We're a nation living longer and longer.

我們是一個越來越長壽的民族。

Over the next 30 years, the number of Americans age 90 and above is expected to triple.

在未來 30 年內，90 歲及以上的美國人預計將增加兩倍。

And an NIH-funded research study, called 90PLUS at the University of California, Irvine, is trying to learn all it can, right now, from a group of men and women who've already managed to get there.

由美國國立衛生研究院（NIH）資助、加州大學歐文分校（University of California, Irvine）開展的一項名為 "90PLUS "的研究，正試圖從一群已經成功達到這一目標的男性和女性身上，瞭解他們的一切。

Six years ago, we first reported on their first set of findings, factors associated with longer life, exercise, moderate drinking of alcohol and caffeine, social engagement, and our favorite, putting on a few pounds as we age.

六年前，我們首次報道了他們的第一組研究結果，即與長壽、運動、適量飲酒和咖啡因、社會參與相關的因素，以及我們最喜歡的隨著年齡增長而增重的因素。

The 90PLUS study's focus is now on memory and dementia.

目前，90PLUS 研究的重點是記憶力和痴呆症。

What they've learned, and what they haven't, drew us back, as did the 90PLUSers.

他們學到了什麼，還沒有學到什麼，都吸引著我們，90PLUSers 也是如此。

Take a quick look at when we first met them in 2014.

回顧一下我們在 2014 年第一次見到他們時的情景吧。

My birthday is February 7th, 1918.

我的生日是 1918 年 2 月 7 日。

I was born on August 25th, 1920, and I'm 93 plus.

我出生於 1920 年 8 月 25 日，今年 93 歲多。

June 15th, 1918, and it was, I'm sure, a lovely day.

1918年6月15日，我相信那是一個美好的日子。

The men and women we met six years ago had all agreed to be checked out by the 90PLUS study team, top to bottom, every six months.

六年前，我們遇到的那些男人和女人都同意每六個月接受一次 90PLUS 研究小組從上到下的檢查。

Big smile.

燦爛的笑容

Their facial muscles.

他們的面部肌肉

Excellent.

好極了

How they walk.

他們如何行走

How fast they can stand up and sit down.

他們站立和坐下的速度有多快。

Fantastic.

太棒了

And critically, how they think.

至關重要的是，他們是如何思考的。

Now spell world backwards.

現在倒過來拼寫 "世界"。

D-L-R-O-W.

D-L-R-O-W。

Three?

三個？

They were an impressive and active group.

他們是一個令人印象深刻的活躍團體。

A B-17 gunner in World War II.

第二次世界大戰中的一名 B-17 炮手。

A fellow World War II vet who drove a convertible.

一位開敞篷車的二戰老兵戰友。

A 95-year-old speed walker.

一位 95 歲的快行者

Ballroom dancers.

交際舞者

I asked them, aren't you going to ask us any questions about our sex life?

我問他們，你們不問我們的性生活嗎？

And they said no.

他們說不行。

And sadly, some who had begun to struggle with dementia.

遺憾的是，有些人已經開始與痴呆症作鬥爭。

What is today's date?

今天是幾號？

Today's date?

今天的日期？

Mm-hmm.

嗯

Today's date.

今天的日期

What's the oldest person you have seen?

你見過的最老的人是誰？

I've seen several 116-year-olds.

我見過幾個 116 歲的老人。

Neurologist Claudia Kawas, the 90PLUS study's lead investigator, says studying the oldest old is increasingly important.

90PLUS 研究的首席研究員、神經學家克勞迪婭-卡瓦斯（Claudia Kawas）說，對高齡老人的研究越來越重要。

Half of all children born today in the United States and Europe is going to reach their 103rd or 4th birthday.

今天在美國和歐洲出生的所有兒童中，有一半將活到 103 歲或 4 歲。

Half?

一半？

Yes.

是的。

Half the children born today are going to live to 100?

今天出生的孩子有一半能活到 100 歲？

To 103 or 4.

至 103 或 4。

You know, I don't feel a day older than I was yesterday.

你知道，我不覺得自己比昨天老了一天。

They invited us back six years later, and we found some study participants, like Helen

六年後，他們又邀請我們回去，我們找到了一些研究參與者，比如海倫

Weil, the ballroom dancer, thriving.

舞廳舞蹈家魏爾茁壯成長。

And I do like so 10 times.

我喜歡這樣做 10 次。

Now 99, Helen showed us how she exercises in her chair.

現年 99 歲的海倫向我們展示了她如何在椅子上鍛鍊身體。

Stuff like that.

諸如此類的東西。

How you doing, Jeff?

你好嗎，傑夫？

Good to see you.

很高興見到你

What's going on, Lou?

怎麼了 盧

Lou Tirado, the World War II gunner, turned 100 in August.

