使用核磁共振成像技术诊断自闭症.doc

使用核磁共振成像技术诊断自闭症Doctors currently identify autism disorders by observing behavior. Autism affects social and communication skills. It usually first appears in young children.医生目前通过观察行为来诊断自闭症。自闭症对社交和沟通技巧都产生影响，通常最先出现在年幼的儿童当中。Now, researchers in the United States think they have found a biological test for autism. A team from Harvard University in Massachusetts and the University of Utah developed it.现在，美国的研究人员认为他们已经发现了诊断自闭症的生物测试方法。来自哈佛大学和犹他大学的小组开发了该测试。The test uses an MRI or magnetic resonance imaging machine to look for abnormalities in the brain. Other studies have not shown major structural differences between the brains of autistic people and those without autism.该测试利用核磁共振成像技术探测大脑异常。其他研究并未发现自闭症患者与非自闭症患者存在大脑结构性差异。But the latest study did not look at the large structures of the brain. Instead, Harvards Nicholas Lange says the team looked at the circuitry - the chemical and electrical pathways that link the different parts of the brain.但这项最新研究并非检查大脑主要结构，相反，哈佛大学的尼古拉斯朗格（Nicholas Lange）表示，该小组检查的是大脑回路把大脑不同部分连接起来的化学途径和电流途径。NICOLAS LANGE: The brain may be OK, the parts that do the work may be OK. But the wiring, the cables between the points in the brain, one to another, may be disrupted in some way.朗格：“大脑可能没有问题，脑功能结构运转也良好，但大脑中从一端到另一端这两点的神经网络可能在某种程度上遭到了破坏。”The scientists did MRI scans on sixty males between the ages of eight and twenty-six. Thirty of them had been identified as having mild autism, a form also known as high-functioning autism.科学家利用核磁共振成像对年龄在8到26岁之间的60位男性进行了扫描，其中30位被确认患有轻度自闭症，又称为高功能自闭症。The researchers looked at the connections in two areas of the brain that control language and social behavior. They used a technique called diffusion tensor imaging. This way they could observe microscopic fibers to see how well the brain circuitry was organized.研究人员检查了大脑中控制语言和社会行为这两个区域的联系。他们利用了一项叫做扩散张量成像的技术，这样，他们能通过观察细微纤维来检查大脑回路是否组织良好。Nicholas Lange says the pictures showed a clear difference between the people with autism and those without. He compared it to spaghetti.朗格表示，图像显示，自闭症患者与非自闭症患者存在明显差异。他把这个与意大利面条做了比较。NICHOLAS LANGE: Theres a bundle of uncooked spaghetti and theres clear directionality to that. Its nice and well-organized, as opposed to a cooked bowl of spaghetti thats just a tangle of - it looks like spaghetti. And thats the way the wiring can be. It can be either very tangled or it can be very organized.朗格：“未煮过的意大利面有很好的方向性，看起来井井有条。相反，煮过的意大利面就会缠绕在一起大脑回路就像意大利面条，或混成一团或非常清晰。”The researchers say the tests were able to predict with ninety-four percent accuracy which of the people had been found to have autism. The researchers repeated their study with new participants and got equally strong results.研究人员表示，该项测试预测自闭症患者的准确率可以达到94%，研究人员对不同被测者反复研究，并得到相同的研究结果。The results appear in the journal Autism Research.研究结果发表在自闭症研究期刊上。But Doctor Lange says the test is not ready yet for general use. The study was small and only involved males. It also used older children and adults.但朗格表示，该测试尚未为常规应用做好准备。研究范围较小且被测者仅为男性。它也适用于年龄稍大的儿童和成年人。Doctor Lange says that, in time, the test might be able to identify autism in children under three. Three is currently the youngest age at which most doctors