翻译：月亮居士，喜欢吃药的男人，是的，有点得病癖！！！所以久病成医，喜欢上了药品……

People have known since ancient times that aspirin can reduce pain and high body temperature. But that is not all the drug can do. It has gained important new uses in recent years. Low amounts may help prevent health threats from stroke to heart attack. Recently, researchers reported that aspirin could help patients with one kind of cancer live longer.

自古以来，人们就知道阿司匹林有缓解病痛和退热的功效。但它能做的却不仅于此。在过去几年中，它又增加了几种重要的新用途。低剂量的服用能够保护心脏免受威胁。研究人员最近发表说，阿司匹林能够帮助患某一种癌症的病人活得更久。

At the same time, doctors warn that acid in aspirin can cause bleeding in the stomach and intestines.

But there is promising evidence of a way to reduce the risk of bleeding. A newly reported British study suggests that taking another drug with a small amount of aspirin may help solve the problem. If that proves true, it would help thousands of people who are seeking to prevent life-threatening conditions.

同时，医生们警告阿司匹林的酸性物质能够引起胃部和肠道的出血。但是有证据显示有希望能够减少出血的危险。英国一项新的研究提议，同时服用另一种药物和阿司匹林能够解决这个问题。如果这个被证实是真的话，这能够帮助数以千计正在冒险承受生命危险的人们。

So, how did aspirin become so important? The story begins two thousand years ago with a willow tree. The Greek doctor Hippocrates advised his patients to chew on the bark and leaves of the willow.

The tree contains a chemical called salicin. In the eighteen hundreds, researchers discovered how to make salicylic acid from the chemical. In eighteen ninety-seven, a chemist named Felix Hoffmann at Friedrich Bayer and Company in Germany created acetyl salicylic acid.

Later, it became the active substance in a medicine that Bayer called aspirin. The “a” came from acetyl. The “spir” came from the spirea plant, which also produces salicin. And the “in”? That is a common way to end medicine names.

那么，为什么阿司匹林变得如此重要?这个故事要从两千年前的一棵柳树说起。希腊医生HIPPOCRATES建议他的病人去咀嚼柳树的树叶和树皮。这种树包含着一种名为水杨苷的化学物质。在1800年，研究人员发现了怎么从这种化学物质中提取水杨酸。在1897年，德国贝尔公司的一名化学家FELIX HOFFMANN制造了乙酸基水杨苷。后来，它成了一种被命名为阿司匹林（aspirin）药物的主要成分。“a”取自“acetyl”（乙酸基），“spir”取自“spirea”（绣线菊类的植物，另一种也能制造酸的植物），那么“in”呢？药物的名字一般都以“in”结尾。

In nineteen eighty-two, a British scientist shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine in part for discovering how aspirin works. Sir John Vane found that aspirin blocks the body from making natural substances called prostaglandins.

在1982年，一名英国科学家因发现阿司匹林工作原理而分享了诺贝尔奖。JOHN VANE爵士发现阿司匹林会阻碍身体产生一种名为前列腺素的自然物质。

Prostaglandins have several effects on the body. Some cause pain and the expansion, or swelling, of damaged tissue. Others protect the lining of the stomach and small intestine.

前列腺素对身体有很多影响。一部分能引起疼痛和和受损组织的扩张。另一部分就是保护胃壁和肠道壁。

Prostaglandins also make the heart, kidneys and blood vessels work well. But there is a problem. Aspirin works against all prostaglandins, good and bad.

前列腺素能使心脏，肾，血管工作正常。但是却有一个问题。阿司匹林会无选择地消灭所有类型的前列腺素，不管好坏。

Scientists learned how aspirin interferes with an enzyme. One form of this enzyme makes the prostaglandin that causes pain and swelling. Another form of the enzyme creates a protective effect. So aspirin can reduce pain and swelling in damaged tissues. But it can also harm the inside of the stomach and small intestine. Sometimes it can cause bleeding.

科学家知道阿司匹林怎么干扰一种酶。这种酶的一种形态制造了这种能够产生疼痛和扩张的前列腺素。这种酶的另一种形态产生保护作用。所以阿司匹林能够在创伤组织上减少疼痛和扩张。但是它同时能危害内部的肠胃。有时候甚至能造成出血。

Aspirin competes with many other medicines for pain and fever these days. The competition includes acetaminophen, the active substance in products like Tylenol. Like the medicine ibuprofen, aspirin is an NSAID — a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.

