Until last year, Alan Felzer was an energetic engineering professor who took the stairs to his classes two steps at a time. Now the 64-year-old grandfather sits strapped to a wheelchair, able to move little but his left hand, his voice a near-whisper. Felzer suffers from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The fatal neurological disorder steals the body's ability to move, speak and ultimately to breathe. But rather than succumb to despair along with his illness, Felzer turned to the Web to become his own medical researcher—and his own guinea pig. Dozens of ALS patients are testing treatments on their own without waiting on the slow pace of medical research. They are part of an emerging group of patients willing to share intimate health details on the Web in hopes of making their own medical discoveries. Some doctors caution that such patient-led research lacks rigor and may lead to unreliable results, false hopes and harm to patients. "The Internet is a wonderful tool, but you know, it's buyer beware," said Dr. Edward Langston, immediate past chairman of the American Medical Association's board. In Felzer's case, the experiment's results illustrate the obstacles that stand between patients and self-discovered breakthroughs. The drug he tried did no good. But he and his family felt they had little time and little to lose in trying. "ALS is such a short illness," said Felzer's wife, Laura. She helps her husband communicate using sign language with his one good hand when his slow, halting words become difficult to understand. "You want to do what you can as fast as you can." The U. S. Food and Drug Administration has approved only one drug to treat ALS symptoms. It only works for some patients, and its effects are limited. As a result, Internet forums for ALS patients brim with links to the latest research offering any hint of promise. After Alan Felzer was diagnosed last year, his 33-year-old daughter, Karen, dived into the forums and found new hope. Working online, Karen Felzer and Macedo recruited nearly 200 patients worldwide to take a specific lithium dosage and answer standard surveys to gauge their symptoms. They began running their study through a Web site called PatientsLikeMe. com, using it to attract volunteers and track their progress. On the site, patients share detailed information about their symptoms and the drugs they are taking. The site focuses on conditions that have stubbornly resisted medical science, such as ALS, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis. The site's founders hope professional and amateur researchers alike will dip into the resulting pool of data and emerge with insights that lead to better treatments. "My ultimate frustration that drove this site into existence was an overall feeling that there was a lack of transparency and speed or urgency" by the medical system, said Jamie Heywood, who co-founded PatientsLikeMe months before his own brother died of AI.S.

单选题 Some ALS patients or their family turn to the Web for help because______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：此题为细节分析题。根据题干关键词turn to the Web锁定到第一段最后一句，turn to意为“求助于……”，文中指出：“Felzer并没有屈服于疾病带来的绝望，而是求助于网络，成为了自己的医疗研究员一一也是自己的实验对象。”第二段进一步指出：“很多ALS患者正在自己试验治疗方法而不再等待缓慢进展的医学研究。他们是一个新兴的患者群体的一部分，这个群体的患者愿意在互联网上分享私人的健康信息，希望有他们自己的医学发现。”因此，A选项为正确答案。

单选题 Dr. Edward Langston's attitude towards patient-led research is one of______.

单选题 It can be inferred that the lithium dosage______.

单选题 The PatientLikeMe Web site______.

单选题 Which of the following is true according to the author?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：此题为细节推断题。在最后一段最后一句提到Jamie Heywood的兄弟死于ALS，此前几个月，他和其他人合作创办了Patients LikeMe网站。他说：“兄弟的病使他感到医疗体制缺乏透明度，缺乏办事效率或紧迫性。”第二段也提到医学研究的慢节奏(the slow pace of medical research)，而ALS又是一种短期内致命的疾病(short illness)，所以病人及其家属只能抓紧一切时间做能做到的一切(do what you can as fast as you can)，可见，这种自发的实验源自对医疗体制的不满。因此，C选项为正确答案。