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New research shows just how stressful starting a new career as a doctor can be: stressful enough to have your DNA age six times faster than it normally would.
一项新研究表明，开始医生新职业的压力有多大：压力足以让你的DNA衰老速度比正常情况快六倍。
Scientists studying cellular ageing through DNA telomeres (the 'tips' of our chromosomes), which shrink as we get older, found that this natural shrinkage was happening at an accelerated rate among new doctors – the equivalent of six years' worth of shortening in just 12 months.
科学家通过DNA端粒(染色体的“尖端”)研究细胞衰老，随着年龄的增长，端粒会收缩。他们发现，新医生体内的这种自然收缩速度正在加快——这相当于在短短12个月内缩短6年的时间。
It's the first large, longitudinal study to look at the link between chronic stress and cell ageing, and the team behind the research says it could have implications for those in any high-pressure situation, from trainee soldiers to new parents.
这是第一个大型的纵向研究，着眼于慢性压力和细胞衰老之间的联系，研究团队表示，这可能会对任何高压环境下的人产生影响，从新兵到新父母。
"Research has implicated telomeres as an indicator of ageing and disease risk, but these longitudinal findings advance the possibility that telomere length can serve as a biomarker that tracks effects of stress," says one of the team, neuroscientist and psychiatrist Srijan Sen from the University of Michigan (U-M).
“研究表明端粒是衰老和疾病风险的一个指标，但这些纵向研究结果提出了端粒长度可以作为一种生物标志物来跟踪压力的影响的可能性，”研究小组成员之一、密歇根大学(University of Michigan)的神经学家和精神病学家斯里扬·森(Srijan Sen)说。
"It will be important to study how telomere changes play out in larger groups of medical trainees and in other groups of people subjected to specific prolonged stresses."
“研究端粒变化如何在更大范围的医学培训生群体和其他长期承受特定压力的人群中发挥作用，将是很重要的。”
The researchers took DNA samples from 250 new doctors at the start and end of their first intern year. These were compared to samples from 84 U-M freshmen students. In addition, the team measured the participants' mental well-being and stress levels over time with the use of questionnaires throughout the year.
研究人员从250名新医生身上提取了DNA样本，这些医生都是在他们第一个实习年度的开始和结束时进行的。这些数据与84名密歇根大学新生的样本进行了比较。此外，研究小组还通过全年的问卷调查，测量了参与者的心理健康和压力水平。
Besides "telomere attrition" being six times greater in the doctors, some other interesting findings came to light – for example, the longer hours the new doctors worked, the faster their telomeres shrank.
除了医生的“端粒磨损”是常人的六倍之外，一些有趣的发现也浮出水面——例如，新医生工作的时间越长，他们的端粒萎缩得越快。