现在，阿司匹林一直与其他治疗病痛和高烧的药物进行竞争。竞争对手中包括醋氨酚（退热净，一种代替阿司匹林的解热镇痛药），主要成分为 羟苯基乙酰胺。跟布洛芬（抗炎，镇痛药）一样，阿司匹林也是一种非甾体抗炎药。

Many people take aspirin to reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke from blood clots. Clots can block the flow of blood to the heart or brain and cause a heart attack or stroke. Scientists say aspirin prevents blood cells called platelets from sticking together to form clots.

很多人服用阿司匹林，以期降低患心脏病的风险以及治疗血液凝块。血液凝块会阻塞血液往心脏的流动并引起心脏病，科学家说阿司匹林阿司匹林能够阻止血小板黏在一起形成阻塞。

A California doctor named Lawrence Craven first noted this effect about sixty years ago. He observed unusual bleeding in children who chewed on an aspirin product to ease the pain after a common operation.Doctor Craven believed that the bleeding took place because aspirin prevented blood from thickening.  He thought that this effect might help prevent heart attacks caused by blood clots.

CRAVEN医生相信出血的发生是因为阿司匹林能够防止血液变粘稠。他想这个作用可以防止因心肌梗塞而引起的心脏病。

He examined the medical records of eight thousand aspirin users and found no heart attacks in this group. He invited other scientists to test his ideas. But it was years before large studies took place.

他检查了有关八千阿司匹林用户的医药记录，发现在这组中没有一个心脏病患者。他邀请其他科学家去测试他的想法。但开展大规模研究，那是好几年后的事情了。

Charles Hennekens of Harvard Medical School led one of the studies. In nineteen eighty-three, he began to study more than twenty-two thousand healthy male doctors over forty years of age. Half took an aspirin every other day. The others took what they thought was aspirin. It was only a placebo, a harmless substance.

哈佛医学院的CHARLES HENNEKENS继续其中的一个研究。在1983年，他开始了一个有两万两千名年龄大于四十岁的健康男性医生参与的研究。一半人每隔一天服用一次阿司匹林。其他人服用假的阿司匹林（服用的人不知道），其实只是一种无害的安慰剂。

Five years later, Doctor Hennekens reported that those who took aspirin reduced their risk of a heart attack. But they had a higher risk of bleeding in the brain than the other doctors.

五年以后，HENNEKENS博士报道服用阿司匹林的人降低了患心脏病的风险。但是他们却比其他人有更高的脑溢血的风险。

More recently, a group of experts examined studies of aspirin at the request of federal health officials in the United States. The experts said people with an increased risk of a heart attack should take a low-strength aspirin every day.

最近，一组专家在应美国公共健康部门的请求后，调查了关于阿司匹林的研究数据。专家说心脏病风险不断增加的人群应该每天服用低剂量的阿司匹林。

Aspirin may help someone who is having a heart attack caused by a blockage in a blood vessel. Aspirin thins the blood, so it may be able to flow past the blockage. But heart experts say people should seek emergency help immediately. They say an aspirin is no substitute for treatment.

阿司匹林可能会帮助一些因血管阻塞而引起的心脏病。阿司匹林会使血液浓度降低，所以血液会自行流过阻碍。但是专家又说人们需要寻求正规的紧急援助，一片阿司匹林代替不了治疗。

Studies also suggest that aspirin can help with cancer prevention and survival. Several studies have found that men who take NSAIDS have a decreased risk of prostate cancer. The prostate is part of the male reproductive system.

研究显示阿司匹林能起到预防癌症和延长生命的作用，一些学者发现使用NSAIDS的人患前列腺癌的几率明显降低。前列腺是男性生殖系统的一部分。

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota wanted to see how NSAIDs might affect prostates that are enlarged but not cancerous.  They followed the health of two thousand five hundred men for twelve years. One-third were taking NSAIDs daily when they entered the study.

位于明尼苏达州的梅奥医疗中心的研究人员希望研究出非甾体抗炎药如何影响前列腺肿胀问题并且不患癌。他们跟踪研究2500人的健康情况长达十二年。三分之一的人在他们进入研究时就每天服用非甾体抗炎药。

The researchers said these drugs may delay or stop development of an enlarged prostate. They said the risk of an enlarged prostate was fifty percent lower in the NSAID users than the other men. The risk of bladder problems was thirty-five percent lower.

