研究发现人会在34岁断崖式衰老

今天，#研究发现人会在34岁断崖式衰老#的话题引发热议。实际上，这是2019年美国斯坦福大学的一项研究。

该研究发现，人的衰老并不是一个平滑、连续的过程，而是在生命的三个不同阶段急剧加速：首先是34岁，然后是60岁，最后是78岁。

🤔️小作业：

1. Which of the following best describes the researchers' method of categorizing the participants for the study?

a. By the level of visible aging signs.

b. Through individual plasma protein analysis.

c. Based on age groups.

d. According to their health condition.

a. The effectiveness of anti-aging creams.

b. The individual's lifestyle choices.

c. The levels of various proteins in the blood.

d. The person's chronological age.

无注释原文：

Humans reach the first cliff of ageing at 34

From:  Firstpost

December 09, 2019

As soon as we get past the age of 25, many of us immediately feel the urge to stop the signs of ageing - especially the visible ones. Men and women are now using topical “anti-ageing” creams, spa treatments and medical procedures to counter many of them. But while these methods can somewhat affect the way you look, ageing is an internal process. A new study has found exactly when during your lifetime this process peaks.

The age you start ageing 

A group of scientists based out of the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that instead of being a smooth, continuous process, ageing surges forward at three distinct stages of life: first, at the age of 34, then at age 60, and finally at 78.

The study, published in Nature Medicine, reveals that scientists can not only predict your age by studying the proteome (protein levels in the blood) but also determine which organs are ageing faster than the others, and which age-related diseases your body is more susceptible to. The study measured plasma proteins collected from 4,263 adults between the ages of 18-95 years and studied the changes in the proteome that occurred with age.

Their ultimate goal was to understand how to identify the changes associated with cardiovascular issues and age-related diseases like Alzheimer's so that therapeutic treatments can be devised to counter their onset while there's still time. 

Dr Tony Wyss-Coray told Stanford Medicine News Center, “We've known for a long time that measuring certain proteins can give you information about a person's health status - lipoproteins for cardiovascular health, for example. But it hasn't been appreciated that so many different proteins' levels - roughly a third of all the ones we looked at - change markedly with advancing age.” Dr Tony Wyss-Coray is the co-director of the Stanford Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and one of the leading members of the study.

Wyss-Coray and his colleagues did not study protein samples from individuals but instead divided the participants into age groups. This helped them identify that ageing underwent sudden surges during three stages of life: young adulthood, late middle age and old age. The scientists were also able to isolate people who did not age according to their actual age, i.e. your actual age might be 40 years, but your predicted age based on the proteomes in your body might be below or above 40 depending on the condition of your health. 

Forever young?

This difference between the chronological and physiological age, according to the scientists' “plasma-protein clock”, showed that a lot of people in the study seemed younger than they actually are - health-wise. What's more, the study also confirmed that men and women, who were equally represented in the study, age differently. Of the plasma proteins that were seen to be affected by ageing, 895 were determined to be significantly more predictive for one sex than the other.

While these are still early discoveries and actual clinical applications, the scientists revealed, are at least five to 10 years away, the results seem to have a lot of potential. There could one day be a simple blood test that could study the protein levels and determine whether you are ageing appropriately or not. With further research, medications and lifestyle methods can also be devised to help those who are ageing too rapidly and are at risk of contracting age-related diseases like osteoporosis, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and Alzheimer's.

Does this also mean that there could, one day, be a way of actually stopping the process of ageing altogether? You never know.

- ◆ -

注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考

含注释全文：

Humans reach the first cliff of ageing at 34

From:  Firstpost

December 09, 2019

As soon as we get past the age of 25, many of us immediately feel the urge to stop the signs of ageing - especially the visible ones. Men and women are now using topical “anti-ageing” creams, spa treatments and medical procedures to counter many of them. But while these methods can somewhat affect the way you look, ageing is an internal process. A new study has found exactly when during your lifetime this process peaks.

