科学家说，一种胶带皮肤测试可以帮助预测婴儿是否有可能患上严重的湿疹。哥本哈根大学的研究小组 用胶带通过 无痛 的方法，在 一组两个月大的婴儿身上 采集了皮肤细胞样本 并 进行了分析 。

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.

在英国，大约五分之一的婴儿和儿童患有湿疹。湿疹可以在生命的最初几个月就发作，对一些人来说，它引起的瘙痒、干燥和疼痛的皮肤损伤是严重的。湿疹高危婴儿可能会受益于早期治疗，如使用护肤霜或其它疗法，以避免疼痛的湿疹发作。现在，研究人员认为他们已经找到了一种识别这些高危婴儿的方法。

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.

他们用胶带通过无痛的方法从两个月大的婴儿的手和背部采集皮肤细胞样本。他们发现细胞中可检测到的免疫生物标志物变化似乎与未来患湿疹的风险有关。

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，胸腺活化调节趋化因子水平升高的婴儿在两岁前患异位性湿疹的可能性要比其他婴儿高出两倍多。

词汇表

lesions 伤害，损伤
treatment 医治
remedies 疗法
flare ups 突然发作
sticky tape 透明胶带
samples 样本
detectable 可检测的
elevated 高于正常的，升高的
atopic 异位的

阅读理解：请在读完上文后，回答下列问题。

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.