- Second Person to Receive Experimental Pig Heart Transplant Dies Nearly Six Weeks after Procedure
- What You Should Know about Stress Rashes
- King Charles Acknowledges Kenya’s Colonial-era Suffering But Stops Short of Apologizing
- Collins Dictionary Picks ‘AI’ as its Word of the Year Collins
- Did Dust from the Chicxulub Asteroid Impact Kill the Dinosaurs?
- Dengue is Spreading in Europe: How Worried Should We be?
Second Person to Receive Experimental Pig Heart Transplant Dies Nearly Six Weeks after Procedure
第二位接受實驗性豬心臟移植的人在手術後近六週死亡
Health
Lawrence Faucette, the second living person to receive a genetically modified pig heart in a transplant, has died six weeks after the experimental procedure. The University of Maryland Medical Center, where the experimental procedure had been performed, said the heart began to show signs of rejection in recent days. “Mr. Faucette’s last wish was for us to make the most of what we have learned from our experience, so others may be guaranteed a chance for a new heart when a human organ is unavailable. He then told the team of doctors and nurses who gathered around him that he loved us. We will miss him tremendously,” Dr. Bartley Griffith, clinical director of the Cardiac Xenotransplantation Program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said in a statement. Griffith had performed the experimental surgery. My only real hope left is to go with the pig heart, the xenotransplant,” Faucette told the hospital in an internal interview several days before the surgery. “We have no expectations other than hoping for more time together,” his wife, Ann Faucette, said at the time. “That could be as simple as sitting on the front porch and having coffee together.” In the weeks that immediately followed the transplant, his doctors reported that he was making significant progress, including participating in physical therapy and spending time with this family.
--from CNN
勞倫斯·福賽特 (Lawrence Faucette) 是第二位在世接受基因改造豬心臟移植手術的人，他在實驗程序六週後去世。 進行實驗手術的馬里蘭醫學中心大學(UMMC)表示，最近幾天患者心臟開始出現排斥反應的跡象。 “Faucette先生的最後願望是，讓我們充分利用從這個經驗中學到的東西，當人類器官來源不足時，其他人就可以保證有機會獲得新心臟。當下他告訴圍繞在他身邊的醫生和 護士團隊，他愛我們。 我們將會非常想念他”，馬里蘭大學醫學院心臟異種移植計畫臨床主任Dr. Bartley Griffith在一份聲明中說。 而Griffith進行了此次實驗性手術。 我唯一真正能做是進行豬心臟異種移植，Faucette在手術前幾天的一次內部採訪中告訴醫院。 「除了希望有更多的時間在一起之外，我們沒有任何期望，」他的妻子Ann Faucette當時說道。 “一起的時間可以很簡單，像坐在前廊上一起喝咖啡一樣。” 在移植後的幾週內，他的醫生報告說他正在取得重大進展，包括參與物理治療和與家人共度時光。
-- 摘錄翻譯自 CNN
What You Should Know about Stress Rashes
關於應激性皮疹您瞭解多少?
Health
Too much stress isn’t good for you — on top of feeling relentless burnout, it can lead to sleep problems, a poor immune system, higher blood pressure and lower cognitive function. And occasionally, chronic or acute stress can affect your skin, too. Stress is a natural response to perceived threats and can be healthy to a certain degree, as it creates needed hormones such as DHEA and oxytocin that motivate people to perform better in certain aspects of life, including social relationships. If people experience too much stress for too long, the stress hormone cortisol rises and can trigger the immune system to be more reactive and make skin more sensitive, according to Allina Health. Stress-induced rashes typically cause a flare-up of hives — persistent, raised itchy bumps — and are common. For those who experience other skin conditions, such as eczema, rosacea and psoriasis, stress can trigger extreme outbreaks. While you may not realize how stress is affecting your skin until it’s too late, there are preemptive ways to avoid recurring stress rashes, and ways to treat the hives if you already have them.
