- Do Digestive Enzyme Supplements Really Work? Experts Weigh in
- Doctors and Parents are Scrambling after Asthma Inhaler Switch Takes Popular Medication off the Market
- Kim Jong Un Has Broken with Decades of North Korean Policy – Does it Mean He’s Planning for War?
- Japan Just Lost its Crown as the World’s Third-Largest Economy
- The Future of Precision Cancer Therapy might Be to Try Everything
- Introducing Meat–rice: Grain with Added Muscles Beefs up Protein
Do Digestive Enzyme Supplements Really Work? Experts Weigh in
消化酵素補充劑真的有效嗎？專家權衡利弊
Health
Digestive enzymes are made in the pancreas, small intestine and stomach, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. The main enzymes produced by the pancreas are amylase, which breaks down complex carbohydrates; lipase, which digests fats; and proteases, which break down fats. The enzymes lactase and sucrase, made in the small intestine, break down dairy sugar and sugar, respectively. Pepsin, made in the stomach, is the main enzyme involved in the digestion of protein. Most manufactured digestive enzymes, on the other hand, are derived from hog pancreas, Dr. Deborah Cohen, an associate professor in the department of clinical and preventive nutrition sciences at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said via email. But there are some plant-based alternatives, such as bromelain from pineapple or papain from papaya, and enzymes extracted from various microbes or yeast, Cohen added. Despite the body’s ability to produce digestive enzymes, research has shown the market for these products is booming, estimated at nearly $700 million in 2021 and expected to hit $1.6 billion by 2031, said Dr. Akash Goel, a clinical assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City.
--from CNN
根據約翰霍普金斯大學醫學中心的說法，消化酵素是在胰臟、小腸和胃中產生的。胰臟產生的酵素主要是分解複雜的碳水化合物的澱粉酶、消化脂肪的脂肪酶和分解脂肪的蛋白酶。小腸中產生的乳糖酶和蔗糖酶分別分解乳糖和糖。胃蛋白酶是在胃中產生的，是參與蛋白質消化的主要酵素。 另一方面，新澤西州羅格斯大學臨床和預防營養科學系副教授 Deborah Cohen 博士透過電子郵件表示，大多數人造消化酶都來自豬胰腺。 但Cohen補充說，還有一些植物性替代品，例如鳳梨中的鳳梨蛋白酶或木瓜中的木瓜蛋白酶，以及從各種微生物或酵母中萃取出來的酵素。 紐約市威爾康乃爾醫學院醫學臨床助理教授 Akash Goel 博士表示，儘管人體有能力製造消化酶，但研究顯示這些產品的市場正在蓬勃發展，估計2021年已達到近7億美元，預計到2031年將達到16億美元。
-- 摘錄翻譯自 CNN
Doctors and Parents are Scrambling after Asthma Inhaler Switch Takes Popular Medication off the Market
氣喘吸入器的更換使流行藥物退出市場後，醫生和家長們都在忙著應對
Health
Flovent, one of the most commonly prescribed childhood asthma medications, is no longer being manufactured in the United States. GSK, the pharmaceutical company that made it, took it off the shelves January 1 and replaced it with an identical generic version, fluticasone. Flovent and its generic belong to a class of asthma medications known as controllers. They work by reducing inflammation in the airways of children with asthma that puts them at risk of flaring — having an asthma attack — when exposed to a trigger. For children with severe asthma, the medication is both necessary and lifesaving. Some physicians across the country are also reporting that they can’t get their patients’ asthma medications. The reason: Their insurance does not cover the generic that GSK introduced after Flovent was taken off the shelves and alternative medications may not work or can be hard to find. The authorized generic, fluticasone, would be the same product, but without the branding and history of price increases that would leave the medicine vulnerable to large rebates to Medicaid.
--from CNN
Flovent 是最常用的兒童氣喘藥物之一，但美國已不再生產。生產該藥的製藥公司葛蘭素史克 (GSK) 於1月1日將其下架，並用藥效相同的通用藥fluticasone取代。 Flovent 及其通用藥屬於稱為控制劑的氣喘藥物。它們的作用是減少氣喘兒童呼吸道發炎，這種發炎的症狀使他們在接觸觸發因素時面臨氣喘發作的風險。 對於患有嚴重氣喘的兒童來說，藥物治療既是必要的，也是挽救生命的。 全國各地的醫生也回報說，他們無法為患者提供氣喘藥物。原因是：他們的保險不給付 GSK 在 Flovent 下架後推出的通用藥，而且替代藥物可能沒有作用或難以取得。 授權的通用藥fluticasone是相同的產品，但沒有品牌和價格上漲的紀錄，這將使該藥物容易面臨醫療補助的大幅折扣。
--摘錄翻譯自CNN
Kim Jong Un Has Broken with Decades of North Korean Policy – Does it Mean He’s Planning for War?
