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The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill began in the Gulf¹ of Mexico on April 20, 2010. Following the event through 2012, more than a thousand dolphins washed up dead along the Gulf, in three major strandings. That’s four to five times higher than the region’s usual rate of dolphin deaths.

We found that dolphins dying after the oil spill had distinct adrenal gland² and lung lesions that were not present in the stranded³ dolphins from other areas.

Kathleen Colegrove of the University of Illinois was the lead veterinary pathologist of the latest in a series of studies analyzing⁴ the die-off. She and her study co-authors took part in a telephone press conference on May 20th.

Now, surprisingly, one in three dolphins that stranded in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama had a thin adrenal gland cortex. And when looking at just the Barataria Bay dolphins, half of them had this lesion.

Barataria Bay got an especially high dose of oil.

This prevalence was significantly higher than in the reference population, in which less than one in 10 had this lesion. Now, this thinning of the adrenal gland cortex was a very unusual abnormality for us, that has not been previously⁵ reported in dolphins in the literature.

now, aside from chemical exposure, conditions that can cause the adrenal gland to become thin include things like cancer, autoimmune disease, fungal infections and tuberculosis⁶. And we did not find any evidence of these alternative causes in the dolphins.

Now, in addition many dolphins dying after the oil spill again in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama had evidence of significant lung disease. Really in fact, these dolphins had some of the most severe lung lesions I have ever seen in wild dolphins from throughout the U.S.

The study is in the journal PLoS ONE.

BP disputes the link between the dolph6ins and the oil spill. But the study’s lead author, Stephanie Venn-Watson of the National Marine⁷ Mammal Foundation contends:

The evidence to date indicates that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and associated compounds caused the adrenal and lung lesions which contributed to the increased deaths as part of this unusual mortality event.

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1 gulf
n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂
参考例句：
The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。 There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

2 gland
n.腺体，(机)密封压盖，填料盖
参考例句：
This is a snake's poison gland.这就是蛇的毒腺。 Her mother has an underactive adrenal gland.她的母亲肾上腺机能不全。

3 stranded
a.搁浅的，进退两难的
参考例句：
He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里，身无分文，一筹莫展。 I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

4 analyzing
v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析
参考例句：
Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。来自辞典例句 He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。来自辞典例句

5 previously
adv.以前，先前（地）
参考例句：
The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。 Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

6 tuberculosis
n.结核病，肺结核
参考例句：
People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。 Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

7 marine
adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵
参考例句：
Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。 When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。