The death in 2002 of the former England and West Bromwich Albion striker Jeff Astle from degenerative brain disease placed the spotlight firmly on the possibility of a link between heading soccers and the risk of dementia. The coroner at the inquest ruled that Astle, 59, died from an “industrial disease” brought on by the repeated trauma of headers, and a later examination of Astle’s brain appeared to bear out this conclusion.
At that time there was sparse scientific data on the issue, but since then the balance of evidence has steadily tipped further in favor of a link. It has been shown that even single episodes of concussion can have lifelong consequences.
A 2016 study based on the health records of more than 100,000 people in Sweden found that after a single diagnosed concussion people were more likely to have mental health problems and less likely to graduate from high school and college. Other research has shown that people in prison or homeless are more likely to have had a past experience of concussion.
Photo: AP
照片:美聯社
In 2017, researchers from University College London examined postmortem the brains of six former soccer players who had developed dementia. They found signs of brain injury called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in four cases.
Last year a study by a team at Glasgow University found that former professional soccer players were three and a half times more likely to die from dementia and other serious neurological diseases. The study was the largest ever, based on the health records of 7,676 ex-players and 23,000 members of the public, and was possibly the trigger for the Scottish FA’s plan to follow US soccer in banning heading the ball for young players.
There is an open question about which element of soccer is responsible for the link. Clashes of heads leading to concussion or other factors cannot be ruled out. But according to Prof Michael Grey, who is leading a project on soccer and dementia at the University of East Anglia, heading the ball is the most obvious culprit. “The bigger issue really probably is these subconcussive injuries,” he said. “Repetitively heading the ball day after day, week after week, that’s what leads to the damage we see in ex-professionals.”
Grey said that since children have relatively larger heads and weaker necks, they are particularly at risk. “Just based on the pure mechanics, they’re going to have more damage,” he said.
Assuming that heading the ball is the culprit, another question is how exactly these repeated impacts make the brain more vulnerable. “There are lots of plausible explanations,” said Craig Ritchie, a professor of the psychiatry of aging at the University of Edinburgh. “Is it a buildup of proteins like tau in the brain, or amyloid? It could be inflammation, it could be blood flow, it could be a whole host of different things.”
Ritchie is collaborating with the Glasgow study team on a project aimed at gathering data to fill in this gap. They are hoping to track 100 ex-professional soccer players and 100 ex-rugby players, as well as hundreds of members of the public, over the coming decades. Participants will be given detailed brain scans, submit samples of cerebral spinal fluid and take part in cognitive tests.
Ritchie welcomed the Scottish FA’s move to ban under-12s heading the ball in training, saying that as well as being grounded in new scientific evidence, it may reflect a society that cares more about brain health than was the case 20 years ago. “It’s higher in people’s minds that there is this risk,” he said.
(The Guardian)
前英格蘭和西布朗維奇足球隊前鋒傑夫‧阿斯特爾二○○二年因退化性腦部疾病去世,將大眾的注意力聚焦於頭槌和失智症風險之間可能的關聯。當時調查死因的驗屍官判斷,享年五十九歲的阿斯特爾死於「職業傷害」,肇因於頭槌造成重複性的創傷,稍後阿斯特爾大腦的檢驗結果似乎也證實了這項結論。
