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2/20/2003: 3-D Images Show How Alzheimer's Engulfs Brain  - Science Daily
2/20/2003: Neuroscientists Map How Alzheimer's Disease Systematically and Sequentially Engulfs the Brain - Science Quest
2/20/2003: Alzheimer Patients Who Scored Well on Memory Tests -- Show Unique Compensatory Brain Activity - Science Quest
2/18/2003: Scans Show Dramatic Brain Cell Loss in Alzheimer's  - ABC
2/17/2003: Alzheimer Patients Who Scored Well On Memory Tests Show Unique Compensatory Brain Activity  - Science Daily
2/16/2003: Mobile phones 'may trigger Alzheimer's'  - BBC
2/11/2003: New finding could help fight Alzheimer's disease - Nando Times
2/1/2003:Gene variation traced to greater risk for Alzheimer's - Nando Times
1/21/2003: New Ideas Energize Alzheimer's Battle  - NY Times
1/21/2003: Graphic: Proteins That Help the Brain, and Hurt It  - NY Times
1/21/2003: Forum: Discuss the Latest Alzheimer's Research  - NY Times
1/14/2003: Lowering Beta-Amyloid Levels In Blood To Treatment Alzheimer's - Science Daily
11/25/2002: Drinking Wine May Decrease Risk of Dementia  - ABC
11/22/2002: Alzheimer's treatment makes mice brains bleed  - Nature
11/22/2002: Study links Alzheimer's vaccine to higher stroke risk - Nando Times
11/18/2002: Wine protects against dementia  - BBC
11/15/2002: Mothers 'get Alzheimers boost'  - BBC
11/10/2002: Seeing Into The Alzheimer's Brain: Researchers Say PET Scans Can Help Diagnosis, Treatment - Science Daily
11/5/2002: New treatment said to block Alzheimer's in mice - Nando Times
11/4/2002:Imaging Early Alzheimer Disease  - Science Quest
11/4/2002: Tobacco chemical blamed for disease  - BBC
11/3/2002: Study suggests estrogen could worsen Alzheimer's - Nando Times
11/2/2002: Memory Training May Help Some Alzheimer's Patients in the Early Stages of the Disease - Science Quest
11/2/2002: Long-Term Estrogen Replacement Therapy in Postmenopausal Women With Alzheimer's Disease May Worsen Memory Loss - Science Quest
11/1/2002: Brain food   - BBC
11/1/2002: Eating Fish Once a Week Cuts Dementia Risk  - ABC
10/29/2002: Immune system 'triggers Alzheimer's'  - BBC
10/28/2002: Alzheimer's vaccine may be safe for humans, study says - Nando Times
10/27/2002: New Strategy May Protect Brain Against Stroke, Parkinson's And Alzheimer's - Science Daily
10/25/2002: Researchers consider refining experimental Alzheimer's vaccine  - Nando Times
10/23/2002: More adults caring for elderly parents with dementia - Nando Ti
10/22/2002: Curry 'may treat radiation burns'  - BBC  
10/22/2002: Curry 'may slow Alzheimer's'  - BBC
10/19/2002: Moderately High Homocysteine Tied To Stroke, Alzheimer’s Risk - Science Daily
10/10/2002: Electronic tagging for Alzheimer's  - BBC
10/8/2002: Common Spice May Protect Skin During Radiation Therapy For Cancer - Science Daily
10/7/2002: Study suggests aspirin reduces Alzheimer's risk  - Nando Times
10/7/2002: Growing Evidence That Commonly Used Medicines May Delay Or Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease - Science Daily
10/6/2002: Hi-tech memories for Alzheimer's  - BBC
10/5/2002: Antipsychotic Drug Has Few Side Effects In Alzheimer's Patients - Science Daily
10/4/2002: Alzheimer's Disease May Originate In The Brain's White Matter - Science Daily
9/29/2002: Alzheimer's-Associated Enzyme Elevated in Key Brain Areas - Science Quest
9/18/2002: Critics claim Alzheimer's study may harm patients - New Scientist
9/6/2002: Verbal Memory Test Best Indicator Of Who Will Have Alzheimer's Disease, New Study Says  - Science Daily
9/6/2002: Study Finds Link Between Common Neurological Disorder And Alzheimer's Disease - Science Daily
8/24/2002: High-fat diet may boost Alzheimer's risk  - Nando Times
8/22/2002: Study Points to Depression as a Risk for Developing Alzheimer's Disease - Science Quest
8/20/2002: Heston Has Alzheimer's Symptoms  - ABC
8/20/2002: Video- Heston's Announcement  - ABC
8/15/2002: Brain Boosters  - ABC
8/14/2002: Dementia – Before Or After Stroke – Increases Risk Of Death- Science Daily
8/12/2002:Caregiving Challenges  - ABC
8/7/2002The Long Goodbye  - ABC
7/30/2002:Researchers estimate Alzheimer's cases may triple by 2050 - Nando Times
7/30/2002:Piecing Together the Alzheimer's Puzzle - Science Quest
7/28/2002:Healthy diet, exercise may decrease Alzheimer's risk, scientists believe - Nando Times
7/28/2002:Lifestyle linked to Alzheimer's
7/28/2002:Brain scan may detect Alzheimer's - MSNBC
7/26/2002:Eat Your Vegetables  - ABC
7/22/2002:Blog to Cope With Alzheimer's Fog -  World Scientist
7/17/2002:Alzheimer's drug boosts memory of non-sufferers - New Scientist
7/7/2002:Diet Rich in Foods With Vitamin E May Reduce Alzheimer's Disease Risk - Science Quest
7/3/2002:AI to Assist Alzheimer's Patients  - Wired News
6/26/2002:Elevated Levels of Cholesterol Play an Even Greater Role in Development of Alzheimer's - Science Quest
6/21/2002:Test may provide early indications of Alzheimer's  - CNN
6/20/2002:Urine Test Predicts Alzheimer's Disease - Science Quest
6/18/2002:Flat battery  - BBC
6/16/2002:Researchers Find New Cellular Target to Thwart Alzheimer's - Science Quest
6/1/2002:MRI Brain Scan May Detect Alzheimer's Disease Decades Before First Symptoms - Science Daily
5/23/2002:Jogging Every Day May Keep Alzheimer's Away; Exercise Seen To Help Brain Respond To Outside Stimuli, May Affect Nerve Cell Health - Science Daily
5/22/2002:Fruit Fly Alzheimer's Model Should Be Invaluable Tool  - Unisci
5/21/2002:Scientists Find a Gene That's Key to Cloning Success but Also Hints at Serious Hurdles to Reproductive Cloning - Science Quest
