SCIENCE IN THE NEWS

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS
By

Broadcast: Tuesday, July 20, 2004

VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty¹.

VOICE TWO:

 
Graphic² Image
And I'm Sarah Long. Coming up this week: a report on efforts to reduce medical mistakes in American hospitals.

VOICE ONE:

Some new ways to kill mosquito eggs in water.

VOICE TWO:

And some underwater competition creates trouble for jewelry³ makers⁴ in Hawaii.

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VOICE ONE:

Five years ago, a study estimated the number of deaths each year caused by medical mistakes in hospitals in the United States. The estimate was between forty-four thousand and ninety-eight thousand -- or one in every two hundred patients.

The Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, did the study. The report was called "To Err⁵ Is Human." There was a lot of talk about the findings. Some experts called the estimates too high. Others called them too low.

The report called for changes designed to reduce the chance for mistakes to happen in medical care. Not all mistakes are deadly. The report told of a man who was supposed to have his right leg removed. Doctors cut off the left one by mistake.

The report said this kind of medical error is not unusual. It said many people are given the wrong medicine, or too much of the right medicine. New medicines with similar names are part of the problem. For example, Celebrex, Cerebyx and Celexa are three different medicines used to treat very different medical problems.

VOICE TWO:

The Institute of Medicine report said changes in hospital policies could prevent many of these mistakes. The nineteen-ninety-nine study called for another examination later this year to measure progress.

Health care experts say a number of reforms have yet to take place. But they say hospitals have made improvements. Some are very simple. In fact, one of our friends here in the office discovered one for himself. Ten years ago he had an operation on his left knee. The operation was a success. But when he went into the hospital, no one asked him to confirm which knee required the operation.

Recently, he had the same operation on his right knee. This time, a hospital worker asked him which knee was to be repaired. He was asked to place his hand on that knee. Then he was given a pen. He was told to write "yes" on the right knee and "no" on the left one.

After that, he entered the operating room. The nurse and the doctor both asked him which knee was the one to be fixed⁶. They wanted to make sure one last time that the right knee was the right knee.

This month a group that inspects American hospitals ordered that simple safety measures like these be required before all operations. That group is called "Jayco" -- the Joint⁷ Commission for Accreditation⁸ of Healthcare Organizations.

VOICE ONE:

Another effort to reduce mistakes involves information sharing among hospitals to improve the treatment of newborn babies. Each hospital can search the collected information for the best way to perform an operation or treat different problems in babies. Safety experts say information sharing can not only reduce mistakes but also improve the quality of medical care.

The Institute of Medicine report five years ago said most mistakes are caused by communication failures. These include mistakes with medicines. There are efforts to increase the use of computers in hospitals to avoid such mistakes. The goal is make sure patients get the correct medicines and in the correct amounts.

Traditionally, doctors have written their orders on paper. The handwriting can be difficult to read. But there is no such problem when the doctor enters the information into a computer instead.

The computer can also be used to avoid other mistakes. For example, it can warn if a medicine will form a dangerous combination with another drug already taken by the patient.

VOICE TWO:

Safety experts hope that health care providers will learn from the mistakes of others -- and not just other health care providers.

It is often said that doctors can learn from pilots. The flight industry has done a lot of work to reduce mistakes. These efforts include training for pilots about the importance of teamwork. But teamwork is not the only solution. Efforts are also made to change systems where misunderstandings and mistakes are easily possible.

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VOICE ONE:

This is Science in the News, in VOA Special English.

Mosquitoes spread malaria¹⁰ and other diseases that kill or sicken millions of people a year, mostly in developing countries. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in water. These insects often lay their eggs in old tires or other places where rainwater has collected. This is why public health officials tell people not to leave standing⁹ water on their property. But an American man has designed some ways to use standing water to control mosquitoes.

Donald Hall of Virginia is a retired¹¹ engineer. His inventions target mosquito eggs. One device pushes the water from a bird bath into a filter. The filter crushes the eggs that have been laid in the water. Some mosquitoes too young to fly are also killed.

