1.A couple of months ago, a friend contacted me for a scientific consultation. 

幾個月前，一個朋友聯(lián)系我做科學咨詢。

2.Her father was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and she wanted my opinion on available therapies and ongoing clinical trials. 

她的父親最近被診斷出患有阿爾茨海默病，她想聽聽我對現(xiàn)有療法和正在進行的臨床試驗的意見。

3.As I tried to answer her questions to the best of my knowledge, I noticed something else on her mind that she was keeping quiet about. 

就在我盡力回答她的問題時，我注意到她腦子里還有別的事情，但她卻對這些事守口如瓶。

4.When I asked her about it, she sheepishly replied: “I don’t want to sound selfish, but seeing my dad like this makes me wonder whether I will get this horrible disease too one day. Is there anything I can do to prevent it?” 

當我問她這件事時，她不好意思地回答說:“我不想聽起來很自私，但看到我爸爸這樣，我想知道我是否有一天也會得這種可怕的疾病。我能做些什么來預防它呢?”

5.I told her that her question was not selfish at all. 

我告訴她說，她的問題一點也不自私。

6.I had also wondered the same thing over the last year as I had observed my grandmother with dementia.

在過去的一年里，當我觀察到我患有癡呆癥的祖母時，我也在想同樣的事情。

7.Dementia is an umbrella term for a group of incurable neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s, characterized by cognitive impairment, such as memory loss and judgment. 

癡呆癥是一組無法治愈的神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)疾病的總稱，包括阿爾茨海默氏癥，其特征是認知障礙，如記憶喪失和判斷力。

8.More than 55 million people worldwide are currently living with dementia. 

目前全世界有5500多萬人患有癡呆癥。

9.Scientists project this number to triple by 2050, which means that we will all know someone with this condition and will inevitably ask the same question as my friend: What can I change in my life today to reduce my risk for dementia?

科學家預測，到2050年，這一數(shù)字將增加兩倍，這意味著我們都會認識患有這種疾病的人，并不可避免地會問我的朋友同樣的問題:我今天能改變我的生活來降低患癡呆癥的風險嗎?

10.Unfortunately, some risk factors are not changeable. 

不幸的是，一些風險因素是不可改變的。

11.These include age (more than 22% of people over 85 in the U.S. are living with dementia), genes (40-65% of people diagnosed with Alzheimer's have the APOE4 gene), and family medical history. 

這些因素包括年齡(在美國，超過22%的85歲以上的人患有癡呆癥)、基因(40-65%被診斷為阿爾茨海默氏癥的人有APOE4基因)和家庭病史。

12.However, recent scientific studies show that we can protect our brain from dementia by eliminating or modifying other risk factors, which account for more than 40% of cases, with our lifestyle choices. 

然而，最近的科學研究表明，通過生活方式的選擇，我們可以通過消除或改變其他風險因素(占40%以上的病例)來保護大腦免受癡呆癥的影響。

13.Moreover, researchers show that these modifications do not have to be significant, life-altering events. 

此外，研究人員表明，這些改變不一定是重大的、改變生活的事件。

14.Even small changes starting at any stage of life can be effective. 

在人生的任何階段，即使是很小的改變都可能是有效的。

15.It is never too early or too late for dementia prevention, but consistency is key.

預防癡呆癥永遠不會太早或太晚，但保持一致性是關(guān)鍵。

16.Here are the 10 steps we can take at any age to reduce our risk for dementia.以下是我們在任何年齡都可以采取的10個步驟，以降低患癡呆癥的風險。

一.Keep active and exercise regularly. 

保持積極，規(guī)律鍛煉。