病人的干细胞或能修复其受损关节一托福阅读机经背景.docx

智课网TOEFL备考资料病人的干细胞或能修复其受损关节一托福阅读机经背景 Millions of people in the United States suffer from osteoarthritis, or degenerative joint disease. The most severe cases requiring joint replacement surgery. 数百万的美国人患有骨关节炎，又称退化性关节疾病。病情严重的需要做人工关节替换手术。 These replacement joints can be made of combinations of metal alloys, plastic and ceramic, but new research shows that it might be possible to regenerate damaged joints using a patients own stem cells. 人工关节可能是用合金、塑料和陶瓷制成的。不过，新的研究显示，利用病人自己的干细胞，有可能修复受损的关节。 Chronic disability Osteoarthritis is the result of infection, trauma or simply age, and is the leading cause of chronic disability worldwide. 骨关节炎是炎症、创伤，或年龄造成的，是世界范围慢性残障疾病的主要原因。 The disease causes cartilage-protecting joint surfaces to degrade, allowing painful bone-to-bone contact. Osteoarthritis is usually treated with pain relievers and anti-inflammatory drugs, but in severe cases, the damaged joint can be replaced with an artificial one. However, this option may not work well for the growing population of younger arthritic patients. 这种病使保护关节表面的软骨磨损，导致骨骼直接摩擦而产生疼痛。骨关节炎通常使用止痛剂和消炎药治疗。但是病情严重时，可以考虑用人工关节替换受损的关节。不过，这种选择并不适于人数越来越多的年轻患者。 The average lifespan of the metal joints is about 10 to 15 years, says Jeremy Mao at the Columbia University Medical Center. So as you can imagine, if you are say 50, 55 or younger, the surgeons will be very hesitant to place these metal joints in your body because knowing that in 10 to 15 years, theres a chance these would fail. 哥伦比亚大学医学中心的杰里米·毛说：“金属关节的平均使用寿命是10年到15年。因此可以想见，如果你只有50岁、55岁，甚至更年轻的话，外科医生可能不愿意为你换金属关节，因为他知道，过10到15年，人工关节可能就不能用了。” In order to address this concern, Mao is exploring new ways to regenerate joints. 为解决这个问题，杰里米·毛正在探索让关节再生的新方法。 Growing new joint cells Mao replaced a portion of a rabbits upper arm joint with a biomaterial scaffold, providing a place for cells to grow. In order to attract the rabbits own stem cells to re-grow the cartilage, channels in the scaffold were filled with a growth factor protein. 他用生物材料支架替换一只兔子的