VOA标准英语2013--Climate, Brain Infection Linked in Uganda

 

Climate, Brain Infection Linked in Uganda

Scientists say they have found the first major neurological condition linked to climate. A Ugandan study shows the amount of rainfall can affect the number of infants who develop a deadly brain infection. It’s estimated 100-thousand infants in sub-Saharan Africa get the infection every year.

It’s called Hydrocephalus -- a build-up of fluid that leads to a swelling¹ of the brain and an enlarged head. Dr. Steve Schiff, director of the Center for Neural² Engineering at Penn State University, said that without treatment it can cause brain damage or death.

“Hydrocephalus is literally³ a medical word that means water on the brain. It is the most common reason that a child would need to have neurological surgery,” he said.

A small amount of fluid surrounding the brain is normal.

“We produce about a cup of fluid a day and it bathes and cushions our brains. And every drop we make has to be taken out of the head by the body. And there are tiny, little fluid channels that allow that to happen,” he said.

Unless, that is, something goes wrong.

Schiff said, “One of the reasons children get in trouble with this is that they have an infection and the inflammation plugs up the small channels that the fluid needs to exit through. Or they might have some bleeding at the time of birth and that blood can also plug up these channels. And then sometimes children are born with some channels that are not formed correctly.”

The blockages⁴ trigger an infection. Schiff says the most common treatment has been to insert a tube to drain fluid from the brain to the stomach. The body can then absorb and later eliminate it. However, sometimes the tubes themselves can become blocked. If that happens, the child needs immediate⁵ medical care.

To prevent that, scientists, led by Harvard neurosurgery associate professor Benjamin Warf, developed a new technique. Using a scope to peer inside the head, doctors can make a very small opening to allow the fluid to drain without the use of a plastic tube. Schiff says it was a major advancement⁶.

“This is very helpful in settings where a child might be very far removed to get to a hospital for any kind of emergency care,” he said.

However, he says treating or preventing the infection through a surgical⁷ technique is just part of the solution.

“We have two missions here,” he said, “First, we have to know what the organisms are. Because we have to make sure when we start treatment that that treatment is exactly the right antibiotic⁸ for the germs that are likely to be causing the infection. The second piece is, that long term, we need to know not only what the germs are, but we need to know how the infants got the organisms.”

Here is where medical and climate research came together. Ugandan hospital records of hydrocephalus were compared with rainy season satellite data collected by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric⁹ Administration or NOAA.

“In the hospital records we knew where the babies came from because their districts were all listed in the records. And when we looked at both the climate rainfall amounts for each month and the number of cases from each district for each month we saw very clearly that these babies were coming in larger numbers to the hospital when the rainfall was not too much, not too little, but just in the middle – just moist enough to affect the infants’ environment,” he said.

That’s when conditions are just right for bacterial¹⁰ growth that can lead to hydrocephalus.

Schiff said, “The complexities¹¹ of the environment that infants are exposed to in Africa are unlike anything that we have had to deal with in the industrialized countries. And this is a major scientific and intellectual challenge that we have to do with our African colleagues in order to address what is indeed preventable.”

Schiff added that bacteria that cause hydrocephalus in one region may not be the same as in another region of Africa or Asia. So research needs to be tailored geographically¹² to possibly find ways to disrupt the environmental mechanisms¹³ that trigger bacterial growth.

1 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

2 neural   

adj.神经的，神经系统的

参考例句：

• The neural network can preferably solve the non- linear problem.利用神经网络建模可以较好地解决非线性问题。
• The information transmission in neural system depends on neurotransmitters.信息传递的神经途径有赖于神经递质。

3 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

4 blockages   

n.堵塞物( blockage的名词复数 )；堵塞，阻塞

参考例句：

• The storms could increase the risks posed by river blockages. 暴风雨会增加因河道堵塞所造成的危险。 来自互联网
• An angiogram shows the location and severity of blockages in blood vessels. 冠状动脉造影能够显示血管内的阻塞位置以及阻塞的严重程度。 来自互联网

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

6 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

7 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。

8 antibiotic   

adj.抗菌的；n.抗生素

参考例句：

• The doctor said that I should take some antibiotic.医生说我应该服些用抗生素。
• Antibiotic can be used against infection.抗菌素可以用来防止感染。

9 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

10 bacterial   

a.细菌的

参考例句：

• Bacterial reproduction is accelerated in weightless space. 在失重的空间，细菌繁殖加快了。
• Brain lesions can be caused by bacterial infections. 大脑损伤可能由细菌感染引起。

11 complexities   

复杂性(complexity的名词复数)； 复杂的事物

参考例句：

• The complexities of life bothered him. 生活的复杂使他困惑。
• The complexities of life bothered me. 生活的杂乱事儿使我心烦。

12 geographically   

adv.地理学上，在地理上，地理方面

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe. 从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。 来自辞典例句
• All these events, however geographically remote, urgently affected Western financial centers. 所有这些事件，无论发生在地理上如何遥远的地方，都对西方金融中心产生紧迫的影响。 来自名作英译部分

13 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》