原文標(biāo)題：
Brain injuries
Seeing stars
Diagnosing concussions is hard. A new test could make it easier
腦損傷
看星星
診斷腦震蕩很困難，一種新方法讓診斷更容易

Even doctors can struggle to diagnose concussions
醫(yī)生也很難診斷腦震蕩

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ON JUNE 23rd a court case brought by more than 200 rugby-union players kicked off in London.
6月23日，200多名橄欖球運(yùn)動(dòng)員在倫敦提起了一場(chǎng)法庭訴訟案。

The players claim the sport’s administrators failed in the past to protect them from repeated concussions and blows to the head that, they say, have left them with lifelong brain injuries and early-onset dementia.
這些球員稱，體育管理者過(guò)去未能保護(hù)他們免受反復(fù)的腦震蕩和頭部撞擊，這些傷害導(dǎo)致他們終身腦損傷和早發(fā)性癡呆。

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Concussions and other forms of brain injury have become one of the biggest worries in sports from soccer to ice hockey.

從足球到冰球等體育運(yùn)動(dòng)，腦震蕩和其他形式的腦損傷已成為該領(lǐng)域最大的隱患之一。

In America the National Football League, which governs American football, has had to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars to brain-damaged players.
在美國(guó)，負(fù)責(zé)管理美式橄欖球的全國(guó)橄欖球聯(lián)盟不得不向腦損傷的運(yùn)動(dòng)員支付數(shù)億美元的賠償。

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Rugby’s current administrators are scrambling to change things.

橄欖球隊(duì)現(xiàn)任管理者正在竭力改變現(xiàn)狀。

Authorities in France, England and New Zealand have changed the rules to lower the legal height of tackles, in the hope that will prevent at least some head impacts.

法國(guó)、英格蘭和新西蘭的相關(guān)機(jī)構(gòu)已經(jīng)修改了規(guī)則，降低了擒抱摔倒的法定高度，希望至少能防止一些頭部撞擊。

New rules released in April mean that a player with a suspected concussion must be removed from the pitch immediately.
4月發(fā)布的新規(guī)則意味著，疑似患有腦震蕩的球員必須立即離場(chǎng)。

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One of the problems, though, is properly diagnosing concussion in the first place. Currently this is an unreliable art.

然而，問(wèn)題之一是首先要正確診斷出腦震蕩。目前這是一門不可靠的技藝。

Pitch-side doctors must rely on a mix of outward clinical signs and self-reported symptoms, which players keen to return to the fray may underplay.

場(chǎng)邊醫(yī)生必須依靠外在的臨床癥狀和自述癥狀來(lái)綜合判斷，而那些渴望重返賽場(chǎng)的球員可能會(huì)低報(bào)癥狀。

Away from professionally organised sports, where people take spills or butt heads without medical supervision, it is even harder to decide whether damage has been done.
在非職業(yè)組織的體育運(yùn)動(dòng)中，人們?cè)跊](méi)有醫(yī)療監(jiān)督的情況下摔倒或頭部對(duì)撞，更難判斷是否造成了腦部損傷。

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Doctors are trying to help.

醫(yī)生們正在努力提供幫助。

In May the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine published a new set of diagnostic criteria, under which a patient without clear external signs—such as confusion or unconsciousness—would have to report at least two symptoms, such as feeling confused or dizzy, for a concussion to be suspected.

5月，美國(guó)康復(fù)醫(yī)學(xué)會(huì)公布了一套新的診斷標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，根據(jù)該標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，沒(méi)有明顯外部癥狀（例如精神錯(cuò)亂或意識(shí)不清）的患者必須報(bào)告至少2種癥狀（例如感到精神錯(cuò)亂或頭暈），才能診斷為腦震蕩。

But a new development, pioneered by Adam Shuhendler, a biochemist at the University of Ottawa, may bring more rigour.

但是，渥太華大學(xué)的生物化學(xué)家亞當(dāng)·舒亨德勒的新研究可能帶來(lái)更加嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)?shù)脑\斷方法。

Earlier this month, at the Canadian Chemistry Conference in Vancouver, he laid out how a reliable clinical test for concussion might work.
本月早些時(shí)候，在溫哥華舉行的加拿大化學(xué)會(huì)議上，他詳細(xì)闡述了如何進(jìn)行可靠的腦震蕩臨床診斷。

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Dr Shuhendler’s specialty is creating dyes that bind to specific molecules in the body.

