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SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - New Drug Combination May Shorten TB TreatmentBy Caty Weaver1, Cynthia Kirk and Jerilyn Watson
Broadcast: Tuesday, January 17, 2006
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VOICE ONE:
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty2.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Pat Bodnar. This week on our show: A new combination drug treatment for tuberculosis3 ...
VOICE ONE:
A big year for baby pandas ...
VOICE TWO:
And the mystery animal of Borneo.
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VOICE ONE:
A new drug combination could help reduce the time needed to treat people infected with tuberculosis. Reports say it could expand the number of patients receiving treatment and save millions of lives.
A tuberculosis clinic in New Delhi
Researchers announced the findings last month at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Washington, D.C. The new drug combination is supported by the World Health Organization, an agency of the United Nations.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial4 infection. TB usually attacks the lungs, but can affect any organ in the body. Most people infected with the bacteria never develop active TB. Those who do often have weakened defense5 systems. People with active cases of the disease spread the bacteria through the air when they cough or sneeze.
One third of the world's population is infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis. About eight million new cases develop each year. Tuberculosis can be deadly. Each year about two million people die of the disease. TB is the leading cause of death for people infected with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.
A bad cough that lasts for weeks can be a sign of tuberculosis. Other possible signs include a pain in the chest, coughing up blood, weakness, weight loss and high body temperature.
VOICE TWO:
The World Health Organization advises patients to take a combination of four drugs to treat tuberculosis. These four antibiotics6 must be taken for about six months to cure the disease.
Some people, however, take the drugs only until they feel better. Discontinuing treatment is a mistake. The bacteria can develop resistance to the antibiotics if people do not follow the directions.
Finding ways to shorten the length of treatment has been a goal of the Stop TB Partnership7. This public health campaign was established in two thousand.
VOICE ONE:
In the new study, the South African Medical Research Council tested patients infected with tuberculosis in the lungs. Some also had H.I.V. infections.
The researchers replaced one of the four drugs in the combination currently used to treat TB. They replaced ethambutol with a drug called gatifloxacin.
The scientists reported that the new combination with gatifloxacin can successfully treat TB in four months. They say ethambutol could also be replaced with another drug, moxifloxacin.
Further tests are planned to learn if the new four-month treatment is just as effective as the current six-month treatment. The tests will take place in Benin, Guinea, Kenya, Senegal and South Africa.
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VOICE TWO:
You are listening to SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English from Washington.
China says two thousand five was a very successful year for its panda reproduction programs. A record-breaking year, in fact.
Chinese officials say twenty-one of the twenty-five baby pandas born in China last year survived. The Xinhua news agency says twelve cubs8 were born in captivity9 in two thousand four, and nine of them survived.
VOICE ONE:
Sixteen of the surviving cubs last year came from eleven births. The rare animals are at the Wolong Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center in Sichuan province. The other five are in the care of research centers in the cities of Chengdu and Luoguantai and the Beijing Zoo.
Experts say giant pandas in captivity rarely show a natural interest in mating. As a result, pandas born in zoos and research centers are almost always the result of artificial insemination. This is where reproductive fluid from the male is placed inside the female.
Researchers have used this method with giant pandas in China since the nineteen sixties. But it took years to improve the process. Among female pandas, the right conditions for pregnancy10 happen only a few days each year.
China says it now has one hundred eighty-three giant pandas in captivity. Just over half are at Wolong. China's Ministry11 of Forestry12 and the international wildlife group WWF say about one thousand six hundred giant pandas are left in the wild.
VOICE TWO:
More than twenty pandas live in zoos in the United States, Japan, Germany, Austria and Thailand.
In the United States, zoos in San Diego and Washington, D.C., had panda births last year. At the National Zoo in Washington, Tai Shan [pronounced tie-SHON] turned six months old last week. Tai Shan has lived longer than any other panda born at the National Zoo.
His parents arrived in the United States in two thousand. They had been born through the reproduction program at Wolong.
American zoos with pandas on loan from China pay one million dollars a year for the animals.
Tai Shan is expected to be sent to China when he is two years old. He will enter a panda reproduction program. His parents, Mei Xiang [may SHONG] and Tian Tian [tee-YEN tee-YEN], are to be returned to China in two thousand ten.
VOICE ONE:
Wildlife researchers have released two pictures of a mysterious animal on the island of Borneo. Indonesia shares the island with Malaysia and Brunei. The animal is about the size of a house cat. It has dark red hair and a long tail. It also has small ears and large back legs.
Can you identify this animal?
Scientists believe the animal may be a meat-eater. If so, it would be the first new kind of carnivore found on Borneo in more than one hundred years. The scientists hope to confirm the animal's identity by catching13 one.
Stephan Wulffraat of the Netherlands is supervising studies of the animal for WWF, formerly14 known as the World Wildlife Fund. Mister Wulffraat says local people on Borneo who saw the pictures said they had never seen the animal before.
The Dutch biologist says several local wildlife experts had the same reaction. Some thought it looked like a lemur, but he says most thought it was a new species of carnivore.
WWF researchers say the creature could be a new kind of marten or civet cat -- or a completely new species.
The pictures were made when the animal entered a camera trap. The camera was in a rainforest in Kayan Mentarang National Park, on the Indonesian side of Borneo.
VOICE TWO:
WWF also reported that large areas of forest in Borneo are being cleared to produce rubber, palm oil and wood products. The group says the animal might remain a mystery forever if its home is not protected.
It says it is working to get Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei to protect an especially valuable part of the island from development. The area is known as the heart of Borneo. The land includes almost twenty-one million hectares of rainforest. WWF says protecting the heart of Borneo would help both wildlife and people.
The group reported in April that at least three hundred sixty-one new kinds of animals were discovered on the island in recent years. The discoveries took place between nineteen ninety-four and two thousand four. The report also said there are probably thousands of new plants and animals still to be found.
Only on Borneo and on the Indonesian island of Sumatra do orangutans, elephants and rhinoceros15 live together. All of them are in danger of disappearing. Other threatened animals on Borneo include clouded leopards16, sun bears and Bornean gibbons. The Bornean gibbon is a small ape that lives only on that island.
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VOICE ONE:
If you have a question about science, we might be able to answer it on our program. Send it to [email protected], and be sure to include your name and where you are from.
Or write to VOA Special English, Washington D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A. Please understand that we cannot answer questions personally.
SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Cynthia Kirk, Jerilyn Watson and Caty Weaver, who was also our producer. I'm Bob Doughty.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Pat Bodnar. Internet users can read and listen to our programs at www.unsv.com. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.
收听单词发音 |
1
weaver
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| n.织布工；编织者 | |
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doughty
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| adj.勇猛的，坚强的 | |
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3
tuberculosis
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| n.结核病，肺结核 | |
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bacterial
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| a.细菌的 | |
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defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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antibiotics
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| n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 ) | |
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7
partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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cubs
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| n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 ) | |
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captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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pregnancy
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| n.怀孕，怀孕期 | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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forestry
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| n.森林学；林业 | |
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13
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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14
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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15
rhinoceros
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| n.犀牛 | |
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leopards
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| n.豹( leopard的名词复数 )；本性难移 | |
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