VOA慢速英语2010年-Development Report - Small Drug Pouch

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Researchers say they have found a way to extend the storage life of a drug used to treat H.I.V. Their work could give infected mothers in the developing world a new way to prevent the spread of the AIDS virus to their newborn babies. The drug is nevirapine. If it is given within seventy-two hours after birth, it can often protect babies from H.I.V.

Researchers at Duke University in North Carolina have developed a small pouch¹ made of foil² and plastic. They say current tests show that the pouch can safely store the drug for as long as four months. But they expect that final results in October will show it can keep the liquid stable for up to twelve months.

That way, H.I.V.-infected women could have plenty of time to get the pouch from a health care provider early in their pregnancy³.

Caroline Gamache is a biomedical engineer at Duke who worked on the project.

CAROLINE GAMACHE: "Many mothers deliver at home in sub-Saharan Africa and it's very difficult for them to get to a hospital or clinic which may be miles away in that time period. And so we are proposing to give this pouch to mothers in their first or second trimester, when they come in for their first antenatal care visit. And then they would take the pouch home and they'd have it at their hands at the time of delivery."

Duke University's Caroline Gamache and Robert Malkin with one of the pouches⁴

The idea is that mothers would pour the liquid into the baby's mouth as part of an H.I.V. treatment program.

The drug company Boehringer Ingelheim developed nevirapine. It says one dose of the medicine given to mother and child prevents the spread of H.I.V. in more than fifty percent of cases.

Boehringer Ingelheim has been working with the nonprofit organization PATH to offer a similar pouch for the past several years. The nevirapine is contained in a small dropper placed inside the pouch.

They got the idea from health workers in Kenya. The workers had been putting the medicine into droppers, then wrapping the tube with tape, aluminum⁵ foil and plastic. PATH designed a foil pouch that could keep the medicine stable for up to two months.

Adriane Burman is with the PATH office in Seattle, Washington. She says the pouch is an important tool for preventing the spread of H.I.V. from mother to child.

She noted⁶ a United Nations report that in two thousand eight about four hundred thirty thousand babies were born with H.I.V. Nine out of ten were born in Africa. The report said nearly all the mother-to-child infections could have been prevented through interventions⁷.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms. You can find transcripts⁸, MP3s and podcasts of our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

 

1 pouch   

n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件

参考例句：

• He was going to make a tobacco pouch out of them. 他要用它们缝制一个烟草袋。
• The old man is always carrying a tobacco pouch with him.这老汉总是随身带着烟袋。

2 foil   

n.箔，金属薄片，陪衬；vt.挫败，使受挫折

参考例句：

• Milk bottle tops are made of tin foil.牛奶瓶盖是用锡箔做的。
• An ugly woman serves as a foil to a pretty girl.一个丑女人可以将美丽的姑娘反衬得更加漂亮。

3 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。

4 pouches   

n.（放在衣袋里或连在腰带上的）小袋( pouch的名词复数 )；（袋鼠等的）育儿袋；邮袋；（某些动物贮存食物的）颊袋

参考例句：

• Pouches are a peculiarity of marsupials. 腹袋是有袋动物的特色。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Under my eyes the pouches were heavy. 我眼睛下的眼袋很深。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

6 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。

7 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

8 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句