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Understanding what distinguishes people who battle with Alzheimer’s as they age from those whose mental acuteness remains strong

admin2022-11-05  60
问题     Understanding what distinguishes people who battle with Alzheimer’s as they age from those whose mental acuteness remains strong well into their 80s, 90s and even older, is a major focus of current psychiatric research. Previous studies have pointed to the potentially protective value of exercise, social support and even language skills. And other studies have also shown that having a strong sense of purpose in life is, unsurprisingly, associated with greater overall mental health, happiness, and even longevity. A study published recently in the Archives of General Psychiatry expands on that research, finding that people who reported feeling a greater sense of purpose in life were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than those who reported feeling less fulfilled.
    The study, conducted by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, analyzed medical records and life outlook among 951 participants from the Rush Memory and Aging Project. At the beginning of the study, participants’ overall sense of purpose in life was measured by assessing their level of agreement with 10 statements—such as, "I have a sense of direction and purpose in life,"—derived from a psychological well-being scale.
    After an average of four years of follow-up, 16.3％ (155) participants had developed Alzheimer’s disease. When researchers analyzed the relationship between the psychological well-being scale and risk of Alzheimer’s, they found that participants who reported higher levels of fulfillment were significantly less likely to have developed the degenerative mental disease than those who expressed less sense of validation in life. In fact, participants with high scores on the life purpose test were 2.4 times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s compared with those who had the lowest scores.
    Researchers say that what drives the correlation between reduced risk and heightened sense of purpose is not clear, and should be explored with future research. Still, they expressed optimism at the findings, which add to studies that have linked sense of fulfillment in life everything from better sleep to improved psychological health. What’s more, because a sense of purpose is something that can be cultivated, researchers say that these findings could point toward new treatments designed to improve sense of fulfillment in older adults. If these findings are replicated, they say, "the implications could be far-reaching, and efforts to increase purpose in life may help reduce the rapidly increasing burden of cognitive impairment in old age."
    Perhaps Marlow and Frances Cowan can offer some insight into how to make the most of life as you age. It’s hard to watch the elderly couple’s playful—and off-hand—piano performance in a lobby at the Mayo Clinic without admiring their sense of fulfillment, and breaking into a grin.
It can be learned from Paragraph 1 that ________.
选项 A、those who speak two languages do not develop Alzheimer’s
B、most people do not develop Alzheimer’s in their 80s and 90s
C、a strong sense of purpose contributes to mental health
D、a strong sense of purpose in life makes people feel unhappy
答案C
解析 根据题干可直接定位到第一段。该段第一句通过谈精神病学研究的着重点引出关于老年痴呆症的话题。第二三句谈到一些研究表示的对保持心智灵敏的有利因素，第四句则通过最近的研究发现验证第三句的观点：强烈的目标感对整体心理健康有积极的作用(associated with…mental health)，C项与此吻合。该段第二句只是说语言技巧有潜在保护作用(potentially protective value of exercise…even language skills)，但并不是说“那些说两种语言的人不会得老年痴呆症”，因此排除A项。第一句确实提到“到了80岁、90岁未得老年痴呆症的人”，但文中提及这些人只是为了跟年纪大了得老年痴呆症的人进行区分，B项的most people没有文中依据，故排除。D项中的unhappy和第三句的happiness意思冲突，也可排除。
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