使用核磁共振成像技术诊断自闭症.docVIP

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 t