新加坡新發明:1小時血液檢測阿爾茨海默症
A team of scientists claim to have developed the world's first blood test that can detect Alzheimer's disease.
一個科學家小組聲稱已研發出世界首個用於檢測阿爾茨海默症的血液測試方法。The pioneering method may prove vital in dealing with the impending dementia crisis the world could face this century.
經證明這個先進的方法在應對本世紀全球將遭遇的老年癡呆危機中起到至關重要的作用。The Amplified Plasmonic Exosome (Apex) system was developed by researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and analyzes specific proteins in blood samples, catching the disease earlier than ever before.
放大等離子體外泌體（Apex）系統由新加坡國立大學研究人員研發，分析血液樣本中特定的蛋白質，能比以往更早發現疾病。
The current preferred methods to diagnose dementia (of which Alzheimer's makes up some 50-70 percent of cases) are a neuropsychological test, spinal fluid sampling and brain Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging, all of which are more expensive, invasive or time-consuming than the Apex system.
當前首選的癡呆（其中老年癡呆的診斷佔比約爲50% -70%）診斷方法是神經心理測驗、脊髓液取樣和腦正電子發射斷層顯像技術。相比放大等離子體外泌體系統法，這些方法更貴、對人體影響更大、耗時也更長。The current design of the Apex system can test 60 samples simultaneously, with results "available in less than one hour."
目前應用的放大等離子體外泌體系統法能同時檢測60份樣本，“不到一小時”就能出結果。It is expected to come online in general medicine within the next five years and currently costs SGD$60 (USD$44) to administer.
預計五年內這種方法會應用於普通醫學中，目前檢測費用爲60新幣（44美元）。
At present there are roughly 50 million dementia patients worldwide but that is estimated to balloon up to 152 million by 2050, marking one of the most significant impending health crises humans face as a species.
目前全球約有5000萬癡呆患者，據估計到2050年這一人數會上漲到1.52億，癡呆將成爲人類這一物種即將面臨的最嚴重的健康危機之一。This new technology could drastically improve early detection and treatment which is critical to disease management and mitigation of symptoms.
這項新技術會徹底改善早期檢測和治療，而這對控制疾病和緩解症狀都至關重要。It could also be "easily scaled up" for large-scale clinical tests and helping find the right treatment, according to research leader Shao Huilin of the NUS Institute for Health Innovation & Technology.
新加坡國立大學健康創新與技術研究所研究負責人Shao Huilin表示，此項測試還很容易“擴展”到大規模臨牀測試，並有助於找到正確療法。
