【英语语言学习】治疗老年痴呆症

 From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.

November is Alzheimer’s Awareness¹ 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.

But researchers in California say a new way of treating Alzheimer’s disease is showing promise for reversing² some of that memory loss. The new treatment combines western medicine with eastern philosophy – ideas rooted in Asian religions.

“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.”

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.

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

“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.”

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 disorders³ of the brain noted⁴ improvements in their memory.

Using Eastern philosophy seems to help

He says the new therapy treats the whole patient, not just parts of the patient. This is called holistic⁵ care.

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

“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.”

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.

“We identified 36 different parts of this network that contribute to the imbalance. So when you are chronically⁶ 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.”

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.

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.

As for lifestyle changes, subjects were told to avoid carbohydrates⁷, 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.

“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 molecular⁸ genetics, but also understands the need to bring things together in a network fashion.”

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.

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.

I’m Anna Matteo.

1 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。

2 reversing   

adj.回动的v.（使）反转( reverse的现在分词 )；（使）颠倒；（使）翻转；推翻

参考例句：

• The driver bumped the kerb while reversing. 司机倒车时撞到了路边石。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She ran (ie drove) her car into a tree while reversing. 她倒车时撞着了一棵树。 来自辞典例句

3 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 holistic   

adj.从整体着眼的，全面的

参考例句：

• There is a fundamental ambiguity in the use of word "whole" in recent holistic literature.在近代的整体主义著作中，“整体”这个词的用法极其含混。
• In so far as historicism is technological,its approach is not piecemeal,but "holistic".仅就历史决定论是一种技术而论，它的方法不是渐进的，而是“整体主义的”。

6 chronically   

ad.长期地

参考例句：

• Similarly, any pigment nevus that is chronically irritated should be excised. 同样，凡是经常受慢性刺激的各种色素痣切勿予以切除。
• People chronically exposed to chlorine develop some degree of tolerance. 人长期接触氯气可以产生某种程度的耐受性。

7 carbohydrates   

n.碳水化合物，糖类( carbohydrate的名词复数 )；淀粉质或糖类食物

参考例句：

• The plant uses the carbohydrates to make cellulose. 植物用碳水化合物制造纤维素。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All carbohydrates originate from plants. 所有的碳水化合物均来自植物。 来自辞典例句

8 molecular   

adj.分子的；克分子的

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms.这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。
• For the pressure to become zero, molecular bombardment must cease.当压强趋近于零时，分子的碰撞就停止了。