HEALTH REPORT - Fetal Skin Cells May Treat Burns

HEALTH REPORT - Fetal Skin Cells May Treat Burns
By Caty Weaver¹

Broadcast: Wednesday, September 21, 2005

I'm Shep O'Neal with the VOA Special English Health Report.

A method tested in Switzerland may offer a new way to treat burns. Researchers used skin cells grown from a fetus² to treat serious burns in eight children. Some of the burns were the most severe kind.

The skin cells came from a pregnancy³ that ended when the mother had an abortion⁴ at fourteen weeks. She gave the scientists permission to use four centimeters of skin from her fetus.

The cells divided in a laboratory. Then the scientists mixed the cells with collagen. Collagen is a protein that enables skin to stretch. The researchers say this process can provide many small pieces of skin tissue.

They placed some of the pieces on top of the wounds of the children. The pieces of tissue were replaced with fresh ones every three to four days. The scientists say the process was not at all difficult. The children were between the ages of fourteen months and nine years old.

Usually, doctors use skin from other parts of a patient's body to repair damage from burns. The process is called grafting⁶. However, those skin cells reproduce slowly and sometimes painfully. And the new skin often does not look good.

Patrick Hohlfeld of the University Hospital of Lausanne led the study. He says members of his team were surprised at the results. He says they expected the fetal tissue to work much the same as the skin grafts⁷. The British medical magazine The Lancet reported the findings.

The report says the wounds on the young burn patients healed in about fifteen days. Most graft⁵ treatments take six times longer. And the scientists say the repairs were complete. Most of the children recovered full use of the damaged areas. The researchers followed the progress for up to two years.

Other researchers say the results of the Swiss experiment still need to be compared to current burn treatments. They noted⁸ that no one knows if the burns on the children would have healed without the fetal cell treatment.

And questions have been raised about the morality in the use of tissue from an aborted⁹ fetus. The Washington Post published a letter from a policy expert at the Christian¹⁰ Medical Association. He says mistreatment of early human life can easily progress to other groups in society.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Caty Weaver.  I'm Shep O'Neal.

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。

3 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

4 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

5 graft   

n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接

参考例句：

• I am having a skin graft on my arm soon.我马上就要接受手臂的皮肤移植手术。
• The minister became rich through graft.这位部长透过贪污受贿致富。

6 grafting   

嫁接法，移植法

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。
• Burns can often be cured by grafting on skin from another part of the same body. 烧伤常常可以用移植身体其它部位的皮肤来治愈。

7 grafts   

移植( graft的名词复数 )； 行贿； 接穗； 行贿得到的利益

参考例句：

• He's gone to London for skin grafts on his thighs. 他去伦敦做大腿植皮手术了。
• Her burns were treated with skin grafts. 她的烧伤是用植皮方法进行治疗的。

8 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。

9 aborted   

adj.流产的，失败的v.（使）流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• The rocket flight had to be aborted because of difficulties with computer. 因电脑出故障，这次火箭飞行只好中辍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They aborted the space flight finally. 他们最后中止了这次宇航飞行。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。