AS IT IS 2016-05-23 Mystery Condition Makes Brothers Collapse at Sunset

AS IT IS 2016-05-23 Mystery Condition Makes Brothers Collapse¹ at Sunset

Doctors in Pakistan are studying two brothers who seem in fine health during the day, but are unable to move when the sun goes down.

The school-age boys, 9-year-old Shoaib Ahmed and 13-year-old Abdul Rasheed, live near the city of Quetta. They have been called “solar kids” because of their condition.

Their father, Muhammad Hashim, says the boys lead a perfectly² normal life during the day. But once the sun goes down, they go into a vegetative state. They are unable to walk, talk or even open their eyes.

“They can’t eat or drink, nor get up or lay down,” the father said. “But we are hopeful they will be okay by the grace of God,” he added.

A team of 38 doctors has performed hundreds of tests on the boys in an effort to identify the possible cause of their condition. Pakistan’s government is providing free medical care to their family.

Doctors have sent blood samples to researchers in other countries. They have also conducted tests on other family members. Researchers have gone to the boys’ village to collect soil and air samples.

Doctor Javed Akram is with Pakistan’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad. He said the nightly paralyzation of the boys remains³ a big mystery.

“What we have understood from research is that it happens when neurotransmitters in the brain suffer imbalance,” he said.

Dr. Akram’s team is currently working with doctors in five other countries to learn more about the condition. “They guide us a lot and we are moving forward together on this,” he said.

The boys’ father has a simple theory about what causes the condition. “I think my sons get energy from the sun,” he said.

But doctors have already ruled out the possibility that sunlight is responsible. They note that the boys can move normally during the day even when kept in a dark room or during a storm.

Words in This Story

solar – adj. relating to or determined⁴ by the sun

vegetative – adj. a state in which a person loses cognitive⁵ ability

grace – n. a virtue⁶ coming from god

conduct – v. to organize and carry out

sample – n. a small amount of something given for trying or testing

paralyzed – adj. when a person or part of the body is partly or fully⁷ not able to move

neurotransmitter – n. a substance in the body that carries a signal from one nerve cell to another

imbalance – n. a lack of proportion or relation between two things

1 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。

2 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

3 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。

4 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

5 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

6 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。