5/21/2002:Molecular "Motor" Drives Rotavirus Replication - Science Quest
5/21/2002:No consensus on cloning regulation among experts - Nando Times
5/21/2002:Alligator's sensitive side  - BBC
5/20/2002:New drug tackles Alzheimer's clumps - New Scientist
5/20/2002:Drug saps Alzheimer's  - Nature
5/11/2002:Tau Protein Required For Development Of Alzheimer's Disease - Science Daily
5/9/2002:Tau Protein Required for Development of Alzheimer's Disease - Science Quest
5/4/2002:Alzheimer's in America  - ABC
4/23/2002:Study examines effect of gingko biloba on MS patients - Nando Times
4/12/2002:Vaccine may reverse Alzheimer's claims researchers - Ananova
4/19/2002:Heart drug slashes Alzheimer's risk  - BBC
4/14/2002:Memory Loss After Brain Injury Worse When E4 Form of Alzheimer's Gene Present - Science Quest
4/12/2002:Slowing Alzheimer's Deadly March? - Business Week
4/11/2002:New Approaches Seen For Early Alzheimer's Diagnosis  - Unisci
4/11/2002:Novel Function Identified for Alzheimer's Protein - Science Quest
4/10/2002:Study suggests progress on Alzheimer's  - NY Times
4/10/2002:"Brain Rust" Drug Offers Hope For Alzheimer's  - Technology Review
4/9/2002:Expert predicts Alzheimer's prevention drug 'within seven years' - Ananova
4/7/2002:Gila Monster Spit May Yield Alzheimer's Drug - ABC
4/7/2002:Huge Breakthrough in Alzheimer's Research - Cosmiverse
4/6/2002:Medicare now covers Alzheimer's treatment - Seattle Times
4/6/2002:Misshapen proteins linked to Alzheimer's and other diseases - Nando Times
4/6/2002:Smoking gun found for Alzheimer's  - Nature
4/3/2002:Never Too Late - ABC
4/3/2002:New Findings About Brain's "Compass" Offer Clues About Alzheimer's - Science Quest
4/2/2002:Iris, Alzheimer's and us  - BBC
3/29/2002:Blood test could predict Alzheimer's - New Scientist  
3/29/2002:Researchers Develop Blood Test to Diagnose Alzheimer's-Type Changes in Mice - Science Quest
3/24/2002:Bad for the Brain - ABC
3/24/2002:Cholesterol-lowering drugs may avert Alzheimer's, study suggests - Nando Times
3/23/2002: Enzyme Once Thought Harmful to Alzheimer's Patients Now Appears to Be a Key to Future Treatment - Science Quest
3/16/2002:Heading footballs 'risks later dementia' - Ananova
3/10/2002:Duke researchers identify age at onset genes for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease  - Eureka Alert
3/10/2002:Training Improves Age-Related Memory Decline  - Eureka Alert
3/9/2002:Development of Alzheimer's vaccine ends in disappointment - Nando Times
3/8/2002:Relationship Seen Between Down Syndrome, Alzheimer's  - Unisci
3/7/2002:Relationship Seen Between Down's Syndrome, Alzheimer's - Science Quest
3/6/2002:Alzheimer's mother gives birth to healthy baby - Ananova
3/5/2002:Researchers Identify Age at Onset Genes for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases - Science Quest
3/5/2002:Dementia Gene Located  - Cosmiverse
2/27/2002:Dementia drugs put under spotlight  - BBC
2/22/2002:Amino Acid Linked to Alzheimer's - ABC
2/20/2002:Mental Stimulation May Reduce Alzheimer's Risk - Cosmiverse
2/12/2002:Acetylcholine Deficits Not Found In Early Alzheimer's  - Unisc
2/11/2002:Bacteria study signals promising step in the fight against Alzheimer's - Nando Times
2/10/2002:Alzheimer's surgery could hold promise  - CNN  
2/10/2002:Alzheimer's vaccine study suspended  - CNN  
2/8/2002:Road Skills Hint At 'Motion Blindness' Of Alzheimer's - January 31, 2002  - Eureka Alert
2/8/2002:E. coli bacteria make Alzheimer’s-linked fibers  - Eureka Alert
2/8/2002:New Alzheimer's study to focus on children  - Eureka Alert
2/8/2002:University of Pittsburgh research uncovers new mechanism that may be the cause of mild cognitive impairment  - Eureka Alert
2/2/2002:Green light for a tipple  - BBC
2/1/2002:Vascular dementia patients taking ARICEPT® show significant treatment benefits in cognition and function  - Eureka Alert
1/31/2002:Moderate drinking 'halves Alzheimer's risk' - Ananova
1/29/2002:New compounds suppress neuroinflammation of Alzheimer's disease  - Eureka Alert
1/28/2002:Alzheimer's vaccine trial suspended - New Scientist
1/27/2002:Testosterone blocks Alzheimer's brain abnormality  - Nature
1/21/2002:Researchers find definitive proof that repetitive head injury accelerates the pace of Alzheimer’s disease  - Eureka Alert
1/20/2002:Head injuries linked to rapid spread of Alzheimer's disease - Nando Times
1/21/2002:Researchers find definitive proof that repetitive head injury accelerates the pace of Alzheimer’s disease  - Eureka Alert
1/17/2002:High hopes for Alzheimer's film  - BBC
1/15/2002:Alzheimer's Imaging - ABC
1/14/2002:Study to look at possible benefits of musical training on brain function in young and old  - Eureka Alert
1/14/2002:Alzheimer's plaques imaged in living patients for first time - New Scientist
1/13/2002:Adding vitamin C to certain drugs may help treat Alzheimer’s, other brain disorders  - Eureka Alert
1/9/2002:Scientist Finds Genetic Clues To Alzheimer's; Establishes DNA Bank For Future Studies  - Eureka Alert
12/27/2001:Leisure activity decreases risk of Alzheimer's disease
12/27/2001:Hormone replacement therapy may delay cognitive decline in older women  - Eureka Alert
12/27/2001:HRT 'delays mental decline'  - BBC
12/27/2001:One common factor -- context -- may underpin the normal cognitive problems of aging  - Eureka Alert
12/25/2001:Vitamin E could halt Alzheimer's  - BBC
12/20/2001:Alcohol and dementia among the elderly  - Eureka Alert
12/18/2001:Brain damage from HIV, Alzheimer's, may have similar mechanism, SFVAMC researchers say  - Eureka Alert
12/10/2001:Texas A&M chemical engineers suggest Alzheimer’s onset tied to cholesterol, brain chemicals-  - Eureka Alert
