VOA标准英语2011--Osteoporosis Drug Might Repair Joints Da

Osteoporosis Drug Might Repair Joints² Damaged by Arthritis³

A medication that builds bone mass in patients with osteoporosis might actually help repair damaged joints and could be used to treat people suffering from arthritis, according to University of Rochester Medical Center researchers.
The study authors hope their findings, published in Science Translational Medicine, will lead to clinical trials to test human parathyroid hormone⁴ in arthritis patients.
Many older people suffer from arthritis, which is a painful joint¹ condition. Treatment options have been very limited for some forms of the disease.
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of the disease. It occurs when cartilage breaks down, so it can no longer cushion bones as they move against each other in joints like the knee, hips⁵, or hands.
The body maintains cartilage with parathyroid hormone (PTH). A synthetic⁶ form is used to treat the bone disease osteoporosis. It's called teriparatide, sold under the brand name Forteo. Researchers at the University of Rochester thought this osteoporosis drug might help rebuilt cartilage in arthritis patients.
To find out, Michael J. Zuscik and his colleagues used mice with injured knees, simulating arthritis. Some of the animals got the drug Forteo, while others did not.
"The treatment with Forteo induced the cartilage to become thicker by 32 or 35 percent relative to animals that were given a placebo⁷ treatment," Zuscik says.
Currently, osteoarthritis patients use a variety of medicines to treat pain, but available drugs do nothing to reverse the actual damage that causes the pain.
"In the context of human disease, this is what we would love to do. We would love to be able to take an arthritic⁸ patient, provide them with a therapy that actually makes their cartilage thicker, so they have longer lifetime use of their joint," Zuscik says.
The researcher says it wouldn't make the joint like new, but it would roll back the clock, so that the painfully arthritic knees of a 70-year-old might become more like the pretty-good knees of a 60-year-old.
More research is needed to see if Forteo would be effective in humans, and safe. Osteoporosis patients get a warning of one possible risk. Studies of Forteo in rats have found the drug increases the risk of a rare bone cancer, osteoscarcoma. But studies of other animals, including primates⁹, have not confirmed the rat finding. Still, to be on the safe side, Forteo is not prescribed for people with a history of cancer.

1 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。

2 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。

3 arthritis   

n.关节炎

参考例句：

• Rheumatoid arthritis has also been linked with the virus.风湿性关节炎也与这种病毒有关。
• He spent three months in the hospital with acute rheumatic arthritis.他患急性风湿性关节炎，在医院住了三个月。

4 hormone   

n.荷尔蒙，激素，内分泌

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。

5 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

7 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。

8 arthritic   

adj.关节炎的

参考例句：

• Somehow the geriatric Voyager 2, arthritic and partially deaf, managed to reach Neptune. 得了关节炎而且局部变聋、衰老的“旅行者2号”最后总算抵达海王星。 来自百科语句
• Femoral head ostectomy is a surgery performed on severely arthritic dogs. 股骨断截骨术’都是针对关节炎严重的狗狗的手术。 来自互联网

9 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。