研究人员说这些药物能够推迟或阻止前列腺肿胀的发展。在服用非甾体抗炎药的人群中得前列腺癌的风险比其他人低50%，得膀胱癌的要低35%。

Another study found that aspirin blocks the formation of blood vessels that feed cancer growth. Researchers at Newcastle University in England explored a biological process that makes blood vessels grow.

另一项研究发现阿司匹林会阻碍使患癌症几率增大的血管的形成。英国纽卡斯尔大学的研究人员正在探索使血管生长的生物过程。

The researchers studied how aspirin affects the cells found on the inner surface of blood vessels. They found that a small amount of aspirin suppressed the way the cells form tubes.

Studies have found that aspirin may help prevent cancers of the stomach, intestines and colon. Research reported earlier this year told about people who had colorectal cancer. They found that aspirin users had an almost thirty percent lower risk of dying from their cancer. That was during an average of eleven years after the cancer was discovered.

研究人员研究阿司匹林也许可以帮助预防胃，肠，直肠生癌。研究报告在今年早些时候告诉了参加试验的人中谁患了直肠癌。他们发现服用阿司匹林的人死于癌症的风险比不服用的人低30%。这是在癌症被发现后十一年以来的平均数据。

Aspirin does not help everything, however. It can cause problems. For example, it can interfere with other medicines, although this is true of many drugs.

然而阿司匹林并不是万能的，它还会引起一些问题。它会阻碍其他药物的药性，在大多数的情况下是这样的。

Also, some people should not take aspirin. People who take other blood thinners or have bleeding disorders are among this group. Pregnant women are usually told to avoid aspirin.

并且，一些人是不可以服用阿司匹林的。患有贫血和出血失调症的人就包括其中。怀孕的妇女就常常被提醒禁止服用阿司匹林。

Research has shown a link between aspirin use and the disease Reye’s Syndrome. Children’s doctors say patients up to age nineteen should not take anything containing Salicylatic products when sick with high temperatures.

研究成果显示在服用阿司匹林与瑞氏综合症之间的联系。儿童医生说小于19岁发高烧的病人不应该服用包含水杨酸的药品。

The National Reye’s Syndrome Foundation warns about aspirin use, especially during the spread of influenza. In the past, children have died or suffered permanent harm from Reye’s Syndrome during widespread influenza attacks.

国家瑞斯综合症基金会要慎用阿司匹林，特别是在流行性感冒肆虐。在过去流感流行时，一些孩子因瑞斯综合症死亡或者受到永久性伤害。

People taking low-dose aspirin who fear stomach and intestinal ulcers and bleeding had some good news a few months ago. The British medical journal “Lancet” published a study about the drug famotidine, also known as Pepcid. The study suggested that famotidine taken with low-dose aspirin may prevent ulcers. This break down of tissue can cause bleeding.

一些服用低剂量阿司匹林却又害怕肠胃溃疡的人在几个月前得到了一些好消息。英国医药杂志《柳叶刀》发表了关于法莫替丁药物的研究，法莫替丁被又命名为甲磺噻脒[抗消化性溃疡药]。

这份研究建议共同服用法莫替丁与低剂量的阿司匹林可以预防溃疡，而组织的破损会引起出血。

The patients took seventy-five to three hundred twenty-five milligrams of aspirin a day. After twelve weeks, three percent of those taking famotidine with the aspirin had stomach ulcers. But fifteen percent of those taking the placebo and aspirin had them. Upper intestinal ulcers were found in only one-half of one percent of the famotidine group. In the placebo group, seventeen percent had these ulcers.

这些病人每天服用75至325毫克的阿司匹林。12周以后，3%的人服用法莫替丁和阿司匹林的人得了胃溃疡，15%服用安慰剂和阿司匹林的人得胃溃疡。

在服用法莫替丁和阿司匹林的这组中只有0.5%的人得了肠道上部溃疡。在安慰剂和阿司匹林这组，17%的人得了这种溃疡。

Still, medical experts say people should not take aspirin for disease prevention without first talking to a doctor.

There are risks, and researchers have reported that some people get little or no protection from aspirin. But research continues to give new life to one of the oldest and most widely used drugs in the world.

药学专家说，在未咨询医生前，还是不要服用阿司匹林来预防生病。这会有风险，而且研究人员已经报道过一些人服用阿司匹林并没有或只得了一点保护。但是继续研究阿司匹林会给这种世界上最古老也是用途最广的药带来新生。

本文地址（转载请注明出处）： 复制
收藏、分享这篇文章：        更多...