科學家說，一種膠帶皮膚測試可以幫助預測嬰兒是否有可能患上嚴重的濕疹。哥本哈根大學的研究小組 用膠帶通過 無痛 的方法，在 一組兩個月大的嬰兒身上 采集了皮膚細胞樣本 并 進行了分析 。

Eczema affects around one in five babies and children in the UK. It can start in the first few months of life, and for some the itchy, dry and sore skin lesions it causes are severe. Babies at high risk might benefit from early treatment with skin creams or other remedies to avoid painful flare ups from happening in the first place. And now researchers believe they've found a way to spot those infants.

在英國，大約五分之一的嬰兒和兒童患有濕疹。濕疹可以在生命的最初幾個月就發作，對一些人來說，它引起的瘙癢、干燥和疼痛的皮膚損傷是嚴重的。濕疹高危嬰兒可能會受益于早期治療，如使用護膚霜或其它療法，以避免疼痛的濕疹發作。現在，研究人員認為他們已經找到了一種識別這些高危嬰兒的方法。

They used a sticky tape test to painlessly collect skin cell samples from the hands and backs of two-month-olds. They found detectable immune biomarker changes in the cells that appeared to be linked with future eczema risk.

他們用膠帶通過無痛的方法從兩個月大的嬰兒的手和背部采集皮膚細胞樣本。他們發現細胞中可檢測到的免疫生物標志物變化似乎與未來患濕疹的風險有關。

Those with elevated levels of thymus and activation-regulated chemokine were more than twice as likely to develop atopic eczema by the age of two than other babies in the study.

在研究中，胸腺活化調節趨化因子水平升高的嬰兒在兩歲前患異位性濕疹的可能性要比其他嬰兒高出兩倍多。

詞匯表

lesions 傷害，損傷
treatment 醫治
remedies 療法
flare ups 突然發作
sticky tape 透明膠帶
samples 樣本
detectable 可檢測的
elevated 高于正常的，升高的
atopic 異位的

閱讀理解：請在讀完上文后，回答下列問題。

1. What is normally used to help young babies who are at high risk of getting eczema?

2. In this new test, where are samples of skin cells taken from?

3. How painful is this test on young babies?

4. Which babies in the study were twice as likely to develop atopic eczema by the age of two?

答案  

1. What is normally used to help young babies who are at high risk of getting eczema?
Babies at high risk of eczema might benefit from early treatment with skin creams or other remedies to avoid painful flare ups from happening.

2. In this new test, where are samples of skin cells taken from?
Sticky tape is used to collect skin cells samples from the hands and backs of two-month-olds.

3. How painful is this test on young babies?
Skin samples are painlessly collected from the babies.

4. Which babies in the study were twice as likely to develop atopic eczema by the age of two?
Babies with elevated levels of thymus and activation-regulated chemokine were more than twice as likely to develop atopic eczema by the age of two than other babies in the study.