二戰炮手盧-蒂拉多（Lou Tirado）今年 8 月已滿 100 歲。

Lou was using Zoom.

盧在使用 Zoom。

When he was a kid, most homes didn't have a radio.

在他小時候，大多數家庭都沒有收音機。

Do you have an iPhone?

你有 iPhone 嗎？

I have an iPhone, yep.

我有一部 iPhone，沒錯。

You on Facebook?

你在 Facebook 上嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Do you use Siri?

您使用 Siri 嗎？

Yeah, I tell her every evening, wake me up at 6.30 tomorrow morning.

是啊，我每天晚上都告訴她，明早六點半叫醒我。

And she does.

她確實做到了。

Yes.

是的。

Who is our current president?

我們的現任總統是誰？

President is Trump.

總統是特朗普。

Who was the president before Trump?

特朗普之前的總統是誰？

Obama.

奧巴馬

Because of COVID-19, the 90-plus study is doing cognitive tests by phone.

由於 COVID-19，這項 90 多人的研究正在通過電話進行認知測試。

Subtract 7 from 100.

從 100 減去 7。

Lou and Helen ace them.

盧和海倫是他們的王牌。

And keep subtracting 7.

然後繼續減去 7。

93, 86, 79.

93, 86, 79.

Her memory is better than mine.

她的記憶力比我好。

But one of our favorite 90-plussers from six years ago, Ruthie Stahl, is not so lucky.

但是，六年前我們最喜歡的一位 90-plusser Ruthie Stahl 就沒那麼幸運了。

Back then, at 95, she was zipping around in her lime green bug.

那時，95 歲的她正開著她的青綠色越野車飛馳。

I am flying all over the place.

我滿天飛。

But today, at 102, she didn't remember our having met.

但今天，102 歲的她已經不記得我們見過面了。

What is your first name?

你叫什麼名字？

Leslie.

萊斯利

That's a nice name.

這名字不錯

Thank you.

謝謝。

Ruthie is as charming and upbeat as ever, but her memory is failing.

Ruthie 還是一如既往地迷人和樂觀，但她的記憶力正在衰退。

The current president or the president before him?

現任總統還是前任總統？

I'll take either.

我兩個都要。

No, I can't.

不，我不能。

Do you remember your parents?

你還記得你的父母嗎？

No.

不

No.

不

Oh, my.

哦，天哪

It's funny.

這很有趣。

I don't remember them.

我不記得了。

Is it frustrating when you can't remember?

記不起來的時候會不會很沮喪？

No.

不

No.

不

It just passes on to something else.

它只是轉移到了別的地方。

Dr. Kawas says most people, probably even most doctors, would assume Ruthie's memory problems stem from Alzheimer's disease.

Kawas 醫生說，大多數人，甚至大多數醫生，都會認為 Ruthie 的記憶問題源於老年痴呆症。

But scientists are finding out more and more about the complexities of what causes dementia.

但是，科學家們對痴呆症的複雜病因發現得越來越多。

You hear people say, she got Alzheimer's, he has Alzheimer's, when they really should say dementia.

你會聽到人們說，她得了老年痴呆症，他得了老年痴呆症，其實他們應該說是痴呆症。

That's exactly right.

這就對了。

Dementia is a loss of thinking abilities that affects your memory, your language.

痴呆症是一種喪失思維能力的疾病，會影響您的記憶和語言。

It's a syndrome.

這是一種綜合症。

It's a syndrome kind of like headache is a syndrome.

這是一種綜合症，就像頭痛是一種綜合症一樣。

You can have a headache because you've got a brain tumor, or you can have one because you drank too much.

你可能因為得了腦瘤而頭痛，也可能因為喝得太多而頭痛。

And it's the same with dementia.

痴呆症也是如此。

We were sad to learn that some of the 90-plus participants we met in 2014 have passed away.

我們悲傷地得知，在 2014 年會見的 90 多名參與者中，有一些已經去世。

But by donating their brains, as Ted Rosenbaum did, they are very much still part of the study, contributing some of its most fascinating and confounding results.

但是，像特德-羅森鮑姆這樣捐獻大腦的人，在很大程度上仍然是研究的一部分，他們貢獻了研究中一些最吸引人也最令人困惑的結果。

After a participant dies, the 90-plus team gathers to review mounds of data.

一名參與者去世後，90 多人的團隊聚集在一起，審查成堆的數據。

Now, because of COVID, they gather on Zoom.

現在，因為 COVID，他們聚集在 Zoom 上。

Videos from visit two.

第二次參觀的影片。

So tell me what you're going to do when you go home today.

告訴我你今天回家後打算做什麼？

Ted's test results showed years of memory problems, as we had seen six years ago.

泰德的測試結果顯示，他多年來一直存在記憶問題，這一點我們在六年前就已經發現了。

Give me a hint.

