第2810期:How exactly do inhalers work?(4)

The real beauty of inhalers is how they get these medications into your lungs. They work by suspending, or aerosolizing, medications into the air to be easily inhaled. Each type of inhaler does this in a slightly different way.吸入器真正的妙处在于，它能将药物高效地送入肺部。它的原理是将药物悬浮在空气中，或将其雾化成可吸入的微粒。而不同类型的吸入器实现这一过程的方式略有不同。Dry powder inhalers require a person to breathe in to aerosolize a powder medication.干粉吸入器需要使用者主动吸气，使粉末状药物被雾化并吸入肺部。Nebulizers, on the other hand, use either ultrasonic vibrations or compressed air to turn liquid medication into a mist.雾化器则利用超声波震动或压缩空气，将液态药物转化成细微的雾状颗粒。The pressurized metered-dose inhaler works a lot like hairspray. This medicine is dissolved in a fluid called a propellant, and it's under high pressure. This causes the fluid and medication mixture to shoot out in a fast-moving mist.加压定量吸入器（MDI）的工作方式与喷发胶非常相似。药物被溶解在一种称为推进剂的液体中，并处于高压状态。当按下装置时，药液与药物的混合物会以高速喷出，形成可吸入的雾气。But this mist can sometimes be hard to coordinate with breathing. So there’s one more device, called a soft mist inhaler, that administers doses at lower speeds, without the use of a propellant.不过，这种喷雾有时需要与呼吸动作配合，操作并不总是容易。因此，又出现了一种称为“软雾吸入器”的装置，它不使用推进剂，而是以较低速度释放药物，使吸入更加平稳自然。Asthma and COPD each affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide each year. But thanks to inhalers, what once kept Proust confined to a cork-lined room, can now be treated in a few short puffs.哮喘和COPD每年都影响着全球数以亿计的人口。但多亏了吸入器，这种曾让普鲁斯特困于软木包裹房间、饱受折磨的疾病，如今只需几次轻轻吸入，就能得到有效控制。