醫學英語文章
健康應該是人類一生追求的目標,身體健康素質的構成因素與健康有密切的關係。下面是本站小編帶來的醫學英語文章，歡迎閲讀!
醫學英語文章1
精神身體醫學 好好反省一下吧
Science and technology
科學技術
Psychosomatic medicine
精神身體醫學
Think yourself well
好好反省一下吧
You can. But it helps to think well of yourself in the first place
你可以的。只是它會首先幫你好好反省一下自己。
THE link between mind and body is terrain into which many medical researchers, fearingridicule, dare not tread.
大腦與身體之間存在着千絲萬縷的聯繫，但是，因為怕被嘲笑，很多醫學研?a href="">咳嗽輩桓疑孀閼飪榱煊頡?/p>
But perhaps more should do so.
但是，可能應該有更多人來研究它。
For centuries, doctors have recognised the placebo effect, in which the illusion oftreatment, such as pills without an active ingredient, produces real medical benefits.
數個世紀以來，醫生們已經認識到了安慰劑的效力，其實是一種錯覺治療達到了真正的藥物效應，比如沒有實際療效的藥丸等。
More recently, respectable research has demonstrated that those who frequently experiencepositive emotions live longer and healthier lives.
最近以來，相當受重視的研究表明， 那些經常以積極的態度生活的人活得更長久，而且更健康。
They have fewer heart attacks, for example, and fewer colds too.
比如，他們幾乎不會有心臟病，而且也很少感冒。
Why this happens, though, is only slowly becoming understood.
只是這種現象現在還無法解釋。
What is needed is an experiment that points out specific and measurable ways in which suchemotions alter an individual's biology.
我們需要的是做一個試驗，指明具體的，可衡量以情緒改變人體生物機理的方式。
And a study published in Psychological Science, by Barbara Fredrickson and Bethany Kok at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, does precisely that.
位於查珀爾希爾的北卡羅萊納州大學的巴巴拉弗雷德裏克鬆和伯斯尼考克最近進行了一項研究，發表在心理科學雜誌，他們的研究正體現了這點。
Dr Fredrickson and Dr Kok concentrated their attentions on the vagus nerve.
弗雷德裏克鬆教授和考克教授集中於研究迷走神經。
This nerve starts in the brain and runs, via numerous branches, to several thoracic andabdominal organs including the heart.
這種神經起始端在大腦，通過眾多的分支與幾大胸部和腹部器官，包括心臟相連。
Among its jobs is to send signals telling that organ to slow down during moments of calm andsafety.
它的一項職能就是，發出信號告訴這些器官，在人體處於平靜和安全的時候減緩工作步伐。
How effectively the vagus nerve is working can be tracked by monitoring someone's heart rateas he breathes in and out.
你可以通過監測一個人呼吸時的心率來有效地追蹤迷走神經的工作過程。
Healthy vagal function is reflected in a subtle increase in heart rate while breathing in and asubtle decrease while breathing out.
如果迷走神經工作正常的話，你可以從人體吸進空氣時心率的不明顯增加上看出來，同樣，當人體呼出空氣時心率也會有微弱的減少。
The difference yields an index of vagal tone, and the value of this index is known to beconnected with health.
如果迷走神經處於不健康狀態時，會產生不同的迷走張力指數。
Low values are, for example, linked to inflammation and heart attacks.
眾所周知，這個指數值與健康密切相關。比如，指數值低的話，就可能説明有炎症，及心臟病了。
What particularly interested Dr Fredrickson and Dr Kok was recent work that showed somethingelse about the vagal-tone index:
特別有趣的是，弗雷德裏克鬆教授和考克教授最近研究也顯示了與迷走神經張力指數有關的其它東西。
people with high tone are better than those with low at stopping bad feelings gettingoverblown.
在避免讓不良情緒擴大方面，指數高的人這方面的能力明顯優於指數低的人。
They also show more positive emotions in general.
這些人平時也會表現出更樂觀積極的情緒。
This may provide the missing link between emotional well-being and physical health.
這可能也彌補了在情感福祉與身體健康之間缺失的一環。
In particular, the two researchers found, during a preliminary study they carried out in 2010,that the vagal-tone values of those who experience positive emotions over a period of time goup.
特別是，兩位研究者發現，在他們2011年的初期實驗中，那些一直保持積極樂觀情緒的人的迷走神經張力指數也上升了。
This left them wondering whether positive emotions and vagal tone drive one another in avirtuous spiral.
