VOA慢速英语2014 New Brain-Image Database Could Assist Chronic Pain 新的脑图像数据库能帮助治疗慢性疼痛

 

New Brain-Image Database Could Assist Chronic¹ Pain 新的脑图像数据库能帮助治疗慢性疼痛

From VOA Learning English, this is Science in the News.  I’m Christopher Cruise.

And I’m Faith Lapidus.  Today we tell about a World Health Organization report on spinal² cord injuries.  Then, we tell how American scientists have used stem cells to create lung cells in a laboratory.  But first, we report on efforts to create an international database, or electronic record, of brain images.  Organizers say the database could help researchers develop better ways to treat chronic, long-lasting pain.

New Brain Image Database Could Help Chronic Pain Sufferers

Many people suffer from chronic pain.  Their joints³ might hurt.  They might develop a migraine headache, with sharp pain in the head.  Others might have pain in the stomach or abdomen⁴.  Many scientists now believe that chronic pain -- in any part of the body -- is linked to the brain.  Scientists in California are now developing an international database of brain images of hundreds of chronic pain patients.  The goal is to speed up research and develop better ways to treat people whose pain never completely goes away.

Emeran Mayer is a gastroenterologist at UCLA, the University of California Los Angeles.  Doctors like him study the stomach and intestines⁵. 

“One of the big things in pain research has been the failure to really come up with major breakthroughs in, in treatments.”

Dr.  Mayer hopes to develop treatments for people with chronic pain.  He is working on a new field that links chronic pain to biological changes in the brain.  The Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress at UCLA is the headquarters for the first standardized⁶ database of brain imaging linked to chronic pain. 

“So I think a lot of people now agree with the concept that chronic pain is a brain disease -- it may start anywhere in the body when you have acute pain but once it becomes a chronic pain syndrome⁷ it does become a brain disease.”

Kirsten Tillisch is a professor at the Division of Digestive Diseases at UCLA.  She says the imaging database lets doctors look at treating the whole body, not just parts of it.

“One of the, the failures of Western medicine and I think our research approaches is how we’ve diced⁸ up the human body and how we’ve diced up research into these little silos that work very independently.”

Professor Mayer says Western scientists are starting to look more closely at how the mind, body and environment influence each other.

“Big data, medicine, and analysis is essentially⁹ doing the same thing that, you know, the ancient Chinese did by observation.  We do it by observing and analyzing¹⁰ very large data sets and trying to see are there patterns in there that, that hang together biologically.”

Professor Tillisch says new technology makes that possible.

“You know when I started this type of work ten years ago there wasn’t -- we didn’t have computing¹¹ power to do these types of analysis.  So, in the brain alone in the, in the last decade it’s really exploded what we could look at.”

The database now has the brain scans of more than 500 patients from North America and Europe.  UCLA is working to gather more.  Professor Mayer hopes to include brain images of people from Asian countries in the database.

Up To 500,000 Spinal Cord Injuries Per Year Worldwide

The World Health Organization says as many as 500,000 people suffer spinal cord injuries every year.  And it says people with such injuries are much more likely to die early. 

Recently, the World Health Organization released a report called “International Perspectives on Spinal Cord Injuries.”  Alana Officer works at the WHO.  She says spinal cord injuries do more than just cause paralysis¹², or lack of movement. 

“There are a lot more associated health problems, such as difficulty with bowel¹³ and bladder function, difficulty with sexual function, associated problems around mental health conditions.  So it’s much broader than just experiencing paralysis.”

Alana Officer is the WHO’s Coordinator¹⁴ for Disability and Rehabilitation¹⁵.  She says the main causes of spinal cord injuries are traffic accidents, falls and violence.  She says some causes are more common in certain areas.

“For example, road traffic crashes are the main contributors of spinal cord injury in Africa and the Western Pacific region.  Falls tend to be the leading cause in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.  And then we have high rates of violence in certain countries.  We have high rates in the U.S.  We have high rates in South Africa.  And then we’ve also got the non-traumatic causes of spinal cord injuries, such as tumors and cancers, tuberculosis¹⁶ and spinabifida.”

Most people think of tuberculosis as a lung disease.  But in some African countries, it is responsible for about one third of the non-violent spinal cord injuries.

