VOA常速英语2007年-Insulin Pills Studied as Possible Way to Preven

By Carol Pearson
Washington
16 November 2007
 

November 14th marks the United Nation's first World Diabetes¹ Day. It is meant to be an indicator² of how serious diabetes has become. World Health Organization statistics show that more than 180 million people worldwide have diabetes and that number is likely to double in the next 20 years. Researchers participating in an international clinical study want to see if a daily insulin pill can prevent or delay the disease in some people. VOA's Carol Pearson has more.

Members of the Gould family are more familiar with diabetes than they would like to be. At every meal, 15-year-old Patrick has to test his blood sugar.

Dave and Ellen Gould have two other children with diabetes. Dave says, "There's not a day off from this. It's not like we can get up one day and say, we're going to take a day off from diabetes."

Ellen adds, "I mean, we have to think about it."

There's eight year old Sarah and 12-year-old Sam.

Dave says, "I just can't imagine that we could end up with another child that would have a likelihood of getting this disease."

The five other Gould children were tested to see if they had the antibodies that indicate a strong chance of developing the disease. Three-year-old Oliver tested positive. He is now enrolled³ in a test to see if taking oral insulin in a pill might keep him from developing diabetes, or at least delaying it.

Type one diabetes has a genetic⁴ component⁵ and tends to run in families. With type one diabetes, the body's immune system destroys the insulin producing cells.

Without these cells, the body cannot regulate the amount of sugar in the blood.

The disease can be life threatening. And it never goes away. More than 150 medical centers in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia are involved in the research. Dr. William Russell is one of the researchers.

Dr. Russell explains, "If we are able to prevent diabetes from developing in someone, we've saved them from a lifetime of injections, and blood tests, and potential complications."

In this experiment, some of the children receive an insulin pill. Others get a placebo⁶. None of the families involved know which pill their child is getting.

 Dave says, "There's really no risk to Oliver in doing this."

Ellen is hopeful, "Maybe we will be part of the solution."

1 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

2 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

3 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

5 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

6 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。