「研究」男女痛觉差异大，多数止痛药对女性不管用
近日，一项最新研究表明，男女之间的疼痛神经具有一定的差异。而直至三年前，多数止痛药物的研发仍只对雄性动物进行试验，部分止痛药物可能对女性不管用。因此，男性和女性可能需要分别研发不同的止疼药物。该研究发表在国际期刊Brain上。
WOMEN'S PAIN IS DIFFERENT FROM MEN'S—THE DRUGS COULD BE TOO
MEN AND WOMEN can't feel each other's pain. Literally. We have different biological pathways for chronic pain, which means pain-relieving drugs that work for one sex might fail in the other half of the population.
chronic
1) 表示“（疾病）慢性的，长期的”，英文解释为“a chronic disease or illness is one that continues for a long time and cannot be cured”，如：chronic arthritis表示“慢性关节炎”。
2) 表示“（问题）长期的”，英文解释为“a chronic problem is one that continues for a long time and cannot easily be solved”。举个🌰：
There is a chronic shortage of teachers.
长期存在师资短缺的问题。
3) 还有一种解释是用来形容人“积习难改的”，如“长期酗酒/沉迷赌博等的人”我们就可以用chronic alcoholic/gambler表示。
So why don't we have pain medicines designed just for men or women? The reason is simple: Because no one has looked for them. Drug development begins with studies on rats and mice, and until three years ago, almost all that research used only male animals.
As a result, women in particular may be left with unnecessary pain—but men might be too.
Now a study in the journal Brain reveals differences in the sensory nerves that enter the spinal cords of men and women with neuropathic pain, which is persistent shooting or burning pain.
sensory
表示“感官的; 感觉的”，英文解释为“Sensory means relating to the physical senses.”举个🌰：
Almost all sensory information from the trunk and limbs passes through the spinal cord.
几乎所有来自躯干及四肢的感官信息都经由脊髓传递。
例句刚好也提到了文中的spinal cord，就一起说说吧。spinal表示“脊柱的；脊椎的”，由spine演变而来，cord原意为“绳索；电线”，与spinal连用时表示“脊髓”。
稍微补充几个感官方面的形容词：
· olfactory 嗅觉的（connected with the sense of smell）；
· auditory 听觉的（relating to the ability to hear）；
· ocular 视觉的（relating to your eyes or your ability to see）。
The first such study in humans, it provides the most compelling evidence yet that we need different drugs for men and women.
compelling
1) 表示“令人信服的”，英文解释为“A compelling argument or reason is one that convinces you that something is true or that something should be done”举个🌰：
Factual and forensic evidence makes a suicide verdict the most compelling answer to the mystery of his death.
事实和法庭证据使自杀的判定成为对他死亡之谜最令人信服的解答。
2) 表示“引人入胜的”，英文解释为“If you describe something such as a film or book, or someone's appearance, as compelling, you mean you want to keep looking at it or reading it because you find it so interesting”，如：a frighteningly violent yet compelling film 一部充满恐怖暴力但却引人入胜的电影。
"There's a huge amount of suffering that's happening that we could solve," says Ted Price, professor of neuroscience at the University of Texas, Dallas, and an author of the Brain article. “As a field, it would be awesome to start having some success stories.”
Modern-day pain control is notoriously dismal. Our go-to medicines—opioids and anti-inflammatories—are just new versions of opium and willow bark, substances we've used for thousands of years.
notoriously
notorious，形容词性，表示“臭名昭著的，声名狼藉的；众所周知的”，英文解释为“famous or well-known for something bad”，如：a notorious criminal 恶名昭彰的罪犯。
dismal
表示“惨淡不良的”，英文解释为“Something that is dismal is bad in a sad or depressing way”，如：Israel's dismal record in the Olympics 以色列在奥运会上的惨淡纪录。
go-to
表示“极其可靠的（修饰人/物）；被广泛游览的（修饰地点）”，比如“团队里的智囊/扛把子”就可以说 the go-to guy in the team。
· opioids 类鸦片
· anti-inflammatories 抗炎药，消炎药
Although they are remarkably effective in relieving the sudden pain of a broken bone or pulled tooth, they don't work as well for people with persistent pain that lasts three months or longer.
Some 50 million people struggle with pain most days or every day, and chronic pain is the leading cause of long-term disability in the United States. Women are more likely than men to have a chronic pain condition, such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, or migraines.
拓展：
· arthritis 关节炎（a disease that causes the joints of your body to become swollen and very painful）
· fibromyalgia 纤维性肌痛（a rheumatoid disorder characterized by muscle pain and headaches）
· migraine 偏头痛（A migraine is an extremely painful headache that makes you feel very ill.）
Meanwhile, pain medications are killing us. About 17,000 people die each year from prescribed opioids as clinicians write almost 200 million opioid prescriptions, or more than one for every two American adults.
medication
表示“药物，药剂”，英文解释为“medicine or drugs given to people who are ill”，用法：be on medication (for sth)，举个🌰：
He's on medication for high blood pressure.
他正在服用治疗高血压的药。
prescribe
1) 表示“开（药、处方）”，英文解释为“If a doctor prescribes medicine or treatment for you, he or she tells you what medicine or treatment to have.”举个🌰：
The physician examines the patient then diagnoses the disease and prescribes medication.
内科医生检查了病人，然后对疾病作出诊断，并开出药方。
2) 表示“规定”，英文解释为“If a person or set of laws or rules prescribes an action or duty, they state that it must be carried out.”，如：Article II of the constitution, which prescribes the method of electing a president 规定总统选举办法的宪法第二条。
· clinicians 临床医生
· prescriptions 处方药；处方
The failure to include sex differences in the search for better pain relief stems in part from flawed but deep-seated beliefs.
deep-seated
表示“根深蒂固的”，英文解释为“A deep-seated problem, feeling, or belief is difficult to change because its causes have been there for a long time.”举个🌰：
The country is still suffering from deep-seated economic problems.
该国仍为根深蒂固的经济问题所困扰。
“[Medical researchers] made the assumption that men and women were absolutely identical in every respect, except their reproductive biology,” says Marianne Legato, a cardiologist who began sounding an alarm in the 1980s about differences in heart attack symptoms among women.
She went on to pioneer a new field of gender-specific medicine.
pioneer
表示“开创，开发；倡导”，英文解释为“to be the first person to do, invent or use something”举个🌰：
The new cancer treatment was pioneered in the early eighties by her.
这种新的癌症治疗方法是她在80年代初期开创的。
The physiology of pain is just one of many ways that men and women differ, she says. But she isn't surprised that no sex-specific medicines have emerged.
The medical community—including pharmaceutical companies—didn't appreciate the variation between men and women, including in their metabolisms, immune systems, and gene expression.
metabolism
metabolism /mɪˈtæbəˌlɪzəm/ 表示“新陈代谢”，英文解释为“Your metabolism is the way that chemical processes in your body cause food to be used in an efficient way, for example to make new cells and to give you energy.”举个🌰：
If you skip breakfast, your metabolism slows down.
你如果不吃早饭，新陈代谢速度会减慢。
"If there were differences in how their drugs worked between men and women, they didn't want to hear about it," she says.
来源：WIRED
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