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VOA慢速英语2013 SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Traditional Test for Cervix Cancer Being Used to Test for Other Cancers

时间:2013-02-17 08:33:13

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SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Traditional Test for Cervix Cancer Being Used to Test for Other Cancers

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in Special English. I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I’m Avi Arditti. Today, we tell about a new way to test for cancers of the female reproductive system. We tell how a diabetes1 drug can help ovarian cancer patients. And we report on a finding that overweight people have a lower risk of death than those of normal weight. We also tell about a proposal to store documents, videos and other information in genetic2 material.

The Pap smear3 has long been the traditional test for cancer of the cervix, the muscular opening of the uterus. But it now is becoming a way to test for other cancers in women.

Scientists have developed a combination Pap test that also looks for two other hard-to-find cancers of the female reproductive system. The researchers created a method of testing that uses the Papanicolao or Pap smear test. They expanded the Pap smear to look for the genes4 linked with ovarian cancer and cancer of the endometrium.

In the United States, these two cancers are found in about 70,000 women every year, killing5 about one-third of them.

There are currently no tests to identify the two cancers. But scientists found that abnormal DNA6 is released from endometrial and ovarian tumors. This genetic material can be found among healthy cells in fluid taken from the cervix.

Using genetic maps, the researchers identified 12 of the most common mutated genes in both cancers. They used the new PapGene test to study cervical cell samples from 24 women. The test correctly predicted that all the women had endometrial cancer. But the test was less successful in predicting the presence of ovarian cancer.

Isaac Kinde works for the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Center at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He says the PapGene test identified only nine of 22 ovarian cancers in patients with the disease. He says ovarian cancer may be more difficult to find because of where ovaries are found in women.

“I think the most likely explanation for the result that we got is the fact that a cancer cell has to travel farther away from the ovaries to get to the cervix.”

Isaac Kinde says his team is working with other researchers to make the PapGene test more sensitive in the recognition of ovarian cancer.

The Johns Hopkins team worked with researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. Their findings appeared in the journal “Science Translational Medicine”.

The survival rate for women with ovarian cancer is not good. Only about 50 percent can expect to survive the disease for five years. But researchers say the chances of living five years are better if women with ovarian cancer are also taking a common diabetes drug.

The researchers work at the Mayo Clinic in the American state of Minnesota. They found that 67 percent of ovarian cancer patients who were taking the drug metformin live five years or more after the discovery of their cancers. That is much better than the survival rate for those women who were not taking the drug.

Sanjeey Kumar is a cancer specialist with the clinic. He says researchers are not sure how metformin extends the life expectancy7 of some ovarian cancer patients. But he says they have theories:

“Such as acting8 through stem cells, cancer stem cells, or depriving the cancer cells of energy supply or glucose9.”

Stem cells are able to become any kind of body tissue. In the ovaries, stem cells produce normal ovarian cells. But the influence of some genes can turn stem cells into deadly cancer.

Metformin has been shown to prevent heart disease in people with diabetes. The drug reduces harmful levels of bad cholesterol10 and blood fats known as triglycerides in type-two diabetics. Doctors can also use metformin to treat a condition known as polycystic ovarian disease.

In the Mayo Clinic study, researchers compared the survival of 239 ovarian cancer patients. Sixty-one of the women were taking metformin. The drug was not given to the other women. 

The researchers found that women taking metformin were nearly four times more likely to survive at least five years than the women not taking the drug.

There are few treatments for ovarian cancer, which has proven resistant11 to chemotherapy drugs. Sanjeey Kumar suspects that someday metformin will be given to women with the disease to improve their chances of survival.

The results of the study were published in the journal “Cancer”.

New research shows that overweight or even mildly obese12 people have a lower risk of early death than people considered of normal weight. Researchers examined the results of 97 studies. Most of the studies were less than 10 years old. They included almost three million adults from around the world.

The researchers work at the National Center for Health Statistics, part of America’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They found that people who are considered overweight or slightly obese were five to six percent less likely to die from all causes than people of normal weight. People with higher obesity13 ratings, however, had almost a 30 percent greater risk of death compared to normal-weight individuals.

Katherine Flegal was the lead author of the study. She says she was not surprised that overweight people would not have a higher risk of death. But she says the difference in death rates appears to be small between normal-weight people and those who are overweight or mildly obese.

