Episode Details

Researchers recently reported new evidence from a study of a medical device placed inside the body, a spine-stimulating implant. 

研究人员最近报道了一项对放置在体内的医疗装置的研究的新证据，这是一种刺激脊柱的植入物。 

Three people with a muscle-destroying disease got a little stronger after using the implant. They were able to stand and walk more easily because of electrical stimulation to their spinal cord. 

使用植入物后，三个患有肌肉疾病的人会变得更强大。 由于对脊髓的电刺激，他们能够更容易站立和走路。 

Marco Capogrosso is an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburg, or Pitt, who led the research. "These people were definitely not expecting an improvement," he said. Capogrosso said, "They were getting better and better," over the study that lasted one month. 

Marco Capogrosso是匹兹堡大学或皮特大学的助理教授，他领导了这项研究。 他说：“这些人绝对不会期望有所改善。” Capogrosso说：“他们越来越好，”持续一个月的研究。

The implant was able to return some muscle function, at least temporarily. The implant was already being tested to treat paralysis in other patients. This new evidence suggests it might also aid diseases of the nervous system like spinal muscle atrophy, or SMA. 

植入物至少能够暂时恢复某些肌肉功能。 该植入物已经被测试以治疗其他患者的麻痹。 该新证据表明，它也可能有助于神经系统（如脊柱肌肉萎缩或SMA）的疾病。

SMA is a genetic disease that slowly destroys motor neurons, nerve cells in the spinal cord that control muscles. That leads muscles to waste away, especially in the legs, hips, and shoulders and sometimes those involved with breathing and swallowing. There is no cure. A gene therapy can save the lives of very young children with a severe form of the disease, and there are some medicines to slow the disease in older patients. 

SMA是一种遗传疾病，慢慢破坏了控制肌肉的脊髓中的运动神经元，神经细胞。 这会导致肌肉浪费，尤其是在腿部，臀部和肩膀上，有时甚至是呼吸和吞咽的肌肉。 无法治愈。 基因疗法可以挽救患有严重形式疾病的非常小儿童的生命，并且有一些药物可以减慢老年患者的疾病。 

Stimulating the spinal cord with low levels of electricity has long been used to treat chronic, or long-term, pain. Capogrosso's team also has tested it to help people paralyzed by strokes or spinal cord injury move their arms an