Reversing Alzheimers

May 10th, 10 / 1 Comment








Up to now, reversing Alzheimers symptoms has been thought to be impossible. British researchers believe there is a chance that the brain cells that were previously thought to be dead can, in fact, be brought back to life before permanent damage sets in

Note this doesn’t repair brain cells after permanent damage has occurred. Researchers at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge researched the small axons that connect brain cells together.  The found that these axons started swelling and are damaged and die before brain cells die. This process of axon death can take up to four months according to the researchers.

Publishing test results in the journal “Brain” Dr. Michael Coleman suggested that drugs could be developed that would repair or bring these axons back to life if caught early enough. There would appear to be a window of opportunity to repair preliminary damage or reconnect the brain cells that are not yet dead.

Bottom Line

This is quite experimental work and no drugs or clinical trials are yet underway but it would seem to hold promise for future work in slowing, stopping or reversing Alzheimers disease. But at the present time, reversing Alzheimers isn’t possible.

research, treatment

Sleep Apnea and Alzheimers

May 10th, 10 / 0 Comments







In an interesting way, a treatment for Sleep Apnea may be a treatment for Alzheimers as well.

The Details

A report in the Journal of the Geriatrics Society reports that a study being done on seniors with sleep apnea, improved the cognitive function of those with Alzheimers.

Sleep apne treatments involve opening up the airways into the lungs with positive air pressure during sleep. This forces extra oxygen into the lungs in a non-invasive way.

The sleeper simply wears a small oxygen mask while sleeping.

Sleep apnea happens when the airways become blocked during sleep periods, cutting off breathing and the major symptom is extremely loud snoring,

Bottom Line

Seniors with sleep apnea should clearly be treated with positive air pressure systems and that improvements in the Alzheimer’s were seen after only 3 weeks of oxygen treatment.

No effect was seen on the placebo group in this treatment for Alzheimers Disease

lifestyle, research, treatment

Alzheimers and Diabetes

May 6th, 10 / 0 Comments







Here’s a quick note about alzheimers and diabetes to make your dieting even more important.

Scientists now think there’s a correlation between having diabetes and getting Alzheimers. In fact, not only getting Alzheimer’s but a faster decline once you have it.

Diabetes apparently damages blood vessels leading to the brain and has been known to cause a vascular dementia where the brain slows down functioning because of a lack of blood flow.

Now apparently the distinction between this vascular dementia and full blown Alzheimer’s is diminishing.

Bottom line:

Get your weight under control and watch the sugar intakes. Get that old regular checkup and let your doctor know what you’re trying to do.

Because the real bottom line here is that if the docs can’t tell the difference between the two problems – then neither can you or your family.

lifestyle, research

Alzheimers Brain Chemistry PACAP27

May 6th, 10 / 0 Comments








Researchers at Saint Louis University have identified an interesting development in Alzheimers brain chemistry. In short, they’ve identified a way to actually get medication inside the brain.

You see there’s a layer surrounding the brain called the Blood-Brain-Barrier (BBB) that pretty much stops everything unusual from getting through to the brain. In normal healthy terms, this is a good thing. We don’t want our brains to get “sick” when we get a cold and the BBB stops bacteria and virus problems (most of them anyway) from reaching the sensitive brain. It keeps us ticking away even when our bodies are sick.

Researchers have identified a hormone (it’s actually called PACAP27 – a catchy little term) that is a general protector for the brain. What the researchers did in plain English was figured out a way to turn this protecting hormone “off” by adding another molecule to the material trying to get through the BBB.

They put a “key” into the drug so the drug could get through.

In their mouse trials, the researchers were able to disarm the BBB and deliver a treatment that had a positive effect on the brain functioning of the alzheimer’s-mouse subjects. The thinking is that this will allow other forms of treatment as well as Alzheimer’s brain therapies.

This material was originally printed in the Online Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism Read a summary here







research, treatment

Alzheimers and Cancer

May 6th, 10 / 0 Comments







In an interesting reversal, it turns out that Alzheimers and cancer of the brain might be treated with the same medication.

An experimental Alzheimers medication that is undergoing clinical trials was also found to have a major impact on aggressive brain tumors (malignant gliomas).

Apparently the Alzheimerrs medication works to stop protein from being shut off in the brain and this same switch also stops the spread of the cancer (which was thriving as the proteins werebeing turned off).

While this is still in testing (and reported in the Public Library of Science Biology) if the trials prove conclusive, this kind of treatment could reduce surgery as well as chemotherapy in cancer patients.

The work is being done at the University of Calgary, Canada and funded jointly by the Province of Alberta Health Services.Stay tuned (as they say)

medications, research

Alzheimers Genetic Research PCDH11X

May 6th, 10 / 0 Comments








Some interesting Alzheimers news came out the other day (Mayo Clinic) that showed a gene carried by women was associated with late onset Alzheimer’s.