給我點提示

The 90-plus team concluded that Ted probably had Alzheimer's disease.

這個 90 多人的團隊得出結論，泰德很可能患有老年痴呆症。

But then awaited results from their collaborators, a team of pathologists at Stanford University who independently examined Ted's brain.

但他們還在等待合作者的結果，斯坦福大學的病理學家小組獨立檢查了泰德的大腦。

They don't know anything except the brain they've got in front of them.

除了眼前的大腦，他們什麼都不知道。

And then you come together.

然後你們走到一起。

And then we come together, and it's like a reveal party.

然後我們聚在一起，就像一個揭幕派對。

The definition of Alzheimer's disease is having the proteins amyloid and tau, often called plaques and tangles, in the brain.

阿爾茨海默病的定義是大腦中存在澱粉樣蛋白和 tau 蛋白，也就是常說的斑塊和糾結。

OK, the home stretch.

好了，到家了。

But when the Stanford team made their report, Ted's brain didn't have either.

但當斯坦福大學的研究小組做報告時，泰德的大腦裡卻沒有這兩樣東西。

As you may see, without even zooming in, the section is clear, it's clean.

您可以看到，即使不放大，該部分也很清晰，很乾淨。

We're negative for beta amyloid here.

這裡的β澱粉樣蛋白呈陰性。

It actually looks awfully good.

實際上，它看起來非常不錯。

It actually does, yes.

是的，確實如此。

You sit around, you look at that.

你坐在一旁，看著這一切。

What do you conclude?

你的結論是什麼？

The only pathology we found in his head, actually, was TDP-43.

實際上，我們在他的頭部發現的唯一病變是 TDP-43。

The story will continue after this.

之後的故事還將繼續。

TDP-43, a breakthrough.

TDP-43 是一項突破。

It's a newly identified cause of dementia, a protein originally found in ALS patients that Kwas now believes accounts for up to one in five cases of dementia in people over 90.

這是一種新發現的痴呆症病因，這種蛋白質最初是在漸凍症患者身上發現的，誇斯現在認為，在 90 歲以上的痴呆症患者中，高達五分之一的病例是由這種蛋白質引起的。

Can you find out if you have TDP-43 while you're alive?

你能在活著的時候發現自己是否患有 TDP-43 嗎？

Not yet.

還沒有。

And you can't find out if you have two other dementia-causing conditions either, tiny strokes called microinfarcts that damage brain tissue and hippocampal sclerosis, a shrinking and scarring of part of the brain.

您也無法發現自己是否患有另外兩種導致痴呆症的疾病：一種是被稱為微梗塞的微小中風，會損傷腦組織；另一種是海馬硬化症，是大腦部分區域的萎縮和疤痕。

So it's likely that many people in their 90s who are diagnosed with Alzheimer's may actually have something else.

是以，許多 90 多歲的人被診斷出患有阿爾茨海默氏症，實際上可能是得了其他疾病。

There's a whole lot of stuff that goes on in the brain that we have no way of diagnosing during life.

大腦中發生的很多事情，我們在生活中根本無法診斷。

So we get a lot of those surprises.

是以，我們得到了很多這樣的驚喜。

But we also get surprises where people have an awful lot of pathology in their brain, a lot of Alzheimer's disease, a lot of TDP disease, and they still turn out to be normal.

但我們也會遇到這樣的意外：一些人的大腦出現了嚴重的病變，比如阿爾茨海默氏症、TDP 疾病等，但他們的大腦仍然是正常的。

Let me hold the chair for you.

我來幫你扶著椅子

That's what happened with Henry Tornel, Helen Wild's ballroom dancing partner, who joked about studying sex over 90.

海倫-懷爾德的舞伴亨利-託內爾（Henry Tornel）就是這樣，他曾開玩笑說要研究 90 歲以上的性愛。

Henry died at 100 of cancer, mentally sharp as ever.

亨利因癌症去世，享年 100 歲，但他的精神卻一如既往地敏銳。

We should all be so lucky.

我們都應該如此幸運。

But his brain told a different story.

但他的大腦卻告訴他一個不同的故事。

Beta amyloid.

β澱粉樣蛋白

I don't even have to zoom in.

我甚至都不用放大。

Fluoride, very positive, positive as well.

氟化物，非常積極，也是積極的。

The Stanford team found the highest level of plaques and tangles and TDP-43, especially stunning, since more than one pathology typically means more severe dementia.

斯坦福大學的研究小組發現，斑塊和糾結以及 TDP-43 的含量最高，這尤其令人震驚，因為超過一種病理變化通常意味著痴呆症更加嚴重。

So he was a huge surprise.

所以，他是一個巨大的驚喜。

He was one of our surprising 90-year-olds who managed to have good cognition in the face of things in their brain that should cause dementia.

