VOA慢速英語: 治療阿爾茨海默氏病人

中西結合治療阿爾茨海默病人

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語的健康報道。

November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month in the United States. Alzheimer’s is a frightening disease. It is frightening not only for those who suffer from memory loss, but also for their loved ones.

在美國，十一月是阿爾茨海默癥宣傳月，阿爾茨海默癥是一種可怕的疾病，不僅僅讓遭受記憶衰退的人害怕，也讓那些他們愛的人擔驚受怕。

But researchers in California say a new way of treating Alzheimer’s disease is showing promise for reversing some of that memory loss. The new treatment combines western medicine with eastern philosophy –ideas rooted in Asian religions.

加利福尼亞的研究者稱一種治療阿爾茨海默癥新方法是盡量扭轉一些記憶的喪失。這種新型的治療方式結合西藥和東方的哲學——這種哲學植根于亞洲的宗教。

“I could not remember conversations that I had had with my kids and my husband. I started having to refer to my calendar all the time.”

“我沒辦法記住與孩子和丈夫的談話，我開始需要時刻看我的日程表想起事情。”

This 55-year-old woman has suffered from progressive memory loss connected with early Alzheimer’s. She is still working as a lawyer, but does not want her name publicized.

一位55歲的女士，因患有輕微的阿爾茨海默癥，記憶力開始慢慢退化。但她仍然是名律師，不希望自己的名字被公開。

The woman is one of 10 patients who received a new treatment for memory loss at the University of California, Los Angeles.

這位女士是參與洛杉磯加利福尼亞大學記憶力衰退新型治療方式的十名病人中的一個。

“I now have much more confidence in my work and not afraid that I will forget something. I don't have to rely on my lists. I don't have to write everything down.”

“現在我在工作中越來越自信，而且不擔心我會忘記一些事情。我不需要依賴列表上的內容，不用把所有的事都寫下來。”

Dr. Dale Bredesen is with the Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research at UCLA. He says nine of 10 patients suffering from either Alzheimer’s or other disorders of the brain noted improvements in their memory.

戴爾·布萊德森博士是洛杉磯加利福尼亞大學的伊斯頓阿爾茨海默癥研究中心的研究員。他說90%的病人遭受阿爾茨海默癥或者記憶中改善過程中大腦的神經錯亂。

Using Eastern philosophy seems to help

使用東方的哲學療法似乎有效果。

He says the new therapy treats the whole patient, not just parts of the patient. This is called holistic care.

他說新的治療方式治療病人的全部，而不是僅僅治療病人的某一方面，這叫做全方位護理。

Dr. Bredesen says the traditional use of only one treatment, what he calls “monotheraphy,” just did not work with many patients.

布萊德森博士說傳統(tǒng)的唯一治療方法——單一療法對很多病人來說并不起什么作用。

“They have either taken a single drug, monotherapy, to try with Alzheimer’s and that has been a failure repeatedly, or they have tried without any sort of background simply saying, 'Okay, try exercise, try changing your diet,' these sorts of things, and there has not been any way to understand how these things contribute to the disease.”

“他們僅僅使用藥物、單一療法來治療阿爾茨海默癥，結果不太理想，不斷重復失敗?；蛘咚麄冊跊]有了解任何相關背景知識情況下就嘗試‘試試多運動一下，改變一下飲食等等之類的建議。’沒有任何證據顯示做這些對治療阿爾茨海默癥有什么幫助。”

Dr. Bredesen says there is a constant balance of the brain remembering and forgetting. He says many things, including a person’s lifestyle, can create an imbalance in brain activity. And this imbalance can lead to memory loss.

布萊德森博士說大腦的記憶與淡忘是持續(xù)平衡的。他說很多事情，包括一個人的生活方式都會到導致大腦活動的不平衡。這種不平衡會導致大腦記憶的缺失。

“We identified 36 different parts of this network that contribute to the imbalance. So when you are chronically on the wrong side of that balance, you are in fact pulling apart the connections instead of making them. Then, in the long run, that can lead to Alzheimer’s disease.”

“我們確定了36種不同的導致不平衡的原因。所以，你長期地用錯誤的方式使其平衡，實際上，他們的所作所為不能保持其平衡，相反是打破平衡。長此以往，就會導致阿爾茨海默癥。”

The thirty-six different parts or elements include a person's diet, exercise and sleep. Dr. Bredesen creates an individualized treatment for each patient. He does this by taking images of their brain, testing their blood and asking many questions about their daily life.

這36種不用的導致因素包括個人飲食、運動和睡眠。布萊德森博士為每位病人都開創(chuàng)一種獨立的治療方法。通過拍大腦影像圖，測試他們的血液，問一些日常生活中的問題來確定治療方案。

Treatments include lifestyle changes and even medicines or vitamin supplements. He describes this new therapy as combining western understanding of the human body with the eastern method of looking at the whole patient.

治療包括生活方式的改變，甚至還包括藥物或維他命。他形容這樣的治療方式是把西方醫(yī)學對人體的了解與東方看病的方式結合起來。

Lifestyle changes can help

改變生活方式會有一定的幫助。

As for lifestyle changes, subjects were told to avoid carbohydrates, like bread and pasta. They also avoided processed foods and gluten, a protein found in wheat. Researchers told subjects to eat more fish and to take vitamin B12, D3 and fish oil. They also practiced yoga, sat quietly for 20 minutes two times each day and they slept more.

至于改變生活方式，主要就是避免碳水化合物，比如：面包和意大利面。還要避免食用一些加工食品或者谷蛋白——小麥中的一種蛋白質。研究者稱需要多吃魚，攝入維他命B12, D3和魚油。還要練習瑜伽，每天靜坐20分鐘，保證更充足的睡眠。

“What we’re using is a combination that brings these two together to create a new kind of physician that is doing a different kind of medicine who understands the basics of molecular genetics, but also understands the need to bring things together in a network fashion.”

“我們使用的方法是一種聯合方法，來培養(yǎng)一種新型醫(yī)生，他及了解各種不同醫(yī)藥的性能、知曉分子遺傳學，同時還了解把這些治療與實踐相結合，開創(chuàng)一種新的治療方式。”

Dr. Bredesen says for the nine patients whose memory improved, it usually happened within three to six months. He says the 10th patient was too far along in the disease for any improvement to be observed.

布萊德森博士說通常在三到六個月的時間里，九個病人的記憶力會有所提升。他說第十個病人的記憶力提升效果幾乎不明顯。

The UCLA center is now working with 30 additional patients as it moves to expand its research. The researchers say they followed some patients up to two and a half years and the memory improvements remained.

洛杉磯加利福尼亞大學中心正準備擴大研究規(guī)模，會增加30個病人。研究者稱他們跟蹤研究一些病人大概有兩年半的時間，他們的記憶力在繼續(xù)提升。

I’m Anna Matteo.

我是安娜·馬特奧。

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Words in this Story

reverse – v. to cause something, such as a process to stop or return to an earlier state

holistic – adj. relating to or concerned with complete systems rather than with individual parts

supplement – n. a product taken orally that contains one or more ingredients that are intended to supplement one's diet and are not considered food

carbohydrate – n. any one of various substances found in certain foods that provide your body with heat and energy and are made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen

gluten – n. a substance in wheat and flour that holds dough together

processed foods – compound noun foods that are packaged in boxes, cans or bags