人为实现冬暖夏凉易引发疾病

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.

研究人员指出，由家庭供暖和照明设备创造的“永恒夏日可能会扰乱人体内部的季节节律，有着导致人们患病甚至过早死亡的风险。

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.

科学家们担心温暖宜人的房子的普及和持续的明亮灯光可能抑制人体重要基因的活动，这些基因已经进化出在一年当中的不同时期激活的机制。

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.

他们认为永远温暖的房屋有可能导致灾难性后果，因为敏感蛋白会误以为时间还是夏天而不激活自己发挥作用，其中有些敏感蛋白会在冬季激活以抵抗流感等常见疾病。

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.

剑桥大学的科学家此前已经发现人体内四分之一的基因呈季节性变化，包括抵抗各种传染性疾病的侵袭。

Now a study says that the efficacy of these genes could be hampered by modern western lifestyles.

现在一项研究表明，这些基因的效力可能会受到现代西方生活方式的阻碍。

Dr Tyler Stevenson, a senior lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, said: "The real take home message is that seasonal rhythms are pervasive.

阿伯丁大学(University of Aberdeen)的高级讲师泰勒•史蒂芬森(Tyler Stevenson)博士指出：“真正重要的信息就是季节节律是普遍存在的。

"Just like daily rhythms which tell us to sleep at night, a similar thing is happening seasonally.

“就像日常节律告诉我们要在晚上睡觉一样，季节节律也发挥着类似的调节作用。

"But over time these seasonal signals are dampening down.

“但是随着时间的流逝，这些季节信号都被抑制了。

"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世纪，我们人类实现了对生活环境进行精准的灯光和气候控制的技术，现在发达国家的人们生命中的大部分时间都在一种‘模拟夏日’的环境中度过。

"These so-called eternal summers are characterised by light and temperature controls that lack seasonal rhythmicity.

“这种所谓的永恒夏日的特点就是缺乏季节节律性的灯光和温度控制。

"Seasonal changes in environmental variables play a significant role in the regulation of many physiological and behavioural processes.

“环境变量中的季节变化在许多生理和行为过程的调节上发挥重要作用。

"Presently many of us no longer live in accordance with the naturally occurring variation in geophysical rhythms."

“现在许多人不再依照地球物理节奏的自然变化生活。

The research appears in the journal Proceedings of The Royal Society B.

此研究登载在期刊《英国皇家学会学报B辑》(Proceedings of the Royal Society B)上。(注：B指的是BiologicalSciences，生物科学领域)

Vocabulary

perpetually：永恒地，持久地

infectious：传染的

efficacy：功效

rhythmicity：节律性

physiological：生理的

geophysical：地球物理学的