首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
"Is the environment making us fat?" That is the intriguing question posed by Bruce Blumberg of the University of California, Irv
"Is the environment making us fat?" That is the intriguing question posed by Bruce Blumberg of the University of California, Irv
admin
2017-03-15
92
问题
"Is the environment making us fat?" That is the intriguing question posed by Bruce Blumberg of the University of California, Irvine. His research into endocrine disrupters—chemical compounds that interfere with the body’s normal processing of hormones such as oestrogen—has led him to conclude that some of them may well encourage obesity.
The notion of such "obesogens", as Dr. Blumberg calls them, is controversial. Some insist that diet and exercise (or, rather, the lack thereof) are the simpler explanations for obesity, with perhaps a dash of genetic predisposition thrown in. However, a panel of experts convened at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting argued that those factors are insufficient to explain the dramatic increase in obesity seen across the world since 1980. Caloric intake and exercise levels have not altered enough to explain the difference, the scientists maintained, and human genes cannot have changed in such a short time.
Some environmental-health experts suspect that fetal exposure to nasties found in everyday plastics might be the underlying explanation of the recent obesity trend. John Peterson Meyers of Environmental Health Sciences, an advocacy group, observes that a number of synthetic chemicals widely found in the environment have been shown to alter the activity of genes, even when they are present at extremely low concentrations. This disruptive effect has not been fully appreciated, he argues, because safety trials on these substances have concentrated on the risks posed by high concentrations rather than low ones.
Research on animals seems to bolster this hypothesis. Retha Newbold of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a government agency in America, points to diethylstilbestrol (DES) as an example. This drug, the first orally absorbable synthetic oestrogen, was given to pregnant women in the 1950s to help them avoid miscarriage. The drug fell out of favour when it transpired that children exposed to it ended up with damaged reproductive organs. Ms. Newbold has now discovered that early DES exposure also leads to obesity in adult mice. As her experiments controlled for both diet and exercise, she thinks fetal exposure to the drug must play a role in the fattening that was evident later in life. How this happens is unclear, but she speculates that the compound may interfere with the body’s ability to deal with glucose in the blood.
Other synthetic hormones and endocrine disrupters common in the modern world seem to have a similar impact, and not just in the womb. A study of Japanese women has suggested a link between obesity and adult exposure to bisphenol-A, a component of plastic bottles. Frederick vom Saal of the University of Missouri has investigated the impact of early exposure to this compound. His work on laboratory animals showed that fetal exposure to bisphenol-A led to obesity and cancer. Dr. vom Saal says that new research should be done to clarify the role of "perinatal programming of obesity".
Plastics are not the only potential culprits. Dr. Blumberg has identified tributyl tin, which is found not only in PVC plastics but also in fungicides. Tributyl tin is part of a larger group of chemicals known as organo-tins, which combine tin and hydrocarbons; the link with obesity was discovered only relatively recently. Dr. Blumberg believes the compound interferes with the body’s normal fat-formation process, and puts its fat-storage mechanism on overdrive, plumping up the person.
Dr. Meyers claims this amounts to "a revolution unfolding in environmental-health sciences". Perhaps. It is possible that the long-marginalised scientists of the environmental-health field are right, and that these endocrine disrupters do play a part in explaining the ongoing trends in obesity. However, as the more cautious of them admit, that cannot be verified until the animal experiments are scaled up to proper, long-term human studies which can verify their hypothesis. Until then, it is probably best to go easy on the pizza—and work out at the gym.
The word "nasties" in the 3rd paragraph is closest in meaning to______.
选项
A、tainted substances
B、poisons
C、wombs
D、plastics
答案
A
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/R5SO777K
本试题收录于:
NAETI高级口译笔试题库外语翻译证书(NAETI)分类
0
NAETI高级口译笔试
外语翻译证书(NAETI)
相关试题推荐
Theparty’sreducedvoteinthegeneralelectionwas________oflackofsupportforitspolicies.
Foreveryone’ssake,whichmattersthatEuropeansgaugetheirwelcometoChinawisely.
Thefactorywaspublicly________bytheEnvironmentalProtectionAgencyforhavingneglectedenvironmentalprotocols.
ManyofChina’splansinEuropearejustwhatyouwouldexpectofariseneconomy.
女士们、先生们:我非常高兴能利用英中贸协年会的机会向英国工商界朋友们致以诚挚的问候。多年来,英中贸协一直关心和支持中英关系发展,是堪称两国友好交流的桥梁和互利合作的纽带。在此,我谨对英中贸协及诸位长期为促进中英经贸合作所做的不懈努力和杰出贡献表示
A、China.B、TheUnitedStates.C、Japan.D、SouthAfrica.C根据原文第一段最后一句话,可知赞成核电站建设的国家有中国、南非和(美国的)布什政府,由此可推断,正确的选项只能是日本,因为该国未包括在上述国家中
WhichofthefollowingistrueaboutTrinityRoot?
在一个通过电话和电脑的快速交流时代,面对面的见面方式显得浪费时间和精力,但是,他们仍然是做事情的重要组成部分。关键词汇:via:通过;face-to-face:面对面。如果能把"Inanageoffastcommunicationviatel
A、Aboutsixty.B、Aboutfifteen.C、Aboutsixteen.D、Aboutfive.A
Acasualemployeeisonewhoisengagedandpaidbyagreementbetweentheemployerandtheemployee.There’sathree-hourminimu
随机试题
验收曲率半径小于36米的弯管道时,使用了φ85mm×300mm的拉力棒试通。
DIC分为以下3期______、______、______。
A、四环素B、螺旋霉素C、甲硝唑D、青霉素E、交沙霉素;下列疾病治疗时,若用抗生素治疗应首选的药物急性坏死性龈炎
税务机关进行税务检查时,应当出示()。
纳税人采取邮寄方式办理纳税申报的,以()为实际申报日期。
湖南省的矿产资源丰富,是驰名中外的()。
编辑工作是以生产出版物的精神文化内容为目的的一种专业性精神生产劳动,包括策划、()和加工作品等环节。
Forabouthalfcentury,scientistshavebeenmaking【M1】______betterandbettercomputer.Nowacomputercandoa【M2】______lo
劳动争议又称劳动纠纷,是指劳动者与用人单位之间因执行劳动法律、法规或履行劳动合同、集体合同发生的争执。根据上述定义,下列行为属于劳动纠纷的是()。
某家庭采用ADSL宽带接入方式连接Intemet,ADSL调制解调器连接一个无线路由器,家中的电脑、手机、电视机、PAD等设备均可通过WIFI实现无线上网,该网络拓扑结构是:
最新回复
(
0
)