VOA标准英语2014--Juice Infused with Microscopic Particles Offers 'Unparalleled' View of Gut

 

Juice Infused with Microscopic¹ Particles Offers 'Unparalleled' View of Gut²

A new imaging technique involving a specially-prepared liquid that patients drink could help doctors better diagnose and eventually treat illnesses in the gut. 

The small intestine³ is not small. And it’s not easy to examine. Sandwiched between the stomach and the large intestine, in an average adult it is 7 meters long and 2.5 centimeters thick. Getting a picture of it with X-rays, magnetic resonance⁴ imaging or ultrasound is limited because of safety issues, accessibility or low resolution. 

University at Buffalo⁵ researchers wanted to get around those problems. 

“We thought it would be interesting if we could make some type of thing that you could drink, and it would pass through your intestine without getting absorbed into your body so it would be safe," said Jonathan Lovell, assistant professor of biomedical engineering. 

The scientists created a drink called nanojuice. It is infused with microscopic nanoparticles which contain molecules⁶ of a dye that absorb light from the infrared⁷ spectrum⁸.

“That’s the area of light that passes through your body the best," Lovell said. "If you have ever held up a flashlight to your hand or your ear, you can see the red light shining through. That type color of light can get through the body the best. So we made the nanojuice to absorb that color of light.” 

The researchers gave the nanojuice to laboratory mice, then scanned their abdomens⁹ with a harmless laser light, in an imaging process called photoacoustic tomography. What they saw was an unparalleled view of the organ. 

“You can actually see the intestine motor patterns," Lovell said. "You can pick out how the intestine is working in real time without any kind of invasive procedures.”

The nanojuice passed safely through the gut without being absorbed or degraded. Lovell hopes to move to human clinical trials in the near future, which he says could ultimately lead to a better understanding of how the intestine works.

“To try to help people shed light on not only disease diagnosis¹⁰, but also treatment and see if the treatments that are being prescribed by the doctors are affecting the disease that people have in the gastrointestinal track,” Lovell said. 

Lovell's team has made the nanojuice in four different colors, which he says in theory could be used at the same time to look at the diseased tissues as the nanojuices move through them.

1 microscopic   

adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的

参考例句：

• It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。
• A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in its leaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。

2 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

3 intestine   

adj.内部的；国内的；n.肠

参考例句：

• This vitamin is absorbed through the walls of the small intestine.这种维生素通过小肠壁被吸收。
• The service productivity is the function,including external efficiency,intestine efficiency and capacity efficiency.服务业的生产率是一个包含有外部效率、内部效率和能力效率的函数。

4 resonance   

n.洪亮；共鸣；共振

参考例句：

• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
• The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。

5 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

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 infrared   

adj./n.红外线(的)

参考例句：

• Infrared is widely used in industry and medical science.红外线广泛应用于工业和医学科学。
• Infrared radiation has wavelengths longer than those of visible light.红外辐射的波长比可见光的波长长。

8 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

9 abdomens   

n.腹（部）( abdomen的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The women especially disliked their stomachs or abdomens, hips, thighs and legs. 这些妇女特别不喜欢自己的胃部，腹部，臀部，大腿，腿部。 来自互联网
• They danced not with their legs or arms, but with their entire bodies, undulating their abdomens. 他们跳舞不是用腿和臂，而是用整个身子，腹部一起一伏地扭动着。 来自互联网

10 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。