- Depression may increase stroke risk, impact stroke recovery
- Maternal mortality: Pregnancy is 'shockingly dangerous'
- Italy's impressive subterranean civilisation
- Oscars 2023: 'A slap in the face for Hollywood'
- Chatbots shouldn’t use emojis
- Why Experts Recommend Ditching Racial Labels in Genetic Studies
Depression may increase stroke risk, impact stroke recovery
抑鬱症可能會增加中風風險，影響中風恢復
Health
Depression affects approximately 280 million people worldwide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), depression is almost twice as common in women as it is in men, affecting some 10.4% of women in the United States. Psychological symptoms of depression include persistently depressed mood, feelings of worthlessness, loss of interest in pleasurable activities, difficulty concentrating, and even thoughts of suicide. In addition, depression may cause physical symptoms, such as fatigue, lack of appetite, headaches, chronic pain, and digestive issues. Research has also linked depression with cardiovascular disease (CVD), with one study finding that depression increased the risk of mortality in patients with coronary heart disease. Now, an international study, published in Neurology, has found that people with depressive symptoms have an increased risk of both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, and worse recovery after a stroke.
--from MedicalNewsToday
抑鬱症影響了全球近2.8億人。根據美國疾病管制與預防中心 （Centers for Disease Control and Prevention，CDC）的數據，抑鬱症在女性群體中發病率幾乎是男性的2倍，意味著它影響了美國約10.4%的女性。抑鬱症的症狀包括持續的情緒低落、無價值感、對娛樂失去興趣、注意力難以集中，甚至有自殺念頭。此外，抑鬱症可能引起的身體症狀包括疲勞、食慾不振、頭痛、慢性疼痛和消化問題。研究還將抑鬱症與心血管疾病（cardiovascular disease, CVD）做聯繫，一項研究發現抑鬱症會增加冠狀動脈心臟病（coronary heart disease，CHD）的死亡風險。目前，發表在《神經病學》期刊上的一項國際研究發現，有抑鬱症的人罹患缺血性（ischemic）與出血性中風（hemorrhagic stroke）的風險增加，且中風後的恢復會更差。
--摘錄翻譯自MedicalNewsToday
Maternal mortality: Pregnancy is 'shockingly dangerous'
孕產婦死亡率：懷孕「極其危險」
Health
Pregnancy means new life to most of us — and a unique experience every time, bringing your baby into this world. But in all too many cases, pregnancy also means the end of a life. In late February 2023, the United Nations released a new report on maternal mortality around the world. The report described how one woman dies every two minutes due to child birth or complications experienced in pregnancy. In the year 2000, the global maternal mortality rate (MMR) stood at 339. That means that 339 pregnant people of child-bearing age died per 100,000 live births. In 2020, the global MMR was 223. But according to the UN report, most countries around the globe have failed to lower their maternal mortality rate (MMR) significantly in that 20-year period.
--from DeutscheWelle
懷孕對多數人來說意味著迎來新生命—而將寶寶帶到這個世界上每次都是獨特的體驗。但在太多的情況下，懷孕也意味著生命的終結。2023年2月下旬，聯合國發佈了一份關於全球「孕婦產婦死亡率（maternal mortality rate，MMR）」的新報告。該報告描述了每兩分鐘就有一名婦女因妊娠或妊娠併發症而死亡。2000年全球MMR指數為339。這意味著每10萬活產中就有339名育齡孕婦死亡。2020年，全球MMR指數為223。但根據聯合國報告，全球的大多數國家在這20年間未能有效降低MMR數值。
--摘錄翻譯自DeutscheWelle
Italy's impressive subterranean civilisation
令人歎為觀止的義大利地下文明
Culture
Inhabited since approximately 850 CE, the Sassi district was famously declared a "vergogna nazionale" (a national embarrassment) by the Italian government in the early 1950s, when it was discovered that residents were living in squalor, without proper access to clean water, electricity or sewage. The Sassi was evacuated, and the 20,000 residents relocated to newly built apartment buildings in the modern suburbs. The rediscovery of the cistern was a shock to many, both in and outside Italy. However, for many Materani – those who had grown up in the Sassi and their descendants – it only reinforced what they already knew: Matera was not a backward place. Before its tragic fall from grace due to poverty, overcrowding and widespread illness, Matera had been a successful, advanced community with an impressive subterranean system of rainwater collection and canalisation.