這個現象讓他們想知道，積極情緒和張力指數之間的良性循環，究竟哪個才是真正的驅動呢?
They therefore conducted an experiment on 65 of the university's staff, to try to find out.
因此，他們對65所大學中的人員進行了試驗，想找出真相。
They measured all of their volunteers' vagal tones at the beginning of the experiment and atits conclusion nine weeks later.
他們測得了剛開始試驗時，試驗志願者的張力指數及九周後的張力指數。
In between, the volunteers were asked to go each evening to a website especially designed forthe purpose, and rate their most powerful emotional experiences that day.
在試驗期間，志願者們被要求每晚去一家指定的，特別為這個試驗設計的網站，並且為他們每天最強烈的情感體驗打分。
Dr Fredrickson and Dr Kok asked their volunteers to consider nine positive emotions, such ashope, joy and love, and 11 negative ones, including anger, boredom and disgust.
弗雷德裏克鬆教授和考克教授要求志願者們想着積極的情緒，比如希望，喜悦和愛，還有11種消極的情緒，包括憤怒，厭倦和厭惡。
They were asked to rate, on a five-point scale, whether—and how strongly—they had felt eachemotion.
志願者們打分的標準分為五級，他們是否感覺到了要求的情緒，有多強烈等。
One point meant not at all; five meant extremely.
一級意味着沒什麼;五級意味着極其。
In addition, half the participants, chosen at random, were invited to a series of workshops runby a licensed therapist, to learn a meditation technique intended to engender in themeditator a feeling of goodwill towards both himself and others.
另外，以隨機的方式抽取了一半的參與者，被邀請參加一系列由特許理療師主持的研討會，學習冥想技巧，以達到成為一名對自己或者他人心懷善意的禪定者。
This group was encouraged to meditate daily, and to report the time they spent doing so.
研究人員鼓勵這些人每天都冥想，並且要彙報他們花了多長時間做這件事。
Dr Fredrickson and Dr Kok discovered that vagal tone increased significantly in people whomeditated, and hardly at all in those who did not.
弗雷德裏克鬆教授和考克教授發現，這些人的每天冥想，使得他們的張力指數明顯上升，而那些沒有參與冥想學習的人幾乎沒什麼變化。
Among meditators, those who started the experiment with the highest vagal-tone scoresreported the biggest increases in positive emotions.
在這些冥想者中，那些試驗開始時迷走神經張力指數最高的人，在他們身上最大的變化就是保持積極情緒的時間更大長了。
Meditators who started with particularly low scores showed virtually no such boost.
而開始試驗時張力指數特別低的冥想者，他們的變化就沒有前者那麼大。
Taken as a whole, these findings suggest high vagal tone makes it easier to generate positiveemotions and that this, in turn, drives vagal tone still higher.
總體來説，這些發現表明，在張力指數高的情況下更容易產生積極的情緒，而反過來，積極的情緒又會讓指數變得更高。
That is both literally and metaphorically a positive feedback loop.
而這種現象無論是從字面上還是從修辭上，都稱為正面的回饋循環。
Which is good news for the emotionally positive, but bad for the emotionally negative, for itimplies that those who most need a psychosomatic boost are incapable of generating one.
這些對擁有積極情緒的人是個好消息，而對總是瀰漫着消極情緒的人可是個壞消息，因為它暗示，那些最需要身心健康的人是無法自己達成這個目的的。
A further experiment by Dr Kok suggests, however, that the grumpy need not give up all hope.
但考克博士進行了一項更深度的試驗，認為那些鬱鬱寡歡的人也不要完全放棄希望。
A simpler procedure than meditation, namely reflecting at night on the day's socialconnections, did seem to cause some improvement to their vagal tone.
一個比冥想更簡單的，在當天晚上即反映其一天社會關係的方式，似乎對這些人的張力指數有些提高作用。
This might allow even those with a negative outlook on life to bootstrap their way to a mentalstate from which they could then advance to the more powerful technique of meditation.
這可能讓那些擁有消極人生觀的人通過他們自己的方式，引導自身進入一種讓他們可以擁有更強大冥想技巧的精神狀態。
Whether, besides improving general health, the mechanism Dr Fredrickson and Dr Kok havediscovered helps explain the placebo effect remains to be investigated.
