Tuesday, January 25, 2011

双语推迟痴呆病情的发作 Bilingualism: Delay the Onset of Alzheimer’s Symptoms

加拿大多伦多贝克列斯特老人护理中心罗特曼研究所,一所研究人类脑功能的国际中心,的一项研究显示讲两种语言可把老年老年痴呆症(学名为阿兹罕默症)发作时间推迟五年。研究员是检查了211名老年失智症患者的医疗报告后才得出这个结论的。目前,还没有药物可以推迟老年痴呆症的发作。
这项研究重新证明了2007年约克大学比亚韦斯托克教授所领导的一项研究。该项研究发现讲两者语言的痴呆病人比起只讲一种语言的病人,病情发作推迟。比起单语病人,双语病人的发作推迟了四年。
无论他们的语言能力如何,痴呆病人的脑还是会继续恶化;但是双语病人在遗失记忆、混淆、难以解决问题与计划事务等症状方面,看来推迟。
约克大学心理学教授兼罗特曼研究所科学家比亚韦斯托克教授说:‘所有参与这项研究的病人都被诊断为痴呆症病患者,所以很明显的,应有双语并不能避免痴呆病的发作。而是说,我们研究的结果显示,一生使用双语者累积了一种大脑认知贮备,帮助他们在病症发作之前,可以较长的时间来对抗病情。’
虽然双语病人的病情亦会恶化,研究员相信应用超过一种语言会为他们装备了补偿性能力,把遗失记忆、混淆等等病状控制。
这两项研究指明必须把双语使用当作是健康地老化的一种重要工具,和其他活动如运动、饮食、生活习惯等等一起应用。现在,我们有很好理由鼓励生活在多元文化社会里的人们继续讲母语,并传授给他们的孩子。
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A study conducted by researchers at the Toronto based Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care’s Rotman Research Institute, a premier international centre for the study of human brain function, suggests that speaking two languages can help delay the onset of Alzheimer's symptoms by as long as five years. The researchers came to the conclusion after examined clinical records of 211 patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. There are currently no drug treatments that can delay the symptoms of Alzheimer's.
The study replicated findings from a 2007 study led by Ellen Bialystok of York University that found bilingual dementia patients experienced a delayed onset of their symptoms compared to monolingual patients. It found that bilingual patients delayed the onset of their symptoms by four years compared to monolingual patients.
The subjects' brains still showed deterioration from Alzheimer's regardless of language skills, however bilingualism appeared to have delayed symptoms such as memory loss, confusion, and difficulties with problem-solving and planning.
Ellen Bialystok, professor of psychology in York’s Faculty of Health and associate scientist at the Rotman Research Institute, said, “All the patients in the study had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, so clearly bilingualism does not prevent the onset of dementia. Instead, our results show that people who have been lifelong bilinguals have built up a cognitive reserve that allows them to cope with the disease for a longer period of time before showing symptoms.”
While the brains of bilingual patients did show deterioration, researchers believe that the use of more than one language equips them with compensatory skills that keep symptoms like memory loss and confusion in check.
Both studies point to the need to treat bilingualism as an important tool for healthy aging, along with exercise, diet, and other lifestyle choices. Now, there is a good reason to encourage people in multicultural societies to keep speaking their native tongue and pass it along to their children.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

台湾:枪杀与政治 Gunshot and Politics: The Taiwanese Style

Lien Sheng Wen
在民主制度中同时展示各种不同的面貌,台湾可能是世界上唯一的地方。正面与负面的趋势并存。台湾的选举活动,对于外人来说,可能会被其紧张气氛、杂声、参与者明显的热忱所震撼。
事实上,自二十世纪八十年代台湾从一党专政过渡到全面民主以来,在选举中的暴乱是少见的。台湾黑道的暴行也十分有限,虽然他们对台湾,尤其是对地方县市政府,有很大的政治影响。
可是,情况在去年的五都选举时好像转坏,当时发生了一宗令人窒息而神秘的企图谋杀事件。在11月26日选举前夕的造势大会上,一个抢手开枪,打死一人,还把台湾前副总统、现任中国国民党荣誉主席连战的儿子打成重伤。
一颗子弹从40岁的连胜文的左脸穿过右脸而伤了他,继续把一个在场者打死。
连胜文非常幸运,枪弹并没有被严重伤害到他的嘴巴与喉咙的肌肤。因此,经过医生鉴定他已经脱离危险,11月29日就从国立台湾大学医学院的重症监护病房转移到普通病房。
但是,他的快速的痊愈却引起谣言,有人就上网要求公开X光照片。反对党的支持者甚至质疑枪杀事件是不是自导自演。民进党立法委员叶宜津就在一个电视节目中公开提问:“各界大家都认为,连胜文的枪击案对‘五都’的选举有影响,那么这个枪击案是不是自导自演?”
把一个枪杀的悲剧政治化到这种地步,在台湾就可以发生。
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Perhaps Taiwan is the only place in the world whose democratic system exhibits multiple faces at the same time. Positive and negative trends coexist simultaneously. The observers of election campaigns in Taiwan will be struck by the excitement, the noise, and the obvious enthusiasm of the participants.
As a matter of fact, acts of violence are unusual in election campaigns in Taiwan, which began a gradual transition from one-party dictatorship to fully functioning democracy in the late 1980s. Violence carried out by Taiwan's gangs is also limited, though the gangs themselves exercise considerable political influence, particularly on Taiwanese county governments.
However, things seemed to have changed for the worst at last year’s five special municipal elections when an obligatory mysterious assassination was attempted. A gunman opened fire on a campaign rally on the eve of the elections on 26 November 2010, killing one man and critically wounding the son of Taiwan’s former vice president Lien Chan (Lian Zhan), now the honorary chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
A bullet pierced through from left to the right side of the face of the 40 year old Sean Lien Sheng Wen, wounding him and killing a bystander.
Lien was extremely lucky that major tissue in his mouth and throat was not damaged by the bullet. As such, he was moved from an intensive care unit to a regular ward at National Taiwan University Hospital on 29 November after doctors determined that he was out of danger.
However, his speedy recovery has fanned rumours, with an online petition calling for the release of his X-rays. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters even question whether the shooting was staged. DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-chin (Ye Yijin) asked openly in a TV programme: ‘It is widely believed that the gunshot of Sean Lien has effect on the elections. Now, is the gunshot self staged?’
Such is the extent of politicization of a tragedy that can happen in Taiwan.