金正恩打破了幾十年來的北韓政策—這是否意味著他正在計劃戰爭？
Culture
As war in Ukraine grinds toward its third year and fighting in Gaza inflames a broader crisis across the Middle East, global security observers are keeping a close watch on another part of the world – North Korea, where Kim Jong Un’s latest provocations are raising questions about his military intentions. In recent weeks, the leader has brushed aside decades of his country’s policy toward South Korea – now proclaiming that North Korea would no longer seek reconciliation and reunification with the South and calling for it to be classified as their “permanent enemy.” North Korea “does not want war, but will not avoid it,” Kim declared at a political gathering last month, according to state outlet KCNA. If war came, the country’s goal would be “occupying, suppressing and reclaiming the Republic of Korea and subjugating it into the territory of the republic,” he said, referring to South Korea by its official name. Together the developments are drawing international concern – and debate among seasoned observers – about the intentions of the leader at the heart of the country’s secretive regime.
-- from CNN
隨著烏克蘭戰爭進入第三個年頭，加薩的戰鬥激起了整個中東更廣泛的危機，全球安全觀察員正在密切關注世界的另一個地區—朝鮮，金正恩最近的挑釁行為引起了人們對於他軍事意圖的質疑。 最近幾週，這位領導人無視於該國數十年來的對韓政策—此時宣布北韓將不再尋求與南韓的和解與統一，並呼籲將其列為「永遠的敵人」。 根據北韓中央通訊社報導，金正恩在上個月的一次政治集會中宣稱，北韓「不想戰爭，但也不避戰」。 他說，如果戰爭爆發，該國的目標將是「佔領、鎮壓和收復大韓民國，並將其納入該國的領土」。他用的是南韓的官方名稱。 總之，這些事態的發展引起了國際社會的關注，並引發了經驗豐富的觀察人士的爭論，他們懷疑這位國家秘密政權核心領導人的意圖。
--摘錄翻譯自CNN
Japan Just Lost its Crown as the World’s Third-Largest Economy
日本剛失去世界第三大經濟體的桂冠
Culture
Japan’s economy has contracted unexpectedly because of weak domestic consumption, pushing the country into recession and causing it to lose its position as the world’s third largest economy to Germany. Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank at an annualized pace of 0.4% in the last three months of 2023, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday, after having contracted by an annualized 3.3% in the previous quarter. A recession is typically defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction. The decline was well below market forecasts. Economists polled by Reuters had expected GDP to grow by an annualized 1.4% quarter-on-quarter in the October to December months. The data confirms that Japan’s economy was the world’s fourth largest behind Germany in US dollar terms last year. Domestic demand was particularly weak. All major domestic demand categories, including consumer spending, were negative. Only external demand, which is captured by exports of goods and services, made a positive contribution. Japan imports 94% of its base energy requirements and 63% of its food, so the weak yen significantly contributes to a higher cost of living, Neil Newman, a Tokyo-based strategist at Japanmacro, told CNN.
--from CNN
由於國內消費疲軟，日本經濟出人意料地萎縮，使該國陷入衰退，並導致它將世界第三大經濟體的地位讓給了德國。 日本內閣府週四表示，2023年最後一季國內生產毛額(GDP)萎縮 0.4%，上一季萎縮 3.3%。連續兩季經濟萎縮通常就被定義為經濟衰退。 此經濟走勢超乎市場預期。接受路透社訪問的經濟學家在此之前預估10月至12月GDP較上季成長1.4%。 這些數據證實，以美元計算，日本去年是全球第四大經濟體，次於德國。 國內需求尤其疲軟。包括消費支出在內的所有主要內需類別均呈負成長。只有由商品和服務出口所帶來的外部需求做出了積極貢獻。 Japanmacro 駐東京的策略師 Neil Newman 告訴 CNN，日本 94% 的基本能源需求和 63% 的食品都是進口的，因此日圓疲軟會提高生活成本。
--摘錄翻譯自CNN
The Future of Precision Cancer Therapy might Be to Try Everything
精準癌症治療的未來可能是嘗試一切
Sciences
The blood cancer had returned, and Kevin Sander was running out of treatment options. A stem-cell transplant would offer the best chance for long-term survival, but to qualify for the procedure he would first need to reduce the extent of his tumour — a seemingly insurmountable goal, because successive treatments had all failed to keep the disease in check. As a last throw of the dice, he joined a landmark clinical trial. Led by haematologist Philipp Staber at the Medical University of Vienna, the study is exploring an innovative treatment strategy in which drugs are tested on the patient’s own cancer cells, cultured outside the body. In February 2022, researchers tried 130 compounds on cells grown from Sander’s cancer — essentially trying everything at their disposal to see what might work. One option looked promising. It was a type of kinase inhibitor that is approved to treat thyroid cancer, but it is seldom, if ever, used for the rare subtype of lymphoma that Sander had. Physicians prescribed him a treatment regimen that included the drug, and it worked. The cancer receded, enabling him to undergo the stem-cell transplant. He has been in remission ever since. “I’m a bit more free now,” says Sander, a 38-year-old procurement manager living in Podersdorf, Austria. ”I do not fear death any more,” he adds. “I try to enjoy my life.”
