vitamin C, thiamine and steroids. He has a scientific explanation for how it could work and continues to use it at his hospital in Norfolk, Va., where he teaches at the Eastern Virginia Medical School.

MARIK: At last count, over 700 patients have received the cocktail. And, you know, the response is reproducible.

HARRIS: A year later, he's still getting his remarkable⁴ results. Doctors elsewhere have also been trying it on their patients, but most are waiting for real, hard science to decide whether Marik's experience is just a fluke. That evidence could come from a gold standard of medical science, a study where some patients get the treatment, others get a placebo⁵ and neither the patients nor doctors know who got what.

RICHARD ROTHMAN: We've all been pretty much working 24/7 on this for the past, I guess, like, three to five months.

HARRIS: Dr. Richard Rothman at Johns Hopkins is helping⁶ head up one of those careful studies involving at least two dozen hospitals. One of his collaborators at Emory University, Craig Coopersmith, has eagerly been pushing to get the study off the ground since he first read of Marik's success.

CRAIG COOPERSMITH: And so this is something which if proved to be true would absolutely be a game-changer, almost a miracle cure, honestly.

HARRIS: Dr. Coopersmith was in the wait-and-see camp after the first results were published, but he decided⁷ to get some hands-on experience with the protocol⁸ before the formal launch of the study. He has had patients die, but he also tells the story of one man in his hospital.

COOPERSMITH: So sick that we actually had to flip⁹ him upside down to get enough oxygen into his body. His kidneys had failed. His liver wasn't working. His bone marrow¹⁰ wasn't working. And statistically¹¹, his chance of dying was nearly 100 percent.

HARRIS: Coopersmith gave the man the Marik cocktail, and his condition quickly reversed. Within a week, he was well enough to leave the intensive care unit.

COOPERSMITH: So it would be something that we would call a miracle cure. What we don't know is, was he going to get better independent of the vitamin C, steroids and thiamine, or did that make him better?

HARRIS: The answer to that question requires a rigorous study. Theirs is funded by a private foundation. It will soon be enrolling¹² hundreds of patients in Atlanta, Baltimore, and elsewhere. His team is not the only one pursuing this question. Doctors at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess got money from another foundation to study the sepsis treatment protocol at 13 hospitals. Dr. Michael Donnino says his hospital has already treated 11 patients, and three other hospitals in Michigan and New York opened their studies for patients just this week.

MICHAEL DONNINO: We're ramping¹³ up very quickly here and looking forward to getting results.

HARRIS: He expects to have those in about a year. The parallel studies will help make whatever answer results all the more credible¹⁴ and robust¹⁵, he says. Reproducibility is the keystone of science.

DONNINO: Having another trial out there, I think, is great.

HARRIS: Both trials have outside experts who will take a peek¹⁶ at the accumulating data from time to time. If the results are as dramatic as Dr. Marik gets in his hospital, or, on the other hand, clearly futile¹⁷, the studies could be called off early, Coopersmith says.

COOPERSMITH: And, either way, it will change practice across the United States and across the world.

HARRIS: Richard Harris, 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 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

3 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

4 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

5 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

9 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

10 marrow   

n.骨髓；精华；活力

参考例句：

• It was so cold that he felt frozen to the marrow. 天气太冷了，他感到寒冷刺骨。
• He was tired to the marrow of his bones.他真是累得筋疲力尽了。

11 statistically   

ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看

参考例句：

• The sample of building permits is larger and therefore, statistically satisfying. 建筑许可数的样本比较大，所以统计数据更令人满意。
• The results of each test would have to be statistically independent. 每次试验的结果在统计上必须是独立的。

12 enrolling   

v.招收( enrol的现在分词 )；吸收；入学；加入；[亦作enrol]( enroll的现在分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They lashed out at the university enrolling system. 他们猛烈抨击大学的招生制度。 来自辞典例句
• You're enrolling in a country club, Billy. 你是注册加入乡村俱乐部了，比利。 来自辞典例句

13 ramping   

土堤斜坡( ramp的现在分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• The children love ramping about in the garden. 孩子们喜欢在花园里追逐嬉戏，闹着玩。
• Have you ever seen a lion ramping around? 你看到过狮子暴跳吗？

14 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

15 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

16 peek   

vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥

参考例句：

• Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
• Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛，别偷看。

17 futile   

adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的

参考例句：

• They were killed,to the last man,in a futile attack.因为进攻失败，他们全部被杀，无一幸免。
• Their efforts to revive him were futile.他们对他抢救无效。