1 . Wayne Rogerson’s close friend, Ashley Cooper, died when he was seriously injured in a crash in 2008. His family later _________ that his donated organs (器官) helped save seven people. This _________ Mr. Rogerson to start donating blood.

Mr. Rogerson said he _________ to do his bit and had donated blood 21 times, seldom _________ an appointment over eight years. But he could not have known the _________ act of giving blood would _________ save his own life.

At a donation _________ in 2017, a Red Cross Australia Lifeblood nurse discovered Mr Rogerson’s hemoglobin (血红蛋白) count was low and _________ him to seek medical care. “I had no _________, none at all,” he said. After Mr. Rogerson went to a hospital and had medical tests, doctors said that he had developed cancer.

Mr. Rogerson spent about three months in hospital for an operation and treatment. During that time he ____________ two blood transfusions (输血). “I was so ____________ that they got it in time...I was fully recovered in November that year,” he said. But, to his ____________, he can no longer donate blood due to ____________ reasons. “After being both a(n) ____________ and a recipient (接受者), I urge everyone to donate if you can,” he said. “The ____________ you save might just be your own.”

2 . A US man has become the first person in the world to receive a heart transplant from a genetically modified pig.

Surgeons say the experimental procedures was the only available option for the patient David Bennett, a 57-year-old from Maryland in the US, who was living with heart disease.

Bennett is currently being carefully monitored while specialists at the University of Maryland Medical Center, where the procedure was carried out, determine whether the transplant can keep him alive in the long term. “It was either to die, or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,” said Bennett. “I look forward to getting out of bed after I recover.”

While full heart transplants are more controversial, pig heart valves (瓣膜) have been successfully used for replacements in humans for years.

“This was a breakthrough surgery and brings us one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis. There are simply not enough donor human hearts available to meet the long list of potential recipients,” said Bartley Griffith, the heart surgeon who performed the operation. “We are doing cautiously, but we are also optimistic that this first-in-the-world surgery will provide an important new option for patients in the future.”

In the donor pig, three genes that would have led to the repaid rejection of the pig’s heart were knocked out. Six human genes responsible for immune acceptance of the pig heart were then inserted into the genome. Finally, one gene in the pig was removed to prevent excessive growth of the heart tissue once it had been implanted.

“This is truly a historic, monumental step forward. While we have long been at the forefront of research driving progress toward the promise of xenotransplantation (异种器官移植) as a practical solution to the organ crisis, many believed this breakthrough would be well into the future,” said Bert O’Malley, president and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical Center.

4 . Programs using animals to calm patients and reduce tension are called animal therapy(治疗). In the United States, these treatments are popular, although there is a lack of evidence to show that they work.

There are, however, many stories about animal therapy helping people. For example, some children have a fear of injections (注射). That may make getting the COVID-19 vaccine (疫苗) a difficult experience. So, some hospitals use therapy animals, like Ollie, a six-year-old therapy dog, to help children at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.

One of those children is nine-year-old Avery Smith. At the children’s hospital, she cried over her fear of the vaccine. Then Ollie came in and sat at her feet. “It helped me because I never had a COVID vaccine before,” said Avery. She added, “I didn't know what it felt like. But when I saw the dog, I stopped crying.”

Kristin Gist is a 75-year-old dog therapy volunteer and a former hospital programs direct tor. She is also Ollie’s owner. She said even before the vaccine, therapy dogs were already being used at the children’s hospital. Some children at the hospital are fighting cancer or other serious diseases. Gist said kids or their parents will sometimes hold the dogs and seem to feel better.

However, some experts say there is a lack of scientific evidence proving that animal their apy improves a patient’s medical condition. One such expert is Hal Herzog. He is a professor at Western Carolina University. Herzog told VOA that an animal can simply distract (分散注意力) a patient. “Some studies have shown that for short-term preventing pain, staying with a dog can put your mind on something else. And in that case, I see no harm in doing it. However, this won't do much for treatment.”

5 . One in four American adults has fatty liver disease caused by being overweight, not drinking, and there is no medical treatment for it. Doctors say the only way to keep it in check is to lose weight and eat a healthier diet. Now a new study reports that bariatric surgery, in addition to helping with weight loss, can protect the liver.

The findings were striking: Of a group of more than 1,100 patients who had fatty liver disease, those who had weight-loss surgery cut their risk of advanced liver disease, liver cancer or related death by almost 90 percent over the next ten years. Only five of the 650 patients who had bariatric surgery later developed one of those severe liver outcomes, compared with 40 of 508 patients who did not have the surgery. The weight-loss surgery patients were also at greatly lower risk for cardiovascular disease, a finding that is in line with earlier research. They were 70 percent less likely to experience a cardiac event, stroke or heart failure, or to die of heart disease, according to the study published Thursday in JAMA.

Dr. Ali Aminian, the director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Bariatric and Metabolic Institute and the study’s lead author, said that in all likelihood weight loss had stopped the disease in its tracks. “Obesity is the main driver of the fatty liver,” Dr. Aminian said, “When a patient loses weight, fat goes away from everywhere, including the liver. Weight loss is the main factor here.”

One concern in studies like these is that patients who choose weight-loss surgery may be inherently different than those who do not. They may be more motivated; they have means to afford the surgery; and they are healthy enough that doctors do not turn them away. In this case, however, Dr. Nissen, chief academic officer of the Heart and Vascular Institute, said that “even if it’s wrong by a factor of twofold, it still means the risk is greatly reduced.”