英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

◎國際新聞中心

People who keep their teeth and gums healthy with regular brushing may have a lower risk of developing dementia later in life, according to a U.S. study.

根據美國研究，規律刷牙保持牙齒與牙齦健康的人，老年罹患失智的風險較低。

Researchers at the University of California who followed nearly 5,500 elderly people over an 18-year-period found that those who reported brushing their teeth less than once a day were up to 65 percent more likely to develop dementia than those who brushed daily.

加州大學研究人員在18年間追蹤5,500名年長者，發現每天刷牙少於一次者，失智風險比每天刷牙者高65%。

"Not only does the state of your mind predict what kind of oral health habits you practice, it may be that your oral health habits influence whether or not you get dementia," said Annlia Paganini-Hill, who led the study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

主持這項研究的巴加尼尼—希爾，在「美國老人醫學學會期刊」發表研究說：「不只是心理狀態可預測你的口腔健康習慣，你的口腔健康習慣也會影響會不會失智。」

Inflammation stoked by gum disease-related bacteria is implicated in a host of conditions including heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Some studies have also found that people with Alzheimer’s disease, have more gum disease-related bacteria in their brains than a person without Alzheimer’s, Paganini-Hill said. （Reuters）

牙齦疾病相關細菌引起的發炎，與心臟病、中風與糖尿病等許多疾病密切相關。巴加尼尼—希爾說，部分研究也發現，阿茲海默氏症患者，腦中與牙齦疾病相關的細菌，多於非阿茲海默氏症患者。

（路透）

◎張沛元

A Los Angeles restaurant is offering a deal to customers who agree to look at their fellow diners instead of their phone screens.

洛杉磯一家餐廳提供答應看自己的用餐同伴、而非手機螢幕的顧客一項交易。

Eva Restaurant is giving a 5 percent discount to customers who will leave their cellphones with staff when they are seated.

伊娃餐廳對入座時將手機交給餐廳工作人員的客人，提供5%的折扣。

Owner Mark Gold told KPCC radio that the policy isn’t about other diners who might be annoyed by cellphone chatter or the glow of smartphone screens, but an attempt to create an environment where diners connect to each other instead of to technology.

該餐廳老闆馬克．戈德告訴KPCC廣播電台，此一政策並非意在免於讓其他用餐客人可能受到手機聊天或智慧型手機螢幕亮光的干擾，而是企圖營造一種讓用餐者能與彼此、而非與科技交流的環境。

Servers make the offer to diners when they introduce themselves.

餐廳服務人員在向用餐客人自我介紹時，便向客人告知此一提議。

Gold says nearly half take advantage of the discount, and many express gratitude at the opportunity to let go of their devices for a while. （AP）

◎陳成良

Microsoft has discovered new computers in China are coming preinstalled with software that is embedded with malware, the company said on its company blog.

微軟在官方部落格中指出，他們發現中國新電腦預載的軟體被置入了惡意程式。

The tech giant claims it discovered that retailers in China were selling computers that were installed with counterfeit Windows software, and the fake software was corrupted with malware.

該科技巨擘聲稱，它發現中國零售商販售的電腦中安裝了仿冒的微軟軟體，該假軟體受到惡意程式損壞。

Cybercriminals took advantage of unsecure supply chains to install the harmful software, the company said.

網路犯罪份子利用不安全的供應鏈，來安裝這種有害軟體，微軟稱。

Microsoft called its discovery "disturbing," and warned consumers to be cautious of deals that seem too good to be true.

微軟認為此這一發現「令人不安」，並警告消費者要提防那些似乎好得令人難以置信的交易。

The company found that 20 percent of the PCs researchers bought from unsecure supply chains were infected with preinstalled malware. The malware was especially dangerous because it could be spread easily via removable devices, like USB drives.

◎俞智敏

Japan recently refused to take back a letter sent by its own prime minister after Seoul said it would not accept delivery of the note, as a row over islands threatened to descend into diplomatic farce.

在南韓政府表示不願接受後，日本最近拒絕收回一封由日本首相親自寄出的信函，日韓兩國為了小島主權所產生的爭執恐惡化為外交鬧劇。

South Korea said earlier it would return the protest from Yoshihiko Noda without answering it, for fear any move to acknowledge the missive would bolster Tokyo’s claim to islands that both sides say they own.

南韓先前表示要退回日相野田所寫的抗議信，因為南韓擔心，如果收下這封正式公文就形同支持日方擁有小島主權的說法，日韓兩國都聲稱島嶼為其所有。

The letter to South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak has not even made it to Seoul, having been kept at the South’s embassy in Tokyo, foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-Young said, announcing the intention to hand the note back.

據南韓外交部發言人趙泰永表示，這封寫給南韓總統李明博的信根本就沒有送到首爾，而是保留在南韓駐東京大使館內，趙泰永也宣布南韓打算把信退還給日本。

But in what was beginning to look like a real live game of hot potato, the Japanese foreign ministry turned away a South Korean diplomat, believed to have been carrying Noda’s letter, at the gate of the ministry building. The letter was subsequently put in the post, registered delivery, a spokesman at the foreign ministry in Seoul said.

但在這愈來愈像是一場實況轉播的燙手山芋遊戲中，日本外交部竟然拒絕讓帶著這封信的南韓外交官進入外交部大門。南韓外交部發言人表示，這封信隨後被以掛號信方式郵寄回去。

◎管淑平

It is a myth that we are at our most miserable at the beginning of the week, according to academics. People’s moods on Mondays are actually no worse than on any other week day barring Friday, a survey found.

根據學者說法，我們在一週開始這天最難熬的說法是迷思。一份調查發現，除週五外，人們週一的心情其實不比其他週間日還糟。

The popular fixation on the idea of "Blue Monday" should be given the status of a "cultural myth", the team behind the new findings wrote in the Journal of Positive Psychology.

提出這項新結論的研究團隊在「正面心理學」期刊上寫道，應該給予「憂鬱週一」這種普遍的固有想法「文化迷思」地位。

"Despite our global beliefs about lousy Mondays, we conclude that this belief should be abandoned," said lead researcher Prof Arthur Stone, of Stony Brook University in New York state.

「儘管我們普遍存有週一日子難過的看法，但我們認定應該廢除這種看法」，研究負責人紐約州立大學石溪分校教授亞瑟．史東說。

Prof Stone and colleagues analysed data collected by Gallup from more than 340,000 American citizens in telephone interviews.

史東教授和同事分析蓋洛普以電話訪問34萬多名美國人所收集的資料。

The respondents were asked whether or not they had felt enjoyment, happiness, worry, sadness, stress and anger during much of the previous day.