Published in the Journal of Natural Genetics, the study identified a gene variant called PCDH11X (catchy names these guys use) that was apparently very closely linked to a higher risk for alzheimers in women.If either a male or female carried only one of these genes (from one parent) then there was no apparent relationship between the gene and
dementia.

But women who carried the gene from both parents were significantly more likely to get early onset Alzheimer’s.In practical terms, this tells us that there may very well be a genetic factor involved in whether you develop the disease or not.

There is no treatment suggested by this finding but it does lead to more understanding of the problem.Given that 2/3 of all Alzheime’s patients are women, this may be
significant. Having said that, women also live longer so have more of a chance to develop the disease.

Bottom line

Interesting bit of Alzheimers news but nothing we can do much about at this time.

genetics, research

Alzheimers Dementia and Anesthetics

May 6th, 10 / 0 Comments







Researchers have demonstrated that when it comes to Alzheimers dementia and anesthetics, the use of anesthetics is now one of the causes. Alzheimers and elective surgery may be related in some populations.

There are two things you need to know.The first is that the protein amyloid-beta (short form A-beta) builds up in the brain and this is thought to be the cause of Alzheimers effect.The second thing is that it has now been shown that using anesthetics in surgery causes a buildup of A-beta in the brain.

The specific anesthetic under study is the most commonly used one called soflurane. In the study, it was quite clear that experiments in petri dishes were being replicated in the
alzheimer’s-mouse population.Indeed increased brain cell death was quite pronounced in mice that had not been treated beforehand with clioquinol (a drug that reduces the producton of A-beta).

The problem with this of course is that one study doesn’t make a trend or create a change in normal hospital practice because… well, it’s only one study.

So there’s a lot more work to be done on this.

It should also be pointed out that the mice were killed fairly shortly (in stages to 12 hours) after the exposure and that there were no long term mice past that 12 hours.There are no long term tests on humans in this regard either.

In practical terms, it is commonly known that there is a short term condition in some patients (after surgery) that resembles dementia.This passes in most people with time.
Whether it will pass with seniors or those with Alzheimers dementia seems to be the question.But in practical terms, it would seem to make common sense (and one more reason) for seniors to avoid elective surgery requiring anesthetics whenever possible,







causes, medications, research

Alzheimers and Smoking

May 6th, 10 / 0 Comments







When it comes to relating Alzheimers and smoking – it turns out that passive smoking – getting your lungs filled with smoke from spouses, co-workers or that idiot next to you has been tied into a greater chance of developing Alzheimers

Researchers at Cambridge University and Peninsula Medical School looked at the research results from a survey of approximately 5000 adults (50 years and older).

While it has been known for some time that smokers have a greater than average chance of getting Alzheimers, it now appears that non-smokers also have a greater than average chance if they inhale enough smoke. So the the workplace is as big a risk as the home in the study.

Bottom Line

So if your spouse, family member or workplace isn’t smoke free yet, you
are at risk of developing Alzheimer’s as a result.

causes, lifestyle

Alzheimers Vaccine

May 6th, 10 / 0 Comments







A very promising Alzheimers vaccine seems to be coming our way and it appears to have some real effects.

Work being done at the University of California, Irvine has produced a vaccine that actually clears out the beta-amyloid plaques that have damaged the brain.That’s the good news.

The bad news is that while it clears out the plaque, function is not restored. So this means that if you get diagnosed and begin treatment early enough, you might be able to arrest development but not reverse the damage.

The vaccine essentially stimulates the brain to repair itself (which is a pretty darn good trick when you think about it and could be useful in a lot of other problems)

Apparently from what I’ve been able to find, the drug has to be given every three months by IV.

It is not yet available and human testing is ongoing.

I’ll be bringing you more on this as I can find good data.

medications, treatment

Alzheimers Genetic Research on A673V

May 6th, 10 / 0 Comments







Now here’s interesting news about Alzheimers genetic research.

It seems that if you have one copy of the recessive gener A673V, you’re
not going to get Alzheimer’s.

But if you have two copies of it, you’re guaranteed to get it.

So a combination of these two recessive genes (and this research suggests there may be other genes that do this as well) is bad news for the nearly 10 million baby boomers that are statistically set to develop this disease over the next few years.

Note that there are already three dominant gene combinations are already known for Early onset Alzheimers but this is the first recessive combination found.

Research done by Dr. Fabrizio Tagliavini of the Carlo Besta National Neurological Institute in Milan, italy

Bottom Line:

There are no implications for treatment at this stage but it surely leads other researchers to take a fresh look at possible genetic combinations and approaches. It might be possible to develop drugs to fight off the effects of specific genetic combinations.

causes, genetics, research