12/8/2001:Normal Function of Alzheimer's Protein Identified - ABC
12/8/2001:Protein Insight Could Lead To Alzheimer's Treatment  - Unisci
12/8/2001:Mechanism of short-term memory loss revealed - New Scientist
12/7/2001:Plaque-forming protein seen in Alzheimer's linked to clogged brain transportation system  - Eureka Alert
12/7/2001:Cell Transport and Alzheimer's Disease  - Eureka Alert
12/6/2001:Fading Memories - ABC
12/1/2001:Plaques Don't Cause Alzheimer's Memory Loss- Study - ABC
11/28/2001:Alzheimer's disease and exposure to vaccines  - Eureka Alert
11/28/2001:The immune system and Alzheimer’s disease  - Eureka Alert
11/23/2001:Dutch study says anti-inflammatory drugs may reduce risk of Alzheimer's disease - Nando Times
11/23/2001:Curry can fight Alzheimers disease - Ananova
11/18/2001:Unique genetic alteration in presenilin 1 gene predisposes some Caribbean Hispanics to early-onset Alzheimer's disease  - Eureka Alert
11/10/2001:Painkillers may prevent Alzheimer's  - BBC
11/10/2001:PET Scans Can Detect Early Alzheimer's-UCLA Study  - Yahoo
11/3/2001:Preventing Alzheimer's - ABC
11/3/2001: Who's At Risk? - ABC
10/27/2000:Alzheimer's May Be Linked to Body Shape - ABC
10/27/2000:Alzheimer's- Few clues on the mysteries of memory.  - CNN
10/23/2001:Small head circumference coupled with ApoE e4 gene is a factor in Alzheimer's disease  - Eureka Alert
10/16/2001:When Alzheimer's Patients Wander Off, Urgency Needed  - Unisci
10/7/2001:Alzheimer's Disease  - CNN
10/2/2001:Scientists Discover a Therapeutic Strategy for "Misfolding Diseases"
10/1/2001:Retreat Is A Step Forward for Alzheimer's Research - Science Daily
9/30/2001:Protein tied to Alzheimer’s also plays key role in honeybees  - Eureka Alert
9/30/2001:Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute discover a therapeutic strategy for "misfolding diseases" analogous to Alzheimer's disease  - Eureka Alert
9/26/2001:Snails on trail of memory loss  - BBC
9/25/2001:Alzheimer's and Parkinson's proteins create a destructive team  - Eureka Alert
9/12/2001:Alzheimer's predicted 'years in advance'  - BBC
9/12/2001:A Walk With Danger - ABC
9/5/2001:Dementia patients aware of losing grasp suffer breakdowns most  - Eureka Alert
9/3/2001:Estrogen patch may improve memory for women with Alzheimer's  - Eureka Alert
9/3/2001:First-ever published study of moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease patients taking Aricept (r) shows significant treatment benefits in cognition, daily living activities and behavior  - Eureka Alert
9/1/2001:Aging With Grace: The Nun Study and the Science of Old Age  - SciTech
8/30/2001:Breakthrough mouse produced with both lesions associated with Alzheimer's  - Eureka Alert
8/28/2001:Brain trauma may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease  - Eureka Alert
8/25/2001:Toward Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease  - SciTech
8/19/2001:Alzheimer's researchers revive "dead" brain cells- New Scientist
8/19/2001:Toward Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease  - Scientific American
8/14/2001:Keele Scientist's Book On Aluminium And Alzheimer's Disease- AlphaGalileo
8/14/2001:Where Does Alzheimer's Start?- Technology Review
8/13/2001:Alzheimer's vaccine in human trials next  - CNN
8/13/2001:Alzheimer's Disease
8/8/2001:Attacking Alzheimer's - Access Excellence
8/4/2001:Designer chemical offers Alzheimer's hope  - Eureka Alert
8/4/2001:NYU researchers successfully immunize mice against Alzheimer's  - Eureka Alert
8/1/2001:Clues to a Cure for Alzheimer's  - Scientific American
7/26/2001:More tests set for Alzheimer's drug - Dallas News
7/25/2001:Data show new Alzheimer's drug offers hope for broad spectrum of dementia  - Eureka Alert
7/23/2001:Secret's in the Gray Matter - Lycos
7/20/2001:Gladstone researchers find clue to Alzheimer's disease risk factor  - Eureka Alert
7/12/2001:Benefits From Alzheimers Plaque-Producing Reaction - Headline Spot Science Study Proposes Role In Gene Expression...
7/11/2001:Study Gives Clues to Workings of Anti-Alzheimer Antibody-Science Central
7/10/2001:Study Sheds Light on Alzheimer's Plaque Process - Lycos
7/10/2001:Evidence That Alzheimer's Protein Switches on Genes- Science Central
7/9/2001:Local team gains on Alzheimer's- Dallas News
7/1/2001:Portrait of Alzheimer's  - BBC
6/28/2001:White House selects science adviser - MSNBC
6/24/2001:Metal Chelators Reduce Alzheimer's Plaques In Mouse - Unisci
6/22/2001:Study Suggests that Potential Alzheimer Drugs Might be Dangerous- Science Central 8/25/2001:Toward Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease  - SciTech
6/22/2001:Study: Forgetfulness May Indicate Alzheimer's - Lycos
6/21/2001:New genetic risk factor for susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease
6/21/2001: Alzheimer's disease and the dementia continuum- New data that may change the way patients ...  - Eureka Alert
6/20/2001:Alzheimer's Protein Dements Flies- Inscight
6/18/2001:Oxidative Damage Occurs Before Alzheimer's Plaques - Yahoo
6/17/2001:Penn study findings reverse key chronology for development of Alzheimer's disease- Eureka Alert
6/17/2001:High blood pressure and cholesterol levels increase risk of Alzheimer's  - Eureka Alert
6/15/2001:Sleep apnea linked to Alzheimer's, heart gene - Nando Times This is interesting because sleep apnea may be linked to cerebral hypoxia, which could conceivably cause brain damage. About 8% of sleep apnea patients could have the E-4 allele of the gene that's associated with familial hypercholestrolemia and Alzheimer's disease.
