人爲實現冬暖夏涼易引發疾病
An 'eternal summer' created by home heating and lighting may be disrupting seasonal rhythms in the human body with the risk of illness or even premature death, researchers say.
研究人員指出，由家庭供暖和照明設備創造的“永恆夏日”可能會擾亂人體內部的季節節律，有着導致人們患病甚至過早死亡的風險。
Scientists fear that the prevalence of warm houses and sustained contact with bright lights could supress important genes which have evolved to activate at different times of the year.
科學家們擔心溫暖宜人的房子的普及和持續的明亮燈光可能抑制人體重要基因的活動，這些基因已經進化出在一年當中的不同時期激活的機制。
They think perpetually warm dwellings may be a recipe for disaster as the sensitive proteins – some of which kick in during the winter to fight off common diseases like flu – are fooled into thinking it is still the summer and do not activate.
他們認爲永遠溫暖的房屋有可能導致災難性後果，因爲敏感蛋白會誤以爲時間還是夏天而不會激活，其中有些敏感蛋白會在冬季激活以抵抗流感等常見疾病。
Scientists at the University of Cambridge have previously found that a quarter of human genes display seasonal variation, including the protection against various infectious diseases.
劍橋大學的科學家此前已經發現人體內四分之一的基因呈季節性變化，包括抵抗各種傳染性疾病的侵襲。
Now a study says that the efficacy of these genes could be hampered by modern western lifestyles.
現在一項研究表明，這些基因的效力可能會受到現代西方生活方式的阻礙。
Dr Tyler Stevenson, a senior lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, said: "The real take home message is that seasonal rhythms are pervasive.
阿伯丁大學（University of Aberdeen）的高級講師泰勒•史蒂芬森（Tyler Stevenson）博士指出：“真正重要的信息就是季節節律是普遍存在的。”
"Just like daily rhythms which tell us to sleep at night, a similar thing is happening seasonally.
“就像日常節律告訴我們要在晚上睡覺一樣，季節也有相似的規律。”
"But over time these seasonal signals are dampening down.
“但是隨着時間的流逝，這些季節信號都被抑制了。”
"During the twentieth century our species has developed technologies that allow precise light and climate control over our living environments and humans in developed societies now spend the vast majority of their lives in conditions that mimic 'summer-like' environments.
“在20世紀，我們人類實現了對生活環境進行精準的燈光和氣候控制的技術，現在發達國家的人們生命中的大部分時間都在一種‘模擬夏日’的環境中度過。”
"These so-called eternal summers are characterised by light and temperature controls that lack seasonal rhythmicity.
“這種所謂的永恆夏日的特點就是缺乏季節節律性的燈光和溫度控制。”
"Seasonal changes in environmental variables play a significant role in the regulation of many physiological and behavioural processes.
“環境變量中的季節變化在許多生理和行爲過程的調節上發揮重要作用。”
"Presently many of us no longer live in accordance with the naturally occurring variation in geophysical rhythms."
“現在許多人不再依照地球物理節奏的自然變化生活。”
The research appears in the journal Proceedings of The Royal Society B.
此研究登載在期刊《英國皇家學會學報B輯》（Proceedings of the Royal Society B）上。（注：B指的是 BiologicalSciences，生物科學領域）
Vocabulary
perpetually：永恆地，持久地
infectious：傳染的
efficacy：功效
rhythmicity：節律性
physiological：生理的
geophysical：地球物理學的