除了改善一般健康，弗雷德裏克鬆教授和考克教授發現的生理機制也在某種程度上説明了，安慰劑的效果仍有待研究。
But it might, because part of that effect seems to be the good feeling engendered by the fact ofbeing treated.
但是，也許安慰劑真的是作用的，因為它們的部分效果似乎產生了良好的幸福感，這是基於病人認為他們正在接受治療這個事實。
More generally, doctors in the ancient world had a saying: a healthy mind in a healthy body.
更普遍的是，古時的醫生都會説這樣一句話：健康的心態，健康的身體。
This sort of work suggests that though this proverb is true, a better one might be, a healthymind for a healthy body.
上述研究表明，雖然這種諺語是正確的，可能這種描述會更好些，為了健康的身體，你必須保持健康的心態。
醫學英語文章2
醫學界致力於開發對藥品可受益人羣的檢測
New drugs that boost the immune system’s ability to fight tumors may be one of the greatestmedical advances in years, cancer doctors say, pulling some patients from death’s door andkeeping them in remission for years.
增強免疫系統對抗癌細胞能力的新型藥物有可能是近年來最大的醫學進步之一，癌症醫生説，它能將病人從鬼門關上拉回來，延長數年的壽命。
But the truth is that this happens for only a minority of patients. Now, doctors say, there is anew imperative to develop a test that will identify in advance which patients will benefit,sparing others the cost and possible side effects.
但事實是，這種情況只會發生在一小部分病人身上。現在，醫生説，開發一項能提前鑑定出哪些病人能受益的檢測是當務之急，它能省去其他病人大筆的費用和可能出現的副作用。
The drugs currently cost about $150,000 a year per patient — even more for higher doses usedin some cases — and the health system is eventually expected to spend billions or even tensof billions of dollars on the drugs each year.
目前，這種藥物每個病人每年要花費約15萬美元——在一些需要更大劑量的病例中甚至更多——預計醫療體系最終每年將在這種藥物上投入數十億、甚至是上百億美元資金。
“We don’t want to give these to 100 percent of the patients if only 59 percent or 20 percent willbenefit,” said Dr. David R. Gandara, a professor and lung cancer specialist at the University ofCalifornia, Davis. Being able to test for a biomarker that could predict the drugs’ efficacy“would make this new class of drugs easier on the wallet, the national health wallet,” he said.
“如果只有59%或者20%的病人能從中受益，我們不希望將這種藥物開給100%的病人，”加州大學戴維斯分校的教授、肺癌專家大衞·R·甘德拉醫生(Dr. David R. Gandara)説。如果有一項技術可以通過檢測生物標誌物來展示藥物有效與否，“將使這種新型藥物對錢包造成的壓力減小，我説的是國家醫療體系的錢包。”他説。
But developing such a test has proved tricky so far, for ethical as well as scientific doctors said it would be unfair to withhold the new drugs from patients based on a testif there was still even a slight chance that the drugs would help.
但迄今為止，出於道德倫理和科學技術的原因，對這樣一種檢測手段的開發一直步履維艱。一些醫生認為，哪怕只存在一絲這種藥物發揮作用的機會，僅因為一項檢測就不把藥物給予病人都是不公平的。
“We don’t want to be wrong, because these medicines have an effect that, in some cases, isdurable for years,” said Dr. Jedd D. Wolchok, chief of the melanoma and immunotherapeuticsservice at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “We don’t want to have an imperfectbiomarker.”
“我們不想犯錯，因為這些藥物在某些病例中，藥效會持續數年，”紀念斯隆-凱特琳癌症中心(Memorial SloanKettering Cancer Center)黑色素瘤和免疫療法服務部(melanoma and immunotherapeutics service)負責人傑德·D·沃夏克博士( D. Wolchok)説。“我們不希望有一個不完美的生物標誌物。”
The need for such biomarkers is illustrated in a study led by Dr. Wolchok that is to bepresented on Sunday in Chicago at the annual meeting of the American Society of ClinicalOncology. The study is being published online by the New England Journal of Medicine.
沃夏克領導的一項研究説明了對於這樣的生物標誌物的需求，研究將在芝加哥週日的美國臨牀腫瘤學會(American Society of Clinical Oncology)年度會議上獲得展示。《新英格蘭醫學期刊》(New EnglandJournal of Medicine)也將在其網站上發表這項研究。
The 945-patient study shows that the combination of two immune-boosting drugs fromBristol-Myers Squibb — Opdivo and Yervoy — is more effective than either drug alone intreating advanced melanoma. Patients treated with both drugs went a median of 11.5 monthsbefore their disease worsened, a longer reprieve than the 6.9 months for those who receivedonly Opdivo and 2.9 months for those who took Yervoy.