6/8/2001:. The Kearneys (Kevin, Cassidy, Michael, and Maeghan) have sent a most excellent article that resolves an earlier paradox in the Alzheimer's disease Science News. There was a British report last July, Alzheimer's vaccine 'safe to use', about several patients who had been recruited for early Phase I trials of a promising new Alzheimer's vaccine. Such vaccines have prevented Alzheimer's plaques from developing in the brains of mice. Then in December, there was an announcement, Researchers develop vaccine for Alzheimer's , about the revolutionary discovery of an Alzheimer's vaccine in Toronto. But the Toronto vaccine was in an earlier stage of development than the British vaccine, having only been tried with mice. It would be a year before human trials could begin. But what had happened to the British Phase I trials? How did the efforts relate? The above article seems to tell the tale. The British have been inundated with requests to admit Grandma and Uncle Bartholemew to their experimental program. Consequently, they're keeping a low profile. Let the Toronto researchers enjoy the limelight, and fend off Granny and Uncle Bart. Pretty shrewd! Now the Brits are in Phase II trials with 80 patients at 4 secret British hospitals. Sh-h-h! If you find out which hospitals they are, don't tell anybody. It's a secret.
    The article mentions that, unfortunately, it will be at least five years before such vaccines are approved for clinical use.
6/3/2001:.Alzheimer's Tau Protein Same As Punch Drunk Fighter's
    This article observes that the fibrous tangles of tau proteins that form in the brains of both prizefighters and AD patients are identical. However, these tangles are found in different parts of the prizefighters' brain than in the brains of AD victims. Also there are other features of AD that differ from those who suffer from Dementia Pugilistica (DP). There seems to be a tantalizing link between head trauma and the subsequent development of Alzheimer's Disease. You wonder whether boxers have a higher incidence of AD later in life.
5/31/2001:.Statins... the New Wonder Drug?
    The cholesterol lowering family of medications known as "statins" is bidding fair to become the most broadly beneficial family of drugs yet discovered. Among its many benefits is the ability to reduce the likelihood of contracting Alzheimer's Disease by two-thirds!
5/31/2001:.Statins' beneficial effects on HDL
    What this article seems to be saying, in "medicalese", is that the statins not only lower total serum cholesterol but simultaneously raise HDL levels. Tommie Jean has been on levastatin for five years. It has lowered her total cholesterol while raising her HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein) levels into the 80's. Her good cholesterol (HDL) is presumably removing cholesterol faster than her bad cholesterol (LDL) can deposit it in her blood vessel walls.
5/31/2001:.Memory Lapse -- or Alzheimer's?
    This article is a little frightening. It observes that a great deal of damage has already been done before the first symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease appear. Death typically occurs between 3 and 14 years after diagnosis. "At Washington University in St. Louis, an Alzheimer's research unit has autopsied the brains of 630 older people over the past two decades. John C. Morris, who leads the group, says the autopsies have shown that people with mild cognitive impairment generally already have large accumulations of the plaques and tangles that are associated with Alzheimer's. 'I would say that significant cognitive change is not part of truly healthy aging,' says Morris. 'When it occurs, our evidence suggests it's highly indicative of the brain findings of Alzheimer's disease.'"
    "Some scholars are even more reluctant to link the early signs of memory loss with a diagnosis of pre-Alzheimer's. The average 80-year-old has lost 7 to 10 percent of his or her brain volume since early adulthood, points out David Drachman, a leading Alzheimer's researcher at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. After age 65, the rate of dementia doubles every five years, so that half of everyone over 85 is demented. By 100, only rare individuals remain mentally normal."
5/31/2001:.Elderly people with a low intake of vitamin B12 and folate may be twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease
    This observes that those elderly with a low intake of vitamin B12 and folate are twice as likely to present with Alzheimer's as those with higher intakes. More specifically,
    "Those with low levels of B12 or folate, defined as less than 150 picomoles per litre of blood (pmol/l) and 10 nanomoles per litre (nmol/l) respectively, were twice as likely to have been diagnosed with AD three years on. Unexpectedly, the researchers found that the risk was even higher for those elderly people who combined a deficit in the two vitamins with high scores on cognitive tests at the outset - a correlation they are as yet unable to explain."
    The researchers also observe that a high intake of folate is thought to promote the growth of existing cancers.
    B12 is found in fish, meat, and dairy products, while spinach, peas, and grains are rich in folate.
5/29/2001:.Researchers find how Alzheimer's clutters brain
    Buildup of beta-amyloid interferes with cellular garbage disposal, and could be the culprit (depending upon which region of the brain is involved) in Parkinson's Disease, Amylotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS - Lou Gehrig's Disease), and possibly even other diseases such as cystic fibrosis. The article also references a Japanese paper, Researchers Report Possible New Alzheimer's Weapon, describing a potential treatment by boosting the levels of neprilysin, which tears down amyloid. The article also quotes an American researcher, Dr. Louis Hersh, involved in similar research at the University of Kentucky.
5/27/2001:.Researchers Report Possible New Alzheimer's Weapon
    This related Japanese paper (cited above) observes that the effect is dose dependent, meaning that even a slight change in neprilysin levels has a significant effect upon beta-amyloid levels. The article says, "Aging-associated down-regulation (reduction) of neprilysin will increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, maintaining neprilysin activity above a certain level will be a preventive measure," Saido said.
    Regulating the level of neprilysin through diet, by eating foods that elevate the enzyme or avoiding so-called neprilysin inhibitors, may also become a actor, Saido said. Next question: what foods have these properties?
5/25/2001:.Unique sleep symptoms found in Alzheimer's
5/25/2001:.Protein model points to smoking, Alzheimer's drugs - Reuters
5/24/2001:.Brain diseases discovery
5/24/2001:.Enzyme Breaks Down Alzheimer's Protein
5/23/2001:.When it's time to worry This gives some memory tests that you can use to check your memory.
