Study: Electrical Medical Device Helps Improve Muscle Strength
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Researchers recently reported new evidence from a study of a medical device placed inside the body, a spine-stimulating implant.
研究人员最近报告了一项关于放置在体内的医疗设备（一种刺激脊柱的植入物）的研究的新证据。
Three people with a muscle-destroying disease got a little stronger after using the implant. They were able to stand and walk more easily because of electrical stimulation to their spinal cord.
三名患有肌肉破坏性疾病的人在使用植入物后变得更加强壮。 由于对脊髓的电刺激，他们能够更轻松地站立和行走。
Marco Capogrosso is an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburg, or Pitt, who led the research. "These people were definitely not expecting an improvement," he said. Capogrosso said, "They were getting better and better," over the study that lasted one month.
马可·卡波格罗索 (Marco Capogrosso) 是匹兹堡大学 (Pitt) 的助理教授，领导了这项研究。 “这些人绝对没有期望得到改善，”他说。 卡波格罗索说，在持续一个月的研究中，“他们变得越来越好”。
Returning muscle function The implant was able to return some muscle function, at least temporarily.
恢复肌肉功能 植入物能够恢复一些肌肉功能，至少暂时恢复。
The implant was already being tested to treat paralysis in other patients. This new evidence suggests it might also aid diseases of the nervous system like spinal muscle atrophy, or SMA. SMA is a genetic disease that slowly destroys motor neurons, nerve cells in the spinal cord that control muscles.
该植入物已经被测试用于治疗其他患者的瘫痪。 这一新证据表明，它还可能有助于治疗神经系统疾病，如脊髓性肌肉萎缩症（SMA）。 SMA 是一种遗传性疾病，会慢慢破坏运动神经元，即脊髓中控制肌肉的神经细胞。
That leads muscles to waste away, especially in the legs, hips, and shoulders and sometimes those involved with breathing and swallowing. There is no cure. A gene therapy can save the lives of very young children with a severe form of the disease, and there are some medicines to slow the disease in older patients. Stimulating the spinal cord with low levels of electricity has long been used to treat chronic, or long-term, pain.
这会导致肌肉萎缩，尤其是腿部、臀部和肩膀的肌肉，有时还有涉及呼吸和吞咽的肌肉。 没有治愈方法。 基因疗法可以挽救患有严重疾病的幼儿的生命，并且有一些药物可以减缓老年患者的疾病。 用低电流刺激脊髓长期以来一直被用来治疗慢性或长期疼痛。
Capogrosso's team also has tested it to help people paralyzed by strokes or spinal cord injury move their arms and legs with assistance. The system sends electrical signals to nerves that have stopped reacting. This has the effect of activating the muscles. Capogrosso wondered if that same technology might help patients with SMA by stimulating sensory nerves to signal damaged muscle cells causing them to move.
卡波格罗索的团队还对其进行了测试，以帮助因中风或脊髓损伤而瘫痪的人在协助下移动手臂和腿。 该系统向已停止反应的神经发送电信号。 这具有激活肌肉的效果。 Capogrosso 想知道同样的技术是否可以通过刺激感觉神经向受损的肌肉细胞发出信号，导致它们移动来帮助 SMA 患者。
The researchers at the University of Pittsburgh published their study in Nature Medicine. They implanted electrodes over the lower spinal cord of the three adults with SMA.
匹兹堡大学的研究人员在《自然医学》上发表了他们的研究。 他们在三名 SMA 成年人的下脊髓植入了电极。
Using the device did not return normal movement but with a few hours of spinal stimulation a week, all soon experienced improvements in muscle strength and function, the researchers wrote. "You never get better" Fifty-seven-year-old Doug McCullough took part in the study.
研究人员写道，使用该设备并没有恢复正常运动，但每周进行几个小时的脊柱刺激，所有人很快都经历了肌肉力量和功能的改善。 “你永远不会变得更好” 五十七岁的道格·麦卡洛参与了这项研究。
"With a progressive disease you never get any better," he said, adding, “So having any improvement is just a really surreal and very exciting benefit."
“对于进行性疾病，你永远不会好转，”他补充道，“因此，任何改善都是一种非常超现实且非常令人兴奋的好处。”
All three subjects increased how far they could walk in six minutes by the study's end. Capogrosso said they could walk farther because they got less tired and “even a person this many years into the disease can improve."
在研究结束时，所有三名受试者都增加了他们在六分钟内步行的距离。 卡波格罗索说，他们可以走得更远，因为他们不那么累了，“即使是一个患病多年的人也可以得到改善。”
Researchers found the improvements did not disappear as soon as the stimulator was turned off.
研究人员发现，刺激器关闭后，这些改善并不会立即消失。
But they did decrease a few months after the study ended.
但研究结束几个月后，它们确实有所下降。
Neuroscientist Susan Harkema led similar studies of stimulation for spinal cord injuries while at the University of Louisville. She warned that the new study is small and did not last very long but said it was an important test of the device.
神经科学家苏珊·哈克玛（Susan Harkema）在路易斯维尔大学期间领导了类似的脊髓损伤刺激研究。 她警告说，这项新研究规模较小，持续时间也不会很长，但她表示，这是对该设备的一次重要测试。
She said it should be tested next with other muscle-degenerating diseases. Capogrosso said some small but longer studies are beginning. Lauran Neergaard reported this story for the Associated Press.
她说接下来应该用其他肌肉退化疾病来测试它。 卡波格罗索表示，一些规模较小但时间较长的研究正在开始。 劳兰·尼尔加德 (Lauran Neergaard) 为美联社报道了这个故事。
Jill Robbins adapted it for Learning English. _____________________________________________________ stimulate – v. to make (something) more active implant – n. something placed in a person's body through a medical operation function –n. the work that something is designed to do paralysis –n. the condition of not being able to move muscles, especially those in the arms and legs neuron - n. a cell that carries messages between the brain and other parts of the body and that is the basic unit of the nervous system stroke –n. a serious medical condition caused by a loss of oxygen or blood flow to the brain when a blood vessel is blocked or bursts surreal – adj. very strange or unusual; having the quality of a dream degenerate – v. to change to a worse state or condition; to become worse, weaker, or less useful benefit –n. a good result from doing something What do you think of this story?
吉尔罗宾斯将其改编为学习英语。 _____________________________________________________ 刺激 – v. 使（某事）更加活跃 植入物 – n.通过医疗手术放置在人体内的东西 函数-n.某物被设计用来完成的工作 瘫痪 –n.无法活动肌肉的状况，尤其是手臂和腿部的肌肉 神经元 - n.在大脑和身体其他部位之间传递信息的细胞，是神经系统的基本单位 中风-n.当血管阻塞或破裂时，由于氧气或流向大脑的血液流失而引起的严重疾病 超现实的 – adj.非常奇怪或不寻常；拥有梦想的品质 退化 - v. 变成更糟糕的状态或状况；变得更糟、更弱或没那么有用 好处 –n.做某事的好结果 你觉得这个故事怎么样？
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