VOA常速英语2016--心力衰竭患者有望逐步医治

心力衰竭患者有望逐步医治

A stem cell treatment for patients experiencing heart failure significantly improved their heart function in a small but promising¹ new study. In heart failure, the heart loses its ability to efficiently² pump blood. It is most often caused by a heart attack, which destroys some of the muscle tissue essential to a normal heartbeat. In this new study, patients were injected with adult stem cells taken from their own hearts. These are a special kind of undifferentiated cell found throughout the body that helps to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found. Doctors use a measure called 'ejection fraction' to describe the heart's ability to pump blood. Study author Dr. Roberto Bolli of the University of Louisville says people in the control group showed no significant improvement in that measure. But he called the improvement in the stem cell patients "striking." At four months, the pumping ability of the heart was markedly improved. The ejection fraction increased by eight points at four months, and at one year it increased by 12 points. Now, this is a huge increase, much greater than what we even hoped for when we started our study. And Bolli says there was a significant improvement in the ability of the stem cell recipients³ to exercise. The study participants also got MRI scans before and after treatment. A year after getting the stem cells, the images showed a 30 percent reduction in the scars of dead heart muscle. The reduction of the scar implies that new heart muscle is being produced to replace that scar. And so it is evidence that the stem cells are regenerating⁴ new heart muscle. This ongoing⁵ study is very small, with just 16 patients in the stem cells group, plus seven more in the control group. But a commentary published with his paper says Bolli's findings "raise new optimism" because of the study's rigorous quality and unexpectedly good results. Bolli published his findings in The Lancet and presented them at the American Heart Association meeting in Florida. Also at that Heart Association meeting: another report of stem cell research, though with less promising results. In a study published in the journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA, researchers gave recent heart attack victims stem cells taken from their bone marrow⁶. The idea was to prevent the onset⁷ of heart failure. Earlier studies had suggested the technique might work. But in this case, after six months there was no improvement in heart function. That’s today’s health brief. This is Paul Chan reporting.

一则新的研究显示，对心力衰竭患者采用干细胞治疗法可极大提升患者的心脏功能，前景广阔。所谓心力衰竭，就是心脏泵血功能失效。心力衰竭通常是由心脏病发作造成，会损坏心肌组织，导致心脏无法正常跳动。在这则新研究中，患者被注入了自己的心脏干细胞。这些取自患者身体各处的干细胞，彼此之间并无差异，但其特殊性在于可以帮助患者维护并修复其同源组织。医学上用“射血分数”来表示心脏泵血能力。这则研究的发起者是路易斯维尔大学的罗伯托，他表示，实验对照组患者的射血分数并无明显改善。但干细胞的改善“惊人”。四个月的时候，心脏的泵血能力就有显著提升。数据显示，射血分数在四个月时提升了4点，一年后上升了12点。如今看来，这是巨大的提升了，比我们在实验之初所希望的还要好。罗伯特还说，注入了干细胞的心脏病患者，心肌能力有显著提升。参加该研究的患者在治疗前后都进行了磁共振成像。注入干细胞一年后，患者心肌坏死的疤痕减少了30%。疤痕减少的事实表明患者生成的新心肌代替了疤痕处的坏死心肌。所以这证明干细胞可以再生新心肌。这项研究规模较小，目前干细胞实验组仅有16名患者，实验对照组还有7名患者。但罗伯特研究结果的摘要中称，该研究由于颇有成效而“为心力衰竭患者带来了新的希望”。

罗伯特将研究结果发表在《柳叶刀》上，并在佛罗里达州举行的美国心脏协会会议上进行了阐述。在这次会议上，还有一则干细胞研究出现，虽然其前景广阔性不如罗伯特的研究。这则研究结果发布在了美国医学会杂志上，其研究内容是为心脏病患者注入其骨髓细胞。这个想法的初衷是为了防止患者发生心力衰竭。前期的一些研究表明这一方法可能奏效。不过在这则研究中，患者的心肌功能并没有在六个月后有所改善。以上就是今天的健康简报。我是保罗，感谢您的收听。

1 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

2 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

3 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 regenerating   

v.新生，再生( regenerate的现在分词 )；正反馈

参考例句：

• It is not proposed to deal with the detailed histology of regenerating tissues here. 这里未提出详细的再生组织的组织学。 来自辞典例句
• This is accomplished by using a thermocompressor to recycle regenerating steam through the absorber. 它用热压机使再生蒸汽经吸附器循环完成解吸过程。 来自辞典例句

5 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

6 marrow   

n.骨髓；精华；活力

参考例句：

• It was so cold that he felt frozen to the marrow. 天气太冷了，他感到寒冷刺骨。
• He was tired to the marrow of his bones.他真是累得筋疲力尽了。

7 onset   

n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始

参考例句：

• The drug must be taken from the onset of the infection.这种药必须在感染的最初期就开始服用。
• Our troops withstood the onset of the enemy.我们的部队抵挡住了敌人的进攻。