5/20/2001:.The Nun Study This landmark study among nuns indicates that "idea density" and grammatical complexity were predictive markers for Alzheimer's Disease 50 years before the onset of symptoms. "Kemper, an expert on the effects of aging on language usage, had earlier shown that 'idea density' — the number of discrete ideas per 10 written words — was a good marker of educational level, vocabulary and general knowledge. Grammatical complexity, meanwhile, was an indicator of how well memory was functioning."
    "Applying these measures to the sisters' autobiographies, Snowdon and Kemper found to their astonishment that the elderly sisters who showed signs of Alzheimer's had consistently authored essays low in both idea density and grammatical complexity a half century or more earlier. One of the lowest-scoring samples begins: 'My father, Mr. L.M. Hallacher, was born in the city of Ross, County Cork, Ireland, and is now a sheet-metal worker in Eau Claire.' By contrast, one of the highest-scoring essays conveys the same type of information but in a dramatically different way: 'My father is an all-round man of trades, but his principal occupation is carpentry, which trade he had already begun before his marriage with my mother.'"
    "Idea density turns out to be an astonishingly powerful predictor of Alzheimer's disease — at least among the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Snowdon found by reading nuns' early writings, he could predict, with 85% to 90% accuracy, which ones would show the brain damage typical of Alzheimer's disease about 60 years later. 'When we first looked at the findings,' says Snowdon, 'we thought, ‘Oh my God, it's in the bag by the time you're in your 20s.'"
    "But Alzheimer's is not that simple. One especially telling case: Sister Bernadette (not her real name), who had shown no outward signs of Alzheimer's and whose youthful autobiography was rich with ideas and grammatical complexity, turned out at death to be riddled with the plaques and tangles of Alzheimer's (see diagram). Says Snowdon: "Lesson No. 1 in my epidemiology training is that there are hardly any diseases where one factor alone, even in infectious disease, will always cause illness."
    "These results posed a chicken-and-egg problem: Did higher brain capacity protect the sisters from developing the symptoms of dementia, or were those with lackluster biographies already suffering very early signs of some brain abnormality that predisposed them to mental decline later? That question remains unanswered — but follow-up studies, to be published next month in the journal Psychology and Aging, suggest that exercising what brain capacity you have offers some protection. While all the sisters show age-related decline in mental function, those who had taught for most of their lives showed more moderate declines than those who had spent most of their lives in service-based tasks. And that, says Kemper, supports the commonsense idea that stimulating the brain with continuous intellectual activity keeps neurons healthy and alive. (Of course, notes Snowdon, these activities are not absolute protectors. For some, a genetic predisposition may override even a lifetime of learning and teaching.)"
    Another critical finding was that cardiovascular disease plays a role in the etiology of Alzheimer's Disease.
    Nuns with high folate (folic acid) levels showed little evidence of Alzheimer's-type damage.
    Vitamin E and vitamin C levels were uncorrelated with Alzheimer's plaques, as was mercury and aluminum in their diets.
Recommendations: Avoid head injuries and strokes. Boost folate or (folic acid) levels in the diet (e. g., with spinach or other foods rich in folates). Antioxidants may still be advisable. Keep reading, and exercising your noggin.
5/19/2001:.Trying to Stop Alzheimer's — From the Inside Out
    This article describes the first human trial of a new gene therapy in which a patient's skin cells are modified to produce nerve growth factor, and are then injected deep into the brain in the nucleus basalis. Animal studies indicate that this might be effective. "It will be years before we see anything definitive."
5/19/2001:.Self-Test: How Sharp Is Your Memory?
5/14/2001:.Diet and dementia
    This article confirms the link between low blood serum levels of folate and vitamin B₁₂ (cyanocobalamine), and the subsequent development of Alzheimer's Disease.
5/12/2001:.Poor Memory Linked to High Homocysteine Levels
        "We don't know whether high levels of homocysteine cause poor recall or whether they are merely identifying people who have undiagnosed vessel disease in the brain, which may be the true cause of the poor recall,'' Morris told Reuters Health.
    "It will be interesting to see whether folate fortification of various foods, through its anticipated effect on homocysteine concentrations, will result in a lower rate of poor memory among the elderly in the United States,'' the authors conclude.
5/12/2001:.Galantamine therapy shows sustained cognitive benefits for Alzheimer's patients
    Galantamine, approved in the UK, and currently undergoing clinical trials in the U. S., acts both as a cholinesterase inhibitor, like Huperzine-A, Tacrine, and , and also modulates nicotinic acid receptors in the brain.
5/9/2001:Research Ties Vitamin B12 and Folate Deficiencies With Alzheimer's Disease
5/9/2001:Scientists Propose a New Theory for the Pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease
    Researchers at USC and Northwestern present evidence that aging-associated inflammatory processes within the brain that generate soluble "wadded up" amyloids called "amyloid beta derived diffusible ligands" (ADDL's). These ADDL's are postulated to be the true cause of Alzheimer's Disease rather than amyloid-cascade plaques or fibrils.
5/5/2001:Chemical finding may be key to treating Parkinson's disease
5/2/2001:Molecule Reduces Alzheimer Plaques in Brain
    This article also sounds the theme advanced in the two articles Researchers find how Alzheimer's clutters brain, and Researchers Report Possible New Alzheimer's Weapon, that trash collection is critical to the avoidance of Alzheimer's Disease (and perhaps other neurodegenerative diseases). The investigators report that a molecule, called T Growth Factor-b1, reduced the numbers of amyloid plaques by a factor of 75% and overall beta-amyloid levels by 60% in mice.
    "People always thought that inflammation and microglial activation were bad," said Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD, lead author, investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and assistant professor of neurology at UCSF. "But we showed that, when stimulated by TGF-b1, microglial activities can be beneficial."
    "Since TGF-b1 has many effects other than those revealed in this study, physicians probably won't be using TGF-b1 to treat patients. More promising would be to zero in on the molecules that microglia produce when they are stimulated by TGF-b1. Such factors could be useful for treating or preventing the accumulation of b-amyloid in Alzheimer's disease, Wyss-Coray explained."
