VOA慢速英语20060509c

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - A Replacement¹ Bladder, Grown in the Lab From Patients' Own CellsBy Caty Weaver² and Jill Moss³

Broadcast: Tuesday, May 09, 2006

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty⁴.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. This week: Human organs grown in a laboratory ...

VOICE ONE:

Health and the power of prayer ...

VOICE TWO:


Tiktaalik: scientists think it was among the first sea creatures to walk on land

And scientists fill a missing link in the fossil record between fish and land animals.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Seven young people with diseased bladders have received new organs grown from their own cells. Doctors in the United States have described the experimental treatment in a report published in the Lancet.

The seven children and teenagers were born with incomplete closure of the backbone⁵. This disorder⁶ affected⁷ their bladder, the small organ that stores the body's liquid wastes. High pressure from bladder disease can damage the kidneys. Also, their bladders leaked urine, as often as every thirty minutes.

VOICE TWO:

Doctor Anthony Atala began work on engineering bladders in nineteen ninety. Nine years later, he operated on the first patient. The seven patients were ages four to nineteen. At the time, he directed a tissue engineering program at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts.


Dr. Anthony Atala

In two thousand four Doctor Atala moved to the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina. He directs the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

VOICE ONE:

The organs are grown from bladder cells and muscle cells taken from the patient. Through the process of culturing, the cells divide and grow in the laboratory.


Lab Grown Bladders

The cells are placed on a structural⁸ form shaped like a bladder. Cells are placed on top of cells on top of other cells. Doctor Atala compares the process to making a layer cake.

The bladder is then warmed. The cells continue to grow until the new organ is ready.

Doctors then remove part of the diseased bladder and attach the new one, still connected to the structure. The form is made of material that breaks down in the body.

The body can reject tissue that comes from another person. In this case, since it grew from the patients' own cells, there was no risk of rejection⁹.

VOICE TWO:

The complete process takes about two months. The doctors report that so far, the engineered bladders have worked well. The seven patients must empty them through a tube. But the leakage¹⁰ problem improved and, most importantly, the dangerous pressure eased.

Doctors for a century have used tissue from the intestines¹¹ to repair bladders. But problems are common with this method.

Testing of the new bladders will continue. Doctor Atala is now working to produce twenty different tissues and organs, including hearts. He says regenerative medicine could someday be an answer to the shortage of replacement organs around the world.

VOICE ONE:

Sixteen-year-old Kaitlyne McNamara, one of Doctor Atala's patients, has had her new bladder for five years. Before that, her kidneys were close to failure. Now they are working well. And she says her quality of life has improved now that accidental leaks have stopped. She says she no longer has to worry about people making fun of her.

(MUSIC)

You are listening to SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English from Washington.

VOICE TWO:

A study that was supposed to end debate about the power of prayer has instead added to it.

The Study of Therapeutic¹² Effects of Intercessory Prayer, or STEP, is the largest prayer research project ever completed. Intercessory prayer is when a person prays for another person.

STEP began in ninety ninety-nine and involved researchers from six medical centers in the United States. The study cost more than two million dollars. Most of it came from the John Templeton Foundation in Pennsylvania. That private group works on issues of religion and science.

The researchers studied just over one thousand eight hundred hospital patients with heart disease. Each person had a coronary artery¹³ bypass graft¹⁴. Doctors perform this operation when blood flow to the heart muscle is restricted.

VOICE ONE:

One of the study leaders was Jeffrey Dusek of Harvard Medical School. He says the main goal was to learn if intercessory prayer, or the knowledge of receiving it, would influence the patients and their recovery.

The researchers asked members of three Christian¹⁵ groups to say the same prayers for about two-thirds of the patients. No one was asked to pray for the others.

Two of the religious groups were Catholic and the other Protestant. Each member received the name of one patient.

Half of those named in the prayers were told that someone was praying for them. Those in the other half were told that someone might pray for them.

The praying started the day before the operation and continued for fourteen days.

VOICE TWO:

The study noted¹⁶ any medical complications for thirty days after the operations. The researchers say there were problems in fifty-nine percent of the patients who knew they were being prayed for.

That compared to fifty-two percent of the patients who were named in prayers but were not sure if someone was praying for them. And it compared to fifty-one percent of the patients who were not named in prayers.