The birth defect spinabifida causes damage to the spine¹⁷.  In severe cases, it can affect walking and daily activities.  Health officials say they do not yet know the exact cause of spinabifida.  But they say it may be linked to genes¹⁸ and the environment.

Alana Officer says more men than women suffer spinal cord injuries.

“There’s a ratio of about two-to-one of males to females.  Men tend to be more likely to experience spinal cord injury between the ages of about 20 and 29 -- women, or certainly girls much younger, between sort of 15 and 19.  So that’s our first peak in young people.  And then we get a second peak, interestingly, in older people.  And the major driver of that is falls, tumors, cancer, et cetera.”

She says the main reason people with spinal cord injuries are more likely to die early is lack of medical care.

“A lot of people with spinal cord injuries, certainly in low- and middle- income countries, do not get appropriate emergency response care.  Mortality rates are very strongly affected¹⁹ by the quality of the health care system.  For example, if you’re in a low-income country, you are three times more likely of dying in (a) hospital following a spinal cord injury than you would be in a high-income country.”

Ms.  Officer says many of the causes of spinal cord injury deaths in poor countries are preventable.  These include urinary tract²⁰ infections and pressure sores, also known as bedsores.  These are areas of damaged skin caused by a person staying in one position too long.  Bedsores are usually not life-threatening problems in wealthy countries.

“People with spinal cord injuries can live pretty much the same amount of time as somebody without a spinal cord injury.  There’s a slight difference, but certainly life expectancy²¹ has increased considerably²² in high-income countries.  And it’s not the case in low- income countries.”

Experts suggest immediate²³ action if a spinal cord injury is suspected, including immobilization of the spine, restricting its movement.  The WHO says that should be followed by what it calls, “care appropriate to the level and severity of the injury, degree of instability of the spine and compression of nerves.”  It also suggests “skilled rehabilitation and mental health services.”  The WHO notes that up to 30 percent of people with spinal cord injuries show “clinically-significant signs of depression.”

There is currently no cure for paralysis from spinal cord injuries, but many researchers are looking for one.  Alana Officer says there is much that can be done to prevent such injuries -- including building safer roads and vehicles, reducing drinking and driving and wearing seatbelts.  Other measures include improving safety in sports and the workplace, and adding window guards to windows.  She says spinal cord injuries would be reduced if doctors could identify and treat tuberculosis earlier and by improving nutrition to reduce spinabifida cases.

Scientists Create Lung Tissue from Stem Cells

Finally, scientists have used stem cell technology to create working lung cells.  Researchers say stem cells also could be used to create new drugs to treat diseases that restrict breathing.  And they think the cells could one day create tissue for lung transplant operations.  The research is another step toward what is being called personalized medicine.

 

Over the past several years, scientists have used stem cells and growth factors to force the body’s master cells to create other cells.  This process has created heart, intestinal²⁴, liver, nerve and insulin-producing cells as possible replacements²⁵ for diseased organs.

Now, scientists at Columbia University in New York City have changed stem cells into working, functioning lung cells, at least in the laboratory.  The scientists say this could help researchers develop drugs and transplants to treat deadly diseases. 

Hans Snoeck is a professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia’s medical school.  He led the study.  He says researchers were able to create six human lung and airway²⁶ cells.  One of the cells produced a substance called surfactant.  In the lungs, surfactant keeps the body’s air passageways open, letting people breathe.

“And we know that the cells that we made can make surfactant, can recycle it, can secrete²⁷ it again.  So we know that they do what they’re supposed to do.  And these cells are very essential in lung diseases.”

He adds that impaired²⁸ surfactant production causes pulmonary fibrosis, a deadly lung condition. 

In experiments, researchers showed they could make embryonic²⁹ stem cells become lung tissue.  They used proteins that tell the body’s master cells to become lung tissue.  Some people have criticized the use of embryonic stem cells because they come from human embryos³⁰.  That is why the researchers turned to what they call induced pluripotent stem cells.  These are skin and other kinds of cells that can act like progenitor³¹ cells.

All of the experiments produced human lung tissue.  The researchers placed this tissue into the kidneys of mice.  Dr.  Snoeck says the implanted cells grew and began acting³² like lung tissue.  Researchers will be able to use the cells as a model for treatments for disabling and deadly lung diseases, like cystic fibrosis. 

Dr.  Snoeck says lung transplants often are not successful.  But in the future, he says, scientists may be able to engineer transplantable donor³³ lungs by removing all of their cellular³⁴ material.  They would then seed the remaining structures with lung cells created from the skin cells of the transplant patient.

