Scientists Find New Target For Alzhiemer's 107
GarryFre writes "Neurological researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found a new therapeutic target that can potentially lead to a new way to prevent the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The target called neutral sphingomyelinase (N-SMase) is a protein which, when activated, can cause a chain of reactions in the cell leading to neuronal death and memory loss. Already a substance has been found that shows some promise in halting the progression of the disease."
Re:Hope for Pratchett? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I hope (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Target for Alzheimers? (Score:3, Informative)
Nice article (Score:5, Informative)
Re:So messed up (Score:4, Informative)
90-95% of the time that's true, but alzheimer's isn't always just an old timers disease. It's called early-onset Alzeimer's disease [wikipedia.org]
Re:So messed up (Score:2, Informative)
When they were learning to talk, "old timer's disease" is how my kids mispronounced it. But as to "prejudice against old people", unlike arthritis, only old timers get alzheimer's.
For variable definitions of "old timers." Alzheimers can come decades before legal retirement age.
Re:Scary, scary illness (Score:3, Informative)
actually, you need a nornicotine patch.
ProTip: Don't quote abstracts or conclusions of a study without a link to the actual study.
Sadly, after you have read a lot of studies you find that some of the conclusion and abstracts do not accurate reflect that data. Usually because they don't bother to consult a biostatician. If they do, it's usually way to late into the study.
Did you notice that one and two conflict? They is usually an indicator that the finding aren't above placebo. I haven't read the study, so I could be wrong. There is a first time for everything~
Re:Scary, scary illness FWIW (Score:4, Informative)
My father died of complications of Altzheimers.
It was hell on my mother for years, but *he* seemed to enjoy it.
(The complication was that a year or two after he had been "hospitalized" and gotten to the point where they had to strap him into the bed, one night he stood up in bed and fell out of it, landing on his head and breaking his neck.)
Altzheimers is hard on those close to the patient, not so much on the patient. But this *does* depend on the form. Some people stay aware that they are losing their minds. My father never seemed to notice. I still remember him trying to seduce my wife while both my mother and I were in the room, he was confined to a bed. He was stroking her arm and telling her he didn't have any family...
"Cell", 17-sep-2010: it's an iron/zinc disorder (Score:3, Informative)
The magazine 'Cell' of 17-sep-2010, published research from an Australian research group showing that the plaques are caused by a chainreaction with APP (Ameloid Precursor Protein). This is caused by Zinc-ions blocking APP from functioning, so they can't remove iron from the brain (Fe2+). The iron causes the cells to die. Also, the APP is broken down and stored as plaques. These plaques cause more zinc to stack and disable even more APP, leading to a runaway chainreaction.
note: I can't paste anything in this box or I'd post the link (Chrome is broken again or slashdot's javascript is braindead again). But do look it up. This looks like the key to the disease.