1 . Desperately ill and seeking a miracle, David Bennett Sr. took the last bet on Jan. 7. when be became the first human to be successfully transplanted with the heart of a pig. “It creates the beat; it creates the pressure; it is his heart,” declared Bartley Griffith, director of the surgical team that performed the operation at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Bennett, 57, held on through 60 tomorrows, far longer than any previous patient who’d received a heart from another species. His remarkable run offered new hope that such procedures, known as xenotransplantation (异种移植), could help relieve the shortage of replacement organs, saving thousands of lives each year.
The earliest attempts at xenotransplantation of organs, involving kidneys from rabbits, goats, and other animals, occurred in the early 20th century, decades before the first successful human-to-human transplants. Rejection, which occurs when the recipient’s body system recognizes the donor organ as a foreign object and attacks it, followed within hours or days. Results improved after some special drugs arrived in the 1960s, but most recipients still died after a few weeks. The record for a heart xenotransplant was set in 1983, when an infant named Baby Fae survived for 20 days with an organ from a baboon (狒狒).
In recent years, however, advances in gene editing have opened a new possibility: re-edit some genes in animals to provide user-friendly spare parts. Pigs could be ideal for this purpose, because they’re easy to raise and reach adult human size in months. Some biotech companies. including Revivicor, are investing heavily in the field. The donor pig was offered by Revivicor from a line of animals in which 10 genes had been re-edited to improve the heart’s condition. Beyond that, the pig was raised in isolation and tested regularly for viruses that could infect humans or damage the organ itself.
This medical breakthrough provided an alternative for the 20% of patients on the heart transplant waiting list who die while waiting or become too sick to be a good candidate.
1. What does the underlined word “run” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Donating his heart to a patient. |
| B．Performing the heart operation. |
| C．Living for 60 days after the operation. |
| D．Receiving a new heart from a pig. |
| A．Its history. | B．Its procedure. | C．Its consequence. | D．Its significance. |
| A．Their growth rate and health condition. |
| B．Their life pattern and resistance to viruses. |
| C．Their easiness of keeping and rapid growth. |
| D．Their investment value and natural qualities. |
| A．It introduced new medications to prevent organ rejection. |
| B．It proved the potential for using organs from various animals. |
| C．It guaranteed a sufficient supply of donor pigs for transplants. |
| D．It offered a prospect of replacement organs through gene editing. |
According to a report from Chinanews.com, Wu Ming is
Wu came to Central China’s Henan province in 2015,
Learning TCM has changed Wu’s life. He used to be addicted to electronic devices and stay up late every night,
Wu also uses what he has learned to help his family. Previously, acupuncture (针灸) tools and Chinese medicine
In Wu’s opinion, there’s no big
3 . Best Practices
Best Practices is about the issues faced and the best practices used by people responsible for medical imaging (成像).
This Best Practices is a survey of doctors and engineers who work in medical imaging. There is a list of possible issues concerning medical imaging, as well as some ideas and related best practices.
Acurian
Are you a doctor or a nurse who works with cancer patients? Learn about cancer treatment trials in your area from Acurian.
Get Acurian and receive information about cancer clinical trials happening near your office. There is no cost to you of your patients and Acurian will send you $10 as a reward for joining them and helping their research move forward.
Lab Manager
Lab Manager provides help for lab professionals to manage employers, found and run a laboratory, and plan a research program, while keeping the goals of good science and medical discovery.
Most lab managers, by education and experience, are good at solving the technical problems of their jobs, but their managing skills may be poor. Lab Manager is written with those managers in mind and provides information needed to manage today’s lab.
Surgical Products
Surgical Products is the leading magazine for news on medical equipment, supplies and services. Each issue provides information about new products, technology solutions, and industry developments in the healthcare field. Surgical Products is published 10 times a year (monthly, except bi-monthly in Jan/Feb and Nov/Dec) and is available in print only.
Lab Animal
Lab Animal is a journal offering information, ideas, methods and materials to animal medical research professionals. Lab Animal reaches over 10,000 professionals in both the academic world and applied research industries.