VOICE TWO:

Another invention by Mister Hall is a special outdoor tray that is filled with water. It serves as an inviting¹² place for mosquitoes to lay their eggs. But the heat of the sun causes a coil device at the bottom of the tray to expand during daylight hours. So the eggs rise to the surface of the water. There they become hot and die. In the evening, the metal coil shrinks back under water, so more mosquitoes can lay their eggs.

Donald Hall says devices like these would be simple and low cost to make for developing countries. He recently received a United States patent to protect his ownership rights to his inventions. We have a link to his patent information on our Web site, voaspecialenglish-dot-com.

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VOICE ONE:

Scientists in Hawaii say a beautiful but unwelcome form of ocean life threatens the coral industry in that state. They say snowflake coral is invading an area between the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Lanai. It kills black coral by crowding it out in the competition for resources.

Coral is made up of colonies of small organisms called polyps. One end of a coral polyp has a mouth. The other end usually sticks to hard surfaces. The polyps of snowflake coral are white. So the colonies look like fields of snow.

These polyps form shapes like trees as they grow. Right now, most of the snowflake coral develops at depths as low as one-hundred-ten meters. That is below the level that divers¹³ can easily reach.

Snowflake coral connects itself to shells and other objects that live on black coral. Hawaii's black coral is used to make jewelry and other objects. This industry is worth twenty-five to thirty million dollars to the state. Hawaiian coral rings, bracelets¹⁴ and necklaces are especially popular.

VOICE TWO:

Sam Kahng is an ocean science researcher at the University of Hawaii. Last December, Mister Kahng did research with a submarine provided by the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory.

In the area he studied, he noted¹⁵ the presence of snowflake coral in or around all the colonies of black coral. He saw areas of black coral that had been killed by the snowflake coral. He said a single polyp of coral can produce as many as one hundred eggs. It can grow more than a centimeter a week.

Mister Kahng said many new colonies of snowflake coral are just starting to form. Snowflake coral grows much faster than black coral.

The invasive coral is not all bad. It does provides shelter for fish. Still, it competes with black coral and small fish for food supplies.

VOICE ONE:

Snowflake coral was first seen in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor in nineteen-seventy two. Researchers say the coral polyps may have stuck to the bottoms of ships that sailed into Hawaiian waters from the Caribbean.

Several years ago, Sam Kahng explored the area between Maui and Lanai with Richard Grigg from the University of Hawaii. Mister Grigg is now partly retired. He says he does not think snowflake coral will kill all the black coral beds. But he says it reduces the black coral that can be harvested for jewelry. He also says it may reduce the growth of new black coral by killing¹⁶ older beds. These older beds make it possible for black coral to reproduce.

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VOICE TWO:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Nancy Steinbach, Paul Thompson and Jerilyn Watson. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. This is Sarah Long.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for more news about science, in Special English, on the Voice of America.

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

3 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

4 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 err   

vi.犯错误，出差错

参考例句：

• He did not err by a hair's breadth in his calculation.他的计算结果一丝不差。
• The arrows err not from their aim.箭无虚发。

6 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

7 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

8 accreditation   

n.委派，信赖，鉴定合格

参考例句：

• a letter of accreditation 一份合格证明书
• This paper gives an overview of the Verification, Validation and Accreditation (VV&A) in High Level Architecture(HLA). 对基于高层体系结构(High Level Architecture,简称HLA)的仿真系统的校核、验证与确认(Verification, Validation and Accreditation,简称VV&A)问题进行了详细的介绍及分析。 来自互联网

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

11 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

12 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

13 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

14 bracelets   

n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The lamplight struck a gleam from her bracelets. 她的手镯在灯光的照射下闪闪发亮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• On display are earrings, necklaces and bracelets made from jade, amber and amethyst. 展出的有用玉石、琥珀和紫水晶做的耳环、项链和手镯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

16 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。