5/2/2001:Alzheimer's disease gene appears to reduce risk of developing age-related macular degeneration
    One of variants of a gene that predisposes individuals to Alzheimer's Disease--the apolipoprotein E-4 gene--reduces the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD affects 1 in 6 U. S. citizens between the ages of 55 and 64, and 1 in 3 over the age of 75. Smoking, fatty diet, and atherosclerosis are known risk factors for macular degeneration. Half the individuals with the Apo-E4 gene, who are at risk for Alzheimer's Disease, suffer from macular degeneration compared with those with Apo-E2 gene. Would you rather be blind or mindless?
4/20/2001: Researchers link failed cell division, Alzheimer's disease
    Researchers have found a significant number of brain cells in Alzheimer's patients with extra copies of chromosomes, showing attempts at cell division in cells that are not supposed to divide. This effort to divide is the likely cause of the nerve degeneration and dementia in Alzheimer's disease, say the researchers. "It's almost as if Alzheimer's disease were a novel form of cancer," says Karl Herrup, senior author of the findings...
    According to Herrup, memory loss in Alzheimer's disease is always associated with the accumulation of strange deposits in the brain known as plaques and tangles. Most investigators agree that these deposits are central to the disease, but are not in and of themselves the cause of memory loss. The clinical symptoms are more closely tied to the nerve cell death, but the links between plaques and death were unclear.
    "The simplest view is that plaques are directly toxic to neurons. The cell division hypothesis puts a different spin on this idea," he says. The brain cells of Alzheimer's patients apparently enter the cell division process, make the extra chromosomes, but never create new cells to pass on the extra copies. "We speculate that is the root cause of the nerve cell death."
   A  theory they put forth with other CWRU/UHC colleagues hypothesizes that the plaques which are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease brain cells trigger an inflammatory response in the brain, and that this response brings with it  proteins that trigger cell division.
4/14/2001: First Gene Therapy Surgery For Alzheimer's Disease
    This article is an alternative description of the surgical implantation of genetically modified skin cells into the nucleus basalis to boost neural growth factor.
4/11/2001:Study cuts estimate of life span after dementia
    This article reduces the median survival time for Alzheimer's patients from 5-to-8 years to 3.3 years after the onset of the disease. However, the article also states,
    "Most patients in the current study were elderly, and "the main determinant of  survival and mortality in elderly populations, regardless of the presence of dementia, is age,"
4/6/2001: Naturally occurring protein could slow Alzheimer's disease
    Boosting Apo-A levels by consuming fruits, soybeans, coconut oil, and some wines and teas. I have just read a 5/29/2001
4/4/2001: Soy May Help Protect Brain From Alzheimer's - Study
    This study was performed with monkeys and indicated that the isoflavones in soy may protect against Alzheimer's disease. However, human trials haven't yet taken place.
3/3/2001: Enzyme is key to hallmark of Alzheimer's-- moves to block it underway
    This Johns Hopkins study identifies the enzyme beta-secretase as essential for the development of the beta-amyloid plaques that are a hallmark of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). If further testing proves successful, physicians might give "cocktails" of various enzyme blockers, or secretase blockers along with vaccines. Inflammation is also implicated in this plaque formation process.
2/28/2001: Hopkins Scientists Show Enzyme Is Key to Hallmark of Alzheimer's
    Same paper as the above.
2/20/2001: An End to Alzheimer's?
    This article credits Bob Vassar at biotechnology firm Amgen with discovering the secretase gene (with a nearly simultaneous discovery at three other drug companies). Bristol-Myers Squibb entered Phase I trials of a gamma-secretase inhibitor in April, 2000. Meanwhile, Amgen has divined the structure of beta-Secretase and is racing to produce a specific beta-secretase blacker, as are GlaxoSmithKline, and Pharmacia.
    "Both of us view beta-secretase as a terrific target," says Dale Schenk, vice president of discovery research for Elan. "I don't think it's going to be terribly long before the field has clinical candidates."
    Schenk's optimism is based, in part, on an obvious precedent: AIDS. That's because beta-secretase is a protease, or protein cutting enzyme, in the same class as the HIV protease, which proved to be a great drug target. Once the HIV-protease structure was discovered in 1989, it took less than three years to get "protease inhibitors" into the clinic. These drugs have changed AIDS from a death sentence into a usually manageable condition. "Pharmaceutical companies like sure things," says University of South Florida Alzheimer's researcher Huntington Potter. Blocking enzymes "is something they can do easily and be sure that they have something fairly successful at the end."
    How soon will this happen? "I predict that we're going to have an armamentarium of drugs in the next five years—10 years maximum—some or many of which will be effective," says Potter. "It's going to be longer before we can say that we've cured the disease."
2/20/2001: Attacking Alzheimer's
    This article describes "decoy" compounds created by MIT biologist Vernon M. Ingram that render harmless the toxic fibrils in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. The article explains that fibrils of amyloid peptide molecules stack together to form long ribbon-like peptide arrays that aggregate to form the characteristic Alzheimer's plaques. The plaques consist of insoluble deposits of beta-amyloid, a protein fragment snipped from a larger protein called amyloid precursor protein (APP). It appears that only the aggregated fibrillar forms of the beta-amyloid peptide are toxic.
    When these fibrils contact neurons, they open channels in the cell that allow large amounts of calcium to enter. Elderly brain cells are particularly vulnerable because they have a diminished ability to get rid of excess calcium.
    Ingram and his research team created 30 small peptides, each between five and eight amino acids long, and tested them with lab-cultured human nerve cells. Some had no effect. Eight of them counteracted the excessive, toxic influx of calcium, knocking it down to normal levels. "In the presence of the decoy peptide, the final product of the aggregate is not toxic," he said. The fibrils still form, but are harmless and do not affect internal calcium levels in the cells.
    These decoy peptides also may be effective in the treatment of another neurodegenerative condition: Huntington's disease. Ingram plans to test the decoy method as a way to intercept the toxic aggregates of mutant proteins responsible for Huntington's disease.
2/16/2001: Monkey Brain Findings Lead To Human Alzheimer's Trial
    Essential brain fibers that shrivel up and disappear in aged monkeys can be restored to normal levels with infusion of tissue that has been genetically altered to produce nerve growth factor (NGF). Two patients have been enrolled in a clinical trial now underway, and another six are being recruited to evaluate this procedure in humans. (One of these human trials is described in First Gene Therapy Surgery For Alzheimer's Disease above.
