Topic: About scientific research - Certain Junk Foods Could Be Messing With Your Brain’s Appetite Control, Study Finds
Emerging evidence in humans suggests a typically Western high-fat, high-sugar ’junk food’ diet can quickly undermine your brain’s appetite control.
在人類中新發現的證據顯示，含有高脂高糖「垃圾食物」的典型西方飲食，可以快速破壞大腦對食慾的控制。
After indulging in a week-long binge of waffles, milkshakes and similarly rich foods, researchers in Australia found young and healthy volunteers scored worse on memory tests and experienced a greater desire to eat junk food, even when they were already full.
狂吃鬆餅、奶昔和類似的高脂食物一週後，澳洲研究人員發現，年輕健康的志願者在記憶力測試中成績欠佳，而且對垃圾食物更有食慾，甚至在吃飽之後還想吃。
The findings suggest something is amiss in the hippocampus - a region of the brain that supports memory and helps to regulate appetite. When we are full, the hippocampus is thought to quieten down our memories of delicious food, thereby reducing our appetite.
研究結果顯示問題出在海馬體，這個區域在大腦中支援記憶力，協助調節食慾。我們吃飽之後，海馬體被認為會使美食記憶不再活躍，從而降低食慾。
When it’s disrupted, this control can be seriously undermined.
當海馬體受到擾亂，對食慾的控制也會受到嚴重破壞。
Over the years, extensive research on juvenile mice has found the function of the hippocampus is very sensitive to ’junk food’ , but this has only recently been observed in young and healthy humans.
近年來對幼鼠進行的廣泛研究發現，海馬體對「垃圾食物」很敏感，但最近才在年輕健康的人群中發現這一問題。
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Topic: Squatting or kneeling is better for your posture than sitting all day, anthropologists claim 人類學家：蹲姿或跪姿比坐一整天來得好
Resting postures such as squatting or kneeling may be better for health because they require more muscle activity than sitting on a chair, researchers claim.
研究人員聲稱，蹲或跪這類休息姿勢也許更有益於身體健康，因為它們比坐在椅子上需要更多的肌肉活動。
The findings are based on data gathered from a hunter-gatherer population in Tanzania who wore devices that measured physical activity as well as periods of rest.
這些發現是根據從坦尚尼亞一個狩獵採集部落收集來的數據，這個部落的人佩戴裝置來測量他們的體力活動和休息時間。
Anthropologists from the US found that despite being sedentary for almost 10 hours each day, equivalent to clocking a shift in the office at the desk, the Hazda people appeared to lack the markers of chronic diseases associated with long periods of sitting.
美國的人類學家發現，儘管哈茲達部落的人每天靜止不動的時間將近10個小時，相當於在辦公桌前上一天班，但他們似乎並未出現久坐帶來的慢性病跡象。
They believe this is down to the ‘active rest postures’ used by the tribe.
他們相信，這歸結於該部落使用的「主動休息姿勢」。
Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1368761 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1367176
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Topic: Aboriginal canoe sets out on voyage to Japan for research
An Aboriginal Amis canoe is set to sail from Taiwan’s Taitung County to Japan’s Yonaguni Island some time between Monday and July 13. Organized by Taiwan’s National Museum of Prehistory and Japan’s National Museum of Nature and Science (NMNS), the voyage is part of the NMNS’ research on people’s movement from Taiwan to Japan in ancient times.
一艘原住民阿美族的獨木舟，預計在週一至七月十三日間，從台灣的台東縣航向日本的與那國島。該活動是由國立台灣史前文化博物館，及日本的國立科學博物館合辦，此航行是科博館研究的一部分，旨在探討古代人們從台灣到日本的遷徙活動。
According to archaeologists, some of the early inhabitants of Japan most likely traveled from Taiwan to the Ryukyu Islands on similar wooden vessels during the Paleolithic, about 30,000 years ago. The canoe will have to cross the Kuroshio Current (the Black Current) and travel around 205km to Yonaguni Island, Japan’s westernmost island in Okinawa Prefecture.
根據考古學家們指出，日本的某些早期居民，極有可能是搭乘著類似的木筏，自台灣來到沖繩列島，當時大約是距今三萬年的舊石器時代。這艘獨木舟必須跨越「黑潮」洋流，航行約兩百零五公里至沖繩縣、位於全日本最西端的與那國島。
The research team failed to complete a voyage on an Amis bamboo raft last year and the year before that, because the boats used were not strong enough for the big waves. This time around, a canoe made of cedar will be used in the adventure, which is expected to take 2 to 3 days.
研究團隊去年、前年均嘗試以阿美族竹筏渡海，但因竹筏不夠堅固無法抵擋大浪沖擊，最終挑戰失敗。本次冒險則改用以雪松打造的獨木舟，預計需二到三天才能完成整趟航程。
Source article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2019/06/20/2003717213
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Topic: Researchers ‘reboot’ pig brains hours after animals died
The brains of decapitated pigs can be partially revived several hours after the animal has died, researchers have revealed, with some of the functions of cells booted back up when an oxygen-rich fluid is circulated through the organ.
