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大脑成像技术改变抑郁症治疗
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 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.
临床抑郁症是一种非常紧急的疾病。添加“临床”这个单词是用于区别那些仅仅由于生活琐事感觉悲伤而抑郁的人。临床抑郁病人会感觉悲伤、绝望和无足轻重，一般他们没办法正常生活。一些抑郁症病人还会自杀。
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.
临床抑郁症对于医学专家来讲是一种非常难诊断或辨别的疑难疾病，同时它还非常难治疗。一种治疗方法对这位抑郁症病人有效，对另一位可能却无效。
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. A placebo is an inactive substance given to patients who do not know it is not medicine.
有专家估计，用于治疗抑郁症的药物对80%到90%的病人有效。但其它研究表明，在缓解临床抑郁症程度上，药物并未强于安慰剂。安慰剂是指给患者服用的无效物质，而患者并不了解它不是药物。
Helen Mayberg is a researcher at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She says the first treatment for depression often fails.
海伦•梅贝格（Helen Mayberg）是美国乔治亚州亚特兰大市埃默里大学的一位研究员，她说对抑郁症的第一次治疗一般都会失败。
The problem is that whatever you get, the published numbers, even in randomized studies, is getting people well -- the remission rate is about 40 percent, which means, for most people, the first thing you are given is not likely to work.
她说，“问题在于不管怎么样，公开数字都是能叫人们的病情缓解，即便是在随机研究中。病情缓解率大约是40%。而这意味着，对多数人来讲，你刚开始给予服用的药物可能效果不好。”
That means doctors must try different methods of treatments until they find one that is effective.
而这意味着大夫需要尝试各种不一样的治疗办法才能找出有效的那种。
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 tomography to study treatment effects. The study involved 63 depressed patients.
但科技或许会改变这一点。埃默里大学的梅贝格女性带领了一组研究职员。他们借助被叫做正电子发射断层扫描的脑成像技术来研究治疗成效。这项研究涉及到了63位抑郁症病人。
P.E.T. uses a radioactive sugar molecule that follows brain activity. This sugar molecule lights up areas of the brain that become affected by stimuli. Two kinds of stimuli were used in the study -- medication or talk therapy.
正电子发射断层扫描用放射性糖分子来跟踪大脑的活动。这种糖分子会“点亮”遭到外部刺激影响的地区。这项研究中用了两种刺激方法--药物疗法和谈话疗法。
The researchers found that one area of the brain -- called the anterior insula -- seemed to predict which treatment would work.
研究职员发现一个被叫做“前脑岛”的大脑地区好像可以评估哪种疗法有效。
Patients with a slow-working anterior insula did best with cognitive talk therapy. Patients with a very busy anterior insula reacted well to medication -- a drug called Lexapro.
前脑岛运行缓慢的病人使用认知谈话疗法最为有效。前脑岛很忙碌的病人对一种名为依地普仑的药物治疗反应很好。
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 during times of extreme pain or suffering.
梅贝格女性表示，前脑岛是大脑监管身体内部状况的系统的一部分。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 in the same way they treat other medical conditions.
梅贝格女性表示，脑岛可能是抑郁症的生物标志物。她还表示，她的团队的研究成就可以帮助大夫用治疗其它疾病的同种方法来治疗精神疾病。
...where we do tests of various sorts to make management decisions all the time. Whereas in breast cancer, we do tumor 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.
她说，“大家一直在做形形色色的试验来进行管理决策。然而在乳腺癌中，大家做肿瘤标记不止是为了确定疗法对你是不是有效，也是为了确定假如没这一标记，某种疗法就不合适你。”
And that's the Health Report from VOA Learning English.
以上就是本期美国之音慢速英语健康报道的全部内容。
I'm Anna Matteo.
我是安娜•马特奥（Anna Matteo）。
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