--from CNN
大多壓力對你而言，不一定是好的-當精力被無情摧毀後，可能導致失眠狀況，免疫力下降，高血壓和低認知功能。此外，慢性或是急性壓力也可以導致皮膚問題。 壓力是對感知到的威脅的自然反應，在一定程度上是健康的，因為它會產生所需的激素，如DHEA 和催產素(oxytocin)，激勵人們在生活的某些方面（包括社會關係）表現得更好。 Allina Health 表示，如果人們長時間承受太大的壓力，壓力荷爾蒙皮質醇就會升高，引發免疫系統更加活躍，使皮膚變得更加敏感。 壓力引起的皮疹通常會導致蕁麻疹發作——持續、凸起、發癢的腫塊——而且很常見。 對於患有濕疹、紅斑痤瘡和牛皮癬等其他皮膚病的人來說，壓力可能會引發嚴重的皮膚病爆發。 雖然您可能直到為時已晚才意識到壓力如何影響您的皮膚，但有一些預防方法可以避免復發性壓力性皮疹，以及治療蕁麻疹（如果您已經患有蕁麻疹）的方法。
--摘錄翻譯自CNN
King Charles Acknowledges Kenya’s Colonial-era Suffering But Stops Short of Apologizing
查爾斯國王承認肯亞殖民時代的苦難，但沒有道歉
Culture
When King Charles III touched down for his four-day state visit in Kenya, it seemed inevitable the new monarch would have to grapple with Britain’s legacy of colonialism. Mounting demands for formal apologies and reparations have overshadowed recent royal tours to former British colonies. Buckingham Palace would have been keen to avoid a repeat of Prince William and Catherine’s Caribbean trip last year, which was marred by anti-monarchy demonstrations and awkward meetings with local republican lawmakers. As Kenya approaches its 60th anniversary of independence from Britain in December, Charles candidly addressed the “most painful moments” of the long and intricate relationship during his visit to the capital Nairobi on Tuesday. In a strongly-worded speech at a state banquet held in his honor by Kenyan President William Ruto, the 74-year-old royal told guests that “the wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret.” He recognized the “abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence committed against Kenyans” in their struggle for statehood adding, “there can be no excuse.”
-- from CNN
當King Charles III抵達肯亞進行為期四天的國事訪問時，新君主似乎不可避免地要處理過去英國留下殖民主義下的惡。 對正式道歉和賠償的要求越來越高，這給最近皇室對前英國殖民地的訪問蒙上了陰影。 Buckingham Palace本來希望避免重蹈Prince William and Catherine’s去年的加勒比海之行的覆轍，當時的加勒比海之行，因反君主示威和與當地共和黨議員的尷尬會面而受到損害。 12月肯亞即將迎來脫離英國獨立60週年之際，Charles在周二訪問首都Nairobi期間，坦率地談到了這段漫長而復雜的關係中「最痛苦的時刻」。 在肯尼亞總統William Ruto為他舉行的國宴上，這位74歲的王室成員發表了措辭強硬的講話，他對客人們說，“過去的錯誤行為是令人最悲傷和最深切遺憾的原因。” 他承認肯亞人在爭取國家地位的鬥爭中遭受了“令人憎惡和不合理的暴力行為”，並補充說，“沒有任何藉口”。
--摘錄翻譯自CNN
Collins Dictionary Picks ‘AI’ as its Word of the Year Collins
字典將“AI”選為年度詞彙
Culture
Collins Dictionary has named “AI” as its word of the year, defining it as an “abbreviation for artificial intelligence: the modelling of human mental functions by computer programs.” “Considered to be the next great technological revolution, AI has seen rapid development and has been much talked about in 2023,” the UK-based dictionary publisher said in a statement announcing its decision. While AI’s capabilities in mimicking human speech fascinated people at first, they were also the source of some anxiety, according to Collins. “If computers were suddenly experts in that most human of domains, language, what next? Cue an explosion of debate, scrutiny, and prediction, and more than enough justification for Collins’ 2023 Word of the Year: AI,” the statement continues. The inaugural Global AI Summit on AI Safety got underway in the United Kingdom Wednesday. It is being hosted by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Bletchley Park, which served as headquarters for the Allied Forces codebreaking program during World War II, and will feature speakers including US Vice President Kamala Harris.
--from CNN
柯林斯字典將「AI」評為年度詞彙，將其定義為「人工智慧的縮寫：透過電腦程式對人類心智功能進行建模」。 這家總部位於英國的詞典出版商在宣布其決定的聲明中表示：“人工智慧被認為是下一次偉大的技術革命，它發展迅速，並在 2023 年受到廣泛關注。” 柯林斯表示，雖然人工智慧模仿人類語言的能力一開始讓人著迷，但它們也是一些焦慮的根源。 「如果電腦突然成為人類最熟悉的領域（語言）的專家，接下來會怎麼樣？ 這引發了激烈的辯論、審查和預測，並為柯林斯的 2023 年年度詞彙：人工智慧提供了足夠的理由。」聲明繼續說道。 首屆全球人工智慧安全高峰會週三在英國開幕。 該會議由英國首相Rishi Sunak 在Bletchley Park 主辦。該公園是二戰期間盟軍密碼破譯計劃的總部，演講嘉賓包括美國副總統Kamala Harris。
--摘錄翻譯自CNN
Did Dust from the Chicxulub Asteroid Impact Kill the Dinosaurs?
