VOA慢速英语: 治疗阿尔茨海默氏病人

中西结合治疗阿尔茨海默病人

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语的健康报道。

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.

在美国，十一月是阿尔茨海默症宣传月，阿尔茨海默症是一种可怕的疾病，不仅仅让遭受记忆衰退的人害怕，也让那些他们爱的人担惊受怕。

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.

加利福尼亚的研究者称一种治疗阿尔茨海默症新方法是尽量扭转一些记忆的丧失。这种新型的治疗方式结合西药和东方的哲学——这种哲学植根于亚洲的宗教。

“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.”

“我没办法记住与孩子和丈夫的谈话，我开始需要时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岁的女士，因患有轻微的阿尔茨海默症，记忆力开始慢慢退化。但她仍然是名律师，不希望自己的名字被公开。

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

这位女士是参与洛杉矶加利福尼亚大学记忆力衰退新型治疗方式的十名病人中的一个。

“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.”

“现在我在工作中越来越自信，而且不担心我会忘记一些事情。我不需要依赖列表上的内容，不用把所有的事都写下来。”

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.

戴尔·布莱德森博士是洛杉矶加利福尼亚大学的伊斯顿阿尔茨海默症研究中心的研究员。他说90%的病人遭受阿尔茨海默症或者记忆中改善过程中大脑的神经错乱。

Using Eastern philosophy seems to help

使用东方的哲学疗法似乎有效果。

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

他说新的治疗方式治疗病人的全部，而不是仅仅治疗病人的某一方面，这叫做全方位护理。

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

布莱德森博士说传统的唯一治疗方法——单一疗法对很多病人来说并不起什么作用。

“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.”

“他们仅仅使用药物、单一疗法来治疗阿尔茨海默症，结果不太理想，不断重复失败。或者他们在没有了解任何相关背景知识情况下就尝试‘试试多运动一下，改变一下饮食等等之类的建议。’没有任何证据显示做这些对治疗阿尔茨海默症有什么帮助。”

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.

布莱德森博士说大脑的记忆与淡忘是持续平衡的。他说很多事情，包括一个人的生活方式都会到导致大脑活动的不平衡。这种不平衡会导致大脑记忆的缺失。

“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.”

“我们确定了36种不同的导致不平衡的原因。所以，你长期地用错误的方式使其平衡，实际上，他们的所作所为不能保持其平衡，相反是打破平衡。长此以往，就会导致阿尔茨海默症。”

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.

这36种不用的导致因素包括个人饮食、运动和睡眠。布莱德森博士为每位病人都开创一种独立的治疗方法。通过拍大脑影像图，测试他们的血液，问一些日常生活中的问题来确定治疗方案。

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.

治疗包括生活方式的改变，甚至还包括药物或维他命。他形容这样的治疗方式是把西方医学对人体的了解与东方看病的方式结合起来。

Lifestyle changes can help

改变生活方式会有一定的帮助。

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.

至于改变生活方式，主要就是避免碳水化合物，比如：面包和意大利面。还要避免食用一些加工食品或者谷蛋白——小麦中的一种蛋白质。研究者称需要多吃鱼，摄入维他命B12, D3和鱼油。还要练习瑜伽，每天静坐20分钟，保证更充足的睡眠。

“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.”

“我们使用的方法是一种联合方法，来培养一种新型医生，他及了解各种不同医药的性能、知晓分子遗传学，同时还了解把这些治疗与实践相结合，开创一种新的治疗方式。”

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.

布莱德森博士说通常在三到六个月的时间里，九个病人的记忆力会有所提升。他说第十个病人的记忆力提升效果几乎不明显。

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.

洛杉矶加利福尼亚大学中心正准备扩大研究规模，会增加30个病人。研究者称他们跟踪研究一些病人大概有两年半的时间，他们的记忆力在继续提升。

I’m Anna Matteo.

我是安娜·马特奥。

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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