這項覆蓋945名病人的研究表明，兩種來自百時美施貴寶(Bristol-Myers Squibb)的提高免疫力的藥物——納武單抗(Opdivo)和伊匹單抗(Yervoy)——搭配在一起，在治療晚期黑色素瘤中比任意一種更有效。同時使用這兩種藥物的病人在病情惡化前有平均11.5個月的時間，相較只使用納武單抗的6.9個月和只使用伊匹單抗的2.9個月，病人獲得了更長的壽命。
But the combination also caused serious side effects like diarrhea and colitis in 55 percent ofpatients, compared with only 16.3 percent for Opdivo alone and 27.3 percent for Yervoy alone.
但藥物搭配在一起也導致了嚴重的副作用，如55%的病人出現腹瀉和結腸炎，而只使用納武單抗的病人中這一比例只有16.3%，只使用伊匹單抗的病人中這一比例只有27.3%。
Dr. Antoni Ribas, a melanoma specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who wasnot involved in the study, said Opdivo alone might be just as good as the combination formany patients, with far fewer side effects, but that a biomarker test was needed.
加州大學洛杉磯分校的黑色素瘤專家安東尼·瑞巴斯醫生(Dr. Antoni Ribas)沒有參與到這項研究當中，他説，對於許多病人來説，只使用納武單抗的療效也許和藥物組合一樣好，它遠沒有那麼多副作用，只是需要一項生物標誌物檢測。
“The combination is outstanding, but we have to figure out who needs the combination asopposed to the single agent,” he said.
“藥物組合很出色，但我們必須搞清楚哪些病人需要它們，而不是隻需要某一種藥物。”他説。
The main test being explored is for PD-L1, a protein produced by cancer cells that, in effect,orders the immune system to stand down and not attack.
現在正在研發的主要檢測針對的是PD-L1，一種由癌細胞產生的蛋白質，它能使免疫系統“解除戒備”、不攻擊癌細胞。
The Merck drug Keytruda, Opdivo and other similar treatments work by keeping this “standdown” order from being received by the immune cells. So it makes sense that the drugs workbest against tumors that are issuing such an order and that they may not work at all againsttumors that are not issuing the order.
納武單抗和默克(Merck)的Keytruda等類似藥物，通過阻止免疫細胞接收到“解除戒備”的命令來發揮作用。因此一種合情合理的想法是，這類藥品最擅長對抗發佈這類指令的腫瘤，而不是那些不會發出相關指令的腫瘤。
Studies by Bristol-Myers and Merck as well as Roche, which is also developing such a drug, haveshown that there was a much greater success rate using the drugs to treat tumors that werepositive for PD-L1.
百時美施貴寶、默克與羅氏(Roche)等研發此類藥物的公司的研究顯示，此類藥物在治療PD-L1呈陽性的腫瘤時有着大得多的成功率。
Still, at least a small number of patients whose tumors do not produce meaningful amounts ofPD-L1 also seem to benefit from these drugs. So some doctors say it is wrong to withholdthe drugs from patients whose tumors test negative for PD-L1.
然而，仍有少數體內腫瘤甚少釋放PD-L1的患者可以受益於此類藥物，因此一些醫生表示，不應拒絕給出這些藥物，不讓PD-L1呈陰性反應的患者用藥。
In the melanoma study, patients whose tumors were positive for PD-L1 did as well on Opdivoalone as with the combination, as measured by the delay before their cancer worsened. Oneimplication might be that those patients should get only Opdivo, while others should get thecombination.
針對黑色素瘤的研究中，就延遲癌症惡化時間這個標準而言，PD-L1呈陽性反應的病患在只服用納武單抗時，與服用藥物組合效果相同。這可能顯示這些病患應當單獨使用納武單抗治療，其他病患則服用藥物組合。
But Dr. Michael B. Atkins, deputy director of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive CancerCenter in Washington, said that even for PD-L1-positive tumors, the combination was betterat shrinking the abnormalities.
