HEALTH REPORT - New Heart Drug Shows Promise in African Amer

HEALTH REPORT - New Heart Drug Shows Promise in African Americans
By Cynthia Kirk

Broadcast: Wednesday, November 17, 2004

This is Bob Doughty¹ with the VOA Special English Health Report.

Heart failure is a disease where the heart cannot pump enough blood to the body. Fluid collects in the lungs. People who develop heart failure are generally older. They feel tired and short of breath. Half the people die within five years.

Heart failure affects an estimated five million Americans. But African Americans are two and one-half times more likely to develop it. Now, an experimental treatment appears to increase their chance of survival.

Heart failure is usually treated with drugs called ACE² inhibitors. But research has suggested that these drugs do not work as well in blacks as in whites. The difference may be linked to lower levels of nitric oxide³ in the blood of African Americans with heart failure. This chemical in the body helps blood flow.

So a company in Massachusetts, NitroMed, developed a treatment called BiDil. This combines two existing medicines to increase the amount of nitric oxide in the blood. Earlier studies failed to prove its effectiveness. But those studies involved mostly white patients. Scientists later re-examined the results and saw signs that it did help black patients.

As a result, NitroMed began a study of more than one thousand black people. They took traditional drugs for heart failure and either BiDil or an inactive substance. The study found that the patients who took BiDil had a forty-three percent better chance of survival after one year. They also needed fewer hospital visits.

Doctor Anne Taylor, a professor at the University of Minnesota, reported on the study at a meeting of the American Heart Association. The findings appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine.

NitroMed has been preparing to ask for federal approval of its treatment. Such approval was rejected after the earlier studies.

Some people, though, are uneasy with the idea of what is known as a "race-based therapy." That is, a drug developed for just one group with a disease common in the general population. Yet some doctors think the new pill might help the larger population as well.

The heart association says heart failure can be caused by disorders⁴ present at birth, or by a virus that damages the heart muscle. But it says the same things linked to heart attacks can also cause heart failure. These include smoking, being overweight, eating high-fat foods and not getting exercise.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia Kirk. This is Bob Doughty.

1 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。

2 ace   

n.A牌；发球得分；佼佼者；adj.杰出的

参考例句：

• A good negotiator always has more than one ace in the hole.谈判高手总有数张王牌在手。
• He is an ace mechanic.He can repair any cars.他是一流的机械师,什么车都会修。

3 oxide   

n.氧化物

参考例句：

• Oxide is usually seen in our daily life.在我们的日常生活中氧化物很常见。
• How can you get rid of this oxide coating?你们该怎样除去这些氧化皮？

4 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》