VOA标准英语2011--Study: Popular Herbal Remedy Doesn't Eas

Study: Popular Herbal Remedy Doesn't Ease Enlarged Prostate

Scientists investigating a popular herbal treatment for enlarged prostate, saw palmetto, have concluded it is no more effective than a placebo¹.
That conclusion comes from a study which included hundreds of men in their forties and older.
As men age, the prostate gland² often gets larger. The prostate surrounds the urethra, which carries urine from the bladder to the penis. An enlarged prostate can impede³ the flow of urine, causing a variety of symptoms.
There are prescription⁴ drugs which can ease symptoms, but many men prefer the "natural" alternative: an extract from the saw palmetto tree, native to the American Southeast.
"It's actually a very complex extract. It has quite a number of different chemicals and molecules⁶ within it, several of which are plausible⁷ agents to affect the way a man urinates, to even shrink the prostate," says Gerald L. Andreiole of Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, who co-authored a paper on the study.
The men in the study were randomly⁸ assigned to two groups - one got progressively larger doses of saw palmetto; the other group got a placebo - a dummy⁹ pill. It was a double-blind study - neither the participants nor staff knew who was getting which.
They filled out a standard questionnaire used by urologists to assess prostate enlargement. It includes questions like, "How many times did you need to get up [to urinate] at night, how often did you experience frequency, urgency, the sense of incomplete bladder emptying. This is a standard symptom score that has been used for close to 20 years."
By the end of the study, after about 16 months, Andriole says the symptom scores improved for both groups of men. "But there was no difference in the magnitude of symptom score improvement between placebo and saw palmetto."
And increasing the dose of saw palmetto didn't make any difference. Some critics found fault with a previous study that found no benefit from saw palmetto, saying the dosages were too low.
Saw palmetto is safe and, thanks to the so-called "placebo effect," it does improve symptoms, but Andriole says it doesn't address more serious prostate conditions "such as urinary tract⁵ infections, complete inability to urinate, or even the need to have surgery. The drugs we have significantly reduce a man's chance of ever experiencing those, in addition to improving his symptoms," Andriole says.
Since saw palmetto does not require a prescription, he notes that patients who use the herbal supplements might not see a doctor. That raises the risk that much more serious problems, like the early stages of prostate cancer, might go undiagnosed.

1 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。

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 impede   

v.妨碍，阻碍，阻止

参考例句：

• One shouldn't impede other's progress.一个人不应该妨碍他人进步。
• The muddy roads impede our journey.我们的旅游被泥泞的道路阻挠了。

4 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

5 tract   

n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林)

参考例句：

• He owns a large tract of forest.他拥有一大片森林。
• He wrote a tract on this subject.他曾对此写了一篇短文。

6 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

7 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

8 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句

9 dummy   

n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头

参考例句：

• The police suspect that the device is not a real bomb but a dummy.警方怀疑那个装置不是真炸弹，只是一个假货。
• The boys played soldier with dummy swords made of wood.男孩们用木头做的假木剑玩打仗游戏。