2018年CRI Scientists seek to unravel secrets of 'superagers'

 

For most people, by the time they reach their 80th or 90th birthday, they find that their memory isn't as sharp as it was when they were a few decades younger.

But this isn't the case for everyone. As CRI's Li Yi explains, scientists are peeking¹ into the brains of so-called "superagers" to uncover what makes them resistant² to the effects of ageing.

Bill Gurolnick will celebrate his 87th birthday next month.

Two years ago he joined a study looking at people whose memory function is significantly better than the average for other people their age. These are the so- called "superagers".

"Well, I don't feel my age. What do I feel like? If I was to give a number, I probably feel like I'm about my early 70s," said Bill.

Bill attributes his sharp memory to his active lifestyle and regular social engagements.

Having a good memory is not something that runs in Bill's family. His father developed Alzheimer disease when he was in his 50s. A person's genetic³ inheritance is believed to contribute about 70% of the risk for developing Alzheimer's.

Neuroscientist Emily Rogalski leads the Super Aging study at Chicago's Northwestern University.

She believes her work can help fight or prevent Alzheimer's disease, a condition for which conventional medicine currently offers no effective treatment or cure.

"And we think if we can understand the factors contributing to superaging, it may offer new hypotheses and new ways to explore the challenges in Alzheimer's disease," said Emily.

Emily's team found that superagers tend to be extroverts⁴ with strong social networks, and that their brains shrink much more slowly than those of their peers.

Research shows that the brains of superagers contain a lot more of a special kind of nerve cell that is important for attention, and that parts of their brain are packed with neurons thought to improve social processing and awareness⁵.

Scientists are currently exploring how the brains of superagers resist and repair damage.

Heather Snyder from the Alzheimer's Association says studying the brains of superagers can help unpick the cause and provide potential treatments for Alzheimer's and other types of dementia.

"By studying superagers, we can get information about what might be contributing factors of how our brains are structured, our social interactions, how our heart health feeds into our brain health and use that information for thinking about strategies for prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's and other dementias."

Emily says that the existence of superagers might help change negative attitudes towards ageing.

"Perhaps, if we expected a bit better from ourselves, then we would understand that not all aging is 'doom⁶ and gloom' and talking about things changing for the worse."

1 peeking   

v.很快地看( peek的现在分词 )；偷看；窥视；微露出

参考例句：

• I couldn't resist peeking in the drawer. 我不由得偷看了一下抽屉里面。
• They caught him peeking in through the keyhole. 他们发现他从钥匙孔里向里窥视。 来自辞典例句

2 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

3 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

4 extroverts   

性格外向的人( extrovert的名词复数 )； 活跃、愉快、爱交际的人

参考例句：

• In the second half, the students were criticized. Extroverts were unfazed. 在后半部分，举不动时学生要受批评，外向性格的学生表现出不满。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 大脑与疾病
• Extroverts prefer lively conversation to brooding on the meaning of life. 性格外向的人喜欢高谈阔论，而不愿思索人生的意义。

5 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

6 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。