他是我們驚奇的 90 歲老人之一，面對大腦中本應導致痴呆的東西，他仍能保持良好的認知能力。

It used to be that when a person like Henry, with clear thinking, was found to have plaques and tangles, scientists assumed dementia was just a matter of time.

過去，當發現像亨利這樣思維清晰的人身上有斑塊和纏結時，科學家們認為痴呆症只是時間問題。

But now they're thinking about it in a new way, that maybe certain people have protection against dementia, a phenomenon they're calling resilience.

但現在他們有了新的想法，也許某些人對痴呆症有保護作用，他們稱這種現象為 "恢復力"。

To prove it, though, they need to follow people who are still alive.

不過，為了證明這一點，他們需要跟蹤那些還活著的人。

Enter convertible-driving Sid Shiro from our story in 2014.

請看我們 2014 年報道的駕駛敞篷車的 Sid Shiro。

Sid had a PET scan back then for the study, which revealed significant amounts of amyloid in his brain.

Sid 當時接受了正電子發射計算機斷層掃描研究，結果顯示他的大腦中有大量澱粉樣蛋白。

The question was, would dementia be around the corner, or might Sid somehow be resilient?

問題是，痴呆症會不會就在眼前，或者希德會不會以某種方式恢復健康？

Happy birthday to you!

祝你生日快樂

Thank you!

謝謝！

Sid turned 99 this summer.

今年夏天，希德已經 99 歲了。

How old do you feel?

你覺得自己有多老？

I always say 69.

我總是說 69。

Sid has circulation problems that affect his breathing, but his memory?

希德的血液循環有問題，影響了他的呼吸，但他的記憶力呢？

Well, he told us about buying his first car 80 years ago for $18 in a pool hall.

他告訴我們，80 年前他在臺球廳花 18 美元買了第一輛車。

A 31 Chevy convertible with a rumble seat.

一輛帶有隆隆聲座椅的 31 雪佛蘭敞篷車。

A rumble seat!

隆隆聲座椅

And I didn't know how to drive.

我也不會開車。

You won it in a pool hall.

你在臺球廳贏的

Did you win it on a bet?

是打賭贏的嗎？

I didn't win it.

我沒有贏。

I bought it.

我買了

You bought it?

你買了？

I gave him $18.

我給了他 18 美元。

Who sold a car for $18?

誰賣了一輛 18 美元的汽車？

He needed the money to shoot pool.

他需要錢打撞球。

So I know he's got at least two pathologies in his head.

所以我知道他的腦袋裡至少有兩個病灶。

I know he's got, you know, probably high amounts of Alzheimer's, and I know he's got some vascular disease.

我知道他可能患有大量的老年痴呆症，還有些血管疾病。

And we tested him just a couple weeks ago, and...

我們幾周前剛給他做了測試，結果...

Good morning.

早上好。

He did great.

他做得很好。

Please tell me how many nickels in a dollar?

請告訴我一美元裡有多少個五分硬幣？

20.

20.

How many quarters in $6.75?

6.75 美元等於多少個硬幣？

27.

27.

Wow, you are quick.

哇，你動作真快。

So, is that resilience?

那麼，這就是復原力嗎？

I think that is definitely resilience.

我認為這絕對是一種韌性。

It might be what resilience is all about.

這也許就是復原力的意義所在。

Could it be a gene?

會不會是一種基因？

It absolutely could be, or maybe even more likely, multiple genes or combinations of genes.

絕對有可能是，或者更有可能是多種基因或基因組合。

Here's my observation.

這是我的觀察結果。

Okay.

好的

You knew more six years ago than you do now.

六年前的你比現在懂得更多。

There are just so many questions that we don't know the answers to.

我們不知道答案的問題實在太多了。

More questions.

更多問題

That is really a brilliant observation.

這真是一個精闢的見解。

And what science is all about.

科學的真諦

For every new answer, two new questions.

每有一個新答案，就會有兩個新問題。

For every new discovery, like TDP-43 dementia, and especially resilience, new mysteries to solve.

每一個新的發現，如 TDP-43 痴呆症，尤其是復原力，都有新的謎團需要解開。

So, like its participants, the 90-plus study is keeping at it, trying to help the rest of us make it to age 102 with Ruthie's spirit, but memory intact.

是以，與參與者一樣，這項 90 多歲的研究也在堅持，試圖幫助我們其他人活到 102 歲，保持魯西的精神和記憶。

It's a shame.

真遺憾。

It's a shame.

真遺憾。

Because there's a lot I could remember.

因為我可以記住很多東西。

And I'll bet you had a wonderful life.

我敢打賭，你的生活一定很精彩。

Oh, I have.

哦，我有。

It's still going on.

現在還在繼續。

Thank goodness.

謝天謝地

Thank you.

謝謝。