研究人員近日指出，宰殺後的豬隻大腦在死亡數個小時之後，仍然可以被「部分復甦」──藉由一種富含氧氣的液體在器官中進行循環，死亡豬隻的腦細胞部分功能被重新啟動。
The scientists stress that the brains do not show any signs of consciousness — for example, there was no sign that different parts of the brain were sending signals to each other — and that it does not change the definition of death. “This is not a living brain. But it is a cellularly active brain,” said Prof Nenad Sestan from Yale University, who led the research.
科學家強調，實驗中的大腦並未顯示任何具有意識的徵兆──舉例而言，大腦不同部位並沒有出現互相傳遞訊號的跡象──而這項實驗也並未改變死亡的定義。耶魯大學的內納德‧塞斯坦教授是這篇研究的主持人，他表示：「這並不代表它是一個活的大腦，但確實是一個就細胞層面而言仍在活動中的大腦。」
A number of studies have suggested brain cells might not inevitably die after blood stops circulating. Writing in the journal Nature, researchers in the US reported how they sought to examine this further by taking brains from 32 pigs that had been killed in a slaughterhouse. Four hours after their deaths the arteries of the pig brains were hooked up to a sophisticated system dubbed BrainEx, which pumped an oxygenated synthetic blood through the organ. This fluid contained a host of nutrients as well as other substances to tackle processes that lead to cell death, and the circulation was continued for six hours.
曾有多份研究指出，在血液停止循環後，大腦細胞可能不會必然死亡。在期刊《自然》這次刊出的報告中，美國的研究人員解釋他們如何藉由三十二頭豬在屠宰廠被宰殺後留下的大腦，試圖進一步檢驗這個現象。在豬隻死亡四個小時後，豬的大腦動脈被接上一個稱為「BrainEx」的複雜系統，它會把加入氧氣的人工合成血液灌注到器官中。液體內含有許多營養物和其他物質，能夠阻撓導致細胞死亡的過程，並在大腦中持續循環六個小時。
At that point, the team found the circulating fluid successfully flowed through blood vessels in the brain, including tiny capillaries, and that the blood vessels were able to dilate in response to a drug, while the brain as a whole consumed oxygen and glucose from the fluid and released carbon dioxide back into it at similar rates to an intact brain.
此時，研究團隊發現循環的液體順利流經大腦中的血管──包括極細的微血管──而血管也能夠對某種藥物產生擴張反應，大腦整體則會消耗液體中的氧氣和葡萄糖，並釋出二氧化碳回到液體中，速率近似於正常大腦。
What is more, the cells showed certain functions, including the release of various immune-response substances when triggered. After tissues were removed from the brains and flushed of the BrainEx fluid the researchers found individual neurons were still able to function.
此外，細胞更開始出現某些功能，例如在受到刺激時會釋放出多種免疫反應物質。研究人員移除部分腦組織、並且沖洗掉「BrainEx」液體後，發現單獨的神經元仍然能夠運作。
The team said that while the BrainEx fluid was circulating, they monitored the brains to check for any signs of organized electrical activity that might suggest consciousness. “That monitoring didn’t show any kind of organized global electrical activity,” said Dr Stephen Latham, a bioethicist and co-author of the study.
研究團隊表示，當「BrainEx」液體正在循環時，他們有偵測大腦，檢查是否有任何可能代表意識的組織性帶電活動跡象。生物倫理學家史蒂芬‧拉譚姆博士是這份研究的共同作者，他指出：「監測過程中並未顯示出任何組織性的整體帶電活動」。
But, he said, the team had been ready for signs of consciousness. “Had that appeared they would have lowered the temperature of the brain and used anesthesia to stop that kind of activity,” said Latham, adding that at present there are no ethics committees set up for such an eventuality, and it remained unclear in any case if the technique could ever restore consciousness.
不過，他也表示，研究團隊已做好準備，面對隨時出現意識的徵兆。拉譚姆博士說：「如果有類似跡象出現，研究人員就會降低腦部溫度，並且用麻醉藥物阻止這類活動。」但他也補充說，目前並沒有為這種可能性成立任何倫理委員會，而且無論如何，該技術是否能夠恢復意識仍然在未定之天。
The team said the approach could provide a new way to study the brain, and even help in the development and testing of new therapies for stroke and other conditions in which bloodflow to parts of the brain is blocked, causing cells to die.
研究團隊表示，這個方法可望提供新的大腦研究方式，甚至有助於開發和測試新療法，治療中風和其他因為大腦部分血流受阻而導致細胞死亡的相關疾病。
Source article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2019/04/28/2003714163/2