Sweet science
甜蜜的科学
New treatments are emerging for type-1 diabetes
一型糖尿病的新疗法
The trick is to outsmart the immune system
诀窍在于骗过免疫系统
- outsmart 智胜；比……更机灵；比……更精明
- immune 免疫的，免疫系统的
“WHERE ARE the islets of Langerhans?” is a trick question that pops up from time to time in quizzes. The answer is to be found not in atlases of geography, but rather in those of anatomy, for the so-called islets are in fact clusters of cells scattered through the pancreas. There they synthesise and release a range of hormones, including insulin, which regulates glucose levels and thus metabolism.
知识问答中时不时会出现这么一个刁钻问题：“朗格汉斯岛在哪里？”答案不在地理地图中，而在解剖学图册里，因为朗格汉斯岛实际上是散布在胰腺中的细胞团，也称为胰岛。胰岛合成并释放多种激素，包括调节葡萄糖水平继而调节新陈代谢的胰岛素。
- islet 很小的岛；小岛
- pop up 突然出现、冷不防冒出
- anatomy 解剖学；（动植物的）结构，解剖
- cluster （同类物丛生或聚集的）簇，团，束，串
- scatter 表示“随处放置（place haphazardly）”衣服、纸张、玩具等，以及指“零星出现或发生”（参见：小词详解 | scatter）
- pancreas 胰腺、胰
- hormone 激素；荷尔蒙
- insulin 胰岛素
- glucose 葡萄糖；右旋糖
- metabolism 新陈代谢
The islets’ insulin producers are called beta cells. (Cell types alpha, gamma, delta and epsilon perform other tasks.) They are the only bodily sources of that hormone. So, if their number declines, trouble looms. And decline it does, in the condition known as type-1 diabetes. This happens when, in a phenomenon called autoimmunity, the body’s own immune system attacks its complement of beta cells, wiping out as many as 80%.
胰岛中分泌胰岛素的细胞称为beta细胞。（alpha、gamma、delta和epsilon等其他类型的细胞执行别的任务。）它们是人体内唯一的胰岛素来源。因此，如果beta细胞数量减少，就会出现麻烦。而它确实会减少，患上一型糖尿病就会这样。这种糖尿病的发病是因为自身免疫现象：人体的免疫系统攻击自己的beta细胞，会消灭多达80%的这种细胞。
- loom 表示“赫然耸现、隐约显现”或“战争、危机等危险性事物阴森地逼近”，尤指令人惊恐地隐现，好像从雾中浮现出来一样（参见：小词详解 | loom）
