VOA常速英语2015--训练狗来检测前列腺癌（在线收听）

Dogs Being Trained to Detect Prostate Cancer 训练狗来检测前列腺癌

Many urologists agree that the current, so-called PSA test for detecting prostate cancer is often unreliable, but it remains widely used because there are no other tests. Researchers in Britain say this method may soon be replaced with dogs trained to sniff out the type of cancer that, according to the American Cancer Society, affects one in every 7 men.

Cancer of the prostate gland is one of the leading types of cancers affecting men in their 60s. According to the World Cancer Research Fund International, in 2012 it was diagnosed in more than 1 million men.

前列腺癌是男性60多岁会患上的一种主要癌症。据世界国际癌症研究基金会的统计，2012年逾100万男性被诊断出这种疾病。

Treatment can be successful if the cancer is diagnosed early, which is why doctors regularly prescribe testing for the so-called prostate-specific antigen, or PSA for short, found in urine. But that test often gives false alarms or identifies cancers that develop so slowly they don’t require treatment.

而如果越早发现, 越早进行的治疗就会很成功，因此医生定期提取尿液样本进行PSA, 即前列腺特异抗原检测。但这种测试经常误报或诊断出发展缓慢不需要进行治疗的癌症。

With the help of man’s best friend, prostate cancer detection may soon be much more accurate.

现在在人类最好朋友的帮助下,前列腺癌检测可能很快会更为准确。

“Dogs have got this fantastic sense of smell; 300 million sensory receptors - us humans have 5 million. So they're very, very good at finding minute odors," said Dr. Claire Guest.

“狗狗天生具有这种神奇的嗅觉;它们拥有3亿感官受体—我们人类只有500万。所以它们非常善于嗅到微乎其微的气味。”

As prostate cancer cells divide, they release certain organic compounds that dogs can smell.  During initial tests at Britain's Milton Keynes University Hospital, dogs detected the disease in 93 percent of cases.

当前列腺癌细胞分裂时候会释放狗狗能闻到的某些有机化合物。在英国米尔顿凯恩斯大学医院最开始的测试中,狗狗们在93%的样本中发现了这种病毒。

In addition to being accurate, testing with dogs is much quicker and cheaper than laboratory testing for PSA.

除了准确性,通过狗狗进行检测更为快捷而且比实验室检测PSA更便宜。

“These dogs have the ability to screen hundreds of samples in a day. It's something they find very easy. They enjoy their work. To them it's a hunt game - they find the cancer," said Guest.

“这些狗每天能够对数以百计的样本进行筛选。它们非常容易就能发现。它们喜欢这样的工作。对狗狗而言这就好比一场狩猎发现癌症的游戏。”

It takes about six months to train a dog to sit down, bark or otherwise indicate that a sample contains cancer cells.

需要大约6个月才能训练狗坐下,或对着含癌细胞的样本吼叫。

Researchers say if further tests prove dogs to be reliable detectors for prostate cancer, they may try training them to sniff out other diseases. But they admit that having dogs in every doctor’s office may not be a convenient solution.

研究人员表示如果进一步的实验证明狗狗们是前列腺癌的可靠嗅探器,它们可能会被训练嗅出其他疾病。但他们承认,每位医生的办公室都养一条狗不是可行的解决方案。

“Ultimately we hope to use the information that the dogs produce to actually develop an electronic nose," said Rowena Fletcher, of Milton Keynes University Hospital.

“最终我们希望利用狗嗅出的信息实际研发一种电子鼻。”

That technology may be a long way off, because the dog's sense of smell is still far superior to the best electronic sniffing devices on the market.

这种技术距实现可能还有很长一段路,因为狗狗的嗅觉仍远好于市场上最好的电子嗅探装置。