一旦我们步入25岁，许多人立刻产生了阻止衰老迹象的冲动，尤其是那些明显可见的迹象。如今，男女都在使用各种“抗衰老”面霜，享受水疗护理，甚至通过医疗手术来对抗衰老。然而，虽然这些方法在一定程度上能影响你的外表，但衰老本质上是一个内在的过程。一项新的研究发现了衰老过程在一生中何时达到顶峰。

topical /ˈtɒp.ɪ.kəl/ 1）表示“（医疗产品）局部的，外用的”，英文解释为“A topical medical product is used on the outside of the body.”举个🌰：This lotion is for topical application only. 这种洗剂只能外用。

2）表示“有关时事热点的；时下关注的”，英文解释为“of interest at the present time; relating to things that are happening at present”如：a topical joke 有关时事热点的笑话。

cream /kriːm/ 1）表示“护肤霜”，英文解释为“a soft substance that you rub into your skin”如：face/hand cream 面霜/护手霜；

2）表示“奶油色的；淡黄色的；米色的”，英文解释为“pale yellowish-white in colour”。

1）表示“程序；步骤；常规”，英文解释为“a set of actions that is the official or accepted way of doing something”举个🌰：The company has new procedures for dealing with complaints. 公司采取了新程序处理投诉事宜。

2）表示“医疗处理；手术”，英文解释为“a medical operation”举个🌰：It's a routine/standard surgical procedure. 这是一个普通的外科手术。

可以作名词，也可以作动词，表示“（达到）峰值”，英文解释为“When something peaks, it reaches its highest value or its highest level.”举个🌰：Temperatures have peaked at over 90 degrees. 温度已达到峰值，超过了90度。

The age you start ageing 开始衰老的年龄

A group of scientists based out of the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that instead of being a smooth, continuous process, ageing surges forward at three distinct stages of life: first, at the age of 34, then at age 60, and finally at 78.

斯坦福大学医学院的科学家们发现，衰老并不是一个平滑、连续的过程，而是在生命的三个不同阶段急剧加速：首先是34岁，然后是60岁，最后是78岁。

1）作动词，表示“急剧上升；飞涨；剧增”，英文解释为“If something surges, it increases suddenly and greatly, after being steady or developing only slowly.”举个🌰：The company's profits have surged. 公司的利润激增。

2）作名词，表示“剧增”，英文解释为“A surge is a sudden large increase in something that has previously been steady, or has only increased or developed slowly.”举个🌰：An unexpected surge in electrical power caused the computer to crash. 突然出现的电压剧增导致电脑死机。

🎬电影《雷神2：黑暗世界》（Thor: The Dark World）中的台词提到：But she will not survive the amount of energy surging within her. 但她体内涌动的能量太大 她撑不住的。

distinct /dɪˈstɪŋkt/ 1）表示“显著的，明显的；确实的”，英文解释为“clearly noticeable; that certainly exists”举个🌰：There's a distinct smell of cigarettes in here. 这里确实有一股烟味儿。

2）表示“明显不同的，差别明显的”，英文解释为“clearly separate and different (from something else)”举个🌰：The two concepts are quite distinct (from each other). 这两个概念（之间）有显著的差别。

The study, published in Nature Medicine, reveals that scientists can not only predict your age by studying the proteome (protein levels in the blood) but also determine which organs are ageing faster than the others, and which age-related diseases your body is more susceptible to. The study measured plasma proteins collected from 4,263 adults between the ages of 18-95 years and studied the changes in the proteome that occurred with age.

这项发表在《自然医学》（Nature Medicine）杂志上的研究揭示，通过研究血液中的蛋白质组（proteome，即血液中的蛋白质水平），科学家不仅能预测你的年龄，还能确定哪些器官的衰老速度比其他器官快，以及身体更容易患上哪些与年龄相关的疾病。研究人员检测了18-95岁之间4263名成人的血浆蛋白，并分析了随着年龄增长，蛋白质发生的变化情况。

表示“蛋白质”，英文解释为“one of the many substances found in food such as meat, cheese, fish, or eggs, that is necessary for the body to grow and be strong”。

susceptible /səˈseptəbl/ 表示“易受影响（或伤害等）；敏感；过敏”，英文解释为“very likely to be influenced, harmed or affected by sb/sth”举个🌰：Some of these plants are more susceptible to frost damage than others. 这些植物中有一些较其他的易受霜冻危害。

plasma /ˈplæz.mə/ 表示“血浆”，英文解释为“the pale yellow liquid that forms 55% of human blood and contains the blood cells”

Their ultimate goal was to understand how to identify the changes associated with cardiovascular issues and age-related diseases like Alzheimer's so that therapeutic treatments can be devised to counter their onset while there's still time.