當時關於這項議題的科學資料相當稀少,不過自從事件發生後,證據不斷地指向頭槌和失智症之間可能有所關聯。醫學案例顯示,就算是單次發作的腦震盪,也可能造成持續終生的後遺症。
二○一六年,一份以十萬多名瑞典人健康紀錄為基礎的研究發現,被診斷出發生單次腦震盪的患者,日後較有可能出現精神健康問題,也較不容易順利從高中和大學畢業。另一項研究顯示,入獄的囚犯或是街友過去較可能有過腦震盪的經歷。
二○一七年,倫敦大學學院的研究人員檢視了六件驗屍報告,對象皆是後來罹患失智症的前足球員。在其中的四個案例,研究人員都發現「慢性創傷性腦病變」這類腦損傷的跡象。
去年一組格拉斯哥大學團隊的研究指出,前職業足球員死於失智症和其他嚴重神經疾病的機率,比起一般人高出三點五倍。該份研究以七千六百七十六名前球員和兩萬三千名一般大眾的健康紀錄為基礎,堪稱史上最大規模,也因此可能是觸發蘇格蘭足球協會計畫跟進美國足球界,禁止年輕球員頭槌的導火線。
目前學界對於足球運動中,哪一項元素和失智症之間有關聯仍未有共識,也不能排除頭部相撞導致腦震盪和其他因素。不過,根據麥可‧葛雷教授的看法,用頭槌球是最明確的罪魁禍首。目前於東安格利亞大學主持足球和失智症研究的葛雷指出:「比較大的問題應該出在那些『亞腦震盪性撞擊』造成的傷害。」他表示:「重複性地用頭頂球,日復一日,週復一週,就導致我們現在看到那些前職業球員所受的腦部損傷。」
葛雷表示,因為孩童的頭部相對較大,而頸部相對脆弱,所以威脅特別嚴重。他指出:「純粹從力學的角度來看,孩童受到的傷害會更大。」
假定用頭槌球是真正的元凶,另一個問題則是:這樣重複的撞擊到底是如何讓大腦變得更為脆弱?愛丁堡大學的老年精神醫學教授克雷格‧黎奇表示:「這背後有許多看似合理的解釋。」例如,「有沒有可能是像Tau蛋白,或是類澱粉蛋白在大腦中累積的結果?有可能是發炎反應,或可能是血流量,也可能是一大群完全不一樣的因素導致。」
黎奇目前與格拉斯哥大學的研究團隊合作,目的是蒐集足夠資料以填補這個鴻溝。他們希望能在接下來的幾十年追蹤一百位前職業足球選手、一百位前橄欖球選手,以及數百名一般大眾。受試者將會進行精細的腦部掃描,繳交腦脊髓液樣本,並且參與認知測驗。
黎奇相當樂見蘇格蘭足球協會採取行動,禁止十二歲以下的孩童參加頭槌訓練,他指出,除了基於新的科學證據之外,這項措施也反映出一個比二十年前來得更關心腦部健康的社會。他說:「人們意識到這樣的風險存在,也因此提升關注的程度。」
(台北時報章厚明編譯)
Taiwanese cuisine boasts a rich culture of thick soups, with various options available at street vendors or high-end restaurants. In English, this style of dish is typically called “thick soup.” Western cuisine typically uses flour, cream, or mashed vegetables to create a creamy consistency, while in Taiwan, thick soups are made by simply incorporating food starch into the soup and creating a smooth and silky texture. Tutuo fish in thick soup is such a soup with fried tutuo fish chunks, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and wood ears. 台灣羹品飲食文化豐富,無論是巷口小店或是高檔餐廳,都有提供羹料理。羹在英文稱作「濃湯」,西式濃湯是以麵粉、鮮奶油、蔬菜泥等達到濃稠的口感,台灣的羹湯用太白粉即能做出濃稠絲滑的湯頭。土魠魚羹就是在勾芡的羹湯中加入炸土魠魚塊、香菇、竹筍、木耳等食材的料理。 boast (v.) 擁有(令人驕傲的事物) consistency (n.) 濃稠度 chunk (n.) 厚塊,大塊 wood ear (n. ph.) 木耳 The star of this
Huge stretches of coral reef around the world are turning a ghostly white this year amid record warm ocean temperatures. On April 15, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed the world’s fourth mass global bleaching event is underway — with serious consequences for marine life and for the people and economies that rely on reefs. WHAT ARE CORALS? Corals are invertebrates that live in colonies. Their calcium carbonate secretions form hard and protective scaffolding that serves as a home to many colorful species of single-celled algae. The two organisms have evolved over millennia to work together, with corals providing shelter to algae,
A: So who were Hollywood’s highest-paid stars of 2023? B: No. 5 to No. 2 were: Matt Damon with US$43 million, Ryan Gosling with US$43 million, Tom Cruise with US$45 million, and Margot Robbie with US$59 million. A: Didn’t Tom Cruise top the list? B: Nope, Adam Sandler was No.1, having made US$73 million, which is about NT$2.34 billion. A: Wow, maybe I should change my career to acting. A: 好萊塢去年的片酬排行榜前幾名是誰? B: 第5到2名是︰麥特戴蒙、4300萬美元,雷恩葛斯林、4300萬美元,湯姆克魯斯、4500萬美元,瑪格羅比、5900萬美元。 A: 冠軍竟然不是阿湯哥? B: 是亞當山德勒、片酬7300萬美元,大約23.4億台幣! A: 天啊或許我也該轉行當演員啦。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
A symbol of purity and cleanliness, the color white is the standard color for coats worn by doctors. While this has been the case for well over 100 years, it hasn’t always been so. In fact, before the late 19th century, doctors wore formal black attire, which was similar to that worn by clergymen. Black was chosen for practical reasons—it hid stains from medical procedures and presented a sense of seriousness. The major reason for the color change of the doctor’s coat was to distinguish qualified, professional doctors from those with little or no medical training. Since medical science