Even mild COVID-19 can reduce brain size: Study

Wednesday, March 9, 2022 - 01:00

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Even mild forms of COVID-19 can cause a reduction in brain size, according to scientists in the UK.

根据英国科学家研究发现，即使是新冠轻症也能造成大脑缩小。

They scanned the brains of over 400 people who had previously had COVID-19, most of them mild cases.

科学家们扫描了超过400多名新冠康复者的大脑，其中绝大部分是轻症。

They found that the overall brain size in infected participants had shrunk between 0.2 and 2 percent, and patients experienced losses in grey matter in the olfactory areas, linked to smell, and regions linked to memory.

总的来说，他们发现这些参与研究的新冠康复者大脑缩小了0.2%-2%，其中，患者损失的灰色神经组织与（脑部）嗅觉区、记忆区域相关。

 grey matter：（人的）头脑，脑子；智力；脑部和脊椎的灰色神经组织

 olfactory /ɒlˈfæktəri/ adj.嗅觉的 • olfactory cells/nerves/organs 嗅觉细胞╱神经╱器官

The apparent effect of this was that those who had recently recovered from COVID-19 found it a bit harder to perform complex mental tasks.

这造成的显著影响是，那些近期克服新冠的康复者发现自己完成复杂的脑力作业变得困难了一些。

The study was published on Monday in the science journal Nature. Lead author of the study Professor Gwenaelle Douaud, from Oxford University’s Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging said: “We were looking at essentially mild infection, so to see that we could really see some differences in their brain and how much their brain had changed compared with those who had not been infected was quite a surprise.” - ARAB NEWS

该研究成果于周一发布在科学期刊《自然》上。该研究的第一作者是Gwenaelle Douaud教授，来自于哈佛大学研究综合性神经影响的威康中心，他表示：我们观察的基本都是新冠轻症患者，所以当可以切实看到他们的大脑有一些不同以及与那些没有被感染的人相比，大脑发生了多大程度的变化的时候，这是相当令人惊讶的。（阿拉伯新闻报）

Integrative/ˈɪntɪɡreɪtɪv/ adj：综合性的

Neuroimaging /njʊərɔɪˈmædʒɪŋ/ 神经影像

英文链接：http://www.dailynews.lk/2022/03/09/world/274356/even-mild-covid-19-can-reduce-brain-size-study