科学60秒:痛楚测算有新招
来源：沪江听写酷
2011-10-07 10:00
Physicians gauging pain have little to go on besides a patient’s self-report. And some sufferers simply can’t ___1___ how they’re feeling.
So scientists have searched for a reliable way to measure pain physiologically. And they may finally have one.
Researchers ___2___ functional MRI scans on the brains of 24 subjects who were having an arm heated to the point of moderate pain. The subjects’ brain patterns were recorded both as they experienced pain and zero pain. The researchers then used an algorithm to develop a pain model, based on the patterns. The work was published in the journal PLoS One.
The researchers then analyzed the brain scan patterns of 16 new subjects, some experiencing pain, some not. They found that their model accurately ___3___ pain levels 81 percent of the time.
Most studies of physiology-based measurements of pain have focused on heart rate, skin conductance and EEG. These measures ___4___ pain, but nothing has been accurate enough to ___5___ the self-reports.
The authors note we can’t depend solely on a study done with heat-based pain—but the method shows hope for new ways to accurately measure pain.
【视听版科学小组荣誉出品】
So scientists have searched for a reliable way to measure pain physiologically. And they may finally have one.
Researchers ___2___ functional MRI scans on the brains of 24 subjects who were having an arm heated to the point of moderate pain. The subjects’ brain patterns were recorded both as they experienced pain and zero pain. The researchers then used an algorithm to develop a pain model, based on the patterns. The work was published in the journal PLoS One.
The researchers then analyzed the brain scan patterns of 16 new subjects, some experiencing pain, some not. They found that their model accurately ___3___ pain levels 81 percent of the time.
Most studies of physiology-based measurements of pain have focused on heart rate, skin conductance and EEG. These measures ___4___ pain, but nothing has been accurate enough to ___5___ the self-reports.
The authors note we can’t depend solely on a study done with heat-based pain—but the method shows hope for new ways to accurately measure pain.
【视听版科学小组荣誉出品】
communicate
performed
predicted
correlate with
substitute for
医生们需要靠病人自述病痛来诊断病情，而部分病人往往难以将自己的痛楚表述出来。
为此，科学家们试图寻找一个可以可靠测量痛楚的生理学方法，说不定还真被他们找到了。
科学家们让24位实验者单臂感受致中等疼痛的温度，同时对他们的脑部进行核磁共振扫描。实验者感到疼痛和未感到疼痛时的脑部图像都被记录下来。科学家们据此建立了一个疼痛数据模型。这项研究刊登在《公共科学图书馆—综合》上。
科学家继而分析了另外16名实验者的脑部扫描图，一部分感到痛楚，一部分没有。他们发现这个模型81%的时间能够精确测算疼痛程度。
以生理学为基础测量痛楚的研究大多关注心率，皮肤传导以及脑电图。这些和痛楚有关系，但对疼痛者自述痛楚来说还不够精确。
研究人员提醒我们，不能仅仅依靠这项热疼痛研究——不过通过这个方法能让我们离确切了解疼痛更进一步~