des
des — noun
1. a man-made form of the hormone estrogen that was given to pregnant women from th
a man-made form of the hormone estrogen that was given to pregnant women from the 1940s to the 1970s with the aim of preventing miscarriage, but was later found to cause cancer and other serious health problems in the mothers and their children.
The FDA banned DES for pregnant women in 1971 after studies linked it to cancer.
passive: be banned + for use in [context]
Doctors prescribed DES to millions of pregnant women between 1940 and 1970.
collocation: prescribe DES to [patients]
A person exposed to DES before birth may face higher risks of certain illnesses.
Researchers now know that DES does not actually prevent miscarriage, despite earlier beliefs.
The long-term health effects of DES on second generations are still being studied today.
- diethylstilbestrol
the full chemical name; used in formal medical writing and research papers, where DES would be considered informal shorthand
文法句型
DES as a mass noun (uncountable)
用法筆記
DES is nearly always written in capital letters as an abbreviation. The full chemical name, diethylstilbestrol, appears mainly in scientific and medical literature; in general health contexts the abbreviation is far more common.