工作性质与阿尔茨海默氏症有关
http://www.100md.com
2004年8月17日
生物谷报道 美国凯斯西储大学的Kathkeen Smyth和同事在新出版的《神经学期刊》上报告说，刺激(激励)智力的工作也许有助于降低人们罹患阿尔茨海默氏症的风险，而那些出现了痴呆症状的人所从事的工作很可能是不费脑子的。
Smyth是这项研究的负责人，他说新发现有力地支持了“不用即废”的理论。专家们以前推测，通过阅读或做拼字游戏让大脑保持活跃也许有助于延迟出现痴呆的时间。然而，新研究表明，终身从事刺激大脑的工作也能影响阿尔茨海默氏症的发展。研究人员对122位阿尔茨海默氏症患者和235位健康人士进行了测试，同时对他们在20岁至50岁时工作所面临的压力进行了对比。
研究人员发现，在20多岁时，两组人士在工作中所面临的平均精神压力是一样的，但是对没有患阿尔茨海默氏症的人来说，他们从30岁到退休期间的工作所用的脑力更多。Smyth说：“人们在30岁、40岁和50岁期间所出现的差异会永远存在。”
, http://www.100md.com
研究人员并不十分清楚这种影响是如何产生作用的。Smyth认为，阿尔茨海默氏症也许有一个早期的影响，阻止患者从事需要智力的专业工作如写作、会计和法律等。但是，更大的可能性是大脑确实受益于脑细胞的持续活动而不是终身在工厂的工作。Smyth推测，使用大脑工作的人可能在他们的大脑中储存了神经细胞，这让他们即使在大脑中充满了与阿尔茨海默氏症患者一样的蛋白质凝块时，他们的头脑也是清醒的。
英国阿尔茨海默氏症学会的研究负责人Ckive Bakkard为这一测试结果提出了另处一种解释，他说经常动脑筋的人也许更会思考，这让他们在对这种疾病的精神测试中有更好的表现，那么这究竟是智力工作者真的拥有低患病风险呢还是仅仅只是他们在测试中表现得更好？
Bakkard还说，拥有高智力工作的人通常会享有较高的社会经济地位，他们更容易加入健康保险。他指出最近的研究显示荷尔蒙替代法也许能保护人们不患阿尔茨海默氏症，但实际的影响更可能是接受这些治疗的人们的特别的生活方式。
, 百拇医药
阿尔茨海默氏症是一种因脑神经细胞死亡而造成的神经性疾病，这种疾病的发生是典型的渐过程，随着病情的发展，患者包括决策能力和日常生活能力在内的认知能力将逐渐丧失，同时还会出现性情和行为方式的改变，在晚期这种疾病会导致智力丧失和死亡。
ORIGINAL TEXT：
Mundane jobs may contribute to Alzheimer's
A mental workout, although tiring, might help you in the long run
A mentally stimulating career may help to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease, research suggests. According to a study carried out in the United States, those who develop the debilitating form of dementia are more likely to have had jobs that do not tax the brain.The discovery lends weight to the 'use it or lose it' theory, says Kathleen Smyth of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, who led the research. Experts have previously suggested that keeping the mind active, through reading or crossword puzzles, can help to stave off dementia in old age.The latest work, however, shows that mental stimulation throughout life can influence the development of Alzheimer's. The researchers examined 122 people with Alzheimer's disease and 235 healthy subjects, and compared the mental demands they had faced throughout their careers, from their twenties right through to their fifties.The average level of mental strain on the two groups was equal during their twenties. But those without Alzheimer's tended to have had jobs that were more mentally taxing from their thirties through to retirement, the researchers report in the journal Neurology1. "In their thirties, forties and fifties there was a divergence that persisted," Smyth says.High-powered jobsThe researchers are not sure exactly how the effect works. Perhaps Alzheimer's disease has an early impact that prevents sufferers from entering mentally demanding professions such as writing, accountancy or law, Smyth suggests.But it may be more likely that the brain really does benefit from sustained activity, rather than a lifetime spent working in a factory. Smyth suggests that people who stimulate their minds might build up a reserve of nerve cells in the brain. This would allow them to remain clear-headed even as their brains became clogged with the clots of protein that characterize Alzheimer's.
, http://www.100md.com
Alternatively, those who exercise their grey matter might simply be better practised at thinking. This would make them more likely to perform well in the mental tests used to diagnose the disease, suggests Clive Ballard, director of research at the Alzheimer's Society, a British charity. "Are they really at lower risk of the disease or are they just better at doing tests?" he asks.Ballard also suggests that, as people with intellectual careers tend to enjoy higher socioeconomic status, they may have better access to healthcare. He points to the recent suggestion that hormone-replacement therapy may protect against Alzheimer's. In actual fact, he stresses, the effect is probably due to the more privileged lifestyles of those who use the therapy.