1. What is special about Lab Manager?| A．It interests all doctors in hospitals. |
| B．It is published 10 times a year only in print. |
| C．You must pay $10 to get information from it. |
| D．It can help you achieve good scientific results. |
| A．Education. | B．Management. | C．Society. | D．Medicine. |
| A．Acurian. | B．Lab Manager. | C．Surgical Products. | D．Lab Animal. |
4 . 17-year-old Dasia Taylor was named one of 40 finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS), the nation’s most famous Science and math competition for high school seniors.
Dasia’s sutures (缝合线) work by changing color if the patients’ pH level changes, indicating an infection. pH is one of the most common parts of wound healing, Dasia said. It changes very quickly, so it’s one of the fastest ways to recognize infection.
So, she started experimenting with root vegetables. “I found that beet changed color at the perfect pH point,” says Taylor. “That’s perfect for an infected wound. And so, I was like, ‘Oh, okay. So beet is where it’s at’.” Beet provided the perfect dye for her invention, changing from bright red to dark purple when a surgical wound becomes infected. After more than a year of research, Taylor is working on getting her sutures patented.
She imagines these sutures being used in developing countries where they can save lives and money. “The goal of my project is to reduce the number of deadly surgical site infections in developing countries because developing countries suffer from the most number of deaths due to surgical site infections,” she said. “I was like there is no way that that should be happening. The equity part of my brain and all the work that I do around equity was like ‘That shouldn’t be happening. They should have the resources to save their citizens in their country.’ So, my goal is to work on that and make sure that it can actually discover those types of infections and stuff.” After graduation, Dasia hopes to attend Howard University, study political science and finally become a lawyer.
1. How can a patient quickly know if a wound is infected?| A．By observing the pH test paper. |
| B．Through the doctors’ examination. |
| C．By looking at sutures’ color changing. |
| D．By observing how the wound changes. |
| A．Beet has the same pH level. | B．Beet can change color at different times. |
| C．Beet therapy is good for wound healing. | D．Beet can be used to help her with the invention. |
| A．She has won the invention patent. |
| B．She became the winner of the Regeneron STS. |
| C．She made contributions to surgical infection recognition. |
| D．She helped save lots of lives and money in developing countries. |
| A．Medical and health work. | B．Medical device development. |
| C．Something about the legal aid. | D．Medical and science research. |
5 . A French firm that has long been testing and improving an artificial (人造的) heart is ready to begin sale of the device (装置)in the second quarter of 2021.
Called the Aeson, the 900-gram device is powered by batteries and relies on sensors (传感器) and biological materials to discover exactly which function it must perform at any given time. The firm Carmat has been working on the Aeson for decades in response to rising rates of heart diseases in France and across the world.
Organ donor (捐赠) rates in Europe are not enough to meet demands, and so the Aeson will really come into its own as another choice for those on waiting lists for new hearts. “The idea behind this heart was to create a device which would replace heart transplants (移植), a device that works physiologically like a human heart, one that’s pulsating (搏动的), self-controlled and compatible (兼容的) with bloods,” said Stephane Piatj Carmat’s CEO.
An Aeson will function for several years in patients. It works by attaching biological bits to its mechanical ones, and using batteries to power the functions of a normal heart, A small bag would contain a controller with lithium-ion batteries, as well as the fluid container, all weighing less than five kilograms.
One gentleman who received the Aeson in 2015 told reporters at the time that he “ never felt so good.”“I walk, I get up and I bend over 10 to 15 times a day, without any problem. I keep my balance. I’m not bothered. I don’t even think about it, ” said the 69-year-old father of two. Indeed the surgeon even said that the man had restarted riding bikes, and as a black belt judoka (柔道运动员), even asked permission to restart martial arts (武术).
As part of his recovery, we made him do a number of physical activities such as riding an exercise bike, and when we last met, he told us 4 of course, I have a bike, a traditional bike and I ride but don’t worry, I avoid big hills, ”he said.
