原来心真会“碎”，心碎综合征是种什么病？
High stress may make ‘broken heart syndrome’ more likely, study finds

Affecting an estimated 2,500 people in the UK each year, the syndrome also carries a risk of complications similar to that of an actual heart attack. It is unclear what causes takotsubo, but sharp spikes in adrenaline caused by acute stress like bereavement, car accidents, earthquakes and even happy events such as weddings are understood to drive loss of movement in part of the heart wall, which then precipitates the acute heart failure.据估算，英国每年有2500人患上心碎综合征，这种综合征还可能引发与心脏病并发症类似的病症。目前尚不清楚是什么导致了心碎综合征，但据了解，丧亲之痛、车祸、地震甚至婚礼等喜事急性应激引起的肾上腺素急剧飙升，会导致部分心壁运动丧失，进而诱发急性心衰。

adrenaline [əˈdrenəlɪn] 肾上腺素 bereavement [bɪˈriːvmənt] 丧亲之痛

近日，英国《卫报》报道称，研究发现两种与高应激水平相关的分子与心碎综合征的发生有关。

Afterwards, both sets of heart cells were more sensitive to adrenaline, they wrote in the journal Cardiovascular Research.他们在《心血管研究》杂志发表的文章中称，随后发现，这两组心脏细胞对肾上腺素更敏感。

Overall, the findings appeared to link long-term stress and the dramatic takotsubo response to a sudden shock.总的来说，研究结果似乎显示了长期的压力与因意外打击引发的突发性心碎综合征之间的关联。

“But if we know someone’s had takotsubo, theoretically we can measure these molecules, and then predict if they’re likely to have it again, because there’s a one in five chance that they could have it again,” he said.他说：“但如果我们知道有人患上心碎综合征，理论上我们可以检测这些分子，然后预测他们是否可能再次发病，因为他们有五分之一的可能再次发病。”

Further research is needed, said Prof Metin Avkiran, the associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, to “determine if drugs that block these microRNAs could be the key to avoiding broken hearts”.英国心脏基金会医学副主任梅廷•阿夫基兰教授表示，还需要进一步的研究，以“确定阻断这些微小核糖核酸分子的药物是否是避免心碎综合征的关键”。