VOA慢速英语--健康黑客:阿尔茨海默氏症患者自救

Health Hackers³: Alzheimer’s Patients Help Themselves 健康黑客:阿尔茨海默氏症患者自救

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

A group of friends from around the world have gathered because they all have something in common. They all want to have fun. They all want to exercise. And they all want to eat healthy.

Those reasons are great. But they are not why these people have banded together.

The have banded together because they all carry the APoE4 gene⁴. That gene increases their risk of getting the brain-destroying disease known as Alzheimer’s.

"We all found out that we carry one or two copies of the APoE4 gene. Which is … it puts us at higher risk for Alzheimer's."

Susan, who gives only her first name, says her father died from Alzheimer's. As the disease progressed in his brain, doctors had little to offer except a memory-boosting drug called Aricept.

She adds that doctors had a fatalistic attitude, meaning they acted as if they could do nothing to reverse⁵ the damage from Alzheimer’s.

Again, here’s Susan.

"It was just more or less, well, we can try Aricept but it won't work for very long. And there's a fatalistic attitude with some doctors that once you have it, there's nothing you can do. And you just sort of have to get your affairs in order and expect that you're going to the nursing home next."

Four years ago Susan discovered that she has the APoE4 gene. She says that she was determined⁶ to do something. So, she went online and looked for other people with the APoE4 gene.

When Susan found other people with her genotype, they banded together to “hack¹” their own health. In other words, they wanted to figure out how to help themselves without the help of traditional doctors, nurses and hospitals.

"A bunch of us banded together and decided⁷ to see -- can we hack our own health."

One of those health hackers is a woman who goes by the name "Juliegee."

Before banding together with Susan, Juliegee had been anxiously watching as her "senior moments" increased. A “senior moment” refers to a time when an older person forgets something. But Juliegee was not really an older, or senior, person. She was only 49. Then she learned that she has the APoE4 gene.

"When I put the symptoms I was having together with my very high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, I was pretty terrified."

Her fear turned to bravery as she helped build an online community named APoE4.info. This community of health hackers researched the many conflicting studies about healthy brains. Then they directed their attention to leafy greens, healthy fats, exercise and more.

Juliegee made lifestyle changes. And now, she says, her thinking ability, or cognition, has improved.

"It's been a very exciting journey. My cognition is very much improved now."

The group's approach is confirmed by doctors and researchers in the medical community.

Dale Bredesen is a researcher at the Buck⁸ Institute for Research on Aging. He studies how combining lifestyle changes with other measures can reverse the weakening of a person’s cognitive⁹ ability.

Bredesen has worked with the ApoE4.info group for two years. In June of this year he added to their hope.

Bredesen documented a reversal in cognitive decline¹⁰ in patients with early Alzheimer's. He says that when he looked at the actual causes of cognitive decline, he found many lifestyle factors affect the brain, including stress and sleep.

"This is the first time in history that there's been reversal of cognitive decline in early Alzheimer's disease."

Bredesen calls the ApoE4.info group a great example of people who are taking their health care into their own hands. They are using many different ways to help the brain, such as exercising, eating healthy foods, cutting down on stress and getting enough sleep.

“What’s happened up until now is that people will say, ‘Don’t bother to find out your APoE status because if you find out you’re APoE4 positive, then there will be nothing to do about it.' And again, we disagree with that. There’s a lot that can be done with it today.”

Members of the group say the sooner a person starts taking control of their brain health, the more likely that a genetic¹¹ risk won't become their fate.

"I can hopefully prevent it, but if not, at least put it off for decades."

Bredesen plans clinical studies to improve his methods for reversing¹² cognitive decline.

The Alzheimer's Association calls his work a “promising possibility.” The association adds that his research may help the United States develop national policies to "prevent or effectively treat Alzheimer's disease by the year 2025."

Words in This Story

fatalistic – adj. the belief that what will happen has already been decided and cannot be changed fate – n.

attitude – n. the way you think and feel about someone or something

put your affairs in order phrase Ensure that one's financial and legal arrangements are properly organized, especially in preparation for one's death.

genotype – biology n. the genetic constitution of an individual organism.

band together to form a group in order to do or achieve something <They banded together for protection.>

health hacker² a person who uses the latest technology to research and care for their own health needs : also called biohacker

cognitive – adj. of, relating to, or involving conscious mental activities (such as thinking, understanding, learning, and remembering)

decline – v. to become worse in condition or quality

reversal – n. a change to an opposite state, condition, decision, etc.

fate – n. a power that is believed to control what happens in the future

to put something off – phrase postpone something

1 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

2 hacker   

n.能盗用或偷改电脑中信息的人，电脑黑客

参考例句：

• The computer hacker wrote that he was from Russia.这个计算机黑客自称他来自俄罗斯。
• This site was attacked by a hacker last week.上周这个网站被黑客攻击了。

3 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

4 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

5 reverse   

v.推翻，颠倒，反向；n.反面，逆境；adj.反向的

参考例句：

• His answer was just the reverse of what I expected.他的回答正好与我期望的相反。
• Please reverse the positions of two pictures.请把两张图片的位置倒转过来。

6 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。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

9 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。

10 decline   

n.衰微，跌落，下降；vt.使降低，婉谢；vi.下降，衰落，偏斜

参考例句：

• I must decline to show favour to any of the candidates.我必须拒绝偏袒任何一位候选人。
• The birthrate is on the decline.出生率在下降。

11 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

12 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