科學家發現致肥病毒

可能是偏見吧，最近真的對香港報社有點意見，尤其是健康科學的一種翻譯報導，往往覺得他們的消化技巧有點不足。就以今天報導「致肥病毒」，足以令我繼續帶著偏見吧！其實大致的內容與原文的差別不大，只是總匯的技巧，巧恰地跳過第二及第三重要的資訊。下文節錄的藍句字，存在價值可能不太大，但於部份人眼內，可值千金。

可能…讀者只會看看標題便算，這一句只是可有可無，但作為媒體報導如此的新聞，其實再全面地網羅，其實又有何難度呢？太過偏重主題而忽略其他，某程度上…已經是另一段新聞。

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Common Virus May Contribute To Obesity In Some People

Science Daily — Scientists are reporting new evidence that infection with a common virus may be a contributing factor to the obesity epidemic sweeping through the United States and other countries. In laboratory experiments they showed that infection with human adenovirus-36 (Ad-36), long recognized as a cause of respiratory and eye infections in humans, transforms adult stem cells obtained from fat tissue into fat cells. Stem cells not exposed to the virus, in contrast, were unchanged.

In addition, the study reported identification of a specific gene in the virus that appears to be involved in this obesity-promoting effect. The findings, which could lead to a vaccine or antiviral medication to help fight viral obesity in the future, were presented at the 234th national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

"We’re not saying that a virus is the only cause of obesity, but this study provides stronger evidence that some obesity cases may involve viral infections," says study presenter Magdalena Pasarica, M.D., Ph.D., of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

"Not all infected people will develop obesity," she notes. "We would ultimately like to identify the underlying factors that predispose some obese people to develop this virus and eventually find a way to treat it."

Pasarica was part of the original research group which demonstrated that the Ad-36 virus was capable of causing animals infected with the virus to accumulate fat. Led by Nikhil Dhurandhar, Ph.D., now an associate professor at Louisiana State University, the group also conducted a noted epidemiologic study — the first to associate a virus with human obesity — showing 30 percent of obese people were infected with the Ad-36 virus in comparison to 11 percent of lean individuals. But evidence that the virus could actually cause fat levels to increase in human cells was lacking until now, Pasarica says. (Cont'd)

1^o Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com, August 21, 2007 (Summarized)