The study has raised new questions about “body mass index,” or BMI. This is a measurement of body fat as a ratio of height to weight. BMI guidelines were used as a basis for the study. In recent years, many health experts have promoted body mass index as a way to predict the risk of health problems. But a person's BMI can be misleading in some cases.

Steven Heymsfield is the executive director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton14 Rouge15, Louisiana. He says people can be physically16 fit and in good health, but might weigh more because they are more muscular.

Still, Dr. Heymsfield says people should not think gaining extra weight is OK just because of the new findings. He says being at a healthy weight lowers the risk for heart disease and diabetes. He and a colleague wrote an editorial that appeared along with the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Friends, Romans, countrymen! Lend me your ears.”

“To be, or not to be. That is the question.”

“This above all, to thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

These words were written nearly 500 years ago. They are said to be the work of the English poet and playwright17 William Shakespeare. Many people consider Shakespeare to have been the best writer of all time. Far into the future, students of literature will read his words and praise the “Bard of Avon.” But they will need our help to make sure that his words and thoughts survive.

Old paper falls apart as the years go by. Water, dryness and some kind of light are the enemy. When computers were invented, some people thought they had the problem solved. “Just make it digital,” they said, “and it will last forever.” But digital data is just a small amount of electricity that could be canceled by accident. CDs and DVDs could be ruined by heat. No, we need something better: Something that can store huge amounts of words, and pictures, and movies … and do it all in a very small, safe place. 

The answer, scientists say, may be based on DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, found in the human body. Researchers at the European Bioinformatics Institute in England are making their own DNA and using it to store information. If their experiments prove successful, the researchers may be able to store one million CDs on something the size of your little finger. 

The English scientists say that all you have to do is keep the DNA in a cold, dry and dark place. We know it works because scientists have recovered DNA from the bones of animals dead for thousands of years. It seems that putting the information into the DNA is the hard part. If the data is entered, or encoded, correctly, it will last for a long, long time. It then can be taken out in a usable form with 100 percent accuracy.

Using DNA for storage can be pricey. But scientists expect the cost to be much less as more experiments are done. They say that they might even be able to encode DNA with “zettabytes” of information. That, they say, is enough to save all the information that now exists … on Earth! 

The study about using DNA to store digital data appeared in the journal “Nature.”


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1 diabetes uPnzu     
n.糖尿病
参考例句:
  • In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者,医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
  • Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。
2 genetic PgIxp     
adj.遗传的,遗传学的
参考例句:
  • It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
  • Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。
3 smear 6EmyX     
v.涂抹;诽谤,玷污;n.污点;诽谤,污蔑
参考例句:
  • He has been spreading false stories in an attempt to smear us.他一直在散布谎言企图诽谤我们。
  • There's a smear on your shirt.你衬衫上有个污点。
4 genes 01914f8eac35d7e14afa065217edd8c0     
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
5 killing kpBziQ     
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。
6 DNA 4u3z1l     
(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸
参考例句:
  • DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
  • Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。
7 expectancy tlMys     
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。
8 acting czRzoc     
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。
9 glucose Fyiyz     
n.葡萄糖
参考例句:
  • I gave him an extra dose of glucose to pep him up.我给他多注射了一剂葡萄糖以增强他的活力。
  • The doctor injected glucose into his patient's veins.医生将葡萄糖注入病人的静脉。
10 cholesterol qrzzV     
n.(U)胆固醇
参考例句:
  • There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
  • They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。
11 resistant 7Wvxh     
adj.(to)抵抗的,有抵抗力的
参考例句:
  • Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
  • They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。
12 obese uvIya     
adj.过度肥胖的,肥大的
参考例句:
  • The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了,不能算是健康。
  • Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。
13 obesity Dv1ya     
n.肥胖,肥大
参考例句:
  • One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
  • Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。
14 baton 5Quyw     
n.乐队用指挥杖
参考例句:
  • With the baton the conductor was beating time.乐队指挥用指挥棒打拍子。
  • The conductor waved his baton,and the band started up.指挥挥动指挥棒,乐队开始演奏起来。
15 rouge nX7xI     
n.胭脂,口红唇膏;v.(在…上)擦口红
参考例句:
  • Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂,使脸更漂亮。
  • She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮,不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。
16 physically iNix5     
adj.物质上,体格上,身体上,按自然规律
参考例句:
  • He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服,心绪也很乱。
  • Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。
17 playwright 8Ouxo     
n.剧作家,编写剧本的人
参考例句:
  • Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
  • The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

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