Bacteria in the human gut can modify the ingested drugs rendering them useless. Scientists discovered how the gut bacteria degrade a Parkinson’s disease medicine and found a way to stop them from stealing our drugs. Continue reading Hey, those bacteria are stealing our drugs!
As you read this article, you may not be consciously trying to memorize each sentence, but the words do need to stick around temporarily. After all, you have to remember what you just read to understand the full article. This is your working memory, sometimes called “short-term memory,” and it allows us to remember things just long enough to complete a task. Its decline is … Continue reading Need to jog your memory? A zap to the brain could help
They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks – but maybe you can have an old brain grow new neurons. New research published in Nature Medicine has shed some light onto the debated topic of whether adult brains can create new neurons in the hippocampus, the region of the brain that is important in short- and long-term memory consolidation. As you might expect, … Continue reading Old Brain, New Neurons?
Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia. It progressively worsens multiple aspects of health over time, from short-term memory loss to behavioral changes to loss of bodily functions. The actual cause of Alzheimer’s is currently unknown. One widely-accepted hypothesis proposes that Alzheimer’s is caused by the accumulation of misfolded proteins in the brain. Unfortunately, many drugs targeting misfolded proteins perform poorly in clinical trials, … Continue reading Oral bacteria may be responsible for Alzheimer’s disease
In 2018, approximately 5.7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s dementia, a number that is expected to double within the next 30 years. Alzheimer’s disease causes memory loss, mood changes, and eventually difficulty speaking, swallowing, and walking. Currently, no medication exists that can slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and no new treatments have been approved by the FDA in more than 15 … Continue reading Hope for Alzheimer’s patients? The first positive clinical trial results in years
What can our immune system tell us about brain health? Research from Rowan University suggests that the presence of particular antibodies, the means by which our bodies identify threats, can predict if mental decline is an early symptom of a neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer’s. The research team discovered a set of 50 antibodies that, in a proof-of-concept study, predicted whether a patient exhibiting mild cognitive … Continue reading Blood test probes the immune system to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease
by Danielle Heller Proteins are molecular machines. They perform an incredible diversity of tasks that enable all living cells to function. Like any machine, a protein must be properly assembled in order to carry out its specific task, and if something goes awry, the cellular consequences can be dire. Take Alzheimer’s disease for example. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common neurodegenerative disorder, affecting over 5 … Continue reading The spreading confusion: Rethinking Alzheimer’s disease
Recent findings from Duke University have implicated overactive immune cells as a potential cause of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The authors of this new study propose that AD can develop when immune cells in the brain overconsume an essential nutrient called arginine. Previous research in this field has primarily studied amyloid, the protein that composes the characteristic plaques found in the brains of AD patients. Focusing … Continue reading Inhibiting Immune Cells: A New Strategy for Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease
(A response to ‘Alzheimer’s Disease Discovery Leads To Nobel Prize‘ and other similar articles) Activities of 8 place cells recorded while the rat ran back and forth through along the track. Each dot is an action potential, and each color is a different cell. Credit Stuartlayton via Creative Commons 3.0 Last week, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for the discovery of … Continue reading The recent Nobel Prize was not about solving Alzheimer's disease