Ballard does concede that the latest study is an improvement on previous efforts to compare Alzheimer's sufferers with healthy controls. "Case-control studies are always tricky," he says. "But what is different about this is that it is done decade by decade, so it is better informed.", 百拇医药
Smyth是这项研究的负责人，他说新发现有力地支持了“不用即废”的理论。专家们以前推测，通过阅读或做拼字游戏让大脑保持活跃也许有助于延迟出现痴呆的时间。然而，新研究表明，终身从事刺激大脑的工作也能影响阿尔茨海默氏症的发展。研究人员对122位阿尔茨海默氏症患者和235位健康人士进行了测试，同时对他们在20岁至50岁时工作所面临的压力进行了对比。
研究人员发现，在20多岁时，两组人士在工作中所面临的平均精神压力是一样的，但是对没有患阿尔茨海默氏症的人来说，他们从30岁到退休期间的工作所用的脑力更多。Smyth说：“人们在30岁、40岁和50岁期间所出现的差异会永远存在。”
, http://www.100md.com
研究人员并不十分清楚这种影响是如何产生作用的。Smyth认为，阿尔茨海默氏症也许有一个早期的影响，阻止患者从事需要智力的专业工作如写作、会计和法律等。但是，更大的可能性是大脑确实受益于脑细胞的持续活动而不是终身在工厂的工作。Smyth推测，使用大脑工作的人可能在他们的大脑中储存了神经细胞，这让他们即使在大脑中充满了与阿尔茨海默氏症患者一样的蛋白质凝块时，他们的头脑也是清醒的。
英国阿尔茨海默氏症学会的研究负责人Ckive Bakkard为这一测试结果提出了另处一种解释，他说经常动脑筋的人也许更会思考，这让他们在对这种疾病的精神测试中有更好的表现，那么这究竟是智力工作者真的拥有低患病风险呢还是仅仅只是他们在测试中表现得更好？
Bakkard还说，拥有高智力工作的人通常会享有较高的社会经济地位，他们更容易加入健康保险。他指出最近的研究显示荷尔蒙替代法也许能保护人们不患阿尔茨海默氏症，但实际的影响更可能是接受这些治疗的人们的特别的生活方式。
, 百拇医药
阿尔茨海默氏症是一种因脑神经细胞死亡而造成的神经性疾病，这种疾病的发生是典型的渐过程，随着病情的发展，患者包括决策能力和日常生活能力在内的认知能力将逐渐丧失，同时还会出现性情和行为方式的改变，在晚期这种疾病会导致智力丧失和死亡。
ORIGINAL TEXT：
Mundane jobs may contribute to Alzheimer's
A mental workout, although tiring, might help you in the long run
A mentally stimulating career may help to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease, research suggests. According to a study carried out in the United States, those who develop the debilitating form of dementia are more likely to have had jobs that do not tax the brain.The discovery lends weight to the 'use it or lose it' theory, says Kathleen Smyth of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, who led the research. Experts have previously suggested that keeping the mind active, through reading or crossword puzzles, can help to stave off dementia in old age.The latest work, however, shows that mental stimulation throughout life can influence the development of Alzheimer's. The researchers examined 122 people with Alzheimer's disease and 235 healthy subjects, and compared the mental demands they had faced throughout their careers, from their twenties right through to their fifties.The average level of mental strain on the two groups was equal during their twenties. But those without Alzheimer's tended to have had jobs that were more mentally taxing from their thirties through to retirement, the researchers report in the journal Neurology1. "In their thirties, forties and fifties there was a divergence that persisted," Smyth says.High-powered jobsThe researchers are not sure exactly how the effect works. Perhaps Alzheimer's disease has an early impact that prevents sufferers from entering mentally demanding professions such as writing, accountancy or law, Smyth suggests.But it may be more likely that the brain really does benefit from sustained activity, rather than a lifetime spent working in a factory. Smyth suggests that people who stimulate their minds might build up a reserve of nerve cells in the brain. This would allow them to remain clear-headed even as their brains became clogged with the clots of protein that characterize Alzheimer's.
, http://www.100md.com
Alternatively, those who exercise their grey matter might simply be better practised at thinking. This would make them more likely to perform well in the mental tests used to diagnose the disease, suggests Clive Ballard, director of research at the Alzheimer's Society, a British charity. "Are they really at lower risk of the disease or are they just better at doing tests?" he asks.Ballard also suggests that, as people with intellectual careers tend to enjoy higher socioeconomic status, they may have better access to healthcare. He points to the recent suggestion that hormone-replacement therapy may protect against Alzheimer's. In actual fact, he stresses, the effect is probably due to the more privileged lifestyles of those who use the therapy.
Ballard does concede that the latest study is an improvement on previous efforts to compare Alzheimer's sufferers with healthy controls. "Case-control studies are always tricky," he says. "But what is different about this is that it is done decade by decade, so it is better informed.", 百拇医药