2/5/2001: Alzheimer's Disease Anti Inflammatory Prevention Trial (ADAPT)
    This will center upon the use of administration of over-the-counter NSAID's (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as celcoxib or Aleve (naproxen sodium) to see if they will reduce the inflammatory processes in the brain that are coincident with Alzheimer's Disease. Epidemiological studies have indicated a reduced incidence of AD among individuals who have taken these anti-arthritic medications over extended periods of time. The study is recruiting individuals who are over 70, who have no current symptoms, and who have a family history of AD. The study will run 5 to 7 years.
    Prospective participants would probably be wiser to mimic the protocol by taking Aleve  twice a day (b. i. d.) themselves rather than participating in the study. For one thing, this will be a double-blind study, with one-third of the patients receiving a placebo. If you happen to  be in the unlucky third... Also, if you want to enroll in a later study, or change your own personal protection plan, it would be more difficult to do so if you were already enrolled in the NIA protocol. Or at least, that's my opinion.
    This is an interesting approach because it involves over-the-counter medication available from Walmart, and it probably wouldn't harm you.
2/2/2001: A^b peptide vaccination prevents memory loss in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease
    This describes a December, 2000, study in which mice vaccinated with a beta-amyloid fragment were rendered immune to plaque development and to Alzheimer's symptoms.
2/1/2001: "Smart drug" Galantamine boosted by study
    This article explains the value of galantamine as a cognitive booster. Galantamine only postpones the symptoms of AD (typically, for about a year), but it might be a suitable choice for a memory and cognition enhancer for the cognitively unimpaired.
1/31/2001: Possible New Memory Pill for Alzheimer's
    Dr. Steven Rose and colleagues have identified a five-amino-acid peptide in the amyloid precursor protein that figures so prominently in Alzheimer's disease. The amyloid precursor protein is a cell adhesion molecule that sticks together the two sides of a synaptic junction. The five-amino-acid peptide is the active part of the protein that can enhance the establishment of long-term memories.
    For further discussion, see What you might do to try to prevent and/or treat Alzheimer's Disease.
1/30/2001: Alzheimer's vaccine 'safe to use'
    This article, published in July, 2000, is a bit of a puzzler. It explains that an Alzheimer's vaccine, then in Phase I trials, seemed to be safe. Determination of effectiveness will be known by 2002. However, this pre-dates the Alzheimer's vaccine "breakthrough" described just above. It's not clear how the two vaccine programs relate to each other.
1/30/2001: Dementia 'can be reversed'
    This study concludes that drug treatments can switch on neurons that were thought to be dead. "Doctors found that an increase in blood flow to her brain helped to restore brain cells and reverse the dementia."
1/30/2001: Alzheimer Society's News Site
    This is the official Alzheimer's Society web site.
1/26/2001: Revival of Old Drug in Alzheimer's Disease Battle
    Clinical trials are currently underway using an old drug called "cloquinol". Cloquinol is a chelating agent (?) that removes from the brain the zinc and copper that 'decorate' plaques. It was taken off the market when it was found to drain vitamin B12 from the body. However, knowing about this side effect should make it possible to compensate for this problem. Since it's a well-known drug, it might, perhaps, be cleared for therapy before other drugs. However, it's worth noting that if  feeds cancers, regulating its level through supplementation might be a tricky business.
1/25/2001: UK watchdog recommends three Alzheimer's drugs
    The UK has approved three drugs for the temporary reversal of Alzheimer's symptoms: Aricept, Exelon, and Reminyl.
1/24/2001: Ginkgo May Protect Against Alzheimer’s Protein
    This article is quite interesting because it involves the use of gingko biloba in vitro rather than in vivo. Gingko's protective effects are thought to be because of the role of its flavenoids as antioxidants rather than its turpenoids (which are free-radical scavengers). A popular theory holds that beta-amyloid wreaks its havoc through the production of free radicals known as reactive oxygen species (ROS). Oxidative stress has been implicated in neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and head trauma.
1/12/2001: Ginkgo may be useful for Alzheimer's
    120 to 240 milligrams a day of gingko biloba led to improvements of 3% on memory tests, compared to 4.5% using prescribed "memory-boosters". There was a slight chance of bleeding complications at these daily levels of gingko biloba distribution.
1/3/2001: Manganese Exposure May Speed the Emergence of Parkinson's Disease

12/28/2000 Hopkins Scientists Show Enzyme Is Key to Hallmark of Alzheimer's
    This is another article describing beta-secretase, which is one of two enzymes involved in beta-amyloid production. The other is gamma-secretase, but its role is still controversial. (See, "An End to Alzheimer's?" above). Beta-secretase works by trimming off pieces of a larger molecule (presenilin?) that parents beta-amyloid. It's part of a poorly understood event in cells where amyloid appears and then is cleared. "But in Alzheimer's, something goes wrong and amyloid really starts to increase."
    A current hypothesis is that amyloid builds up, nerve cells are damaged and brain tissue become inflamed. Some researchers believe this chronic inflammation progressively injures nerve cells, leading to the symptoms of the disease.
12/25/2000Researchers Find Region Of Chromosome 10 Linked To Risk For Alzheimer's Disease
    Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, have identified a new gene on chromosome 10, in addition to the gene on chromosome 19 that mediates apolipoprotein E-epsilon-4. The new gene seems to be associated with an elevation of beta-amyloid 42. Beta-amyloid 42 is associated with early-onset familial AD, and is thought to, perhaps, contribute to the development of AD. Dr. Steven Younkin said,
    "We still have a long way to go. The next step will be to find the chromosome 10 gene and to figure out how it works." Dr. Younkin hopes that the gene will be found within the next few years.
12/25/2000More About the New Alzheimer's Vaccine

12/24/2000Researchers Reveal Insidious Role of a "Serpin" in Alzheimer's Disease
  Researchers have discovered that the protein alpha1-antichymotrypsin is a serin protease inhibitor or serpin, and can double the accumulation of amyloid plaque in the brains of mice, suggesting a possible new target for therapy in humans.
12/22/2000Researchers develop vaccine for Alzheimer's
    This is confusing in the light of the article, Alzheimer's vaccine 'safe to use', above. It describes a "breakthrough' at the University of Toronto in which mice were treated with a beta-amyloid peptide that blocked both the buildup of beta-amyloid plaques and the mental impairment that they induce. "Not only were we able to clean up the brain tissue, but we also
 prevented the behavioral consequences of Alzheimer's," says Dr. Peter St George-Hyslop, director of the CRND and a neurologist at Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network. "Obviously, it is more important that a treatment or prevention in humans be able to block the clinical dementia."