1. When will the Aeson probably be sold?| A．In January, 2021. | B．In April, 2021. |
| C．In August, 2021. | D．In November, 2021. |
| A．It is designed for the patients with heart disease. |
| B．It is less than 500 grams. |
| C．It doesn’t need to be charged. |
| D．More and more people will have a preference for it . |
| A．The Aeson functions differently from a human heart. |
| B．An Aeson will work for decades in patients. |
| C．The Aeson will be a good choice for the patients with heart diseases. |
| D．It is safe for a patient with an Aeson to do physical activities. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Satisfied. | C．Regretful. | D．Worried. |
| A．A teacher. | B．A trainer. | C．A doctor. |
7 . Artificial intelligence (Al) technology may soon be a useful tool for doctors. It may help them better understand and treat diseases like breast cancer(癌症)in ways that were never before possible.
Rishi Rawat teaches Al at the University of Southern California's (USC) Clinical Science Center in Los Angeles. He is part of a team of scientists who are researching how Al and machine learning can more easily recognize cancerous growths in the breast. Rawat provides information about cancer cells to a computer. He says this data helps the machine learn."…You can put the data into them and they will learn the patterns and the pattern recognition. That's important to make decisions.”
David Agus is another USC researcher. He believes that "machines are not going to take the place of doctors." Computers will not treat patients, but they will help make certain decisions and look for things that the human brain can't recognize these patterns by itself." Once a confirmed cancerous growth is removed, doctors still have to treat the patient to reduce the risk of cancer returning. The form of treatment depends on the kind of cancer. Currently, researchers take a thin piece of tissue (动植物细胞的组织)，put it on a small piece of glass and add color to better see the cells .
That process could take days or even longer. Scientists say Al can do something better than just count cells. Through machine learning, it can recognize complex patterns or structures, and learn how the cells are organized. The hope is that machines will soon be able to make a quick identification of cancer that is free of human mistakes. "A11 of a sudden, we have the computing power to really do it in real time... We couldn't have done this, we didn't have the computing power to do this several years ago, but now it's all changed." Agus adds that the process could be done "for almost no cost in the developing world.” He says that having a large amount of information about patients is important for a machine to effectively do its job in medicine .
The University of Southern California researchers are now only studying breast cancer. But doctors predict Al will one day make a difference in all forms of cancer.
1. Many diseases like breast cancer will soon be ______.| A．cured with Al | B．treated with Al |
| C．prevented with Al | D．removed with Al |
| A．Al technology is to replace doctors. |
| B．Computers can be an aid to the human brain. |
| C．Computers can work well with little information. |
| D．Al technology is not accessible to developing countries. |
| A．Helping to count cells. | B．Recognizing complex patterns. |
| C．Making a quick and right identification. | D．Learning how the cells are organized. |
| A．Research in breast cancer. | B．Potential of Al for doctors. |
| C．Imagination about Al' s future. | D．Achievements on medical care. |
8 . People have different ways of dealing with a common cold. Some take over the counter medicines such as aspirin while others try popular home remedies(治疗) like herbal tea or chicken soup. Yet here is the tough truth about the common cold: nothing really cures it.
So why do people sometimes believe that their remedies work? According to James Taylor, professor at the University of Washington, colds usually go away on their own in about a week, improving a little each day after symptoms peak, so it's easy to believe it's medicine rather than time that deserves the credit, USA Today reported.
It still seems hard to believe that we can deal with more serious diseases yet are powerless against something so common as a cold. Recently, scientists came closer to figure out why. To understand it, you first need to know how antiviral drugs work. They attack the virus by attaching to and changing the surface structures of the virus. To do that, the drug must fit and lock into the virus like the right piece of a jigsaw(拼图), which means scientists have to identify the virus and build a 3D model to study its surface before they can design an antiviral drug that is effective enough.
The two cold viruses that scientists had long known about were rhinovirus(鼻病毒) A and B. But they didn't find out about the existence of a third virus, rhinovirus C, until 2006. All three of them contribute to the common cold, but drugs that work well against rhinovirus A and B have little effect when used against rhinovirus C.
