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And thyroid damage and thyroid cancer were some of the many conditions experienced by those exposed to Chernobyl’s radiation.
暴露在切尔诺贝利辐射下的那些人出现了许多病症，甲状腺损伤和甲状腺癌就是其中之一。
And the other treatments for radiation poisoning that we had back in Chernobyl’s day were palliative:
切尔诺贝利那个年代治疗辐射中毒的其他办法都是治标不治本：
treating the symptoms and supporting vital functions as your body either recovered or didn’t.
无论你的身体有没有恢复，都给你治疗表面症状，维持你身体的重要机能。
For example, impaired bone function due to radiation means less blood cells and decreased immunity,
比如，辐射会导致骨骼功能受损，继而导致血细胞减少，免疫力下降，
so treatment for that includes blood transfusions and antibiotics to fight off any potential infection.
针对这一问题的治疗就包括输血，打抗生素，将任何潜在的感染扼杀在萌芽之中。
But a significant update to this kind of treatment are white blood cell stimulating medications
不过，现在，这方面的治疗手段已经有了重大改进，我们已经研发出了升白细胞药物，
to make your bone marrow produce more of the cells it's supposed to.
能够让你的骨髓产生更多的白细胞。
And luckily, we’ve made several developments like this since the Chernobyl days to make radiation poisoning treatment more effective.
幸运的是，自切尔诺贝利事故以来，我们已经取得了一系列这样的进展，辐射中毒治疗的效果也已经日益显著。
For example, a team in China recently created a new actinide decorporation agent.
最近，中国的一个团队就发明了一种新的锕系核素促排剂。
That means taking a harmful radioactive compound—an actinide—that’s been deposited in your bones and organs and removing it.
这就意味着这种药物能够识别并清除沉积在你骨骼或器官里的有害放射性化合物，也即锕系核素。
Decorporation agents like this have actually been around since the 50’s,
虽然上世纪50年代就已经有这样的促排剂了，
and potassium iodide and Prussian blue are technically decorporation agents as well,
严格来说，碘化钾和普鲁士蓝就是促排剂，
but many teams around the world are working on making new ones.
但世界各地的许多团队都在努力研发新的促排剂。
We want them to be more effective, work faster, and be safer to use
因为我们想让它们变得药效更强，反应更快，还想让它们使用起来更安全，
and this most recent development has a record high removal rate of uranium isotopes in organs and bones, while having low toxicity itself.
最近研发出来的这种促排剂清除人体器官和骨骼中的铀同位素的清除率达到了前所未有的水平，其本身的毒性还很低。
This promising new technique is just in animal trials right now,
这项前景大好的新技术目前还处于动物实验阶段，
but is representative of a whole community that’s working on new ways to remove radiation from the human body.
但它代表了学界万众一心，致力于研究从人体中清除辐射的新方法的努力。
The entire family of decorporation agents, old and new, is joined by other new kinds of drugs,
促排剂家族，新老促排剂都包含在内，还得到了其他新型药物的加盟，
many repurposed from other medical applications—
很多都是再利用原本用于其他医疗用途——
like increasing blood flow and reducing inflammation for other conditions—
比如增加血液流动和减少其他情况下的炎症——的药物，
and their properties work to protect tissues from further damage,
它们的那些特性能够在促排剂带走有害化合物的时候
while decorporation agents can whisk the damaging compounds away.
保护组织免受进一步的损伤。
TP508, for example, was developed for the treatment of severe diabetes symptoms,
比如，TP508原本是用于治疗严重的糖尿病症状的，
but it's shown to be effective in preventing the destruction of intestinal cells in those with radiation poisoning,
但事实表明，它能够有效防止已经辐射中毒的细胞中的肠道细胞被破坏，
while also increasing the rate of cell repair.
同时还能提高细胞的修复率。
At the very least, this buys doctors more time as they treat those exposed to extreme radiation.
至少，它们能为医生治疗那些暴露在极端辐射下的病人争取更多的时间。
And even though we’ve been talking about short-term treatments for acute radiation poisoning,
虽然我们讨论的一直是急性辐射中毒的短期治疗方法，
modern medicine, especially advances in genetics and more personalized treatments,
现代医学，尤其是遗传学的进步以及更加个性化的治疗手段，
will hopefully also make a huge difference in the treatment—and perhaps—prevention
也有望在治疗——甚至是预防——辐射造成的长期影响，
of the more long-term effects of radiation exposure, like radiation-induced cancers.
比如辐射诱发的癌症方面做出重要贡献。
Research like this is incredibly important not only for victims of nuclear disasters,
这类研究可以说无比的重要，不仅对核灾难的受害者而言是如此，
but also for people every day dealing with side effects of radiation treatments for various illnesses.
对那些每天都要面对接受针对其他疾病的放射治疗带来的副作用的人群而言也是如此。
If Chernobyl were to happen today, we would have some new treatments to try,
如果切尔诺贝利事故发生在今天，我们的确有一些新的治疗方法可用，
but hopefully medicine will continue to make strides like this to make complete cure of radiation sickness a reality.
但要想让彻底治愈辐射病成为现实，医学界可能还要继续像这样大步流星地前进才行。
Do you want to know how radiation exposure affects your body, then take a look at this video here.
想知道辐射是如何影响你的身体的吗？那就点击这个视频吧。
And if you want to know more about a particular treatment, let us know down in the comments below.
如果你还想知道更多关于某种特殊治疗的信息，那就在下面的评论中告诉我们吧。
Make sure to subscribe to Seeker and thanks so much for watching.
记得订阅我们的频道噢，感谢大家的收看。
We'll see you next time.
我们下次节目再见啦。
