英国女博士患有"嗜睡症" 突然就睡着

    According to the Daily Telegraph of November 4, Dr Allen, 35, a scientist, suffers from bouts¹ of "cataplexy", a rare symptom of narcolepsy, triggered by strong emotions-such as fear, surprise or laughter。
    The attacks cause her to lose control of her body and she collapses³ into a deep sleep - although she remains⁴ conscious throughout。
    Each collapse² lasts between 30 seconds to five minutes and at its worst Claire can endure up to 100 attacks each day。
    Claire, from Cambridge, described how she first loses her speech and vision before her body buckles⁵ - but she remains completely "awake"。
    She said: "The attacks are caused by any emotional surprise or shock but laughter is definitely the strongest trigger。
    However, the new drug ，Xyrem puts Claire into a deep sleep for three-and-a-half hours so she must take a second dose in the middle of the night to get a full seven hours sleep。
    She said: "For the last five years I hadn't slept for more than an hour at a time so the first time I slept for more than three hours it was incredible。
    Researchers have found that narcolepsy may be caused by an irregularity to the brain cells which control the sleep hormone⁶ hypocretin。
    An estimated 25,000 people in the UK suffer from narcolepsy but many remain undiagnosed due to the varying nature of the symptoms。
    据英国《每日电讯报》11月4日报道，今年35岁的艾伦博士，患有一种“悴倒症”疾病。这是一种罕见的嗜睡症，患者一旦经历强烈的情感波折，如恐惧、惊讶和大笑，就会引发病症。
    这种疾病使艾伦失去对自己身体的控制，虽然她还处于清醒状态，但是整个身体已经陷入深度睡眠阶段。
    每一次症状发生都会持续30秒到5分钟不等，克莱尔最坏的一次发病，一天竟然发病达到100次。
    来自剑桥的克莱尔在发言中，描述了她第一次如何失去对身体的控制，但是仍然处于“完全清醒”状态的情景。
    她说：“‘突然猝倒’可能是由于惊讶或震惊等情感波动而引起的，但是大笑绝对是引发症状的最强动因。”
    然而，新型药物“Xyrem”可以让克莱尔处于深度睡眠，连续睡上三个半小时，所以在半夜她要再吃上一次药，保证自己可以有7个小时的深度睡眠。
    她说：“在过去的5年里，我从来没有一次睡觉超过一个小时，所以当第一次我能获得3个多小时的睡眠时，我感到特别难以置信。”
    研究人员发现，嗜睡症可能是由于控制睡眠的荷尔蒙下视丘分泌素分泌失调造成的。
    据估计，英国大约有2万5千人患有嗜睡症，但很多人因为症状性质不同难以确诊。
 

1 bouts   

n.拳击（或摔跤）比赛( bout的名词复数 )；一段（工作）；（尤指坏事的）一通；（疾病的）发作

参考例句：

• For much of his life he suffered from recurrent bouts of depression. 他的大半辈子反复发作抑郁症。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was one of fistiana's most famous championship bouts. 这是拳击界最有名的冠军赛之一。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 collapses   

折叠( collapse的第三人称单数 )； 倒塌； 崩溃； （尤指工作劳累后）坐下

参考例句：

• This bridge table collapses. 这张桥牌桌子能折叠。
• Once Russia collapses, the last chance to stop Hitler will be gone. 一旦俄国垮台，抑止希特勒的最后机会就没有了。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 buckles   

搭扣，扣环( buckle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She gazed proudly at the shiny buckles on her shoes. 她骄傲地注视着鞋上闪亮的扣环。
• When the plate becomes unstable, it buckles laterally. 当板失去稳定时，就发生横向屈曲。

6 hormone   

n.荷尔蒙，激素，内分泌

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。