2 . A drug used to treat severe bleeding could save thousands of lives for mothers giving birth. A global trial of the drug found it reduced the risk of bleeding deaths during childbirth by nearly one-third. The study involved 20,000 women in 21 countries, mainly in Africa and Asia. The trial was carried out by London's School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The drug is called d tranexamic acid (氨甲环酸). It is low-cost and researchers said it does not cause serious side effects for mothers or babies.

The drug is used to treat mothers for severe bleeding during childbirth, also known as postpartum hemorrhage (产后出血).It is the leading cause of mother’s death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Haleema Shakur is the project director of the trial. She says despite medical advances in many countries, severe bleeding after childbirth remains a big problem in some parts of the world. “It's one of the biggest killers of mothers. In Africa and Asia. about 10 percent of women will end up with severe bleeding. " The drug works by stopping blood clots(血凝块) from breaking down after a mother gives birth. The treatment can prevent the need for doctors to perform surgery to find the source of bleeding.

Shakur said the best results were reported when the drug was given to women as soon as possible after childbirth, “The earlier you give it- so within the first three hours of giving birth—the better the effect is. ”

The next step will be to get the drug where it is needed provide training for doctors and nurses on how to use it. During the trial, women were given the drug in a hospital. But researchers are looking for easier ways to administer the drug so it can be more widely used in small clinics and rural areas.

3 . Researchers at the University of Scotland have discovered a protein that can influence viruses developing and even can control cancer. Now the fight is on to fully understand how it works in the hope of turning the laboratory research into a treatment.

The protein is called Hira. Technically it is a histone（组蛋白）complex, but it is easier to understand in terms of what it can do. Three years ago Dr Taranjit Singh Rai and colleagues at the Beatson Cancer Institute and Glasgow University reported that Hira could possibly suppress the division of cells that causes cancer. In the course of that research, Dr Rai found out something unusual. In the lab they have established that the Hira protein has a role to play in the anti-viral fight, thus, making it have a fundamental role to play in fighting against cancer.

The trick in using it to fight diseases may lie in increasing Hira levels in our cells. “I think what researchers might be interested in is how we can increase levels of this protein to deal with the viruses better, Dr Rai said.

Dr Rai has led an international study and support has come from Cancer Research UK and the results are published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research. But there is a major concern that the research is still limited to the laboratory.

It is going to take some time, probably years, before this work can move out of the lab and into clinics and hospitals. But the researchers are excited Hira will one day be the basis of a new approach in medicine.

When John heard screaming, he and his father rushed outside and discovered that Anne Slade, mother of three, was lying in her front garden bleeding very     1     (heavy). She was stabbed repeatedly with a knife by a man running from the scene.

It was John’s quick action and knowledge of first aid     2     saved Ms Slade’s life. He immediately asked a number of nearby people     3     bandages, but when nobody could put their hands on any, his father got some     4     (towel) and tape from their house. John used these to treat the most severe injuries to Ms Slade’s hands. He slowed the bleeding by applying     5     (press) to the wounds until the police and ambulance arrived.

John had taken part in the Young Lifesaver Scheme at his high school. When     6     (congratulate) John, Mr Alan Southerton, Director of the Young Lifesaver Scheme said, “There is no doubt that John’s quick thinking and the first aid skills he learned at school     7    (save) Ms Slade’s life. It shows that a knowledge of first aid can make     8       real difference.” Before receiving    9     (they) awards last night, John and the nine other Life Savers attended a special reception yesterday     10    (host) by the Prime Minister.

Traditional Chinese medicine originated in ancient and developed for     1     long time. It has collected various ways to treat     2     (differ) diseases. It pays attention     3     the balance of the body system. It reads, once the body system     4     (balance), the disease will disappear. The damage of the body system is the source of the disease.

TCM is an important part of Chinese culture. It has made great     5     (contribution) to the prosperity (繁荣) of China. Great successes have been made in many areas through TCM cure. As to acute stomachache, there is no need     6     (have) an operation; all you need to do is drink a cup of Chinese herbs (药草),     7     the western way takes more time and money. You may even take the risk of being infected after operation.

    8     (compare) with the western medicine high fees, TCM has a reasonable price that ordinary people can afford. I think in the future, TCM     9     (be) the mainstream in the health services in China. And our country should invest more money on the     10     (develop) on TCM.

9 . Close your eyes for a minute and imagine what life would be like if you had a hundred dollars less. Also imagine what it would be like spending the rest of your life with your eyes closed. Imagine having to read this page, not with your eyes but with your finger-tips.

With existing medical knowledge and skills, two-thirds of the world's 42 million, blind should not have to suffer. Unfortunately, rich countries possess most of this knowledge, while developing countries do not.

ORBIS is an international non-profit organization which operates the world's only flying teaching eye hospital. ORBIS intends to help fight blindness worldwide. Inside a DC-8 aircraft, there is a fully-equipped teaching hospital with television studio and classroom. Doctors are taught the latest techniques of bringing sight back to people there. Project ORBIS also aims at promoting peaceful cooperation among countries.

ORBIS tries to help developing countries by providing training during three-week medical programs. ORBIS has taught sight-saving techniques to over 3,000 doctors and nurses, who continue to cure tens of thousands of blind people every year. ORBIS has conducted 17 plan programs in China so far. For the seven to ten million blind in China ORBIS is planning to do more for them. At the moment an ORBIS is working on a long-term plan to develop a training center and to provide eye care service to Shanxi Province. ORBIS needs your help to continue their work and free people from blindness.

For just US$38, you can help one person see; for $380 you can bring sight to 10 people; $1,300 helps teach a doctor new skills; and for $13,000 you can provide a training program for a group of doctors who can make thousands of blind people see again. Your money can open their eyes to the world. Please help ORBIS improve the quality of life for so many people less fortunate than ourselves.

10 . One of the important, but seldom-discussed, problems in healthcare reform is how to take care of our aging population as people continue to live longer. According to a new study from the MacArthur Research Network on an Aging Society, by 2050 Americans may live 3.1 to 7. 9 years longer than the government expects. That would mean women would live 89 to 93 years and men 83 to nearly 86 years. The researchers base their conclusion on "rapid advances in biomedical（生物医药）technology that delay the start and progression of major deadly diseases or that slow the aging process・”

While this is good news, especially for the young, the life expectancy, which is in excess of（超过）the government's estimates, would raise costs sharply for Medicare and Social Security. If the study's predictions are accurate, the total cost for those two programs through 2050 could be between $ 3. 2 trillion and $ & 3 trillion higher than the US Census Bureau（人口普查局）and the Social Security Administration currently expect.

And that's only the beginning. With anticipated scientific breakthroughs in coming decades, people could eventually live to 150 years of age, says Dr. Steven Joyal, an official of the Life Extension Foundation (LEF) a nonprofit organization that promotes research on how we can live longer and healthier. The MacArthur paper, in fact, says that some experts believe the average life expectancy could hit 100 by 2060.

What's more, Joyal says, the conquest（战胜）of disease and the slowing of the aging process will lead to a sharp decline in disability, allowing people of advanced age to function as well as they did when they were much younger. "In other words, a 90-year-old person could have the same mental and physical capacity as somebody 40 or 50 years old."