“In this way we hope to be able to one day -- but this is years away -- to make a lung that a recipient³⁵ -- someone who is in need of a transplant -- will not reject because all the cells in this lung are made from the same patient.”

A report on the creation of lung tissue from stem cells was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. 

This Science in the News was written by Christopher Cruise.  Our producer was June Simms.  I’m Faith Lapidus.

1 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

2 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。

3 joints   

接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语）

参考例句：

• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on gas mains. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在煤气的总管道上了。
• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on steam pipes. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在蒸气管道上了。

4 abdomen   

n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分)

参考例句：

• How to know to there is ascarid inside abdomen?怎样知道肚子里面有蛔虫？
• He was anxious about an off-and-on pain the abdomen.他因时隐时现的腹痛而焦虑。

5 intestines   

n.肠( intestine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perhaps the most serious problems occur in the stomach and intestines. 最严重的问题或许出现在胃和肠里。 来自辞典例句
• The traps of carnivorous plants function a little like the stomachs and small intestines of animals. 食肉植物的捕蝇器起着动物的胃和小肠的作用。 来自辞典例句

6 standardized   

adj.标准化的

参考例句：

• We use standardized tests to measure scholastic achievement. 我们用标准化考试来衡量学生的学业成绩。
• The parts of an automobile are standardized. 汽车零件是标准化了的。

7 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

8 diced   

v.将…切成小方块，切成丁( dice的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The meat should be finely diced for this dish. 做这种菜肴肉必须细细切成小方块。 来自辞典例句
• Arther diced himself into debt. 亚瑟因掷骰子而负了债。 来自辞典例句

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句

11 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

12 paralysis   

n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症)

参考例句：

• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。
• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。

13 bowel   

n.肠(尤指人肠)；内部，深处

参考例句：

• Irritable bowel syndrome seems to affect more women than men.女性比男性更易患肠易激综合征。
• Have you had a bowel movement today?你今天有排便吗？

14 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

15 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

16 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

17 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

18 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

19 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

20 tract   

n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林)

参考例句：

• He owns a large tract of forest.他拥有一大片森林。
• He wrote a tract on this subject.他曾对此写了一篇短文。

21 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

22 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

23 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

24 intestinal   

adj.肠的；肠壁；肠道细菌

参考例句：

• A few other conditions are in high intestinal obstruction. 其它少数情况是高位肠梗阻。 来自辞典例句
• This complication has occasionally occurred following the use of intestinal antiseptics. 这种并发症偶而发生在使用肠道抗菌剂上。 来自辞典例句

25 replacements   

n.代替( replacement的名词复数 )；替换的人[物]；替代品；归还

参考例句：

• They infiltrated behind the lines so as to annoy the emery replacements. 他们渗透敌后以便骚扰敌军的调度。 来自辞典例句
• For oil replacements, cheap suddenly looks less of a problem. 对于石油的替代品来说，价格变得无足轻重了。 来自互联网

26 airway   

n.空中航线，通风口

参考例句：

• Lay them on their side and ensure the airway is unobstructed.让他们侧躺着，并确保呼吸道畅通。
• There is a purple airway in London Airport.伦敦机场里有一条皇家专用飞机跑道。

27 secrete   

vt.分泌；隐匿，使隐秘

参考例句：

• The pores of your body secrete sweat.身上的毛孔分泌汗液。
• Squirrels secrete a supply of nuts for winter.松鼠为准备过冬而藏坚果。

28 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

29 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。

30 embryos   

n.晶胚；胚，胚胎( embryo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Somatic cells of angiosperms enter a regenerative phase and behave like embryos. 被子植物体细胞进入一个生殖阶段，而且其行为象胚。 来自辞典例句
• Evolution can explain why human embryos look like gilled fishes. 进化论能够解释为什么人类的胚胎看起来象除去了内脏的鱼一样。 来自辞典例句

31 progenitor   

n.祖先，先驱

参考例句：

• He was also a progenitor of seven presidents of Nicaragua.他也是尼加拉瓜7任总统的祖先。
• Schoenberg was a progenitor of modern music.勋伯格是一位现代音乐的先驱。

32 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。

33 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

34 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

35 recipient   

a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器

参考例句：

• Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
• Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。