优生优育|《经济学人》：如何让生命起跑线拥有更好的开端
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我与我们的世界，既是一个“奋斗”的世界，也是一个“思考”的世界。奋而不思则罔，思而不奋则殆。这个世界，你大，它就大；你小，它就小。
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本期导读：目前，中产阶级有三大焦虑，分别是房子、票子、孩子，但其实归根结底都是为了孩子，所以现在，家长对孩子的关注可以说超过以往任何时候。
不过，话又说回来，关注孩子，家长们还不如关注自己，与其拼命折腾孩子，还不如拼命折腾自己，因为自己才是孩子的人生起跑线。
决定孩子成功的最重要因素，不在于给孩子灌输多少知识，而在于能否帮助孩子获得重要的性格特质，换句话说就是，应该教会孩子的不是跑得多快，而是在摔倒之后能站起来继续跑。
心理学家总结了成功的七项性格因素，分别是：坚毅、激情、自制力、乐观态度、感恩精神、社交智力和好奇心。由此来看，情商，只是社交智力的一部分，而智商，压根被排除在了这“七大秘密武器”之外。
看到这里，是不是感觉很崩溃？你认为正确的东西，其实并不重要。所以，应把时间精力都放在让自己更成功上面，让孩子崇拜自己，而不是自己觉得人生没戏了，就下个蛋，拼命让下一代使劲飞。
Better childbirth
优生优育
More evidence for a link between Caesareansections and obesity
更多证据表明，剖腹产与肥胖之间有关联
ROUGHLY one human pregnancy in ten presents complications (for example, breech presentation) that might justify the baby being delivered by Caesarean section. In some places that is not possible, and mother and infant have to take their chances with a normal delivery. But the opposite is also true. Elective Caesarean is becoming more and more common. In Brazil, Italy and Iran more than 40% of children are born this way.
约有十分之一的产妇会遇到诸如臀先露等症状，可能需要通过剖腹生产。在剖腹产不太可能的地方，母婴就只能顺产抓住机会听天由命了。不过，剖腹产也是一样，很多人会抓住机会选择剖腹产，这越来越普遍，在巴西、意大利、伊朗等国，有超过40%的儿童是通过剖腹降生。
That a stressful and expensive procedure is being conducted more often than is strictly necessary has long been a concern. But, more recently, a second worry has emerged. This is that Caesarean section stops infants picking up, from their mother’s vaginas and perineums, bacteria that would normally establish themselves in a newborn’s gut, and by doing so improve its future health. Accumulating evidence suggests three things, in particular. These are that Caesarean babies are more prone than others to allergies (in which the immune system responds to inappropriate stimuli, such as nut proteins), to autoimmune diseases (in which the immune system attacks body cells, as happens in type-1 diabetes), and that they are also more likely to become fat. A study published in Science Advances this week, by Maria Dominguez-Bello at New York University School of Medicine, speaks to the latter hypothesis.
剖腹产过程中，给人们带来的压力也不小，所需要的成本也不低，但剖腹产却越来越普遍，尽管其必要性没那么高，这已是一个老生常谈的问题了。不过，近来，与剖腹产相关的另一个隐忧已出现，那就是，剖腹产的话，新生儿就不能从母亲产道中携带出细菌，而这些细菌通常会在新生儿肠道中进行繁殖，并能提高婴儿将来的健康水平。特别是在下述三个方面，已有越来越多的证据能够证明。那就是，剖腹产婴儿通常比顺产婴儿更易过敏（免疫系统对诸如松仁蛋白等刺激产生过度反应），更易患自身免疫性疾病（免疫系统攻击自身的体细胞，如I型糖尿病中就是如此），而且也更易肥胖。纽约大学医学院玛利亚·多明格斯·贝罗博士本周发表在期刊《科学进展》上的一项研究就对最后一项假设进行了验证。
A connection between obesity and the types of bacteria living in someone’s gut is well established, and thus seems the likely explanation for the link between Caesareans and obesity. But this could come about in one of two ways. Either the procedure itself keeps baby and bacteria apart or the large amounts of antibiotics which usually accompany the surgery are responsible. Since testing the distinction on people, though easy, would be unethical, Dr Dominguez-Bello turned instead to mice. She permitted some pregnant rodents to give birth naturally, while performing antibiotic-free Caesareans on others. She then raised the pups in identical conditions.
已有充分的证据表明，肥胖与人们肠道中的细菌类型具有相关性，这样，或许也就能解释剖腹产与肥胖之间的相关性。不过，这样的结果，可通过两种方式产生，一种是剖腹产这个过程使新生儿得不到某些有益菌，另一种是手术过程中通常使用大量抗生素，杀死了某些有益菌。鉴于针对人类做相关实验以在两者之间进行区分尽管很容易但却有违伦理规范，玛利亚就利用白鼠来进行了验证。玛利亚让一些白鼠顺产，让另一些白鼠在没有抗生素的环境中剖腹产，然后在相同的条件下喂养幼鼠。
Her sample was not large—a mere 13 pregnant females produced 69 offspring, of which 35 were born naturally and 34 were delivered by Caesarean. But her results were conclusive. At 15 weeks of age, pups that had been delivered naturally weighed an average of 39 grams. Their Caesarean-delivered kin averaged 45 grams. The probability of this difference resulting from chance is less than one in 1,000. Moreover, when Dr Dominguez-Bello examined the gut bacteria of her mice she found that those born naturally had a normal mixture while those born via Caesarean lacked Bacteroides, Ruminococcaceae and Clostridiales. These are all groups associated with lean bodies.
玛利亚的实验样本不算大，仅有13只母鼠，产了69只幼鼠，其中35只顺产，34只剖腹产。不过，玛利亚的实验结果却是确凿无疑的。15周龄时，顺产的幼鼠平均体重为39克，而剖腹产的幼鼠平均体重则为45克，由机会导致这种差别的概率只有不到千分之一。而且，玛利亚在对白鼠肠道菌种进行检查时发现，顺产幼鼠的肠道菌种类型组合正常，而剖腹产幼鼠的肠道菌种缺少拟杆菌、瘤胃菌以及梭菌，而这些菌种都是与苗条身体有关的。
It seems, then, that in mice—and by extension presumably in women—it is the operation itself rather than the associated antibiotics that are promoting bacteria-mediated obesity. Fortunately, as Dr Dominguez-Bello points out, this should be an easy problem to fix. She is now experimenting with taking a swab of the mother’s vagina and wiping it on an infant’s face shortly after a birth by Caesarean, to try to pass on the relevant bugs. It might sound distasteful. But if it works it will give Caesarean babies a better start in life.
因此，这样看来，对于白鼠来说，而且引申一下，可推测至人类，正是剖腹产手术本身而不是相关抗生素能造成缺乏相关有益菌，并进而导致肥胖。幸好，正如玛利亚所指出的，这个问题很容易解决。目前，玛利亚正在进行新的实验，用棉签沾取母鼠产道分泌物，在剖腹产后没多久的幼鼠脸部进行涂抹，这样让幼鼠获得相关菌种。这听起来可能有点儿那个什么，但若这个办法可行的话，那么就能让剖腹产幼鼠在生命的起跑线上，拥有一个更好的开端。
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