轻松背单词新浪微博 轻松背单词腾讯微博
轻松背单词微信服务号
当前位置:首页 -> 9级英语阅读 - > "超级鼻子"可以嗅出疾病的味道?
"超级鼻子"可以嗅出疾病的味道?
添加时间:2015-10-27 19:47:09 浏览次数: 作者:未知
Tip:点击数字可快速查看单词解释  
  • The fact diseases have a smell comes as no surprise - but finding someone or something that can detect them at an early stage could hold huge potential for medicine.

    疾病总是带着一些气味儿,这很正常。但如果能借此及早察觉到疾病,就很有可能及早治疗。

    Breath, bodily odours and urine are all amazingly revealing about general health. Even the humble1 cold can give off an odour, thanks to the thick bacteria-ridden mucus that ends up in the back of the throat. The signs are not apparent to everyone - but some super-smellers are very sensitive to the odours. Joy Milne, for example, noticed her husband's smell had changed shortly before he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

    呼吸、体味、尿液,能够极其准确地预测人的整体健康状况。 多亏了喉咙里的浓浓的阻挡细菌的粘液,我们患了小感冒也会有“味道”。 这些标志并非对所有人都很明显,但是一些“超级鼻”对这些气味很敏感。比如,乔伊米尔恩在她丈夫被诊断出有帕金森之前,就察觉到了他气味的变化。

    Humans can detect nearly 10,000 different smells. Formed by chemicals in the air, they are absorbed by little hairs, made of extremely sensitive nerve fibres, hanging from the nose's olfactory2 receptors. And the human sense of smell is 10,000 times more sensitive than the sense of taste.

    人类可以分辨出将近一万种不同的气味。这些气味与空气中的化学物质结合,被细小的毛发吸收,让我们极其敏锐的神经纤维感受到,传导到鼻子里的嗅觉接受器里。而且,人类的嗅觉比味觉灵敏一万倍。

    But dogs, as the old joke might have had it, smell even better. Their ability to detect four times as many odours as humans makes them a potential early warning system for a range of diseases. Research suggesting dogs' could sniff3 out cancers, for example, was first published about 10 years ago. And there have been many tales of dogs repeatedly sniffing4 an area of their owner's body, only for it to turn out to be hiding a tumour5.What they are smelling are the "volatile6 molecules7" given off by cells when they become cancerous. Some studies suggest dogs can be 93% accurate. Others suggest they can detect very small tumours8 before clinical tests can. And yet more studies have produced mixed results.

    不过,就像我们经常开玩笑说的那样,狗鼻子更灵。它们能嗅出的味道数量是人类的四倍,这使得我们能对很多种疾病建立一个早期警示系统,比如,十年前发表的一个研究表明:狗狗能嗅出癌症的味道。据说,如果主人某个部位有隐藏肿瘤,狗狗会不停地嗅那个地方,嗅癌变细胞散发出的“挥发性微粒”。有些研究表明,狗狗的嗅觉93%的几率是准确的。还有一些研究表明它们能比临床检测更早的感知到小肿瘤。但是还有很多研究发现了混合的结果。

    Does cancer smell?

    癌症有气味吗?

    At Milton Keynes University Hospital, a small team has recently begun to collect human urine samples to test dogs' ability to detect the smell of prostate cancer. The patients had symptoms such as difficulty urinating or a change in flow, which could turn out to be prostate, bladder or liver cancer.

    米尔顿凯恩斯大学医院的一小支队伍最近开始收集人类气味的样本来测试狗狗鉴定前列腺癌的能力。这些病人都患有一些症状,比如排尿困难或尿流变化,这可能是前列腺癌或膀胱癌或肝癌的前兆。

    Rowena Fletcher, head of research and development at the hospital, says the role of the dogs - which have been trained by Medical Detection Dogs - is to pick out samples that smell of cancer.

    此项研究和医院发展的领头人罗威纳弗莱彻表示,经过医疗检测犬项目训练的狗能挑选出癌症的气味。接着,临床检测能够显示狗狗的判断是否正确。以后将有可能将狗用在这类的用途上,这一点是意义深远的,即使在每台手术时都配一只狗不太现实。

    "We hope one day that there could be an electronic machine on every GP's desk which could test a urine sample for diseases by smelling it," she says. "But first we need to pick up the pattern of what the dogs are smelling."

    她说:“我们希望有一天,每个医生的桌子上都能有一个电子机器,通过嗅觉来检测就医的人是否得了病,但是我们首先要知道狗嗅的是什么。”

    And that's the key. Dogs can't tell us what their noses are detecting, but scientists believe that different cancers could produce different smells, although some might also be very similar.

    这就是问题关键了。狗狗不能告诉我们他们在嗅什么,但是科学家相信,即使有些癌症的气味非常相似,但不同癌症气味还是有区别的。

    Electronic noses

    电子鼻

    Lab tests to understand what these highly-trained dogs are smelling could then inform the development of 'electronic noses' to detect the same molecules. These might then give rise to better diagnostic tests in the future.

