PBS高端访谈:鲨鱼皮可能会成为抵抗超级细菌的秘密武器

 　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Now: sharks. Just saying the word can send shivers down the spines¹ of some, but as Hari Sreenivasan found in this report, studying their skin could be key to fighting diease and is on the cutting edge of the larger push announced at the White House today to contain superbugs.

　　It's part of our Breakthroughs series on innovation and invention.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: In a Colorado laboratory, 1,000 miles from the ocean, a team of scientists is trying to use the skin of a shark to save the lives of humans. The company called Sharklet Technologies has invented a manmade material that, like the skin of a shark, repels² deadly bacteria.

　　Sharklet CEO Mark Spiecker:

　　MARK SPIECKER, CEO, Sharklet Technologies: We use textures⁴ inspired by the skin of sharks to control bacteria on surfaces, no chemicals, no antibiotics⁵, no heavy metals. It's really just the shape of the surface that the bacteria don't like.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Scientist Ethan Mann shows how the bacteria, in this case a common staph germ, has trouble both attaching and growing to the Sharklet pattern.

　　ETHAN MANN: We compare a smooth surface right now to a Sharklet surface. There's 10 to 100 more bacteria on the smooth surface compared to a Sharklet surface.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Spiecker and his team hope to bring Sharklet into hospitals.

　　MARK SPIECKER: We have got different kind of films. You can take those. Just peel and stick them.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: They have created a textured⁶ film which can be attached to high-touch areas, like handrails and doorknobs.

　　MARK SPIECKER: About two million people a year get what are called hospital-acquired infections. That means they went in to the hospital for knee surgery or hip⁷ surgery and they ended up getting some kind of infection while there that they didn't bring in with them.

　　Of those two million people, we spend about $30 billion a year treating those infections, and 100,000 people a year die from those infections.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: A superbug outbreak has infected at least seven patients at a Los Angeles hospital, two of whom died.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Recent news about superbugs have brought new urgency to the issue.

　　The idea came from Anthony Brennan, a professor of engineering at the University of Florida. It all started 14 years ago, when Brennan was asked by the Navy to find a way to keep barnacles from attaching to their ships.

　　ANTHONY BRENNAN, University of Florida: As I was doing some evaluations⁸ for the Office Of Naval⁹ research, I came across this idea of the sharks, little nurse sharks, and I said, they don't get barnacles on them, but a ship sitting in a harbor at a dock will have that same current, and they get barnacles.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: When Brennan mimicked¹⁰ the surface topography in his lab:

　　ANTHONY BRENNAN: Lo and behold¹¹, the shark's skin is very effective against the green algae¹².

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Brennan believes the complex texture³ on a shark creates a dynamic and unstable¹³ environment for organisms.

　　ANTHONY BRENNAN: Places that should get cleaned more, but often don't.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: This fall, the company released a comparison study showing 94 percent less bacteria attached to surfaces with the microscopic¹⁴ shark skin pattern. This held true with multidrug-resistant¹⁵ staph bacteria or MRSA.

　　MARK SPIECKER: Some of the bacteria that are out there are resistant. They're the multidrug-resistant bacteria that are resistant to different antibiotics. We just don't want the bacteria to attach to our surface. And when they don't attach, they die. So, whether they're resistant or not resistant, they don't like our surface.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Of course, a much simpler way to control the transfer of bacteria is diligent¹⁶ hand-washing. Whether hospitals will want to spend money on technology for a problem that can be addressed with sterile¹⁷ washing procedures may be a challenge for the company.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Dr. Margaret Sande is an associate professor at the University of Colorado Medical School.

　　DR. MARGARET SANDE, University of Colorado Medical School: We find that hand contact, as clinicians are going quickly from room to room, is often a means of transmission. So the hand can be sort of the source of all evil as we then deal with devices that we use to treat patients like catheters, et cetera. Things that become invasive then become a portal for infection for our patients.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: An emergency medicine doctor, Dr. Sande says nothing should replace rigorous hand-washing, but when time is critical, it can be forgotten

　　DR. MARGARET SANDE: When it really is a matter of life or death, people are always, by their natural instinct, going to jump in, roll up their sleeves and act.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Sande runs the university's Wells Simulation Center, where medical students practice on high-tech¹⁸ mannequins.

