|
Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value. —— A. Einstein Reading and thinking TU YOUYOU AWARDED NOBEL PRIZE
屠呦呦获诺贝尔奖 6 October 2015 2015年10月6日
This year’s Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Tu Youyou (co-winner), whose research led to the discovery of artemisinin, a crucial new treatment for malaria. Artemisinin has saved hundreds of thousands of lives, and has led to improved health for millions of people. Over 200 million people around the world get malaria each year, and about 600, 000 die from it. Artemisinin has become a vital part of the treatment for malaria, and is thought to save 100, 000 lives a year in Africa alone.
本年度的诺贝尔生理学或医学奖已授予屠呦呦(得主之一)，她的研究使青蒿素这种至关重要的新型疟疾药物得以发现。青蒿素挽救了成千上万人的生命，改善了这是一种至关重要的治疗疟疾的新疗法。青蒿素挽救了数十万人的生命，并改善了很多人的健康状况。全世界每年有超过2亿人感染疟疾，其中约60万人该种疾病。青蒿素成了抗疟疾的关键成分，据估计每年仅在非洲就挽救了10万人的性命。
Tu Youyou, a committed and patient scientist, was born in Ningbo, China, on 30 December 1930, and graduated from Peking University Medical School in 1955. After she graduated, she worked at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing. In 1967, the Chinese government formed a team of scientists with the objective of discovering a new treatment for malaria, and Tu Youyou was among the first researchers chosen. In the beginning, Tu Youyou went to Hainan, where malaria was more common, to study malaria patients. In 1969, she became the head of the project in Beijing, and decided to review ancient Chinese medical texts to find traditional botanical treatments for the disease. Her team examined over 2, 000 old medical texts, and evaluated 280, 000 plants for their medical properties. From their research, they discovered and tested 380 distinct ancient Chinese medical treatments that showed promise in the fight against malaria.
屠呦呦，这位尽职尽责、锲而不舍的科学家1930年12月30日出生于中国宁波，1955年毕业于北京大学医学部(原北京医学院)。毕业后，她就职于北京的中国中医研究院。1967年，中国政府成立了一支科学家团队，旨在发现新型抗疟疾疗法，屠呦呦人选首批研究人员。起初，屠呦呦奔赴疟疾更为常见的海南研穷症疾患者。1969年，她在北京成了该项目的负责人，并决定从中医药古方中寻找应对疟疾的传统植物疗法。她的团队研读了2000多篇(个)中医药古籍(古方），评估了28万种植物的药学属性。通过研究，他们发现并测试了380种不同的有望战胜疟疾的古代中医疗法。
One medical text from the fourth century suggested using the extract from sweet wormwood to treat a fever. Tu’s team tested a collection of dried wormwood leaves but found no effect. They then tried boiling fresh wormwood, and using the liquid obtained from this to treat malaria, but this did not work either. Their project got stuck. However, Tu Youyou would not acknowledge defeat. She analysed the medical texts again, and by chance, she found one sentence suggesting a different way to treat the wormwood. She concluded that boiling the sweet wormwood apparently destroyed its medical properties. Using a lower temperature to draw out the extract, she found a substance that worked. After failing more than 190 times, the team finally succeeded in 1971. Tu Youyou and her team members even insisted on testing the medicine on themselves to make sure that it was safe. Later, the medicine was tested on malaria patients, most of whom recovered. This medicine，which was called artemisinin, soon became a standard treatment for malaria.
一本四世纪的医学文献建议采用青蒿提取物治疗发烧。屠呦呦的团队测试了一组干青蒿叶。但是发现无效。之后。他们尝试水前新鲜青蒿叶，用熬出的液体治疗疟疾，但是依旧无效。他们的项目陷人了僵局。然而，屠呦呦并不认输。她再次分析医学文献，碰巧发现其中有一句话建议采用一种不同的方法处理青蒿。她得出结论，认为水煎青蒿显然破坏了它的药学属性。通过使用更低的温度萃取提取物后，她发现了一种有效物质。经历了190多次的失败之后，团队终于在1971年获得了成功。屠呦呦与团队成员甚至坚持以身试药，以确保药物的安全性。随后，该药物试用于疟疾患者，其中大多数人康复了。这种被称为青蒿素的药物很快就成为治疗疟疾的标准疗法。
According to Tu Youyou, the discovery of artemisinin was a team effort. Upon hearing that she had been awarded the Nobel Prize, she said, “The honour is not just mine. There is a team behind me, and all the people of my country. This success proves the great value of traditional Chinese medicine. It is indeed an honour for China’s scientific research and Chinese medicine to be spread around the world.”
据屠呦呦所说，青蒿素的发现是团队共同努力的结果。获悉自己被授予诺贝尔奖时，她说:“这份荣誉不仅仅属于我。我的身后是一个团队以及全国人民。这项成功印证了传统中医药的巨大价值。中国的科学研究和中医药得以在全世界传播确实是一个荣誉。” |
|
