VOA标准英语2012--Making HIV Microbicides User Friendly

Making HIV Microbicides User Friendly

 

In 2009, researchers completed a study that showed a microbicide gel could protect women from HIV infection. The gel, known as CAPRISA 004, was nearly 40 percent effective in reducing the risk of infection during sex. The encouraging findings have led to follow-up studies. But just because a microbicide can block HIV, does not mean that women will use it.

Top ranking health officials called the CAPRISA 004 study historic. They said it showed that a microbicide could empower women to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. It was something they could use without asking a man’s permission. But would women use it outside of a clinical trial?

That’s what a U.S.-funded study called Project LINK is trying to find out. Dr. Kathleen Morrow is leading a team of researchers at The Miriam Hospital in Providence¹, Rhode Island.

“It’s actually the first study to my knowledge to link those physical, chemical and rheological properties and performance characteristics of a gel to the user experience - the actual sensory² perceptions and experiences of the person using the product,” she said.

Not all gels are alike

Morrow is a staff psychologist at The Miriam Hospital and associate professor of psychiatry³ and human behavior at the Warren Alpert medical school at Brown University. Morrow and her team are not studying whether the microbicide actually works. Instead, they want to know how women react to the gels themselves.

“If my clinical counterparts, who are actually developing the pharmaceutical⁴ sides of things – the drug side of things – the drug that they will actually put into the gel or ring or whatever they’re going to put it into – if they do that and they do that well, and we have a product that will actually reduce HIV infections, the reality is it will only do that if people use it. So if people don’t use it, it will sit on a shelf and will have no impact on the HIV pandemic,” she said.

So they developed four different vaginal gels. None contained any antiretroviral drug, but each provided a different sensory experience when used. About 200 women tested the gels and told researchers what they liked or didn’t like about them. They also said whether they would use a particular gel again.

Morrow said, “Microbicides in the context of sexual intercourse⁵ to prevent HIV disease requires human beings to behave in specific ways. Requires them to use the product. Requires them to use it consistently. Requires them to use it correctly. In my mind it’s only going to happen if that experience of using the product is one that fits into their lives.”

The opinions of the study participants are now being analyzed⁶. The data will help determine the best formulation of microbicides that both blocks HIV and meets the needs and preferences of women.

The Project LINK study was funded by the National Institutes of Health as part of the Microbicide Innovation Program.

1 providence   

n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝

参考例句：

• It is tempting Providence to go in that old boat.乘那艘旧船前往是冒大险。
• To act as you have done is to fly in the face of Providence.照你的所作所为那样去行事，是违背上帝的意志的。

2 sensory   

adj.知觉的，感觉的，知觉器官的

参考例句：

• Human powers of sensory discrimination are limited.人类感官分辨能力有限。
• The sensory system may undergo long-term adaptation in alien environments.感觉系统对陌生的环境可能经过长时期才能适应。

3 psychiatry   

n.精神病学，精神病疗法

参考例句：

• The study appeared in the Amercian science Journal of Psychiatry.这个研究发表在美国精神病学的杂志上。
• A physician is someone who specializes in psychiatry.精神病专家是专门从事精神病治疗的人。

4 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

5 intercourse   

n.性交；交流，交往，交际

参考例句：

• The magazine becomes a cultural medium of intercourse between the two peoples.该杂志成为两民族间文化交流的媒介。
• There was close intercourse between them.他们过往很密。

6 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》