舒亨德勒博士的專長(zhǎng)是創(chuàng)造出與人體內(nèi)特定分子結(jié)合的染料。

In this case, the molecules he has in mind are a class of chemicals called aldehydes.

在這種情況下，他所考慮的分子是一類被稱為醛的化學(xué)物質(zhì)。

Though these are thought to function as messengers between many different cells in the body, they seem to be produced in greater quantities in response to cellular stress—including from injury.

盡管這些物質(zhì)被認(rèn)為在人體的許多不同細(xì)胞之間充當(dāng)信使角色，但它們似乎在細(xì)胞應(yīng)激（包括受傷）時(shí)產(chǎn)生的數(shù)量更多。

Perhaps, he thought, the same thing would happen in the brain as well.
他想，也許在大腦中也會(huì)發(fā)生同樣的情況。

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The next step was to check if they could spot concussions in mice.

下一步是檢查是否能夠在小鼠中發(fā)現(xiàn)腦震蕩。

That required concussed mice, which the researchers produced with a device that impacted the animals’ heads with enough force to disorient them for a few seconds, but without causing serious damage.

這需要有腦震蕩的小鼠，研究人員使用一種裝置擊打小鼠的頭部，力量足以使它們失去方向感幾秒鐘，但并不會(huì)造成嚴(yán)重的腦損傷。

To make the experience better they gave them painkillers—but they did not sedate them, because a sleeping brain is known to react differently to shocks.

為了使它們的體驗(yàn)更好，研究人員給它們服用了止痛藥--但沒(méi)有給它們注射鎮(zhèn)靜劑，因?yàn)楸娝苤?，睡眠中的大腦對(duì)刺激有不同的反應(yīng)。

They then injected the mice with the dye and put them in miniature magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, which revealed the dye-marked aldehydes.
然后研究人員給小鼠注射了染料，并將它們放入微型磁共振成像（MRI）掃描儀中，這些掃描儀顯示了染色的醛類化合物。

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Transferring the technology to humans may take some time. For one thing, the safety of the dye has yet to be proved in people.

將該技術(shù)應(yīng)用于人類可能需要一些時(shí)間。因?yàn)槲覀冞€需要確保染料在人體中的安全性。

Dr Shuhendler thinks one option might be to try the dye with positron emission tomography (PET) scans rather than MRIs.

舒亨德勒博士建議嘗試使用正電子發(fā)射斷層掃描（PET）而不是磁共振成像（MRI）來(lái)檢查染料。

Though they tend to be more expensive, PET tests are also much more sensitive, and therefore require only trace amounts of dye. That should make getting approval easier.
盡管PET檢測(cè)的成本更高，但它的敏感性也更高，因此只需使用微量的染料。這應(yīng)該使獲得批準(zhǔn)更容易。

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Eventually, it might even be possible to do the diagnosis with a simple blood test.

最終，也許可以通過(guò)一項(xiàng)簡(jiǎn)單的血液檢測(cè)來(lái)確診腦震蕩。

In the meantime, though, a hospital test that offered a definitive diagnosis of concussion would still be useful, because so many are missed by doctors.

但與此同時(shí)，醫(yī)院提供的腦震蕩檢測(cè)仍然是有用的，因?yàn)榻?jīng)常會(huì)出現(xiàn)醫(yī)生漏診情況。

One paper, published in 2018, noted that health statistics suggest around 22m people around the world suffer a mild brain injury every year.

