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Science & Technology
科技版塊
Medical technology
醫學技術
Heat treatment
加熱處理
Soldering offers a new better way to treat wounds.
焊接提供了一種新的更好的處理傷口的方法。
If you cut yourself, your options are to reach for a plaster or, if the cut is nasty, to go to a doctor to have it stitched or glued.
如果你割傷了自己，你可以選擇用創可貼，或者如果傷口比較嚴重，就去看醫生縫合或粘合。
That seems a rather limited choice.
這似乎是一個相當有限的選擇。
Medical researchers have been trying to develop another way to join the edges of a wound, inspired by something routinely done to gas pipes and electronics: soldering.
醫學研究人員一直在嘗試開發另一種連接傷口邊緣的方法，靈感來自于對天然氣管道和電子產品的常規操作：焊接。
And an innovation developed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (eth) in Zurich, in co-operation with the Swiss materials-science institute Empa, suggests this might soon become a practical reality.
蘇黎世的瑞士聯邦理工學院(ETH)與瑞士材料科學研究所Empa合作開發的一項創新表明，這可能很快就會成為現實。
In soldering, an intermediate material is heated until it melts and bonds with the two surfaces that are to be joined.
在焊接過程中，中間材料被加熱，直到它熔化，并與要連接的兩個表面粘合。
The material of these edges has a higher melting point and remains solid (otherwise it would count as welding).
這些邊緣的材料要具有較高的熔點并保持固態(否則將被算作熔化)。
For tissue, the intermediate material is not a metal alloy, but a paste of biocompatible material, such as albumin, a protein that is an important constituent of blood.
對于組織來說，中間材料不是金屬合金，而是生物相容性材料的糊狀物，例如白蛋白，血液的重要組成部分之一。
When heated, the paste develops chemical bonds with living tissue on both sides.
當受熱時，糊狀物與兩側的活組織形成化學鍵。
As healing progresses, the two sides reconnect and the paste is removed by the body's natural cleaning procedures.
隨著愈合的進行，兩邊重新連接，糊狀物通過身體的自然清潔程序將糊狀物去除。
Closing wounds by soldering has several important advantages, says Oscar Cipolato, a phd candidate at eth, who presented preliminary results on April 5th at the Photonics Europe conference in Strasburg, France.
4月5日，在法國斯特拉斯堡舉行的歐洲光子會議上，ETH的博士生Oscar Cipolato展示了初步結果，并提到通過焊接來縫合傷口的幾個重要的優勢。
The bond it produces is strong and watertight, something that cannot be guaranteed with stitches.
它產生的粘合物堅固而防水，這是縫針無法保證的。
If a wound is interna -- after surgery, for instance -- a leak could cause an infection.
如果傷口是內部的--例如，手術后--滲漏可能會導致感染。
But soldering tissue has turned out to be difficult in practice, which means it is not commonly done.
但事實證明，焊接組織在實踐中很困難，這意味著它并不常見。
Heating the soldering paste is done by shining a laser onto it, from which the paste absorbs energy.
加熱焊接糊狀物的方法是用激光照射，糊狀物從中吸收能量。
But controlling the heating precisely is tricky.
但精確控制加熱溫度是一件棘手的事情。
The paste needs to reach about 80°c to work.
糊狀物需要達到約80°C才能工作。
If the temperature is too low, the soldering material will not fully melt and the bond will be weak.
如果溫度太低，焊接材料就不會完全熔化，粘結力就會變弱。
But if it is too high, it risks burning the surrounding tissue.
但如果太高，就有燒毀周圍組織的風險。