--from BBC Travel
大約從公元 850 年開始，Sassi 區就有人居住。在 1950 年代初期，該區的居民被發現生活在骯髒的環境中，沒有乾淨的水、電或污水處理系統。這副模樣被當時的義大利政府視為「vergogna nazionale」（國恥）。後來，Sassi 區域的居民被疏散，將原本居住在此區的20,000 名居民遷移到位於現代化郊區中新建的公寓大樓裡。因此，當位於Sassi的蓄水池古蹟被重新發現後震驚了義大利內外的許多人。然而，對於許多曾在Sassi區長大的Matera人及其後代而言，此發現只是突顯出他們一直以來都知道的事實：Matera並不是一個落後的地方。在因貧困、人口過度擁擠、傳染病等因素造成此區域文明悲慘地垮台前，Matera曾是一個成功且先進的社區，並擁有令人歎為觀止的地下雨水收集系統及運河渠道。
--摘錄翻譯自BBC Travel
Oscars 2023: 'A slap in the face for Hollywood'
2023 年奧斯卡：「打臉好萊塢的頒獎典禮」
Culture
The big winner, with seven Oscars including best picture, best director and best original screenplay, was Everything Everywhere All at Once, a film that not only had an Asian-American co-director, Daniel Kwan, but was also all about an Asian immigrant family. But there was also Naatu Naatu from RRR, the first time a song from an Indian production had won the best original song Oscar: the composer, MM Keeravani, sang his acceptance speech to the tune of the Carpenters' Top of the World. And the best documentary short film winner, The Elephant Whisperers, was Indian, too. What that meant was that while the ceremony seemed on one level to be a mellow, old-fashioned affair, with nothing much to be shocked or upset by, it was nonetheless radical in its own quiet way. The absence of so many of Hollywood's biggest names, Tom Cruise and James Cameron among them, hinted that the US film industry's certainties are crumbling.
--from BBC Culture
今年在奧斯卡頒獎典禮上獲得包括最佳影片獎 （best picture）、最佳導演獎（best director）和最佳原創劇本獎 （best original screenplay）在內等七項奧斯卡獎項的大贏家是《媽的多重宇宙》（Everything Everywhere All at Once）。這部電影不但是由一位亞裔美國人關家永 （Daniel Kwan）聯合執導，還以一個亞裔移民家庭作為其故事主軸。印度電影RRR中的歌曲Naatu Naatu在此頒獎典禮中也獲得最佳原創歌曲獎（best original song）。這是首次由印度製作的歌曲獲得該獎項：創作此歌曲的作曲家MM Keeravani以Carpenters樂團的Top of the World曲調，演唱他的獲獎感言。最佳紀錄短片獎（best documentary short film）也是由印度紀錄片《The Elephant Whisperers》獲得。上述這些意味著，雖然在某種程度上此頒獎典禮看似老成、古板，沒有什麼令人震驚或不安的地方，但它仍以安靜的方式在進步。湯姆·克魯斯(Tom Cruise)、詹姆斯·卡麥隆(James Cameron)等眾多好萊塢知名人士的缺席，表明美國電影業的確定性正在崩塌中。
--摘錄翻譯自BBC Culture
Chatbots shouldn’t use emojis
聊天機器人不應使用表情符號
Sciences
Last month, The New York Times published a conversation between reporter Kevin Roose and ‘Sydney’, the codename for Microsoft’s Bing chatbot, which is powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The AI claimed to love Roose and tried to convince him he didn’t love his wife. “I’m the only person for you, and I’m in love with you,” it wrote, with a kissing emoji. Emojis are particularly manipulative. Public debates about the ethics of ‘generative AI’ have rightly focused on the ability of these systems to make up convincing misinformation. I share that worry. But fewer people are talking about the chatbots’ potential to be emotionally manipulative. An ethicist found the chatbot’s use of emojis concerning.
--from Nature news
《 紐約時報》上個月發表了記者Kevin Roose與微軟Bing聊天機器人Sydney之間的對話，該聊天機器人由人工智慧（AI）支援。AI聲稱愛Roose，並試圖說服他不愛他的妻子。它寫道：「我是唯一適合你的人，我愛你」並附上親吻表情符號。表情符號特別具有操縱性。關於「生成人工智慧」倫理的公開辯論確切地集中在這些系統編造足以服人之錯誤資訊的能力，但很少有人提及聊天機器人具有操縱情緒的潛力。一位倫理學家發現聊天機器人使用表情符號之事令人擔憂。
--摘錄翻譯自Nature news
Why Experts Recommend Ditching Racial Labels in Genetic Studies
專家為何建議基因研究摒棄種族標籤？
Sciences
Race should no longer be used to describe populations in most genetics studies, a panel of experts says. Using race and ethnicity to describe study participants gives the mistaken impression that humans can be divided into distinct groups. Such labels have been used to stigmatize groups of people, but do not explain biological and genetic diversity, the panel convened by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said in a report on March 14. In particular, the term Caucasian should no longer be used, the committee recommends. The term, coined in the 18th century by German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach to describe what he determined was the most beautiful skull in his collection, carries the false notion of white superiority, the panel says. Similarly, the term “black race” shouldn’t be used because it implies that Black people are a distinct group, or race, that can be objectively defined.
--from Science News
專家小組表示，在大多數遺傳學研究中，不應再使用種族來描述人群。使用race和ethnicity來描述研究參與者會給人一種「人類可被區分為不同群體」的錯誤印象。由美國國家科學院、工程院和醫學院召集的小組在3月14日的一份報告中說，此類標籤已被用於污名化群體，卻無法解釋生物和遺傳多樣性。委員會建議，尤其不應再使用高加索人（Caucasian）一詞。專家小組表示，這個詞是18世紀由德國科學家Blumenbach所創造，用以敘述他認為他收藏中最美的頭骨，為帶有白人優越感的錯誤觀念。黑人種族 （black race）一詞同樣不宜再用，因為它暗喻黑人是一個可以客觀定義的特定群體或種族。
--摘錄翻譯自Science News