    The researchers believe clinical trials could begin on human subjects within the year.
12/21/2000Alzheimer's Vaccine Breakthrough
    This is a replay of the above article.
12/21/2000Alzheimer's Disease 'Can Be Reversed'
    This article recounts the effects of administering the AD drug Aricept, which increased the blood supply to a patient's brain.
    Dr Paul Kemp, director of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the University of Southampton and one of the project's leaders, said the changes in the 70-year-old patient were dramatic. "For the first time we have clear proof of a remarkable increase in blood supply to the brain which in turn reflects improved activity in parts of the brain affected by the disease. This lady's initial scans seemed to show irreparable damage to the cells controlling short term memory and other thinking areas of the brain. But four months later the scan showed clearly that the cells we thought were dead were in fact lying dormant and could be switched back on."
    The first project will involve 25 patients with Alzheimer's who will be given the drug over a nine month period and regularly scanned to detect differences in blood supply to the brain. (Should report back about the 1st of August, 2001.)
12/21/2000Hormone Replacement Therapy 'Could Fight Dementia'
    Several researchers have found a strong link between estrogen levels in post-menopausal women and the development of Alzheimer's Disease. Three times as many women with low levels of estrogen developed AD as those with high levels of estrogen.
12/21/2000Alzheimer's: A disease of the young?
    This article states that in the UK, more and more people are showing up with AD at earlier ages. How many? As many as 17,000 under the age of 65... i. e. not that many, unless you're one of them, and if you read this page and take measures accordingly, you probably won't be one of them.
12/21/2000Scientists uncover Alzheimer's clues
    One study cited in this article mentions that Alzheimer's disease may be caused by neurons that nerve cells start to divide in an unregulated way in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.
    "In healthy elderly people control mechanisms stop the division process, and the affected nerve cells re-establish their connections within the brain without any further consequence. The nerve cells start to produce Alzheimer's-type deposits and form tangles, which lead to the confusion of messages. Lead researcher Dr Zsuzsanna Nagy said: "Our results show that cell division starts due to high levels of a molecule that builds up during folic acid deficiency, called homocystein. We also found that loss of connections between nerve cells may play a role, too."
    The other study links AD to cardiovascular arteriosclerosis. This is particularly prevalent with patients carrying the apolipoprotein E-epsilon-4 allele.
    "It may be that Alzheimer's is partly caused by a poor blood supply starving the brain of key nutrients and leading to cell damage. Lead researcher Professor Raj Kalaria said: "Measures taken to change lifestyle or eating habits that improve cardiovascular function, may be protective against Alzheimer's disease."
12/21/2000Alzheimer's Drug Rivastigmine (Exelon) is a Success
    Rivastigmine joins tacrine and donepezil as a new cholinesterase inhibitor. "This is the first treatment to show compelling evidence of efficacy," said Dr Michael Rosler, who led the study at Psychiatrische Universitatsklinik in Wurzburg, Germany. It has "slight gastrointestinal side effects".
12/21/2000Alzheimer's: how mice beat it
    Mice have a protein called LRP-1 that pushes beta-amyloid past the blood-brain barrier. It could be that in AD patients, "either the production of LRP-1 slows down, or poor circulation to the brain stops the beta amyloid being flushed out"
    Keeping active, either mentally or physically is associated with a reduced risk of AD..
12/08/2000Penn Researchers Find New Marker for Alzheimer's Disease
    University of Pennsylvania researchers have determined that a form of isoprostane found in urine could serve as a readily accessible marker for AD. The isoprostane is one of a family of molecules formed from fat and lipids when they are attacked by free radicals. The amount of isoprostane increases dramatically in the presence of AD and corresponds directly with another well known AD marker, the tau protein. While an important indicator for AD, the tau protein is only found in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which can only be measured by a lumbar puncture, commonly called a spinal tap. Isoprostanes, however, can be measured in CSF, blood, and urine.
12/03/2000Lower-IQ Children More Susceptible to Late-Onset Dementia
The study raises the question whether Alzheimer's disease is a developmental process beginning at conception or whether it is a disease acquired during the aging process, according to neurologist Richard Mayeux, MD, of Columbia University in New York, NY, who wrote an accompanying editorial on the study.
    "If Alzheimer's disease is developmental, then the lower intelligence scores may reflect the earliest signs of the disease," Mayeux said. "This could then affect school performance, discouraging further schooling. These results may suggest that having less education is the result of Alzheimer's disease, not the cause of it. But there's not much evidence to support that view.
    An alternative explanation is that people on the lower range of intelligence may be more vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease later in life, Mayeux said.
    The question of when Alzheimer's disease begins is a challenge for researchers because there is no definitive biological marker for the disease, Mayeux said.
    "Right now, when there is no way to prevent the disease, that question may seem moot," he said. "But if preventive therapies such as estrogen, anti-inflammatory agents and gingko biloba or the vaccine targeting amyloid accumulation prove to be effective, then the need to know when the disease starts will become crucial."
11/04/2000Specific Protein Oxidized in Alzhemier's, Parkinson's
    New evidence links oxidative damage in a protein found in nerve cells to the development of degenerative diseases of the nervous system, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. "The protein, called alpha-synuclein, is one of the building blocks of the brain lesions characteristic in patients with neurodegenerative diseases," says Dr. Virginia Lee. Neurodegenerative diseases -- including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diffuse Lewy body disease and multiple system atrophy -- are collectively called synucleinopathies. Most commonly, they become symptomatic due to a deficiency of a specific neurotransmitter -- in the case of Parkinson's, it is dopamine. When the neurons that produce these chemicals die or become impaired, which occurs with oxidation, the eventual results are tremors and sometimes dementia.
    "Our studies provide conclusive evidence of oxidative damage in alpha-synuclein, and that such stress may be a primary event leading to the onset and progression of neurodegenerative synucleinopathies, particularly Parkinson's," says Lee. "This may pave the way for developing therapies to stop or slow the oxidative damage, and thus slow or reverse the progression of these diseases."
    In the United States, Parkinson's disease affects over a million people, and Alzheimer's disease about 4 million people
10/24Serious Earlier Head Injuries Linked to Alzheimers