但喬治城大學隆巴底綜合癌症中心(Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center)的副主任邁可‧B‧埃特金斯博士(Dr. Michael B. Atkins)表示，即便是PD-L1呈陽性反應的腫瘤，藥物組合在縮小腫瘤上的表現仍然更佳。
“The biomarker isn’t good enough to make any decisions on it,” said Dr. Atkins, who was notinvolved in the study.
“這個生物標誌物不足以成為治療決策的根據，”未參與研究的埃特金斯博士表示。
PD-L1 is not the only possible biomarker. Scientists are finding that the drugs work bestagainst tumors with lots of mutations. Researchers reported on Friday that a genetic signaturecould identify a small subset of patients with colorectal and other types of cancer who would belikely to benefit from Keytruda.
PD-L1不是唯一可能帶來幫助的生物標誌物。科學家發現，這些藥物在對抗有着多種突變的腫瘤時效果最好。研究者週五公佈，一種標記基因可以指認出一小部分結腸癌及可能會受益於藥物Keytruda的其他癌症類型。
Dr. Ribas and colleagues suggest examining tumor samples to see if immune cells are drugs appear to work best when immune cells are already in or near the tumor, ready toattack when the “stand down” order is lifted by a drug. If the immune cells are not present,then merely lifting the order may not be enough.
瑞巴斯博士及同僚指出，需要檢驗腫瘤樣本中是否存有免疫細胞。如果免疫細胞已經位於腫瘤內或鄰近部位，可以在“解除戒備”的指令被移除時進行攻擊，這些藥物就能達到最佳效果。倘若免疫細胞不存在，那移除指令也很難產生效果。
Merck is working with a diagnostic company, NanoString Technologies, to develop a test thatmeasures activity levels in genes associated with immune response.
默克正在與診斷技術公司“奈米序列科技(NanoString Technologies)合作，研發一種測試，用以測量與免疫反應相關的基因的活躍程度。
A downside for drug companies is that a test can narrow the market for a drug.
對製藥公司不利的是，測試會縮減一種藥物的市場。
Shares of Bristol-Myers fell nearly 7 percent on Friday based on what would seem to be positiveclinical trial results showing that Opdivo could prolong the lives of patients with the mostcommon form of lung cancer.
百時美施貴寶的股票在週五下跌了近百分之七，儘管一項臨牀實驗結果似乎帶來了好消息，顯示納武單抗可以延長罹患主要類型肺癌的病患的生命。
But there was a big survival difference in patients with PD-L1-positive tumors and patientswhose tumors test negative for the protein. For those with PD-L1-negative tumors, therewas no real difference between Opdivo and the generic chemotherapy drug docetaxel. Thisinformation dashed investors’ hopes that Opdivo might be used by all patients with that form oflung cancer.
但PD-L1這種蛋白質呈陽性與否意味着患者存活時間上的很大差異。對於PD-L1呈陰性的腫瘤患者而言，納武單抗與化療仿製藥多西他賽(docetaxel)的效果無異。投資者曾希望此類肺癌的所有病患都會使用納武單抗，但這個消息讓他們希望破滅。
Opdivo did cause fewer side effects than docetaxel, but insurers might not be willing to pay somuch more for that reason alone.
納武單抗的副作用仍比多西他賽要少，但保險業者並不願意僅為這個理由支付其高額費用。
Docetaxel costs $6,000 for six cycles of treatment; Opdivo used for the same length of timecosts about $60,000, said Dr. Patrick W. Cobb, an oncologist in Billings, Mont.
蒙大拿州比靈斯的腫瘤科醫生派崔克‧W‧柯布(Partrick W. Cobb)表示，多西他賽六次療程要價6千美元(約合3萬7千人民幣)，同樣時長療程的納武單抗則需6萬美元。
“The cost of treating these patients will be far higher than in the past,” Dr. Cobb said on awebinar sponsored by Kantar Health, a consulting firm. “We really need a way of determiningwhich patients are likely to benefit from these agents.”
“治療這些病患的支出會遠超以往，”柯布醫生在由諮詢公司坎達健康(Kantar Health)贊助的網絡研討會中表示。“我們真的需要找到一個方法，來分辨哪些病患可能從這些藥物獲得益處。”
醫學英語文章3
身心醫學 要相信你的身體很棒
Science and technology - Psychosomatic medicine
科學技術
Psychosomatic medicine
身心醫學
Think yourself well
要相信，你的身體很棒
You can. But it helps to think well of yourself in the first place
你可以擁有很好的體魄。但首先，你要自我感覺好，這會有幫助的。
THE link between mind and body is terrain into which many medical researchers, fearingridicule, dare not tread.