　　DR. MARGARET SANDE: Minute by minute, we're adjusting vital signs, we're adjusting lab abnormalities or the course of the patient, depending on what is done to the patient during that scenario¹⁹.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Last fall, Sande conducted a study with the Sharklet surface covering high-touch surfaces like the cart handles and drug vials.

　　DR. MARGARET SANDE: We intentionally²⁰ had the staph aureus bacteria, which is a common bacteria, all on the leg of the patient, so that they started with a touch of the leg.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Sande then simulated a pulmonary embolism and cardiac arrest, the same scenario these graduate students were given on the day we visited.

　　DR. MARGARET SANDE: The patient became critically ill, and needed to have the defibrillator applied²¹. And they grabbed that cart and they had to engage the defibrillator by pushing the button. We were able to prompt them essentially²² as the case unfolded to touch certain places in a given sequence.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: The surfaces covered with the Sharklet film retained fewer germs.

　　MARK SPIECKER: There difference between the Sharklet surface the non-Sharklet surface was about a 13-fold decrease in bacteria that transferred on to those surfaces.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: While the commercial appeal of Sharklet surfaces remains²³ unproven, the company has won support from one key backer, the National Institutes of Health. They awarded them $1.2 million to further develop the technology.

　　I'm Hari Sreenivasan for the PBS NewsHour.

1 spines   

n.脊柱( spine的名词复数 )；脊椎；（动植物的）刺；书脊

参考例句：

• Porcupines use their spines to protect themselves. 豪猪用身上的刺毛来自卫。
• The cactus has spines. 仙人掌有刺。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 repels   

v.击退( repel的第三人称单数 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开

参考例句：

• His manner repels me. 他的举止让我厌恶。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her callous attitude repels me. 她冷酷无情的态度引起我的反感。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

4 textures   

n.手感( texture的名词复数 )；质感；口感；（音乐或文学的）谐和统一感

参考例句：

• I'm crazy about fabrics textures and colors and designs. 我喜欢各式各样的纺织物--对它的质地，色彩到花纹图案--简直是入了迷。 来自辞典例句
• Let me clear up the point about the textures. 让我明确了一点有关的纹理。 来自互联网

5 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

6 textured   

adj.手摸时有感觉的, 有织纹的

参考例句：

• The shoe's sole had a slightly textured surface. 鞋底表面稍感粗糙。
• Shallow burial seems to preserve chalky textured porosity. 浅埋藏似能保留具白垩状结构的孔隙。

7 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

8 evaluations   

估价( evaluation的名词复数 )； 赋值； 估计价值； [医学]诊断

参考例句：

• In fact, our moral evaluations are merely expressions of our desires. 事实上，我们的道德评价只是我们欲望的表达形式。 来自哲学部分
• Properly speaking, however, these evaluations and insights are not within the concept of official notice. 但准确地讲，这些评估和深远见识并未包括在官方通知概念里。

9 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

10 mimicked   

v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的过去式和过去分词 )；酷似

参考例句：

• He mimicked her upper-class accent. 他模仿她那上流社会的腔调。 来自辞典例句
• The boy mimicked his father's voice and set everyone off laughing. 男孩模仿他父亲的嗓音，使大家都大笑起来。 来自辞典例句

11 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。

12 algae   

n.水藻，海藻

参考例句：

• Most algae live in water.多数藻类生长在水中。
• Algae grow and spread quickly in the lake.湖中水藻滋蔓。

13 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

14 microscopic   

adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的

参考例句：

• It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。
• A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in its leaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。

15 resistant   

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。

16 diligent   

adj.勤勉的，勤奋的

参考例句：

• He is the more diligent of the two boys.他是这两个男孩中较用功的一个。
• She is diligent and keeps herself busy all the time.她真勤快，一会儿也不闲着。

17 sterile   

adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的

参考例句：

• This top fits over the bottle and keeps the teat sterile.这个盖子严实地盖在奶瓶上，保持奶嘴无菌。
• The farmers turned the sterile land into high fields.农民们把不毛之地变成了高产田。

18 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

19 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

20 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

21 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

22 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

23 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。