一篇發(fā)表于2018年的論文指出，健康統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)表明全球每年約有2200萬(wàn)人患上輕度腦損傷。

When the researchers tried to correct for undercounting, they arrived at a figure of 55m. But that is still merely an informed guess. It would be useful to be sure.
當(dāng)研究人員對(duì)漏診進(jìn)行修正時(shí)，實(shí)際數(shù)字可能達(dá)到5500萬(wàn)。但這仍然只是一個(gè)有根據(jù)的猜測(cè)。明確這一點(diǎn)將非常有益。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語(yǔ)詞匯量703左右）
原文出自：2023年7月1日《The Economist》Science & technology版塊

精讀筆記來(lái)源于：自由英語(yǔ)之路

本文翻譯整理: Irene本文編輯校對(duì): Irene
僅供個(gè)人英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)交流使用。

【補(bǔ)充資料】（來(lái)自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
腦震蕩Brain Concussion是指頭部遭受外力打擊后，即刻發(fā)生短暫的腦神經(jīng)功能障礙。臨床表現(xiàn)為短暫性昏迷、逆行性遺忘以及頭痛、惡心和嘔吐等癥狀，神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)檢查無(wú)陽(yáng)性體征發(fā)現(xiàn)。它是最輕的一種腦損傷，經(jīng)治療后大多可以治愈。其可以單獨(dú)發(fā)生，也可以與其他顱腦損傷如顱內(nèi)血腫合并存在。病理改變無(wú)明顯變化，發(fā)生機(jī)制仍有許多爭(zhēng)論。

醛類化合物Aldehyde是一類含有醛基（-CHO）的有機(jī)化合物。醛基由一個(gè)碳原子與一個(gè)氫原子和一個(gè)雙鍵氧原子相連接而成。醛類化合物的通式為R-CHO，其中R代表任何有機(jī)基團(tuán)或氫。醛類化合物由于存在電子提取的氧原子，具有高度的反應(yīng)性。它們可以發(fā)生多種化學(xué)反應(yīng)，包括氧化、還原和親核加成反應(yīng)。醛類化合物常用作有機(jī)合成中的中間體，是生產(chǎn)各種化學(xué)品、藥品和香精的重要原料。一些眾所周知的醛類化合物包括甲醛、乙醛和苯甲醛。甲醛是一種無(wú)色氣體，具有毒性，在高濃度下對(duì)人體健康有害。有刺激性氣味，常被用作消毒劑、防腐劑，以及樹(shù)脂和塑料的生產(chǎn)。乙醛是一種揮發(fā)性液體，有水果般的氣味，被用于醋酸、香水和溶劑的生產(chǎn)。苯甲醛是一種無(wú)色液體，具有強(qiáng)烈的杏仁味，被用作食品和飲料的調(diào)味劑。

正電子發(fā)射斷層掃描（PET）是一種醫(yī)學(xué)成像技術(shù)，用于觀察人體內(nèi)部的代謝和生理過(guò)程。它通過(guò)檢測(cè)放射性標(biāo)記的藥物（放射性示蹤劑）來(lái)生成圖像，從而反映出身體的不同部位的功能活動(dòng)。PET技術(shù)可以提供關(guān)于組織和器官活動(dòng)的信息，有助于診斷和治療疾病。PET掃描可以提供有關(guān)腦部、心臟、肺部、肝臟、骨骼和其他器官的信息。在腦部研究中，PET可以幫助識(shí)別腦區(qū)的功能活動(dòng)，例如血流、葡萄糖代謝和神經(jīng)受體的分布。在心臟研究中，PET可以評(píng)估心肌血流、心臟功能和心肌代謝。在腫瘤學(xué)中，PET掃描可以用于檢測(cè)和分析腫瘤的代謝活動(dòng)，從而幫助確定腫瘤的類型、位置和分級(jí)。

【重點(diǎn)句子】（3個(gè)）
Concussions and other forms of brain injury have become one of the biggest worries in sports from soccer to ice hockey.
從足球到冰球等體育運(yùn)動(dòng)，腦震蕩和其他形式的腦損傷已成為該領(lǐng)域最大的隱患之一。

Away from professionally organised sports, where people take spills or butt heads without medical supervision, it is even harder to decide whether damage has been done.
在非職業(yè)組織的體育運(yùn)動(dòng)中，人們?cè)跊](méi)有醫(yī)療監(jiān)督的情況下摔倒或頭部對(duì)撞，更難判斷是否造成了腦部損傷。

Transferring the technology to humans may take some time. For one thing, the safety of the dye has yet to be proved in people.
將該技術(shù)應(yīng)用于人類可能需要一些時(shí)間。因?yàn)槲覀冞€需要確保染料在人體中的安全性。