希克蘇魯伯小行星撞擊產生的塵埃殺死了恐龍嗎？
Sciences
Dust might have been responsible for the deadly dinosaur-killing global winter that came after an asteroid slammed into Earth 66 million years ago, finds a study published on 30 October in Nature Geoscience. A team of geoscientists led by Cem Berk Senel at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Brussels reinvestigated the aftermath of the impact that formed Mexico’s Chicxulub crater — a collision that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs and much of life on Earth. The researchers looked at a well-preserved sample of rock formed at the time of extinction event in what is now North Dakota. Such rocks contain traces that geoscientists use to mark the change from the Cretaceous period to the Palaeogene period in Earth’s history. They looked at the amounts of sulfur, soot and minerals called silicates in the sample, and found that the sample contained many more small, fine particles of silicate dust — ranging from about 0.8 to 8.0 micrometres in diameter — than expected. Senel’s team thinks that the asteroid impact threw up clouds of these tiny particles that blocked out the Sun and could have prevented plants from photosynthesizing for up to two years after the impact. As a consequence, vegetation would have died off, resulting in the starvation of many herbivorous species, including some dinosaurs. This could have helped to kick off a catastrophic mass-extinction event. The dust might have stayed in the atmosphere for up to 15 years, the team’s models suggest. During this time, global temperatures would have dropped by as much as 15 °C.
--from Nature
10 月 30 日發表在《自然地球科學》雜誌上的一項研究發現，6,600 萬年前小行星撞擊地球後，灰塵可能是導致恐龍死亡的全球冬季的原因。 布魯塞爾比利時皇家天文台的Cem Berk Senel 所領導的地球科學家團隊，重新調查了形成墨西哥Chicxulub隕石坑的撞擊的後果，這次撞擊消滅了非鳥類恐龍和地球上的大部分生命。 研究人員觀察在現在的北達科他州發生滅絕事件時，形成的保存完好的岩石樣本。 這些岩石中含有地球科學家用來標記地球歷史上從白堊紀(Cretaceous period)到古近紀(Palaeogene period)的變化的痕跡。 他們檢查了樣本中硫、煙灰和矽酸鹽礦物質的含量，發現樣本中含有比預期更多的細小矽酸鹽粉塵顆粒（直徑約 0.8 至 8.0 微米）。 塞內爾的團隊認為，小行星撞擊產生了這些微小顆粒雲，遮住了太陽，並可能在撞擊後兩年內阻止植物進行光合作用。 結果，植被會死亡，導致許多草食物種（包括一些恐龍）挨餓。 而這些可能加劇引發災難性的大規模滅絕事件。 團隊的模型表明，這些塵埃可能在大氣中停留長達 15 年。 在此期間，全球氣溫將下降多達 15°C。
--摘錄翻譯自Nature
Dengue is Spreading in Europe: How Worried Should We be?
登革熱正在歐洲蔓延：我們該多擔心？
Sciences
Science 2023.10.31 Dengue is Spreading in Europe: How Worried Should We be? 登革熱正在歐洲蔓延：我們該多擔心？ https://media.nature.com/lw767/magazine-assets/d41586-023-03407-6/d41586-023-03407-6_26239322.jpg?as=webp Dengue typically affects tropical regions — but the disease is currently surging in parts of southern Europe, spreading among people there and reaching areas where it had not been recorded previously. The mosquito-borne disease, which can cause fever, headaches and fatigue, and kills as many as 40,000 people each year, is not endemic to mainland Europe. Most incidences or small outbreaks originate from travellers who are infected abroad and bring the virus back. But this year, a combination of warm weather conditions and an increase in the number of imported cases has sparked a surge in local infections carried by tiger mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus), which inhabit southern Europe. “It’s a situation that warrants an awful lot of attention,” says Patricia Schlagenhauf, an epidemiologist at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Nature asked researchers how worrying the problem is and whether the threat could grow in future.
--from Nature
登革熱通常影響熱帶地區，但這種疾病目前在南歐部分地區激增，在那裡的人群中傳播，並到達了以前沒有記錄的地區。 這種由蚊子傳播的疾病會導致發燒、頭痛和疲勞，每年導致多達 4 萬人死亡，但這種疾病並非歐洲大陸的流行病。 大多數病例或小規模疫情都是由在國外受感染並將病毒帶回的旅行者造成的。 但今年，溫暖的天氣條件和輸入病例數量的增加，引發了棲息在歐洲南部的虎蚊（白紋伊蚊）攜帶的本地感染激增。 瑞士蘇黎世大學的流行病學家 Patricia Schlagenhauf 表示：“這種情況值得高度關注。” 《自然》雜誌詢問研究人員這個問題有多令人擔憂，以及威脅未來是否會加劇。
--摘錄翻譯自Nature