Why its important for more Americans to know about mild cognitive impairment

Why its important for more Americans to know about mild cognitive¹ impairment

Transcript²

Mild cognitive impairment, a condition that may be a precursor³ to Alzheimer's disease, affects more than 12% of people 60 and up. Yet a survey found 82% of Americans know little or nothing about it.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

After turning 60, minor⁴ problems with memory and thinking are pretty common. And for about 15% of people, these problems are a sign of a condition called mild cognitive impairment. Yet, as NPR's Jon Hamilton reports, most Americans don't know much about the condition.

JON HAMILTON, BYLINE⁵: Mild cognitive impairment describes a gray zone between normal aging of the brain and dementia. Maria Carrillo, chief science officer of the Alzheimer's Association, says the symptoms can be easy to miss.

MARIA CARRILLO: Mild cognitive impairment is often confused with normal aging because it is very subtle, like forgetting people's names, forgetting, perhaps, that you've said something already, forgetting a story, forgetting words.

HAMILTON: The condition, which affects about 10 million people in the U.S., can also be an early sign of Alzheimer's disease, the leading cause of dementia. Most Americans don't know that, though. A national survey released this week by the Alzheimer's Association found that 82% knew little or nothing about mild cognitive impairment. Carrillo says that's a problem because people need to see a doctor to get a diagnosis⁶ and treatment.

CARRILLO: And if more than 4 in 5 Americans know very little, they're certainly not going to do that, which means they're not opening the door to potentially understanding what the underlying⁷ cause is.

HAMILTON: Carrillo says a trip to the doctor often reveals that memory and thinking problems aren't mild cognitive impairment at all.

CARRILLO: Maybe somebody was tired. Maybe somebody is not sleeping well. Maybe somebody has depression or is taking some medications that make them a little groggy⁸.

HAMILTON: In other cases, Carrillo says, doctors find problems that are easy to fix.

CARRILLO: There are some actually that can be reversible. If there's a vitamin B12 deficiency, it does actually mimic⁹ mild cognitive impairment or even early Alzheimer's dementia. And that can be solved with vitamin B12 injections.

HAMILTON: Even so, just 40% of people surveyed said they would see a doctor right away if they had symptoms of the condition. Carrillo says that's unfortunate because Alzheimer's treatments are most likely to work if they are started long before a patient has dementia, so getting to a specialist is key.

CARRILLO: At a specialty¹⁰ clinic, we absolutely can detect whether mild cognitive impairment is due to Alzheimer's or not.

HAMILTON: Dr. Pierre Tariot directs one of those specialty clinics, the Banner Alzheimer's Institute in Phoenix¹¹. The first thing he does is assess whether a patient's memory or thinking problems are interfering¹² with their daily life. That determines whether mild cognitive impairment has become full-on dementia. Tariot says once he has a complete picture of a patient's cognitive problems, he'll order tests.

PIERRE TARIOT: We're rapidly zooming¹³ into an era where we can use imaging or blood or spinal¹⁴ fluid tests to establish likely causes of this picture.

HAMILTON: If the tests show sticky plaques¹⁵ or tangled¹⁶ fibers¹⁷ in the brain, Tariot can be pretty sure a patient is in an early stage of Alzheimer's. And he says there are a growing number of treatment options for these patients. One is Aduhelm, a controversial Alzheimer's drug approved last year by the Food and Drug Administration. But Tariot says patients can also opt¹⁸ for a range of clinical trials of experimental Alzheimer's drugs.

TARIOT: They're all scientifically sound, ethically¹⁹ sound, approved by the FDA, done under FDA oversight²⁰.

HAMILTON: And Tariot says many more experimental treatments are on the way.

TARIOT: There is a whole wave of other therapies coming forward. So we'll have many more choices than we have now, and that's great news.

HAMILTON: Projections²¹ show that the number of Americans with Alzheimer's disease will rise from 6.5 million in 2021 to more than 12 million by 2050.

Jon Hamilton, NPR News.

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1 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。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 precursor   

n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆

参考例句：

• Error is often the precursor of what is correct.错误常常是正确的先导。
• He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to a merger.他说该笔交易不应该被看作是合并的前兆。

4 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

7 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

8 groggy   

adj.体弱的；不稳的

参考例句：

• The attack of flu left her feeling very groggy.她患流感后非常虚弱。
• She was groggy from surgery.她手术后的的情况依然很不稳定。

9 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

10 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

11 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

12 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

13 zooming   

adj.快速上升的v.（飞机、汽车等）急速移动( zoom的过去分词 )；（价格、费用等）急升，猛涨

参考例句：

• Zooming and panning are navigational tools for exploring 2D and 3D information. 缩放和平移是浏览二维和三维信息的导航工具。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Panning and zooming, especially when paired together, create navigation difficulties for users. 对于用户来说，平移和缩放一起使用时，产生了更多的导航困难。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

14 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

15 plaques   

（纪念性的）匾牌( plaque的名词复数 )； 纪念匾； 牙斑； 空斑

参考例句：

• Primary plaques were detectable in 16 to 20 hours. 在16到20小时内可查出原发溶斑。
• The gondoliers wore green and white livery and silver plaques on their chests. 船夫们穿着白绿两色的制服，胸前别着银质徽章。

16 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

17 fibers   

光纤( fiber的名词复数 )； （织物的）质地； 纤维，纤维物质

参考例句：

• Thesolution of collagen-PVA was wet spined with the sodium sulfate as coagulant and collagen-PVA composite fibers were prepared. 在此基础上，以硫酸钠为凝固剂，对胶原-PVA共混溶液进行湿法纺丝，制备了胶原-PVA复合纤维。
• Sympathetic fibers are distributed to all regions of the heart. 交感神经纤维分布于心脏的所有部分。

18 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

19 ethically   

adv.在伦理上，道德上

参考例句：

• Ethically , we have nothing to be ashamed about . 从伦理上说，我们没有什么好羞愧的。
• Describe the appropriate action to take in an ethically ambiguous situation. 描述适当行为采取在一个道德地模棱两可的情况。

20 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

21 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。