A Reddit user recently posted a photo that stuck with me. The image shows a series of crochet¹ squares her mother made after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The earliest ones are neatly² stitched, but as time progresses, her crocheting³ gets messier and messier. The last squares aren’t squares at all, but tangles⁴ of yarn⁵.

不久前，社交新闻网站Reddit的一名用户上传了一张令人难忘的照片，那是她母亲被诊断出患有“阿尔兹海默症”（Alzheimer’s，俗称“老年痴呆症”——译者注）后，用毛线织的方格图案的照片。刚开始的图案都很整齐，越到后来，针脚越乱，到最后方格已经不成其为方格了，彻底乱成了一团。

The picture perfectly⁶ captures how Alzheimer’s destroys the brain. The disease robs people of their ability to function. My family and I have seen first-hand how devastating⁷ this process is, and we’re not alone.

这张照片很好地体现了老年痴呆症是如何摧毁大脑的。这种疾病能致使患者丧失身体机能。我和家人亲眼目睹了这个过程的破坏力有多大，而很多人跟我们有相同的经历。

In the UK, Alzheimer’s is the only disease in the top 10 causes of death without any meaningful treatments that becomes more prevalent each year. Unless we find a breakthrough in treatment, its cost — both emotional and financial — will explode.

在英国前十大致死疾病中，老年痴呆症是唯一完全没有任何有效疗法的。年复一年，此病变得日益流行。除非我们在疗法上取得重大突破，该病的成本——不管是在情感上还是在经济上——将爆炸性增长。

Despite this daunting⁸ state of affairs, I’m optimistic that we can substantially reduce the impact of Alzheimer’s. There are a number of areas where we can make significant progress.

尽管局面如此严重，我还是乐观地认为我们能够显著减轻该病的影响。在很多领域我们都有可能取得重大进展。

To start, we could enable faster progress on all fronts of the Alzheimer’s fight by facilitating more data-sharing. Scientists all around the world are working hard to generate new discoveries every day. The data they’re collecting in the process are a tremendously powerful tool that can be harnessed better to understand and reduce the impact of the disease.

首先，通过推动人们更多地共享数据，我们可以在对抗老年痴呆症这场战斗的各个方面更快地取得进展。世界各地的科学家每天都在殚精竭力地试图找到新的发现。他们在这个过程中收集的数据是一件非常有用的工具，可以更好地加以利用，以了解并减轻这种疾病的影响。

Much of the research being done is publicly funded. While I recognise there is a lot of money to be made from discovering an effective Alzheimer’s treatment, the benefits the entire field will reap from combining data sets outweigh⁹ the competitive advantages that come from keeping information siloed.

目前正在开展的很大一部分研究都是由公共部门资助的。我承认，发现一种对抗老年痴呆症的有效疗法能赚很多钱，但将数据汇总起来给整个领域带来的收益，将远超独守信息所能带来的竞争优势。

For one thing, compiling these data might show us how the disease progresses. When you take a newborn to the doctor, you can see how their height and weight measure against a typical growth curve. Combining data sets could allow us to create a similar curve for our brain’s health as it ages, helping¹⁰ us understand how Alzheimer’s deviates¹¹ from normal ageing, and track how the brain changes. We could also see how these changes may differ based on gender¹², ethnicity, lifestyle or genetics.

一来，通过汇总数据，或许可以让我们看出该病是如何发展的。当你带一个新生儿去看医生时，你可以看到婴儿的身高体重与典型成长曲线对比的情况。将数据汇集起来，我们或许可以构建一条类似的显示大脑健康状况随年纪增大而变化的曲线，从而有助于我们理解老年痴呆症是如何偏离正常老化轨迹的，并追踪大脑变化情况。我们也可以看到，不同的性别、种族、生活方式或基因，大脑的这些变化会有什么不同。

Here’s another benefit: by analysing data from large populations, we will probably be able to identify patients at risk earlier. Families and doctors often wait until memory problems appear before diagnosing someone, but the disease begins much earlier. A comprehensive look at brain scans, genetics, medical records and memory testing results would enable doctors to calculate your Alzheimer’s “risk score” and identify when you should be tested further.

还有一个好处是，通过分析来自大量人口的数据，我们也许能够更早地发现有罹患此病风险的潜在患者。家属和医生经常等到患者出现记忆问题才能做出诊断，其实疾病的发生要早得多。综合分析脑部扫描图像、基因、病历和记忆测试结果，医生能够就你罹患老年痴呆症的风险打一个分数，判断你什么时候应该去做进一步的检测。

Large data sets will also make it easier to identify new targets for treatment. While most research to date has focused on two proteins that cause tangles and plaques¹³ in the brain, there are thousands of potential ways we could target Alzheimer’s. I recently invested in a UK-based organisation¹⁴ working on unique approaches to stopping the disease, and there is lots of excellent science being conducted on a small scale. A comprehensive look at the results coming out of these past studies could help spot attractive drug candidates and promising¹⁵ new approaches.

庞大数据集也更加便于识别新的治疗目标。尽管迄今大多数研究聚焦于导致大脑出现斑块和缠结的两种蛋白质，但针对老年痴呆症我们有几千种潜在方法可以尝试。我最近投资了英国一家研究以独特方法抑制该病的机构，小范围进行的出色科研活动也很多。综合考察这些以往研究的结果，可能有助于找出有吸引力的潜在合适的药物和有前景的新疗法。

The clinical trial process is another area that will benefit from data. It’s difficult to find enough eligible¹⁶ patients willing to participate. If scientists could predict exactly how many participants are needed to gauge¹⁷ the efficacy of a new drug, they could conduct smaller but just as effective studies. This would speed up the process and help get new therapies to market sooner.

临床试验是另一个可从数据中受益的领域。研究者很难找到足够多的愿意参与试验的合适患者。如果科学家们能够准确地预测出需要多少患者才能评估一种新药的功效，那么他们就可以进行规模更小但同样有效的研究。这将加快研究进程，有助于把新疗法加快推向市场。

Data have already transformed our lives for the better in so many ways, from spotting a fraudulent purchase on your credit card to adjusting traffic lights so that you spend less time sitting in traffic. I can’t wait to see what new discoveries will be made in the fight against Alzheimer’s thanks to the power of data.

在很多方面，数据都使我们的生活变得更美好——从发现冒用信用卡进行欺诈性购物的行为，到调整交通信号灯以减少等待时间。我迫不及待地想看到数据能够帮助我们在对抗老年痴呆症方面取得什么新发现。