VOA慢速英语2012 Health Report - A Campaign Against Alzheimer's Disease

Health Report - A Campaign Against Alzheimer's Disease

健康报道 - 美国出台计划对抗阿尔茨海默氏症

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。

Last week, the United States government announced a major education and research campaign against Alzheimer's disease. The brain-wasting disease has no cure. The plan includes more efforts to develop drugs to prevent it.

上周，美国政府宣布了一项对抗阿尔茨海默氏病的重大教育研究活动。阿尔茨海默氏病这种大脑消耗性疾病无法治愈，该计划包括采取更多努力研制出预防这种疾病的药物。

In the United States, more than five million people have Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia. As the population gets older, the number is expected to reach almost eight million by twenty-thirty. By then, experts say Alzheimer's and other dementia disorders 2 could affect as many as sixty-six million people worldwide.

美国有超过500万人患有阿尔茨海默氏症或其它形式的痴呆症。随着人口老化，预计到2030年，该数字将达到近800万。专家说，到时候阿尔茨海默氏症和其它痴呆症可能会在全球范围内影响到多达6600万人。

The national Alzheimer's plan calls on scientists to develop treatments to prevent the disease by twenty twenty-five. Officials at the National Institutes of Health have promised fifty million dollars to help support that effort. NIH held a conference of the nation's top Alzheimer's researchers where NIH Director Francis Collins discussed the plan.

美国阿尔茨海默氏症计划要求科学家在2025年前开发出预防这类疾病的治疗办法。美国国家卫生研究院（以下简称NIH）官员已经承诺提供5千万美元用于帮助支持这一努力。NIH负责人弗朗西斯·柯林斯（Francis Collins）在该院举办的顶尖阿尔茨海默氏症研究人员会议上讨论了这一计划。

FRANCIS COLLINS: "We have learned more about this disease in the last couple of years than probably ever before. And now the goal is to take that and translate it into interventions 3."

柯林斯：“在过去几年我们对这种疾病的了解比以往任何时候都要多。现在的目标是将这些对疾病的了解转换为干预措施。”

Early next year, scientists at the Banner Alzheimer's Institute in Arizona plan to begin human testing of an experimental drug. The drug is called crenezumab, and the hope is it will prevent Alzheimer's.

亚利桑那州班纳阿尔茨海默氏症研究所的科学家计划明年年初对一种实验性药物进行人体试验。这种药物被称为crenezumab，科学家希望它能预防阿尔茨海默氏症。

The study will involve members of a large extended family living in villages in the Medellin area in Colombia. Some of the family members have a rare genetic 4 disorder 1 that causes them to get early-onset Alzheimer's. They begin to show signs of mental loss in their mid-forties and fully 5 develop the disease by their early fifties.

这项研究将涉及居住在哥伦比亚麦德林地区一个村庄的一个大家族的成员。该家族其中一些家庭成员患有一种罕见的遗传性疾病，会导致他们患上早发型阿尔茨海默氏症。他们在四十岁中期会出现智力下降的迹象，在五十岁前会完全染上这种疾病。

Three hundred people have agreed to be in the study. One-third of them will receive crenezumab. The others will be given a placebo 6, a pill that does not contain any drug. They will not know if they have been given the drug or the placebo. The study will also include a smaller number of people in the United States.

已经有300多人同意参与这项研究。其中1/3的人将接受crenezumab药物治疗。其他人将被给予安慰剂，即不含任何药物成分的药片。他们不会知道自己获得的是药物还是安慰剂。这项研究还将涉及少量美国人。

Pierre Tariot will help lead the study, known as a human trial. He says all of the people have been informed that the drug might not work or that they might receive a placebo. Mr. Tariot says the people still wanted to be in the study.

皮埃尔·塔里奥（Pierre Tariot）将帮助领导这项被称为人体试验的研究。他说，所有人都已经被告知，这种药物可能无效，或者他们可能只会得到安慰剂。塔里奥表示，即便如此，人们还是希望参与到研究中。

PIERRE TARIOT: "They have been faced with this devastating 7 illness hitting every generation for hundreds of years. As one of them put it, 'There are many rivers to cross but at least we're at the first bank.' And that's kind of the attitude that people have had."

塔里奥：“数百年来他们每一代人都面临着这种破坏性疾病。正如其中一人所言，‘有许多难关要闯，但至少我们冲在最前面。’他们都多少抱着这种态度。”

Scientists hope that if the drug works in those facing early-onset Alzheimer's, then it might also help older people.

科学家们希望，如果这种药物在这些面临早发型阿尔茨海默氏症的人身上起效，那么它也可能帮助到老年人。

The study in Colombia could take as long as five years, but researchers believe they could get results in two years.

在哥伦比亚进行的这项研究可能需要五年时间，但研究人员认为他们在两年内就能知道结果。

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. You can learn more about Alzheimer's disease and find a link to the national plan at www.voanews.cn. I'm Faith Lapidus.

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Contributing: Jessica Berman