Better childbirth

More evidence for a link between Caesarean sections and obesity

Bugs picked up at birth are good for you

Caesarean or Caesarean section: a medical operation in which an opening is cut in a woman's body in order to take out a baby 剖宫产，剖腹产(手术)：
e.g. an emergency Caesarean 紧急剖宫产手术
e.g. The baby was born by Caesarean section. 那婴儿是施行剖宫产手术出生的。
obesity: The condition of being obese; increased body weight caused by excessive accumulation of fat. 肥胖；由于积累过多脂肪而使体重增加
Bug: an infectious illness that is usually fairly mild 轻微的传染病；小病
pick up: to get or obtain sth 得；感染；得到：
e.g. I seem to have picked up a terrible cold from somewhere. 我似乎从什么地方染上了重感冒。

解析：

Better childbirth即“更好的分娩”，指出本文讨论的核心话题，标题则表明论点：剖腹产和肥胖是有关系的，副标题给出原因：自然分娩过程中染上的细菌是对婴儿有益的。看完标题我们基本上就知道整篇文章大致在讲什么了。浏览杂志的时候可以这样先读标题，如果对某篇文章感兴趣就继续往下读。bug还有“小虫子、窃听器”等含义，这里结合文章可以理解为“细菌”。

Oct 14th 2017

1. ROUGHLY one human pregnancy in ten presents complications (for example, breech presentation) that might justify the baby being delivered by Caesarean section. In some places that is not possible, and mother and infant have to take their chances with a normal delivery. But the opposite is also true. Elective Caesarean is becoming more and more common. In Brazil, Italy and Iran more than 40% of children are born this way.

presents: to show or describe sth / sb in a particular way (以某种方式)展现，显示，表现：
e.g. The company has decided it must present a more modern image. 公司已决定，必须展现出更加现代的形象。
complication: a new problem or illness that makes treatment of a previous one more complicated or difficult 并发症：
e.g. She developed complications after the surgery. 她手术后出现了并发症。
breech presentation: A breech birth happens when a baby is born bottom first instead of head first. 臀产位：生产时胎儿的臀部或双足先露出来的产位
justify: to show that sb / sth is right or reasonable 证明…正确(或正当、有理)：
e.g. How can they justify paying such huge salaries? 他们怎能证明付这么大笔薪金是正当的呢？
take your chances to take a risk or to use the opportunities that you have and hope that things will happen in the way that you want 碰运气：
e.g. He took his chances and jumped into the water. 他冒险跳进水里。

1. 大约十分之一的人类妊娠表现出并发症 （例如, 臀产位），这就可能证明剖腹产的婴儿是合理的。在一些地方, 这（即剖腹产）是不可能的, 母亲和婴儿必须冒险采取正常分娩。但相反的情况也存在。选择性剖腹产越来越普遍。在巴西、意大利和伊朗, 超过40% 的儿童是这样出生的。

解析：

跟大部分这类文章一样，文章一开始先提出反方观点：在某些情况下剖腹产是合理的。然后通过对比告诉读者，目前剖腹产在很多国家越来越普及。
the opposite is true可以用来表示让步后的转折，比如：I used to hold that learning by myself is most effective, but learning in 7Sir's group shows that the opposite is true.
还可以说the opposite is the case, the very opposite is true, Exactly the opposite is true（事实恰恰相反）, the contrary is true

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2. That a stressful and expensive procedure is being conducted more often than is strictly necessary has long been a concern. But, more recently, a second worry has emerged. This is that Caesarean section stops infants picking up, from their mother’s vaginas and perineums, bacteria that would normally establish themselves in a newborn’s gut, and by doing so improve its future health. Accumulating evidence suggests three things, in particular. These are that Caesarean babies are more prone than others to allergies (in which the immune system responds to inappropriate stimuli, such as nut proteins), to autoimmune diseases (in which the immune system attacks body cells, as happens in type-1 diabetes), and that they are also more likely to become fat. A study published in Science Advances this week, by Maria Dominguez-Bello at New York University School of Medicine, speaks to the latter hypothesis.

