VOA慢速英语2014 大脑成像技术有助于治疗抑郁症

Brain Imaging Improves Treatment for Depression 大脑成像技术有助于治疗抑郁症

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。

Clinical depression is a serious medical condition. The word “clinical” is added to separate people who are depressed 1 from those who simply feel sad because of life events. People with clinical depression can feel very sad, hopeless, and unimportant. Often they are unable to live in a normal way. Some people who suffer from depression kill themselves.

临床抑郁症是一种很严重的疾病。“临床”这个词是用来把那些因为生活中的某些事情就感觉到郁闷沮丧的人，与那些只是简单的感到难过的人区分开的。患有临床抑郁症的人会感觉非常悲伤，绝望，不重要。他们常常无法以正常的方式生活。一些患有抑郁症的人还会自杀。

Clinical depression can be a difficult disease for medical professionals to diagnose, or identify. And it is difficult to treat -- what may work for one patient suffering from depression may not work for another.

临床抑郁症是一个医学专家们很难诊断识别的疑难病。而且还很难治疗，一个医生为一个抑郁症患者治疗，可能就很难治疗其他人。

Some experts estimate that medicine used to treat depression is effective in treating 80 to 90 percent of patients. But other studies suggest medication is not much better at reducing levels of clinical depression than a placebo 2. A placebo is an inactive substance given to patients who do not know it is not medicine.

一些专家估计，药物对于治疗80-90%的抑郁症患者有效，但是其他一些研究表明，在降低临床抑郁症的程度上，药物并没有安慰剂效果好。给病人的安慰剂是一种非活跃性物质，病人并不知道它不是药物。

Helen Mayberg is a researcher at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She says the first treatment for depression often fails.

海伦·梅伯格是美国乔治亚州的亚特兰大埃默里大学的研究员，她称，对抑郁症的第一次治疗经常失败。

“The problem is that whatever you get, the published numbers, even in randomized studies, is getting people well -- the remission rate is about 40percent, which means, for most people, the first thing you are given is not likely to work.”

“问题是，无论你得到什么，甚至在随机研究中所公布的数字，都是可以让人们变好——这缓解率大约是40%，这就意味着，对于大多数人来说，你所做的第一件事不太可能有效果。”

That means doctors must try different methods of treatments until they find one that is effective.

这就意味着医生在找到一个有效的方法之前，必须尝试不同的治疗方法。

But technology may change that. Ms. Mayberg leads a team of researchers at Emory University. They used brain imaging technology called P.E.T., or positron emission 3 tomography to study treatment effects. The study involved63 depressed patients.

但是科技可能会改变这一状况，埃默里大学的梅伯格女士带领一组研究人员进行研究。他们利用被称为“P.E.T.”的脑成像技术(或者被称为正电子发射断层成像技术)，来研究治疗效果。他们研究了63名抑郁症患者。

P.E.T. uses a radioactive sugar molecule 4 that follows brain activity. This sugar molecule “lights up” areas of the brain that become affected 5 by stimuli 6. Two kinds of stimuli were used in the study -- medication or talk therapy.

P.E.T.技术利用放射性糖分子来跟随大脑活动，糖分子可以“点燃”受到刺激影响的区域。有两种刺激方法被用于该研究中——药物治疗和谈话治疗。

The researchers found that one area of the brain -- called the anterior 7 insula --seemed to predict which treatment would work.

研究人员发现被称为“前脑岛”的一个大脑区域，似乎可以预测那个治疗方法是可行的。

Patients with a slow-working anterior insula did best with cognitive 8 talk therapy. Patients with a very busy anterior insula reacted well to medication -- a drug called Lexapro.

如果病人的前脑岛运行缓慢，那么用认知谈话治疗最好;如果病人的前脑岛非常忙绿，那么用依地普仑药来进行药物治疗反应良好。

Ms. Mayberg says the anterior insula is part of a system in the brain that watches over the inner state of the body. The anterior insula is activated 9 during times of extreme pain or suffering.

梅伯格女士称，前脑岛是一个大脑系统的一部分，监管着身体的内在状态。前脑岛在遭受极度痛苦期间会被激活。

Ms. Mayberg says the insula may be a biological marker for depression. She says her team’s findings could help doctors treat psychiatric disorders 10 in the same way they treat other medical conditions.

梅伯格女士称，脑岛可能是抑郁症的一个生物学标志。并称，她的研究小组所研究的结果，可以帮助医生治疗精神疾病，同样也可以用来治疗其他疾病。

“…where we do tests of various sorts to make management decisions all the time. Whereas in breast cancer, we do tumor 11 markers in order to determine both that a treatment is likely to help you but also determine without a marker that certain treatments are not for you.”

“我们一直做各种测试来做决策，但是对于乳腺癌来说，我们做肿瘤标记不仅是为了确定一种治疗方法有可能帮助到你，而且也为了如果没有这一标记的话，来确定某一治疗方法不适合你。”

And that’s the Health Report from VOA Learning English.

I’m Anna Matteo.

这就是本期美国之音慢速英语健康报道的全部内容，我是安娜·马泰奥。