他们的最终目标是了解如何识别与心血管问题和阿尔茨海默病等年龄相关疾病的变化，以便在还有时间时制定治疗方案来预防疾病发作。

cardiovascular /ˌkɑːdɪəʊˈvæskjʊlə/ 表示“心血管的”，英文解释为“Cardiovascular means relating to the heart and blood vessels.”举个🌰：Smoking places you at serious risk of cardiovascular and respiratory disease. 吸烟会严重增加罹患心血管和呼吸道疾病的风险。

therapeutic /ˌθɛrəˈpjuːtɪk/ 1）表示“治疗的；医疗的；治病的”，英文解释为“designed to help treat an illness”，如：the therapeutic properties of herbs 草药的医疗效用；

2）表示“有助于放松精神的；有益于健康的”，英文解释为“helping you to relax”举个🌰：Painting can be very therapeutic. 绘画可以使人很放松。

devise表示“想出，设计，发明（新的方法）”，英文解释为“to plan or invent a new way of doing something”，如：devise a plan/system/machine，举个🌰：She devised a method for quicker communications between offices. 她想出一种加快办公室之间通信联络的方法。

区分：

📍revise 1）表示“改变；修正，修改”，英文解释为“to change something because of new information or ideas”，如：revise the article/revise the plan；

2）表示“（考试）温习，复习”，英文解释为“to study facts again, in order to learn them before an examination”，举个🌰：Revising for exams gives you a chance to bring together all the individual parts of the course. 考前复习给你一个把课程各独立部分融会贯通的机会。

表示“开端，发生，肇始（尤指不快的事件）”，英文解释为“the beginning of sth, especially sth unpleasant.”常用：the onset of sth 就是（不愉快事情）.的开始，如：the onset of winter 冬季的开始，the onset of the disease 疾病开始发作。

🎬电影《传染病》（Contagion）中的台词提到：I've been taking it since the onset of the symptoms. 症状一开始我就在服用它。

📍《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇分析拜登即将面临的经济挑战的文章中提到：So far there is little sign of the economic scarring that was feared at the onset of the crisis. 到目前为止，没什么迹象显示会出现疫情之初人们所担心的那种经济创伤。

📍-onset 后缀表示“发病，起病”，英文解释为“(of an illness or medical condition) starting at the stated time or in the stated way”如：early-onset dementia 早发性痴呆，sudden-onset hearing loss 突发性听力损失。

Dr Tony Wyss-Coray told Stanford Medicine News Center, “We've known for a long time that measuring certain proteins can give you information about a person's health status - lipoproteins for cardiovascular health, for example. But it hasn't been appreciated that so many different proteins' levels - roughly a third of all the ones we looked at - change markedly with advancing age.” Dr Tony Wyss-Coray is the co-director of the Stanford Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and one of the leading members of the study.

托尼·威斯-科雷医生（Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray）接受斯坦福医学新闻中心采访时表示，“我们早就知道，通过测量某些蛋白质可以得知一个人的健康状况——例如，血脂蛋白对心血管健康非常重要。但人们还没有意识到，有这么多不同的蛋白质水平——大约占我们研究的所有蛋白质的三分之一——会随着年龄的增长而发生显著变化。”托尼·威斯-科雷医生是斯坦福阿尔茨海默病研究中心联合主任，也是这项研究的主要成员之一。

Wyss-Coray and his colleagues did not study protein samples from individuals but instead divided the participants into age groups. This helped them identify that ageing underwent sudden surges during three stages of life: young adulthood, late middle age and old age. The scientists were also able to isolate people who did not age according to their actual age, i.e. your actual age might be 40 years, but your predicted age based on the proteomes in your body might be below or above 40 depending on the condition of your health.

