经济学人126:红酒过敏 酒鬼们的烦恼

 　　Science and Technology Allergy¹ to wine The oenophile's lament²

　　科技 红酒过敏 酒鬼们的烦恼

　　An explanation for a most unfortunate condition

　　这件不幸的事现在有解释了

　　ONE of life’s sadder statistics is that about 8% of people get sneezy and stuffy³-headed after drinking wine. This mild allergic⁴ reaction is often blamed on preservative⁵ chemicals called sulphites, but they are responsible for only an eighth of cases. The reason for the rest is obscure. Giuseppe Palmisano of the University of Southern Denmark, however, thinks he knows the answer.

　　这世上有一个统计数据令人伤心，那就是大约有8%的人在饮用红酒以后会产生打喷嚏和头昏脑涨的症状。这种轻微过敏反应常常和作为防腐添加剂的亚硫酸盐有关联。但是此类过敏症况只有1/8的情况是由亚硫酸盐造成的，其他7/8的情况一直病因不明。不过南丹麦大学的Giuseppe Palmisano认为他搞明白这是怎么回事了。

　　As he and his colleagues report in the Journal of Proteome Research, the culprits are glycoproteins—compounds composed, as their name suggests, of sugar and protein. That is not a complete surprise. Glycoproteins are implicated⁶ in several other allergies⁷. But Dr Palmisano thinks he has identified the ones specific to wine.

　　他和他的团队在蛋白组学研究期刊上发表文章称，罪魁祸首是糖蛋白--顾名思义，就是由糖类和蛋白质组成的一类蛋白质。这倒也不算意外。糖蛋白也涉及其他的过敏症。不过Palmisano博士认为他找到了与红酒过敏特定相关的那几个糖蛋白。

　　To do so he started with a cheeky little chardonnay, treated it with ice-cold trichloroacetic acid and ethanol to precipitate⁸ any glycoproteins, then digested those glycoproteins into smaller molecules⁹ called peptides that can be analysed by mass spectroscopy. He screened the results against a database of known allergenic proteins. Three stood out. One is similar to allergenic proteins found in latex and pears. Another looks like a second latex protein and an olive protein, both known allergens. The third resembles one of the most rampant¹⁰ allergens of them all, a ragweed protein that causes hay fever.

　　为了找到这个过敏原，Palmisano博士将一些白葡萄酒用冰凉的三氯乙酸和酒精处理以沉淀出所有的糖蛋白，之后将它们消化成叫做多肽的小分子以便用质谱仪分析。他拿检查结果和已知过敏原的数据库对比。有三个糖蛋白引入眼帘，其中一个过敏性蛋白相似，该蛋白可以再乳胶和梨中发现；第二个与另一个乳胶蛋白以及一个橄榄蛋白相似，这两个蛋白也是已知的过敏原；第三个与造成花粉过敏的豚草蛋白类似，该蛋白可说是过敏原里最厉害的一个了。

　　Whether winemakers will be able to act on this knowledge is moot¹¹. But it might be possible to tweak the production process to reduce the presence of the allergens. In any case, you can now blame that stuffy feeling that comes after drinking on glycoproteins, not alcohol. Honest.

　　酿酒商们会不会因为这个发现而改进产品这未有可知。不过通过调节生产流程来减少过敏原的产生倒是很有可能的。不管怎么说，说真的，下次你又喝红酒头疼的时候就不用怪酒了，应该怪糖蛋白么。

1 allergy   

n.(因食物、药物等而引起的)过敏症

参考例句：

• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。
• The patient had an allergy to penicillin.该患者对青霉素过敏。

2 lament   

n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹

参考例句：

• Her face showed lament.她的脸上露出悲伤的样子。
• We lament the dead.我们哀悼死者。

3 stuffy   

adj.不透气的，闷热的

参考例句：

• It's really hot and stuffy in here.这里实在太热太闷了。
• It was so stuffy in the tent that we could sense the air was heavy with moisture.帐篷里很闷热，我们感到空气都是潮的。

4 allergic   

adj.过敏的，变态的

参考例句：

• Alice is allergic to the fur of cats.艾丽斯对猫的皮毛过敏。
• Many people are allergic to airborne pollutants such as pollen.许多人对空气传播的污染物过敏，比如花粉。

5 preservative   

n.防腐剂；防腐料；保护料；预防药

参考例句：

• New timber should be treated with a preservative.新采的圆木应进行防腐处理。
• Salt is a common food preservative.盐是一种常用的食物防腐剂。

6 implicated   

adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的

参考例句：

• These groups are very strongly implicated in the violence. 这些组织与这起暴力事件有着极大的关联。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Having the stolen goods in his possession implicated him in the robbery. 因藏有赃物使他涉有偷盗的嫌疑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 allergies   

n.[医]过敏症；[口]厌恶，反感；（对食物、花粉、虫咬等的）过敏症( allergy的名词复数 )；变态反应，变应性

参考例句：

• Food allergies can result in an enormous variety of different symptoms. 食物过敏会引发很多不同的症状。 来自辞典例句
• Let us, however, examine one of the most common allergies; hayfever. 现在让我们来看看最常见的变态反应的一种--枯草热。 来自辞典例句

8 precipitate   

adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物

参考例句：

• I don't think we should make precipitate decisions.我认为我们不应该贸然作出决定。
• The king was too precipitate in declaring war.国王在宣战一事上过于轻率。

9 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

10 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。

11 moot   

v.提出；adj.未决议的；n.大会；辩论会

参考例句：

• The question mooted in the board meeting is still a moot point.那个在董事会上提出讨论的问题仍未决的。
• The oil versus nuclear equation is largely moot.石油和核能之间的关系还很有争议。