3 . What have humans done to deserve dogs? They greet us when we come home, comfort us when we’re sad and generally act as loyal companions.

Now, researchers are investigating whether tumors (肿瘤) in dogs may help treat tumors in humans. In early April, the Jackson Laboratory began collecting samples of canine (犬的) tumors. Cells from these tumors inserted into mice could help test new drugs and improve our understanding about how cancer develops and progresses.

Although cancer results from many factors, genes play a critical role. That means the genetic makeup of a tumor can help determine which drugs work against it. So having a broad and diverse pool of genetic makeups increases the chances of finding the right way to attack each disease. This thinking is particularly relevant for rare cancers and rare mutations (突变). Drawing from a larger pool means more genetic mutations to research.

And using tumors from dogs is a nearly ideal way to widen that pool. They’re exposed to many of the same environmental factors that might cause cancer in their owners, notes Dr. Christopher Fulkerson. Some bone and brain cancers are far more common in dogs than they are in people, making samples easier to find.

In many cases, the cells in a dog’s cancer look and act the same as they would in a human. They can even carry the same genetic mutations. However, not all canine cancers will be particularly helpful for human-focused research. For some types, the similarities between human and dog diseases will be significant. But when they aren’t, warns Dr. Jaime Modiano, the differences could have serious consequences for drug development.

But even when the research doesn’t advance knowledge of human cancers, it could still help improve the treatment of dogs diagnosed (确诊) with cancer. That's the least we can do for our faithful friends.

5 . The past few months have brought electrifying news that, for the first time, a gene treatment has provided some hearing to children born with deafness.

Eli Lilly announced this week, for example, that a profoundly deaf boy from Morocco given its treatment as part of a clinical trial in Philadelphia can now hear. And five children in China treated similarly at younger ages gained hearing with some able to verbally communicate without their cochlear implants (人工耳蜗). Their hearing recovery, first covered by the press in October 2023, is described in detail this week in The Lancet.

“It’s an enormous achievement,” says geneticist Karen Avraham of Tel Aviv University. Otolaryngologist (耳鼻喉科专家) and gene therapist Lawrence Lustig of Columbia University, whose lab was among the first to test the same approach in mice, agrees. “Other than cochlear implants, we haven’t really had any successful treatments to treat deafness,” he notes.

The various efforts from companies and academic centers each use a virus to insert the same gene, OTOF, into the children’s inner ear so the so-called hair cells there can sense sound and transmit it to the brain.

The new deafness treatments add to a string of recent successes for the gene treatment field, but also raise questions. The ear’s hair cells don’t divide, so the new copies of OTOF they contain should persist and continue to instruct the cells to make OTOF. Gene expression could drop off over time or the ear could mount an immune response that shuts it off.

But Lustig is optimistic that the various challenges will be overcome. “Now that we’ve got one success story, there’s going to be more money coming in to fund some of these other projects,” he says.

Primary and middle schools, as well as universities across China, have introduced herb-planting courses on their campuses as part of a campaign     1     (promote) traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). An herb farm has just been opened at Chaotiangong Minzu Primary School in Nanjing, Jiangsu. More than 30 species have been planted on campus, including Chinese ground orchid and rosemary. Students are guided     2     pharmacists (药剂师) from a     3     (province) TCM hospital. Students learn to recognize different herbs, learn about their medicinal value and plant sprouts (苗) in the garden. The hospital donated over 100 cartoon books     4     (relate) to TCM to help the children develop a stronger interest in herbal medicine.

Also in Shanghai, Tongji University has created     5     opportunity for overseas students to plant various species’ of herbs including Chinese angelica, wolfberry, fish mint and dangshen,     6     are all widely used. in Chinese cuisine. By taking care of the plants     7     (regular), overseas students can gain first-hand experience of making herbal medicine from start to finish, and spread TCM culture to their own countries.

March 17     8     (mark) Chinese Medicine Day, in commemoration (纪念) of this time-honored way of caring for people’s health. Introducing herb-planting courses at schools not only brings students up close and personal with Chinese herbs but also helps pass on these ancient treatment     9     (tradition) to younger generations while     10     (spread) TCM around the world

8 . A cancer treatment no longer means what it used to be. Just a few decades ago, the survival rate beyond five years was less than 50%. Now, nearly 70% of those who get cancer survive that long, and that rate is set to rise. Why? Because, more than ever, chemotherapy (化疗) and radiation, once the only ways of cancer treatment, are being paired with or replaced by varieties of new drugs and treatments.

For example, the first medication for what was previously considered an “undruggable” lung cancer was recently approved in the United States, Canada, Europe and the U.K. And a brand-new precise chemotherapy drug delivered directly to breast cancer cells is giving hope to patients with the HER 2-positive form of the disease.

Another discovery has been the promise of a treatment called immunotherapy, as researchers around the world have discovered ways to use the body’s own immune (免疫) system to battle cancer cells.

Also driving hope is a focus on prevention. Decades of research and public education have led to greater awareness of how lifestyle changes can reduce our risk of developing cancer. According to an article from the journal Pharmaceutical Research and published by the National Institutes of Health, 90% to 95% of cancers can be owed to environment and lifestyle, rather than to genetic (基因的) factors.

Employing vaccines (疫苗) is another effective way of prevention. Take the mRNA cancer vaccines for example. The speedy development of COVID-19 vaccines was thanks to foundations already laid by researchers who had been working for years to create mRNA vaccines to fight cancer. These vaccines use a specially programmed molecule (分子) to activate an immune response in the body’s cells. Unlike the COVID-19 vaccines designed to help protect billions of people, each cancer mRNA vaccine is tailored to treat a single patient’s cancer.

In fact, this personalized approach can be made for everyone, and for every cancer.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been passed down for thousands of years.     1     a profound culture and centuries-old history, TCM is the treasure of Chinese civilization. It is not only    2    (wide) used in Asia but also has become increasingly welcome in Europe and the United States. Frank Griffo is an acupuncturist in California     3     completed his master’s degree in TCM in 2005 at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco. He then spent seven years     4    (study) advanced acupuncture techniques and has been practicing for about 18 years. “There are more than 60,000 acupuncturists in the United States right now. Chinese medicine     5    (grow) dramatically in the last 15 years.     6     makes TCM stand out is that it is taking on a larger role in the medical system here as a safe and noninvasive method of treatment for many problems that Western medicine has    7    (difficult) providing good outcomes or treatment options for, ” Griffo     8    (say) in a video interview with China Daily on Monday. Americans have been receptive to acupuncture for decades. Griffo stated that acupuncture has been greatly accepted in the Caucasian, non-Chinese population and is     9    (popularity) in California. “In comparison with situation years ago, the attitude of American society towards TCM is     10    (positive) now. ”He told China Daily.