威斯-科雷和他的同事并没有研究个体蛋白质样本，而是将参与者分为不同的年龄组，这有助于他们确定，在生命的三个阶段——青年、中年晚期和老年——衰老过程会突然加速。科学家们还能够区分出那些实际衰老速度与实际年龄不符的人，例如你的实际年龄可能是40岁，但基于你体内的蛋白质组，预测的年龄可能会低于或高于40岁，具体取决于你的健康状况。

表示“经历，经受（令人不快的事或变化） ”，英文解释为“to experience something that is unpleasant or something that involves a change”举个🌰：Playing board games is undergoing a revival in popularity. 棋盘游戏正经历着一场复兴。

🎬电影《白日梦想家》（The Secret Life of Walter Mitty）中的台词提到：But as we undergo this transition to LIFE online... we wanted to be candid with you... 但由于我们处于"生活"杂志网络化的过渡期...所以我们想明白告诉你们...

isolate /ˈaɪ.sə.leɪt/ 表示“隔离；孤立；分离”，英文解释为“to separate something from other things with which it is connected or mixed；to keep a person or animal separate from other people or animals by putting them in a different place”举个🌰：A high wall isolated the house from the rest of the village. 一堵高墙将这栋房子与村庄的其他部分隔离开来。

Forever young? 永葆青春？

This difference between the chronological and physiological age, according to the scientists' “plasma-protein clock”, showed that a lot of people in the study seemed younger than they actually are - health-wise. What's more, the study also confirmed that men and women, who were equally represented in the study, age differently. Of the plasma proteins that were seen to be affected by ageing, 895 were determined to be significantly more predictive for one sex than the other.

根据科学家的“血浆蛋白钟”，实际年龄和生理年龄之间的这种差异表明，就健康而言，研究中的许多人看起来比实际年龄年轻。更重要的是，研究还证实，男性和女性（在研究中两者参与是均衡的）的衰老方式不同。在受衰老影响的血浆蛋白中，有895种蛋白被确定为对一方性别的预测更为重要。

chronological /ˌkrɒn.əˈlɒdʒ.ɪ.kəl/ 表示“按事件发生的年代顺序排列的”，英文解释为“following the order in which a series of events happened”举个🌰：Give me the dates in chronological order. 把日期按早晚顺序给我。

physiological /ˌfɪz.i.əˈlɒdʒ.ɪ.kəl/ 表示“生理学的”，英文解释为“relating to the way in which the bodies of living things work”举个🌰：Touching causes a physiological reaction. 触摸引起生理反应。

While these are still early discoveries and actual clinical applications, the scientists revealed, are at least five to 10 years away, the results seem to have a lot of potential. There could one day be a simple blood test that could study the protein levels and determine whether you are ageing appropriately or not. With further research, medications and lifestyle methods can also be devised to help those who are ageing too rapidly and are at risk of contracting age-related diseases like osteoporosis, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and Alzheimer's.

虽然这些还只是初步的发现，而实际的临床应用至少还需要五到十年时间，但结果似乎非常有潜力。也许有一天，一种简单的血液检测就能研究蛋白质水平，并确定你的衰老进程是否正常。通过进一步的研究，还可以设计药物和生活方式方法来帮助那些衰老过快和有患骨质疏松症、高血压、心血管疾病和阿尔茨海默病等与年龄有关疾病风险的人。

clinical /ˈklɪn.ɪ.kəl/ 表示“门诊的，临床的”，英文解释为“used to refer to medical work or teaching that relates to the examination and treatment of ill people”如：clinical tests/training 临床试验/实习。

1）作名词，表示“合同；契约”，英文解释为“a legal document that states and explains a formal agreement between two different people or groups, or the agreement itself”如：a contract of employment 雇用合同。

2）作动词，熟词僻义，表示“染（重病）”，英文解释为“If you contract a serious illness, you become ill with it.”如：to contract a virus/a disease 感染病毒/疾病。

🎬电影《震荡效应》（Concussion）中的台词提到：of contracting a brain related injury such as dementia, Alzheimer's, depression or CTE? 造成相关的大脑损伤，如痴呆、阿尔茨海默氏症，抑郁症，或CTE？

3）表示“（使）收缩；（使）缩小；（使）缩短”，英文解释为“to make or become shorter or narrower or generally smaller in size”举个🌰：In spoken English, "do not" often contracts to "don't". 在英语口语中，do not 常常缩略成 don't。

表示“高血压”，英文解释为“a medical condition in which your blood pressure is extremely high.”

Does this also mean that there could, one day, be a way of actually stopping the process of ageing altogether? You never know.

这是否也意味着，有朝一日真的有办法完全阻止衰老的进程？谁知道呢。

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