    通过实验室测试去探索这些训练有素的狗狗所嗅到的东西可以帮助“电子鼻”的发展,以此来辨别气味。这可能在将来会促进诊断测试的发展。

    The potential for using smell to test for a wide range of diseases is huge, Ms Fletcher says. Bacteria, cancers and chronic9 diseases could all have their own odour - which may be imperceptible to only the most sensitive humans, but obvious to dogs. It may be possible in the future to use disease odours as the basis for a national screening programme or to test everybody at risk of a certain cancer in a particular age group.

    弗莱彻女士说,使用气味来诊断很多疾病的可能性很大。细菌、癌症、慢性病都有它们独特的气味,这些气味可能对极其敏感的人类来说都不太明显,但是对狗狗来说却很明显。在将来,这些疾病的气味可能会作为国家筛选项目的基础,或者去测试可能患癌症的特殊年龄群里的每个人。

    However, there are fewer than 20 dogs in the UK trained to detect cancer at present. Training more will take more funding and time. On the positive side, all dogs are eligible10 to be trained provided they are keen on searching and hunting. Whatever their breed or size, it's our four-legged friend's astounding11 sense of smell which could unlock a whole new way of detecting human diseases.

    但是,目前英国只有不到20只狗狗受到过检测癌症的训练。越多的训练意味着越多的时间和资金。不过,从积极的一面来说,所有对搜寻和追捕有兴趣的狗狗都有资格接受训练,不论他们是什么品种、大小如何,毕竟,是他们惊人的嗅觉为我们检测人类疾病的新道路提供了可能。

     9级    英文科普 


    点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

    1 humble [ˈhʌmbl] ddjzU   第7级
    adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;vt.降低,贬低
    参考例句:
    • In my humble opinion, he will win the election. 依我拙见,他将在选举中获胜。
    • Defeat and failure make people humble. 挫折与失败会使人谦卑。
    2 olfactory [ɒlˈfæktəri] Z5EzW   第10级
    adj.嗅觉的
    参考例句:
    • He is to develop a sensor to substitute for the olfactory abilities of dogs. 克罗克将研制一种传感器用以代替狗的嗅觉功能。
    • Based on these findings, Keller suspects that each person has an olfactory blind spot. 根据这些发现,凯勒推断,每个人都有一个嗅觉盲区。
    3 sniff [snɪf] PF7zs   第7级
    vi.嗅…味道;抽鼻涕;对嗤之以鼻,蔑视
    参考例句:
    • The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding place. 警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
    • When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while. 当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候,他们会彼此嗅一会儿。
    4 sniffing [ˈsnifiŋ] 50b6416c50a7d3793e6172a8514a0576   第7级
    n.探查法v.以鼻吸气,嗅,闻( sniff的现在分词 );抽鼻子(尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气);抱怨,不以为然地说
    参考例句:
    • We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了,一个劲地抽鼻子,打喷嚏。
    • They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了,呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
    5 tumour [ˈtju:mə(r)] tumour   第9级
    n.(tumor)(肿)瘤,肿块
    参考例句:
    • The surgeons operated on her for a tumour. 外科医生为她施行了肿瘤切除手术。
    • The tumour constricts the nerves. 肿瘤压迫神经。
    6 volatile [ˈvɒlətaɪl] tLQzQ   第9级
    adj.反复无常的,挥发性的,稍纵即逝的,脾气火爆的;n.挥发性物质
    参考例句:
    • With the markets being so volatile, investments are at great risk. 由于市场那么变化不定,投资冒着很大的风险。
    • His character was weak and volatile. 他这个人意志薄弱,喜怒无常。
    7 molecules ['mɒlɪkju:lz] 187c25e49d45ad10b2f266c1fa7a8d49   第7级
    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。
    8 tumours [ˈtju:məz] 6654305f758b5b5576a74cb007e8d079   第9级
    肿瘤( tumour的名词复数 )
    参考例句:
    • Blood vessels develop abnormally in cancer tumours. 在癌肿瘤中血管出现不正常。
    • This apparatus scans patients' brains for tumours. 这台仪器扫描检查病人的脑瘤。
    9 chronic [ˈkrɒnɪk] BO9zl   第7级
    adj.(疾病)长期未愈的,慢性的;极坏的
    参考例句:
    • Famine differs from chronic malnutrition. 饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
    • Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition. 慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。
    10 eligible [ˈelɪdʒəbl] Cq6xL   第7级
    adj.有条件被选中的;(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的
    参考例句:
    • He is an eligible young man. 他是一个合格的年轻人。
    • Helen married an eligible bachelor. 海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。
    11 astounding [əˈstaʊndɪŋ] QyKzns   第8级
    adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊,使大吃一惊astound的现在分词)
    参考例句:
    • There was an astounding 20% increase in sales. 销售量惊人地增加了20%。
    • The Chairman's remarks were so astounding that the audience listened to him with bated breath. 主席说的话令人吃惊,所以听众都屏息听他说。 来自《简明英汉词典》

    文章评论 共有评论 0查看全部

      会员登陆
      热门单词标签
    我的单词印象
    我的理解: