Electric Shocks, Not Drugs, Help A Brain Disease

From VOA Learning English this is the Health Report.

Modern medicine mainly uses drugs to cure disease. But what if drugs were replaced with electricity? Pacemakers, small machines that doctors surgically place in the body, already use electric signals to help weak hearts beat right.

And now, scientists are using electricity on the brain to ease the effects of Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease causes uncontrollable shaking, or tremors.

Simply walking down the street is a great gift for David Dewsnap.

The usual drug treatment did not help his Parkinson's disease. So, doctors cut open his skull and placed wires, or electrodes, deep in his brain.

The Deep Brain Stimulation System is a two part medical device. One part is thin wires that doctors place in the part of the brain connected with movement. The other part is a battery pack. The battery produces the electric signals.

Before doctors wired his brain, Mr. Dewsnap could not even take a short walk.

DAVID DEWSNAP: "This procedure has been just amazing for me. Without seeing me before, you don't really understand what it was like. I couldn't use ... the left side of my body. I couldn't (could not) use it really."

Caleb Kemere is an electrical engineer and brain scientist at Rice University. He has been using brain stimulation in his experiments on rats.

He knows this treatment works. What he doesn't know is how.

CALEB KEMERE: "We are probably making it work not as it is supposed to work, but in a new way that allows for movements to happen faithfully or for a tremor to go away."

Mr. Kemere says the small electric shocks may trick the brain. The shocks copy the work of a brain chemical called dopamine. Dopamine helps control movement – or motor activity.

Mr. Kemere wants to develop a brain stimulation system to treat other disorders. He explains that the system would process signals coming from the brain in real-time and then use those signals to control its own electrical output.

CALEB KEMERE: "We propose to take this and then expand into something that has a much more complicated processor like the one that is found in your cell phone that can process incoming signals that we actually would be getting from the brain in real time, understand what's (what is) going on and then modulate the brain stimulation in response to that."

Mr. Kemere says first researchers need to settle some small problems such as what electrical signal to use.

CALEB KEMERE: "We don't know what signal to use and we don't know how to do that modulation."

The National Science Foundation gave Caleb Kemere money to work on such research. He believes there could be experimental devices that help people suffering from other mental disorders within five years.

And that's the Health Report. I'm Anna Matteo.

词汇解析

mainly

难度：3星常用词汇，属常用6000词

英汉解释

adv.主要地;大部分地

参考例句

用作副词 (adv.)

Oats mainly grow in cool climate.

燕麦主要生长在气候凉爽的地区。

electric

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

adj.电的;电动的;带电的;刺激的

n.电动产品

参考例句

用作形容词 (adj.)

The solar cell can convert the energy of sunlight into electric energy.

太阳能电池能把阳光的能量转化为电能。

The atmosphere here tonight is absolutely electric.

今晚这里的气氛是完全令人兴奋的。

用作名词 (n.)

The lawn mower is an electric.

割草机是电动的机器。

battery

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

n.电池;一系列;炮兵连;排炮;[律]殴打

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

My car battery has run down; it needs recharging.

我的汽车电池没电了，需要充电。

An enemy battery zeroed in on the crossroad.

敌人炮兵集中炮火于那个十字路口。

procedur

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

n.程序;手续;步骤

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

What's the procedure for opening a savings account?

开一个储蓄帐户有什么手续?

The next procedure is to insert the battery.

接下来的步骤是装进电池。

electrical

难度：3星常用词汇，属常用6000词

英汉解释

adj.电的;与电有关的

参考例句

用作形容词 (adj.)

Now electrical appliances have entered into ordinary families.

现在家用电器已经步入普通家庭。

The cooker isn't working because of an electrical fault.

这个炊具不能用了，因为出了电气方面的故障。

propose

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

v.打算;计划;向 ... 提议;求婚;提名

参考例句

用作动词 (v.)

I propose an early start tomorrow morning.

我打算明天早上早点出发。

settle

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

v.解决;定居;安顿;平静;结算

n.背长椅，座位;定居，安顿

参考例句

用作动词 (v.)

They moved the local people and settle them in another place.

他们把当地人迁移到别处定居。

The thunderstorm may settle the weather.

这场雷暴过后天气可能反而好些。

signal

难度：5星基本词汇，属常用1000词

英汉解释

n.信号;标志

v.(发信号)通知、表示

adj.显著的

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

A red lamp is often a danger signal.

红灯常常是危险的信号。

用作动词 (v.)

The police signalled the traffic to move forward slowly.

警察向来往车辆打信号，示意缓慢前行。

用作形容词 (adj.)

People speak of Mark Twain as a signal humourous writer.

人们称马克·吐温为杰出的幽默作家。