2. 并非绝对必要地经常实施压力大且昂贵的（剖腹产）程序一直令人担心。但是, 最近又出现了第二种担忧。即剖腹产让婴儿不能从他们的母亲的阴道和会阴染上细菌, 这些细菌通常会驻足在新生儿的肠道 , 并由此改善婴儿未来的健康。逐渐增长的证据尤其表明三件事。即, 剖腹产婴儿比其他婴儿更容易过敏 (免疫系统对不适当的刺激反应, 如坚果蛋白), 更容易患自身免疫性 疾病 (免疫系统攻击体细胞, 就像发生在 type-1糖尿病中一样), 而且他们也更有可能变胖。本周, 纽约大学医学院的玛丽亚·多明戈斯在Science Advances上发表的一项研究表明了最后的这项假说（的真实性）。

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3. A connection between obesity and the types of bacteria living in someone’s gut is well established, and thus seems the likely explanation for the link between Caesareans and obesity. But this could come about in one of two ways. Either the procedure itself keeps baby and bacteria apart or the large amounts of antibiotics which usually accompany the surgery are responsible. Since testing the distinction on people, though easy, would be unethical, Dr Dominguez-Bello turned instead to mice. She permitted some pregnant rodents to give birth naturally, while performing antibiotic-free Caesareans on others. She then raised the pups in identical conditions.

3. 肥胖症与存活于某人肠道中的细菌类型之间的关联已经被广为确认, 因此似乎解释了剖腹产和肥胖症之间的联系。但这可能会以两种方式发生。要么是（剖腹产）程序本身让婴儿和细菌分离，要么是因为手术通常使用的大量抗生素。由于在人身上测试区别会是不道德的（虽然容易）, 多明戈斯-贝洛博士转而向老鼠求助。她允许一些怀孕的老鼠自然分娩, 同时对其他老鼠实施无抗生素的剖腹产。然后, 她在相同的条件养育这些幼崽。

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4. Her sample was not large—a mere 13 pregnant females produced 69 offspring, of which 35 were born naturally and 34 were delivered by Caesarean. But her results were conclusive. At 15 weeks of age, pups that had been delivered naturally weighed an average of 39 grams. Their Caesarean-delivered kin averaged 45 grams. The probability of this difference resulting from chance is less than one in 1,000. Moreover, when Dr Dominguez-Bello examined the gut bacteria of her mice she found that those born naturally had a normal mixture while those born via Caesarean lacked Bacteroides, Ruminococcaceae and Clostridiales. These are all groups associated with lean bodies.

5. 她的样本并不大——仅有13只怀孕的雌鼠，生下了69只后代, 其中35只是自然生的, 34只是剖腹产的。但她的结果是确凿的。在长到15周时, 自然分娩的幼崽平均重39克。他们剖腹产的同胞平均重45克。由意外所导致的这种差异的几率小于千分之一。此外, 当多明戈斯博士检查她的小鼠的肠道细菌, 她发现那些顺产的幼崽有正常的混合物, 而那些通过剖腹产出生的小鼠则缺乏多形杆状菌、疣微菌科和梭菌目。这些都是与瘦且健康的身体相关的菌群。

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5. It seems, then, that in mice—and by extension presumably in women—it is the operation itself rather than the associated antibiotics that are promoting bacteria-mediated obesity. Fortunately, as Dr Dominguez-Bello points out, this should be an easy problem to fix. She is now experimenting with taking a swab of the mother’s vagina and wiping it on an infant’s face shortly after a birth by Caesarean, to try to pass on the relevant bugs. It might sound distasteful. But if it works it will give Caesarean babies a better start in life.

5. 那么，似乎在老鼠中——而且也许拓展到人类妇女里——正是手术本身, 而不是相关的抗生素, 助长了被细菌影响的肥胖。幸运的是, 正如多明戈斯-贝洛博士指出的, 这应该是一个容易解决的问题。她现在正在尝试在剖腹产婴儿出生后不久就用擦过母亲阴道的药签擦拭它的脸, 试图传递相关的细菌。这听起来可能令人反感，但是, 如果这种方法起作用, 它会给剖腹产婴儿的生命一个更好的开始。

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原文出处：经济学人

翻译：七呵夫

本译文仅供个人研习、欣赏语言之用，谢绝任何转载及用于任何商业用途。本译文不代表本人立场。本人同意简书平台在接获有关著作权人的通知后，删除文章。