The scientists say all three groups had similar rates of major complications and death within the thirty days.

They say the findings show that intercessory prayer itself had no effect on a complication-free recovery. But they say people who knew they were receiving it were more likely to have problems.

Some researchers involved with the study say telling patients that someone is praying for them might increase their worries about their condition.

VOICE ONE:

The American Heart Journal published the findings. The researchers say all the patients had similar religious beliefs and most believed in spiritual healing power.

Many of the patients said family and friends would be praying for them. And researchers expected that some patients would pray for themselves.

Researcher Herbert Benson from Harvard Medical School says the study does not mean people should stop praying for others. Doctor Benson says the study raises more questions than answers.

It has also raised criticisms. These include the argument that studies of religious or spiritual effects on health are a waste of time and money. Some say people believe in prayer because it has worked for them or someone they know. Others say research money would be better spent on treatments based on medical science.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Scientists have evidence of a fish that lived three hundred seventy-five million years ago. They suspect it was among the first sea creatures to walk on land.

Neil Shubin of the University of Chicago and Edward Daeschler with the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia reported the discovery. Their team found several fossil remains¹⁷ of the fish on Ellesmere Island in northern Canada.

The fish measured between one and three meters long. The scientists say it had extended fins¹⁸ to help with balance and swimming. But they also note qualities that suggest the beginnings of a land creature.

The fossils have simple, hand-like structures that show the beginnings of fingers. There is also evidence of wrists, elbows and shoulders.

The fish had a flat head, a neck and other similarities to four-legged land animals known as tetrapods. The first tetrapods lived about three hundred sixty-five million years ago.

VOICE ONE:

The scientists call the ancient fish Tiktaalik [tic-TAH-lick] roseae. Tiktaalik is a word known to people native to Canada's Nunavut Territory, where the fossils were discovered. It means a large fish that swims in low water.

The scientists say Tiktaalik was a freshwater fish. At that time, weather on Ellesmere Island was much warmer. The area was then part of a continent near the equator.

The magazine Nature published the discovery. It also published comments by two independent scientists. Both describe Tiktaalik as a clear link between fishes and the first animals to live on land.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Caty Weaver and Jill Moss. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Bob Doughty. Read and listen to our shows at www.unsv.com. Join us next week for more news about science, in Special English, on the Voice of America.

1 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。

2 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

3 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。

4 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。

5 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

6 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

9 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

10 leakage   

n.漏，泄漏；泄漏物；漏出量

参考例句：

• Large areas of land have been contaminated by the leakage from the nuclear reactor.大片地区都被核反应堆的泄漏物污染了。
• The continuing leakage is the result of the long crack in the pipe.这根管子上的那一条裂缝致使渗漏不断。

11 intestines   

n.肠( intestine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perhaps the most serious problems occur in the stomach and intestines. 最严重的问题或许出现在胃和肠里。 来自辞典例句
• The traps of carnivorous plants function a little like the stomachs and small intestines of animals. 食肉植物的捕蝇器起着动物的胃和小肠的作用。 来自辞典例句

12 therapeutic   

adj.治疗的，起治疗作用的；对身心健康有益的

参考例句：

• Therapeutic measures were selected to fit the patient.选择治疗措施以适应病人的需要。
• When I was sad,music had a therapeutic effect.我悲伤的时候，音乐有治疗效力。

13 artery   

n.干线，要道；动脉

参考例句：

• We couldn't feel the changes in the blood pressure within the artery.我们无法感觉到动脉血管内血压的变化。
• The aorta is the largest artery in the body.主动脉是人体中的最大动脉。

14 graft   

n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接

参考例句：

• I am having a skin graft on my arm soon.我马上就要接受手臂的皮肤移植手术。
• The minister became rich through graft.这位部长透过贪污受贿致富。

15 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

16 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。

17 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。

18 fins   

[医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌

参考例句：

• The level of TNF-α positively correlated with BMI,FPG,HbA1C,TG,FINS and IRI,but not with SBP and DBP. TNF-α水平与BMI、FPG、HbA1C、TG、FINS和IRI呈显著正相关，与SBP、DBP无相关。 来自互联网
• Fins are a feature specific to fish. 鱼鳍是鱼类特有的特征。 来自辞典例句