許多醫學研究者都不敢探究軀體和心理的關係，因為他們害怕，踏進這一領域會受人嘲笑。
But perhaps more should do so.
但也許，研究這方面的人應該多一些才好。
For centuries, doctors have recognised the placebo effect, in which the illusion of treatment,such as pills without an active ingredient, produces real medical benefits.
幾個世紀以來，醫生已逐漸認可了安慰劑效應。因為患者會產生錯覺，認為自己在接受治療。比如，服用無活性成分的藥片也能產生實際療效。
More recently, respectable research has demonstrated that those who frequently experiencepositive emotions live longer and healthier lives.
根據最近的可靠的研究表明，平時積極樂觀的人會活得更長久、更健康。
They have fewer heart attacks, forexample, and fewer colds too.
比如，他們心臟病發作的次數更少，也很少感冒。
Why this happens, though, is only slowly becoming understood.
然而，人們才開始慢慢了解這種情況發生的原因。
What is needed is an experiment that points out specific and measurable ways in which suchemotions alter an individual's biology.
人們需要的是做一場實驗，明確這樣的情緒是通過怎樣具體的、可測量的方式來改變人的生理狀況。
And a study published in Psychological Science, by Barbara Fredrickson and Bethany Kok at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, does precisely that.
北卡羅來納大學教堂山分校的芭芭拉·弗雷德裏克鬆和貝瑟尼·可可就是按照這個思路做了一項研究，並在《心理科學》上發表了相關論文。
Dr Fredrickson and Dr Kok concentrated their attentions on the vagus nerve. This nerve startsin the brain and runs, via numerous branches, to several thoracic and abdominal organsincluding the heart.
弗雷德裏克鬆博士和可可博士把注意力集中在迷走神經上。這對神經起於顱腔，通過無數分支與胸腔、腹腔的幾個臟器相連。
Among its jobs is to send signals telling that organ to slow down during moments of calm andsafety.
它的其中一項工作就是為器官發送信號，讓它們在軀體平靜、安寧的狀態下放緩節奏。
How effectively the vagus nerve is working can be tracked by monitoring someone's heart rateas he breathes in and out.
他們通過監測一個人吸氣、呼氣時的心率，追蹤記錄迷走神經如何有效地工作。
Healthy vagal function is reflected in a subtle increase in heart rate while breathing in and asubtle decrease while breathing out.
如果吸氣時心率略微增加，呼氣時略微下降，則説明迷走神經工作正常。
The difference yields an index of vagal tone, and the value of this index is known to beconnected with health.
兩次心率之差構成迷走神經張力指數。人們都知道該指數與健康程度有關。
Low values are, for example, linked to inflammation and heart attacks.
例如，低指數就與炎症、心臟病發作機率有聯繫。
What particularly interested Dr Fredrickson and Dr Kok was recent work that showed somethingelse about the vagal-tone index: people with high tone are better than those with low atstopping bad feelings getting overblown.
讓弗雷德裏克鬆博士和可可博士特別感興趣的是最近的研究，因為它顯示了迷走神經張力指數的另一個性質：與張力指數低的人相比，指數高的人能更好地防止不良情緒失控。
They also show more positive emotions in general.
研究也顯示，指數高的人大體上情緒更樂觀。
This may provide the missing link between emotional well-being and physical health.
這也許彌補了心理健康與生理健康之間缺失的環節。
In particular, the two researchers found, during a preliminary study they carried out in 2010,that the vagal-tone values of those who experience positive emotions over a period of time goup.
尤其值得注意的是，兩位研究人員在2010年的初步探究中發現，人們如果體驗一段時間的積極情緒，迷走神經張力指數會就增加。
This left them wondering whether positive emotions and vagal tone drive one another in avirtuous spiral.
這為他們留下了疑念，積極情緒與迷走神經張力是否處於一個良性循環之中，互相促進?
They therefore conducted an experiment on 65 of the university's staff, to try to find out.
因此，他們對本校的65名員工展開實驗，一探究竟。
They measured all of their volunteers' vagal tones at the beginning of the experiment and atits conclusion nine weeks later.
