July 15, 2014
Mohenjo
Medical
abnormal Alzheimer’s proteins, alzheimers, alzheimers disease, amazon, Americans, brain, brain start degenerating, brain’s stress response system, brains accumulate plaques and tangles, business, Business News, dementias, Harvard scientists, Hotels, human-rights, medicine, mental-health, mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease, problems of Alzheimer’s disease, research, Science, Science News, scientific mysteries of Alzheimer’s, seven million Americans, technology, Technology News, travel, vacation
Click link below picture
.
It is one of the big scientific mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease: Why do some people whose brains accumulate the plaques and tangles so strongly associated with Alzheimer’s not develop the disease?
Now, a series of studies by suggests a possible answer, one that could lead to new treatments if confirmed by other research.
The memory and thinking problems of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, which affect an estimated seven million Americans, may be related to a failure in the brain’s stress response system, the new research suggests. If this system is working well, it can protect the brain from abnormal Alzheimer’s proteins; if it gets derailed, critical areas of the brain start degenerating.
.
An Alzheimer’s patient receiving help in Noblesville, Ind. It is not yet possible to measure the levels of a protein that is the focus of a study, a gene regulator called REST, in living people.
Darron Cummings / Associated Press
.
.
Click link below for article:
.
__________________________________________
March 20, 2014
Mohenjo
Medical
Alzheimer's Dementia, Alzheimer's Disease Research, Alzheimer's Research, Alzheimer's Study, alzheimers, alzheimers disease, amazon, brain development, business, Business News, Causes of Dementia, dementia, Fifty News, Harvard, Harvard scientists, Health Post50, Hotels, huffingtonpost, human-rights, medicine, mental-health, neurodegenerative diseases, research, Science, Science News, Slideshow, technology, Technology News, travel, vacation
Click link below picture
.75486
The conundrum has stumped doctors for years. Why do neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s affect only the elderly? Why do some people live to be over 100 with normal brain functioning while others develop dementia decades earlier?
Now, a new study by Harvard scientists points to a possible answer, one that could spark further research that — ultimately — could lead to new drugs and treatments for dementia.
Researchers have found that a protein active during fetal brain development, called REST, switches back on later in life to protect aging neurons from various stresses, including the toxic effects of abnormal proteins. But in those with Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment, the protein — RE1-Silencing Transcription factor — is absent from key brain regions.
.
PASIEKA via Getty Images
.
.
Click link below for story and slideshow:
.
__________________________________________
