Sleep disturbances can be an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease (阿尔茨海默病). Many people eventually diagnosed (诊断) with Alzheimer’s start experiencing difficulty falling and staying asleep years before cognitive problems such as memory loss and confusion appear. It’s a vicious cycle: Alzheimer’s disease involves changes to the brain that interrupt sleep, and poor sleep accelerates harmful changes to the brain.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a possible way to help break that cycle. A small, two-night study has shown that people who took a sleeping pill before bed experienced a drop in the levels of key Alzheimer’s proteins — it’s a good sign, since higher levels of such proteins coexist with more serious disease.
The study, which involved a sleeping aid that is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for insomnia (失眠), indicates the potential of this sleeping pill to slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, although much more work is needed to confirm the practice of such an approach.
“This is a small, proof-of-concept study. It would be premature for people who are worried about developing Alzheimer’s to interpret it as a reason to start taking this sleeping pill,” said researcher Brendan Lucey, director of Washington University’s Sleep Medicine Center. “We don’t yet know whether long-term use is effective in delaying cognitive decline, and if it is, at what dose and for whom. Still, these results are very encouraging. This drug is already available and proven safe, and now we have evidence that it affects the levels of proteins that are vital for driving Alzheimer’s disease.”
“I’m hopeful that we will eventually develop drugs that take advantage of the link between sleep and Alzheimer’s to prevent cognitive decline,” he continued. “We’re not quite there yet.”
【小题1】Which can best replace the underlined word “vicious” in paragraph 1?| A．Bad. | B．Rare. | C．Normal. | D．Complete. |
| A．They are the cause of insomnia. | B．They can make the disease worse. |
| C．They reflect changes in the brain. | D．They are controlled by sleeping pills. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Uncertain. |
| C．Cautious. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．Sleep Disturbances Indicate Alzheimer’s |
| B．Drugs for Alzheimer’s Are Being Developed |
| C．Alzheimer’s Is Linked with Cognitive Decrease |
| D．A Sleeping Pill Reduces Levels of Alzheimer’s Proteins |
