美国国家公共电台 NPR How Vaping Nicotine Can Affect A Teenage Brain

How Vaping Nicotine¹ Can Affect A Teenage Brain

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Across the United States yesterday, people held rallies aimed at encouraging teens and young adults who vape to quit. In Washington, D.C., activists² demonstrated outside the offices of Juul, a company that's under the spotlight³ for its marketing⁴ practices. We have two stories this morning. NPR's Jon Hamilton explains what nicotine actually does to the teenage brain. And NPR's Allison Aubrey introduces us to a former vapor-turned-activist.

ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE⁵: On the very day that Piper Johnson's family was packing up the car to drive her to college, she started to feel sick, so she mentioned it to her mom.

PIPER JOHNSON: I went up to her, and I was like, my chest kind of hurts.

AUBREY: As they drove from the Chicago area to Colorado, Piper Johnson knew something was terribly wrong.

JOHNSON: I just kept feeling worse and worse.

AUBREY: Piper Johnson had been vaping since high school.

JOHNSON: I was vaping majority nicotine.

AUBREY: She also vaped some THC, but she didn't realize that vaping was making her so sick until she ended up in the ER.

JOHNSON: Oh, I was terrified. I had no idea what was happening to me.

AUBREY: As her oxygen levels plummeted⁶, she was put in the ICU and remembers struggling to breathe.

JOHNSON: Honestly, it was the most painful experience of my entire life. Like, I was laying on my bed, like, sobbing⁷ because it hurt so bad to breathe.

AUBREY: She says she's feeling much better now. Not only has she stopped vaping, she can't believe she ever got hooked. And she wants to help other people quit, too. She says vaping is just so out of line with her generation's approach to good living.

JOHNSON: We're really, like, the generation of vegans, organic food - you know, mental health days and self-care days and stuff like that. But we're pumping our bodies full of chemicals without even knowing what it does to us.

AUBREY: And the outbreak of serious lung illnesses has helped to bring this into focus.

JOHNSON: People fail to realize that, like, you're deeply endangering yourself by doing this stuff.

JON HAMILTON, BYLINE: I'm Jon Hamilton. Vaping is dangerous - and not just for your lungs. Frances Leslie at the University of California, Irvine says the nicotine in vaping products can disrupt a developing brain.

FRANCES LESLIE: It's unfortunate that a whole generation of teenagers are basically guinea pigs for the effects of nicotine in the brain.

HAMILTON: Leslie says the problem with nicotine is that it mimics⁸ a substance we already have in our brains, so it can affect learning and memory and brain development. Leslie says nicotine's target is cells that have structures on their surface called nicotinic receptors.

LESLIE: Those parts of the brain that are actively⁹ maturing during adolescence¹⁰ are being controlled by nicotinic receptors.

HAMILTON: Nicotine also acts on brain areas involved in addiction¹¹. It's still not clear precisely¹² how that affects an adolescent human. But Leslie says in adolescent mice, the result is alarming.

LESLIE: A very brief low-dose exposure to nicotine in early adolescence increases the rewarding properties of other drugs, including alcohol, cocaine¹³, methamphetamine. And these are long-term changes.

HAMILTON: Nicotine itself is addictive¹⁴ because it activates¹⁶ the brain's dopamine system. But Dr. Nii Addy at the Yale School of Medicine wondered whether the flavors added to vaping products might also activate¹⁵ this system.

NII ADDY: If both nicotine and flavors are acting¹⁷ on this same dopamine system in the brain, is that somehow facilitating and making it more likely that people will take products that have both flavors and nicotine?

HAMILTON: To find out, Addy and a team of researchers studied rats.

ADDY: What we found is that the sweet flavors can make the nicotine more palatable¹⁸ in the oral cavity but also act in the brain to increase nicotine taking.

HAMILTON: Addy says this finding is especially troubling when it comes to teenagers, whose brains are extra sensitive to rewards. And he says animal research by another Yale scientist suggests that young people who vape may be more likely to develop brain disorders¹⁹, like ADHD.

ADDY: If there is exposure to nicotine early on, that can influence attentional processes later in life.

HAMILTON: So what might help reduce teen vaping? Janet Audrain-McGovern, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, says a ban on flavors like bubblegum and pink lemonade could make a difference.

JANET AUDRAIN-MCGOVERN: If the first e-cigarette that you use was flavored, then you're more likely to go on and use an e-cigarette again.

HAMILTON: Audrain-McGovern also thinks fewer teens might vape if nicotine products were more expensive and harder to buy online.

AUDRAIN-MCGOVERN: I don't think it's that difficult to click the box that you're 18 or you're 21 and, if you have a credit card, to get those products.

HAMILTON: But she says it's going to be hard for regulators and scientists to keep up with all the changes in the vaping world.

AUDRAIN-MCGOVERN: Teens who maybe four years ago were using predominantly vape pens are now using Juul and some of the pod mods.

HAMILTON: Products that can deliver much higher levels of nicotine to their brains.

Jon Hamilton.

AUBREY: Allison Aubrey, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF KLIMEKS' "ENTER THE VOID")

1 nicotine   

n.(化)尼古丁，烟碱

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

4 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 sobbing   

<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的

参考例句：

• I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
• Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。

8 mimics   

n.模仿名人言行的娱乐演员，滑稽剧演员( mimic的名词复数 )；善于模仿的人或物v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的第三人称单数 )；酷似

参考例句：

• Methods:Models were generate by CT scan,Mimics software and Abaqus software. 方法：采用CT扫描，Mimics软件和Abaqus软件的CAD进行三维有限元模型的创建。 来自互联网
• Relaxing the mind and body mimics the effect that some blood-pressure pills would have. 放松身心会产生某些降压药才能产生的效果。 来自辞典例句

9 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

10 adolescence   

n.青春期，青少年

参考例句：

• Adolescence is the process of going from childhood to maturity.青春期是从少年到成年的过渡期。
• The film is about the trials and tribulations of adolescence.这部电影讲述了青春期的麻烦和苦恼。

11 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

12 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

13 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

14 addictive   

adj.(吸毒等)使成瘾的，成为习惯的

参考例句：

• The problem with video game is that they're addictive.电子游戏机的问题在于它们会使人上瘾。
• Cigarettes are highly addictive.香烟很容易使人上瘾。

15 activate   

vt.使活动起来，使开始起作用

参考例句：

• We must activate the youth to study.我们要激励青年去学习。
• These push buttons can activate the elevator.这些按钮能启动电梯。

16 activates   

使活动，起动，触发( activate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Activates the window and displays it in its current size and position. 激活窗口，保持当前的大小及位置不变。
• Pulling out the alarm switch activates alarm and pushing it deactivates it. 闹钟的开和关是通过拔出和按入闹铃开关实现的。

17 acting   

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。

18 palatable   

adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的

参考例句：

• The truth is not always very palatable.事实真相并非尽如人意。
• This wine is palatable and not very expensive.这种酒味道不错，价钱也不算贵。

19 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》