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Many of you may have gotten a small taste of what happens to people when exposed to radiation from HBO’s dramatic new show, Chernobyl.
你们有很多人或许都通过HBO的新剧《切尔诺贝利》对核辐射的滋味有了一定的印象。
It’s gruesome and painful to say the least, and often life-threatening.
核辐射，起码是很可怕也很痛苦的，往往还会危及生命。
And while watching, I couldn’t help but wonder:
但看这部剧的时候，我不禁好奇：
if Chernobyl had happened today, over 30 years later, how would we treat people suffering from radiation poisoning?
如果切尔诺贝利事故发生在30多年后的今天，我们会如何治疗遭受辐射中毒的那些人？
What people experience, when exposed to high doses of radiation is called Acute Radiation Syndrome,
受到高剂量辐射时出现的症状即为“急性辐射综合症”，
also known as radiation sickness or radiation poisoning.
也称“辐射病”，“辐射中毒”。
In other videos, we’ve covered in more detail what happens to your body when you get radiation sickness, but in brief, it goes like this.
之前我们出过几期视频，详细讲解患上辐射病后你的身体会出现哪些问题，简而言之差不多是这样。
The kind of radiation that we’re talking about is called ionizing radiation,
今天我们要讨论的这种辐射叫“电离辐射”，
meaning the particles doing the damage have enough energy that when they react with other atoms,
意思是造成破坏的粒子具有足够的能量，在与其他原子发生反应时，
they can remove electrons from that atom, causing it to become charged or ionized.
移出其内部的电子，使其带电，换句话说就是呈现电离状态。
As you can imagine, this is quite a problem when those atoms are in your body.
大家应该能想象到，这些原子如果是你身体里的原子，那麻烦可就大了。
Changing the fundamental nature of an atom in your biological tissue, like making it charged when it wasn’t before,
改变生物组织内部原子的基本性质，如使原本不带电的原子带上电荷，
can seriously mess up parts of your cells so they don’t function properly, including your DNA.
会严重损害细胞，包括你的DNA的部分组成，使它们无法正常工作。
These newly created ions can also interact with other molecules that naturally exist in your body
这些新产生的（带电）离子还能同其他自然存在于你体内的分子发生反应，
to create toxic substances, like hydrogen peroxide, which can also destroy cells.
产生过氧化氢等有毒物质，而这些有毒物质也是会破坏细胞的。
And cells that replicate faster than others in your body are much more susceptible to radiation
相比之下，你体内复制速度更快的细胞受辐射影响的几率也会更大，
because as they divide more, their DNA is more exposed.
因为它们分裂得越多，它们的DNA暴露的也就越多。
So tissues that regenerate more often, like your bone marrow and your gastrointestinal tract and your skin,
所以，频繁再生的组织，比如你的骨髓希伯胺，你的胃肠道，还有你的皮肤，
are where you see the most acute effects of radiation poisoning,
就是辐射中毒最为严重的地方，
with symptoms like nausea, vomiting, skin falling off, etc.
就会出现恶心、呕吐、皮肤脱落等症状。
So how do we treat it?
那么，问题来了，要怎么治？
Once you’ve been exposed to a high radiation dose, what can we do?
一旦受到了高剂量的辐射，我们能做什么？
We start pretty primitively, but those exposed to poisonous doses of radiation, even low ones,
先从最基本的开始，暴露在剂量达到了有害程度的辐射，即便是很低的剂量的人，
should immediately remove clothes and outerwear that have been exposed to and have absorbed the radiation,
应立即脱去接触并吸收了辐射的衣服和外衣，
to eliminate contact with that now radioactive material.
停止与现在呈放射性的物质的接触。
Those exposed also need to wash radioactive material off their bodies and out of any wounds,
这类人还应当洗掉皮肤或伤口上的放射性物质，
and this can be done using something called a chelating agent,
这时可以用所谓的“螯合剂”来清洗，
or a substance that binds to radioactive compounds so that when you rinse, they’re picked up off your skin and removed.
这是一种能够与放射性化合物相结合的物质，你清洗的时候，它能将放射性物质从你的皮肤上分离下来。
Another relatively simple remedy that’s been around for a long time is called Prussian Blue,
另一种已经存在了很长时间，还比较简单的药物叫“普鲁士蓝”，
an iron cyanide pigment compound that when ingested,
这是一种亚铁氰化物，服用以后，
binds to radioactive isotopes and keeps them from being absorbed by your body.
这种药物能与放射性同位素结合，阻止它们被你的身体吸收。
Then it just exits your body as waste.
之后，它会以废物的形式被排出体外。
Potassium Iodide is also a more classic treatment.
碘化钾也是一种比较经典的治疗办法。
It’s a stable salt, and again, binds to radioactive compounds, particularly radioactive iodine,
它是一种化学性质比较稳定的盐，也能和放射性化合物，尤其是放射性碘结合，
to keep it from damaging your thyroid—which is incredibly important
防止其损害你的甲状腺——这是非常重要的，
because your thyroid is an essential gland that regulates some of your most important bodily processes, like your metabolic system.
因为甲状腺是人体关键的腺体之一，调节着你最重要的一些身体机能，比如你的新陈代谢系统。