他們在實驗開始時測量了所有志願者的迷走神經張力指數，九周後實驗結束時又再次測量。
In between, the volunteers were asked to go each evening to a website especially designed forthe purpose, and rate their most powerful emotional experiences that day.
在實驗期間，他們要求志願者每天晚上登錄一家專門為此設計的網站，為當天所經歷的各種最強烈情緒評定等級。
Dr Fredrickson and Dr Kok asked their volunteers to consider nine positive emotions, such ashope, joy and love, and 11 negative ones, including anger, boredom and disgust.
弗雷德裏克鬆博士和可可博士為志願者提供了九種可供考慮的積極情緒選項，如期待、開心、熱愛，還有十一種消極情緒，包括憤怒、疲倦、厭惡。
They were asked to rate, on a five-point scale, whether—and how strongly—they had felt eachemotion.
兩位博士要求他們以五分制一一打分：是否有這樣的情緒、情緒有多強烈。
One point meant not at all; five meant extremely.
1分代表完全沒有，5分代表非常強烈。
In addition, half the participants, chosen at random, were invited to a series of workshops runby a licensed therapist, to learn a meditation technique intended to engender in themeditator a feeling of goodwill towards both himself and others.
此外，他們還隨機邀請了一半志願者到一個註冊治療師開的一系列工作坊中，學習冥想的技巧，旨在讓冥想者產生一種善待自己、善待他人的情緒。
This group was encouraged to meditate daily, and to report the time they spent doing so.
他們鼓勵這組人每天冥想，並向他們報告冥想用的時間。
Dr Fredrickson and Dr Kok discovered that vagal tone increased significantly in people whomeditated, and hardly at all in those who did not.
弗雷德裏克鬆博士和可可博士發現，冥想的人的迷走神經張力顯著增加，而那些不冥想的人幾乎沒有任何變化。
Among meditators, those who started the experiment with the highest vagal-tone scoresreported the biggest increases in positive emotions.
在眾多冥想者之中，那些實驗一開始就擁有最高指數的人，積極情緒增加的幅度最大;
Meditators who started with particularly low scores showed virtually no such boost.
而一開始指數就很低的人，幾乎沒有這樣的奇效。
Taken as a whole, these findings suggest high vagal tone makes it easier to generate positiveemotions and that this, in turn, drives vagal tone still higher.
作為一個整體來看，這些發現意味着，這迷走神經張力指數越高，越容易產生積極情緒;反過來，積極情緒又能促進指數的提升。
That is both literally and metaphorically a positive feedback loop.
無論是從直觀還是隱含的角度看，這都是一個正反饋循環。
Which is good news for the emotionally positive, but bad for the emotionally negative, for itimplies that those who most need a psychosomatic boost are incapable of generating one.
對於情緒樂觀的人來説，這是個好消息;但對於消極的人來説，情況正好相反，因為它意味着，那些最需要振作精神的人卻往往無法產生積極情緒。
A further experiment by Dr Kok suggests, however, that the grumpy need not give up all hope.
然而可可博士的進一步研究表明，脾氣不好的人也尚存希望。
A simpler procedure than meditation, namely reflecting at night on the day's socialconnections, did seem to cause some improvement to their vagal tone.
有一種比冥想簡單的方法，即每天晚上對白天的社交活動進行反思，似乎能在一定程度上提高迷走神經張力指數。
This might allow even those with a negative outlook on life to bootstrap their way to a mentalstate from which they could then advance to the more powerful technique of meditation.
就算是對生活不抱希望的人，也可能通過這種方式自我解脱，達到另一種精神狀態，然後他們可以進一步使用效果更好的冥想技巧。
Whether, besides improving general health, the mechanism Dr Fredrickson and Dr Kok havediscovered helps explain the placebo effect remains to be investigated.
除了提高綜合健康水平，弗雷德裏克鬆博士和可可博士發現的機制是否有助於解釋安慰劑效應，還有待進一步研究。
But it might, because part of that effect seems to be the good feeling engendered by the fact ofbeing treated.
但這的確有可能，因為安慰劑效應就包括實驗中因治療產生的良好情緒。
More generally, doctors in the ancient world had a saying: a healthy mind in a healthy body.
更為普遍的是，古代的醫生就有個説法：身體好，精氣兒足。
This sort of work suggests that though this proverb is true, a better one might be, a healthymind for a healthy body.
而這個實驗則啟發人們，儘管諺語説得有理，但精氣兒足，身體好可能才更準確。
