彭蒙惠英语：New Hope for Spinal Cord Injuries

New Hope for Spinal¹ Cord Injuries

 

By Patricia Anstett / © 2005,

Detroit Free Press, Knight² Ridder

Newspapers. Distributed by

Tribune Media Services.

 

A world of patients with spinal cord injuries is watching Erica Nader. Her recovery may someday be theirs, too.

 

1

Nader, 26, of Michigan, was the first American to travel to Portugal, in March 2003, for experimental surgery for a spinal cord injury. She was injured in July 2001 in an auto³ accident and paralyzed from the top of her arms down.

 

Nader and her father, Fred, spent months checking out the Portuguese⁴ procedure before she underwent the five-hour surgery. In the procedure, which is performed nowhere else in the world, a team of doctors opened Nader’s spinal cord to clear out any scar tissue or debris⁵ at the site of the injury. Then, using a long tube, they took a sample of olfactory⁶ mucosal cells from the ridge⁷ inside her nose, the same cells that provide the sense of smell. These cells are among the body’s richest supply of adult stem cells and are capable of becoming any type of cell depending on where they are implanted. In this case, these adult stem cells were to take on the job of neurons, or nerve cells, once implanted in the spinal cord at the site of an injury.

 

The result

After three years, MRIs show that the cells promote the development of new blood cells and synapses⁹, says Dr. Carlos Lima, chief of the Portuguese team. Because the cells are most plentiful¹⁰ in younger people, the team limits the surgery to people no older than 35, six months to six years after a spinal cord injury.

 

Dr. Pratas Vital, one of two neurosurgeons on the team, calls the transplanted cells spinal cord autografts, a term that indicates the cells come from a person’s own body, not fetal or embryonic¹¹ stem cells used in experimental procedures elsewhere.

 

Vocabulary Focus

world (n) [wE:ld] a large amount; a group of people or things that are related

paralyze (v) [5pArElaiz] to cause a person, animal or part of the body to lose the ability to move or feel

check out (idiom) to examine something or get more information about it

take on (idiom) to begin to have a particular quality

 

Specialized¹² Terms

mucosal (adj) 黏膜的 relating to the mucous¹³ membrane¹⁴, the thin skin that covers the inner surface of parts of the body such as the nose and mouth and produces mucus to protect them

MRI [magnetic resonance¹⁵ imaging] (n) 磁共振成像 a system for producing electronic pictures of the organs inside a person’s body, using radio waves and a strong magnetic field

synapse⁸ (n) 突触 the point at which electrical signals move from one nerve cell to another

embryonic (adj) 胚胎的 relating to a baby that is still in the developmental stages within the womb, especially before it has reached a recognizable form

 

脊髓损伤者的新希望

 

众多脊髓损伤的病人都在注意艾莉卡·纳德。因为有一天，他们也可能像她一样的康复。

 

陈小欣 译

 

1

26岁的纳德来自密歇根州，2003年3月是第一位到葡萄牙去进行脊髓损伤实验性手术的美国人。她在2001年7月的一场车祸中受伤，从手臂以下全部瘫痪。

纳德和父亲弗瑞德在她接受5小时的手术前，花了好几个月的时间研究这项在葡萄牙进行的治疗。在这全世界仅此一处的治疗过程中，一组医师打开纳德的脊髓，将受伤部位的瘢痕组织与损伤碎片清除干净。接着用一条长管，从她鼻子里的鼻梁处取出一些嗅觉粘膜细胞，让人有嗅觉的就是这种细胞。这些细胞是成人干细胞中最丰富的补给资源，可以依移植部位的不同而变成任何型态的细胞。在这个病例中，这些成人干细胞一旦被移植到受伤部位的脊髓，就会承担起轴突，也就是神经细胞的工作。

 

结果

葡萄牙医疗小组组长卡洛斯·利马医师说，3年之后，磁共振成像显示那些细胞促进了新细胞和突触的生成。因为这些细胞在年轻人体内最多，医疗小组仅接受35岁以下，脊髓损伤在6个月到6年之间的人来施行手术。

医疗小组中两位神经外科医师之一的琶达斯·维塔医师，将这样的细胞移植称作脊髓的自体移植，意思是指细胞来自人体本身，而不像其它实验性治疗所采用的是胎儿或胚胎干细胞。

1 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

2 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

3 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

4 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

5 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

6 olfactory   

adj.嗅觉的

参考例句：

• He is to develop a sensor to substitute for the olfactory abilities of dogs.克罗克将研制一种传感器用以代替狗的嗅觉功能。
• Based on these findings, Keller suspects that each person has an olfactory blind spot.根据这些发现，凯勒推断，每个人都有一个嗅觉盲区。

7 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

8 synapse   

n.突触

参考例句：

• The chemical floods the synapse, overwhelming the serotonin receptors.这种化学物质湮没了突触，覆盖了5--羟色胺的受体。
• Ecstasy also keeps serotonin from being reabsorbed,further increasing the concentration in the synapse.毒品引起的狂迷还能阻止5--羟色胺的再吸收，进一步增加了突触内5--羟色胺的浓度。

9 synapses   

n.（神经元的）突触( synapse的名词复数 )；染色体结合( synapsis的名词复数 )；联会；突触；（神经元的）触处

参考例句：

• Nerve cells communicate with one another at the synapses, where their membranes almost touch. 神经细胞在突触部位彼此沟通，在这里它们的膜几乎接触到一起了。 来自辞典例句
• Glutamatergic synapses are common excitatory chemical connections in mammalian central nervous system. 谷氨酸性突触是哺乳动物神经系统的主要兴奋性突触。 来自互联网

10 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

11 embryonic   

adj.胚胎的

参考例句：

• It is still in an embryonic stage.它还处于萌芽阶段。
• The plan,as yet,only exists in embryonic form.这个计划迄今为止还只是在酝酿之中。

12 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

13 mucous   

adj. 黏液的，似黏液的

参考例句：

• Healthy,skin,mucous membranes,and cilia are natural barriers to many viruses.健康的皮肤，粘膜和纤毛是许多病毒的天然屏障。
• Seromucous glands contain both mucous and serous cells.浆粘液腺既含有粘液性细胞，又含有浆液性细胞。

14 membrane   

n.薄膜，膜皮，羊皮纸

参考例句：

• A vibrating membrane in the ear helps to convey sounds to the brain.耳膜的振动帮助声音传送到大脑。
• A plastic membrane serves as selective diffusion barrier.一层塑料薄膜起着选择性渗透屏障的作用。

15 resonance   

n.洪亮；共鸣；共振

参考例句：

• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
• The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。