SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Digest

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS -May 14, 2002: Digest

VOICE ONE:
This is Sarah Long.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Bob Doughty¹ with Science in the News, a VOA Special English program about recent developments

in science. Today, we tell about a link between too much weight gain during pregnancy² and breast cancer. We tell
about some fishy³ space food. We also tell about a new treatment for a serious skin disease. And we tell about a
new study of hormone⁴ replacement⁵.

((THEME)
)
VOICE ONE:
A new study has shown a possible link between too much weight gain during pregnancy and breast cancer. It

found that women who gain more than seventeen kilograms during pregnancy may increase their risk of breast
cancer later in life.

The study found such women may have a forty percent greater risk of breast cancer later in life
than women who gain less weight. It also found that weight gain during pregnancy had no
effect on a woman’s risk of breast cancer during her reproductive years.

The findings were released at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Representatives of the group met in San Francisco, California, last month.

VOICE TWO:

In the study, researchers from the United States and Finland examined medical information about more than
twenty-thousand Finnish women. For record-keeping purposes, the researchers divided the women into two
groups. More than seventeen-thousand women were in one group. Ninety-eight of these women developed breast
cancer at an average age of forty-seven. Each of them was still having fertile periods.

The second group included more than three-thousand women. One -hundred-eighty-five of these women
developed breast cancer at an average age of fifty-eight. They all were too old to have fertile periods.

Leena Hilakivi-Clarke (LAY-na HILL-ah -kee-vee-CLARK) of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., was
one of the study ’s investigators⁶. She said the study shows that women who kept the added weight after
pregnancy are at the greatest risk. She said the additional weight may cause changes in breast tissue that increase
the risk of breast cancer later in life.

VOICE ONE:

Doctor Hilakivi-Clarke said the increased risk that results from weight gain during pregnancy is usually small.
She noted⁷ that many doctors urge a woman to gain between eleven and sixteen kilograms during pregnancy. She
said such a weight gain is not linked with an increased risk of breast cancer.

The researcher also noted the link between high levels of the female hormone estrogen and the risk of breast
cancer. She said that at least one study has shown that women who gain the most weight during pregnancy have
higher estrogen levels than women who gain less. She said women who have the highest estrogen levels during
pregnancy are more likely to develop breast cancer.

((MUSIC BRIDGE))


VOICE TWO:

Have you ever wondered what it is like to eat in space? Scientists at the American space agency have studied the
question of food for astronauts since the beginning of the space program.

Without the force of gravity, objects like small pieces of food float freely inside a spaceship. This could be
dangerous in a small area filled with electronic devices. So, NASA made space food into thick, unpleasant
substances that do not break into small pieces.

VOICE ONE:

John Glenn, an astronaut for project Mercury, was the first American to eat in space. Most early astronauts
regretted the experience. Yet, NASA has done a lot of research to improve the food that astronauts eat. The space
agency also wants to develop renewable food resources that can make astronauts depend less on materials
brought from Earth. Today, NASA runs a whole center for food research at the Space Food Systems Laboratory
in Houston, Texas.

NASA has improved the taste of space food through the years. For example, astronauts on the
International Space Station now enjoy foods common to many different cultures. However,
some of the new ideas for making foods that can be used on long space flights may seem very
unusual, or “out of this world.
”

VOICE TWO:

One NASA researcher thinks astronauts some day may eat meat that is grown in chemicals. Morris Benjaminson
is a scientist at Touro College in Bay Shore, New York. He has been investigating new ways to make food to
feed astronauts on long space trips. Mister Benjaminson performed an experiment using a special fluid taken
from the blood of an unborn cow. The fluid is normally used to grow cells.

Mister Benjaminson and his team put a small piece of fish in the fluid. After one week, Mister Benjaminson
found that the piece of fish had grown by fourteen percent. The biology researchers then cooked the piece of fish.
All the researchers agreed that it looked and smelled like fish. But, no one would eat it.

Mister Benjaminson pointed⁸ out that the researchers could not eat the strange food because it was experimental.
He explained that the fish had not been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.

((MUSIC BRIDGE))

VOICE ONE:

Doctors from the United States and Saudi Arabia have discovered a new treatment for the form of leishmaniasis
(LEASH-ma-NIGH-a-sis) disease that affects the skin. Leishmaniasis is caused by tiny organisms called
parasites¹⁰. Small insects called sand flies spread the disease.

The disease causes serious wounds on the face, arms and legs. This form of leishmaniasis is
the most common and represents up to seventy-five percent of all new cases.

The Saudi and American doctors found that the drug fluconazole (floo-KAHN-uh-zol) can be
used to treat cutaneous or skin-related leishmaniasis. Fluconazole is used to treat other skin
diseases.

VOICE TWO:

James Maguire is an expert on parasite⁹ diseases at the United States Centers for Disease Control. He took part in
the latest study. It tested fluconazole on more than one-hundred patients in Saudi Arabia. One group of patients
was given the drug every day for six weeks. The other group was given an inactive substance.

The doctors found that almost eighty percent of the patients taking fluconazole were completely healed. The
doctors also discovered that patients experienced fewer side effects from fluconazole compared to older drugs
used to treat leishmaniasis.


The doctors say the drug is effective against the most common form of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Middle
East and parts of Africa. However, they say it does not work well on the kind of the disease found in South Asia
and South America.

((MUSIC BRIDGE))

VOICE ONE:

An international team of health experts says there is no scientific evidence that hormone replacement can treat
serious conditions suffered by older women. Women’s bodies stop producing the hormone estrogen at about the
age of fifty.

Until now, medical experts believed that taking the hormone estrogen could protect older
women from health problems. These include heart disease, mental depression, Alzheimer’
s
disease and broken bones caused by the disease osteoporosis.

VOICE TWO:

The report examined the results of many women’s health studies. Twenty-eight doctors and
scientists wrote the report. They are from the United States, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and Australia.

The group examined only studies that used the scientific method called a randomized control trial. In such
studies, people are given either the treatment being tested or an inactive substance called a placebo¹¹. The results
show if the treatment was more effective than the placebo.

VOICE ONE:

The report said that hormone replacement is useful to ease the hot feelings that some older women experience.
But it said scientific evidence does not support its use for other problems.

For example, three recent studies show that taking hormones¹² increases instead of reduces the chance of a heart
attack or stroke. Studies have shown that taking hormones does not help women with early Alzheimer’s disease
or mental depression. The report said taking hormones can slow bone loss. But the loss continues after women
stop taking the hormones.

((THEME))

VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by George Grow, Mario Ritter, Jill Moss¹³ and Nancy
Steinbach. This is Bob Doughty.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Sarah Long. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of
America.

Email this article to a friend
Printer Friendly Version

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

3 fishy   

adj. 值得怀疑的

参考例句：

• It all sounds very fishy to me.所有这些在我听起来都很可疑。
• There was definitely something fishy going on.肯定当时有可疑的事情在进行中。

4 hormone   

n.荷尔蒙，激素，内分泌

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。

5 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

6 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

9 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

10 parasites   

寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫

参考例句：

• These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的，而与寄生虫无关。
• Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。

11 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。

12 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

13 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。