--from Nature
血癌復發，Kevin Sander 已經沒有治療的選擇了。幹細胞移植將為他的長期生存提供最佳機會，但要取得手術資格，他首先需要縮小腫瘤的範圍—這似乎是一個不可逾越的目標，因為連續的治療都未能將疾病控制住。 作為最後的孤注一擲，他參加了一項具有里程碑意義的臨床試驗。由維也納醫科大學的血液學家 Philipp Staber 領導，這項研究正在探索一種創新的治療策略，在患者體外培養的自身癌細胞上測試藥物。 2022年2月，研究人員在Sander癌細胞上嘗試了130種化合物—基本上是嘗試了所有可以使用的方法，看看哪種可能有效。 一個選擇看起來很有希望。這是一種激酶抑制劑，已被批准用於治療甲狀腺癌，但它很少被用於治療Sander所患的罕見亞型淋巴瘤。醫生給他開了一種包含這種藥物的治療方案，效果很好。癌症消退，使他能夠接受幹細胞移植。從那以後，他的病情一直在緩解。「我現在更自由了，」住在奧地利Podersdorf的38歲採購經理Sander說。「我不再害怕死亡，」他補充道。 「我試著享受我的生活。」
--摘錄翻譯自Nature
Introducing Meat–rice: Grain with Added Muscles Beefs up Protein
肉米：添加蛋白質的穀物可增強肌肉
Sciences
Rice has been used as a scaffold to grow beef muscle and fat cells, resulting in an edible, “nutty” rice–beef combo that can be prepared in the same way as normal rice. The study, published today in Matter, uses manufacturing methods similar to those for other cultured meat products, in which animal cells are grown on a scaffold in a laboratory, bathed in a growth medium. Using rice as the scaffold has the benefit of adding nutrition to the rice, with the beef–rice having a slightly higher fat and protein content than standard rice. The team of South Korean researchers behind the project hopes that the beef–rice will find use as a supplement for food-insecure communities or to feed troops, and will reduce the environmental impact of rearing cattle for beef. “Finding alternative protein sources or making conventional livestock production more efficient is critical,” says Jon Oatley, an animal biotechnologist at Washington State University in Pullman. “It’s probably one of the most important things facing the future of the human race.” That need has spurred a variety of cultured meat projects in recent years, ranging from fully fledged salmon fillets to products similar to minced beef. As of last year, only the United States and Singapore had approved the sale of lab-grown meat.
--from Nature
大米被用作培育牛肉肌肉和脂肪細胞的支架，從而產生了一種可食用的「米肉堅果」組合，可以像普通大米一樣的方式製備。 今天發表在《Matter》期刊上的研究，使用了類似於其他人工肉製品的製造方法，其中動物細胞在實驗室的支架上生長，並浸泡在生長培養基中。使用大米作為支架的好處是增加了大米的營養，肉米的脂肪和蛋白質含量略高於標準米。 該計畫背後的韓國研究團隊希望肉米能被做為糧食不安全社區的補充食品或為軍隊提供食物，並減少飼養牛肉對環境的影響。「尋找替代蛋白質來源或提高傳統畜牧生產效率是至關重要的，」華盛頓州立大學普爾曼分校的動物生物技術學家 Jon Oatley 說。「這可能是人類未來面臨的最重要的事情之一。」 近年來，這種需求刺激了各種人造肉，從成熟的鮭魚片到類似於碎牛肉的產品。截至去年，只有美國和新加坡批准了實驗室人造肉的銷售。
--摘錄翻譯自Nature