''This explains most of the previous failures of drug trials against rhinoviruses,'' study leader Professor Ann C. Palmenberg at the University of Wiscons in Madison, US, told Science Daily.
Now, more than 10 years after the discovery of rhinovirus C, scientists have finally built a highly detailed 3D model of the virus, showing that the surface of the virus is, as expected, different from that of other cold viruses.
With the model in hand, hopefully a real cure for a common cold is on its way. Soon, we may no longer have to waste our money on medicines that don't really work.
1. What does the author think of popular remedies for a common cold?| A．They are quite effective. | B．They are slightly helpful. |
| C．They actually have no effect. | D．They still need to be improved. |
| A．By breaking up cold viruses directly. |
| B．By changing the surface structures of the cold viruses. |
| C．By preventing colds from developing into serious diseases. |
| D．By absorbing different kinds of cold viruses at the same time. |
| A．The surface of cold viruses looks quite similar. |
| B．Scientists have already found a cure for the common cold. |
| C．Scientists were not aware of the existence of rhinovirus C until recently. |
| D．Knowing the structure of cold viruses is the key to developing an effective cure. |
| A．Drugs against cold viruses | B．Helpful home remedies |
| C．No current cure for common cold | D．Research on cold viruses |
Researchers Are Racing to Make a Coronavirus Vaccine. Will It Help?
In the early days of January, as cases of a strange, pneumonia-like illness
Scientists in Australia are also working on vaccine candidates to stop the spread of the disease.
It takes months and even years because the vaccines must undergo extensive testing in animals and humans.
With each new outbreak, scientists
10 . In the 19th century, doctors tried to transfuse blood (输血)to patients who had lost blood in accidents or to try to save them. However, in most cases there would be a horrible reaction. When the donated blood mixed with the patient's own blood，it clotted (凝结)almost immediately. That stopped the circulation (循环)and the patient would die. Born on 14th June 1868，Karl Landsteiner，a doctor in Vienna, was very concerned about this. He knew there was something in the blood that caused reactions, but some people did manage to escape. Perhaps different people had different kinds of blood? He got a lot of blood samples (标本)from people, and mixed and matched them. Blood has two parts，the blood cells and the liquid serum(血清).You take blood cells from one person and mix them with the serum of another. If they react, the cells will clot and form a big lump. That means it is not safe to transfuse blood between these people. Landsteiner matched hundreds of samples like this，to find out who was safe for whom and who wasn’t. In fact, there were blood groups now called A, B, AB and O.
So what was going on in the blood? All our red blood cells have sugar molecules(糖分子) that are stuck on their surfaces. The red blood cells of people with group A have one kind of sugar, while those with B have another. People with AB have both of these while people with O have none.
People with the A blood group have a chemical substance called anti-B, while those of B blood group have anti-A in their serum. People with AB group have neither anti-A nor anti-B, while people with O have both. If you were B group and got blood from an A person,the anti- A in your blood would cause all the cells with A-sugar on them to clot immediately, stopping the circulation of blood.
In 1907, Dr. Reuben Outenberg carried out the first safe blood transfusion by matching blood groups. Blood transfusion became quite common from then on. And it helped saved thousands of lives in the First World War.
1. What does the passage mainly talk about?| A．Accidents in blood transfusion. |
| B．The discovery of blood groups. |
| C．Who Karl Landsteiner is. |
| D．The success of Dr. Reuben Otlenberg. |
| A．Some doctors in the 19th century. |
| B．The cause of some patient deaths. |
| C．Many medical accidents that he came across. |
| D．Certain successful cases of blood Iransrusion. |
| A．Only in the A blood group. |
| B．Only in the B blood group. |
| C．Only in the AB blood group. |
| D．In blood groups of B and O. |
| A．The first successful blood transfusion done by Ottenberg. |
| B．The time when blood groups were named by Landsteiner. |
| C．The year when the First World War broke out. |
| D．The blood transfusion by matching blood groups. |
