Alzheimer's? Why?

[Michaelangelica]

Smoking is 'good for your memory and concentration'

By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 11:18 AM on 14th August 2008
commentsComments (8)


Smoking can aid concentration and the memory, offering hope of a nicotine pill to help Alzheimer's sufferers

Smoking can help boost memory and concentration, say scientists. The discovery offers hope of a nicotine pill that mimics these effects to treat Alzheimer's disease.

Experts are developing drugs that copy the active ingredients in tobacco that stimulate the brain without causing heart disease, cancer, stroke or addiction.

The move follows the discovery that nicotine can boost the intelligence and recall ability of animals in laboratory experiments.

The researchers, who present their latest findings at a brain conference today, hope that the new drugs, which will be available in five years, could have fewer side effects than existing medicines for dementia.

Smoking is 'good for your memory and concentration' | Mail Online

Does this mean you get your choice of how to die?

Or perhaps we should go back to the original American Indian smoking mix which included Lobelia inflata and a stack of other herbs?

[Michaelangelica]

Pratchett warns of Alzheimer's toll

19 hours ago


Best selling novelist Terry Pratchett won a standing ovation at the Tory conference when he made a moving plea for more to be done to combat the rising toll from Alzheimer's disease.

Mr Pratchett, author of the Discworld books, recently donated one million dollars for research after being diagnosed with an early onset form of the disease.

As guest speaker, he warned the country was facing a "tsunami" of dementia suffering and the load on the NHS and society as a whole could become "unbearable".

Mr Pratchett, who is not a Conservative, said: "If the disease is not stopped or slowed, the country will have to deal with a large population of helpless elderly."

Insisting that "big" decisions were required soon, he asked: "Is there going to be a government of any stripe willing to put its money where its mouth is ... or will dementia remain the most feared disease of the over-55s, facing ... loss of dignity and all too often the chemical cosh".

He likened his own experience of Alzheimer's, for which there is no cure, to a "slow motion car crash ... with always, at the back of your mind, the thought that sooner or later you'll go through the windscreen".

Cancer patients were seen as "brave battlers", while dementia sufferers were regarded in some quarters as "superfluous old-farts". People laughed about the disease. But there was an "element of fear".

With more than a million people forecast to be suffering from the disease by 2025 the cost of dealing it will run into billions of pounds. "The toll of this nasty disease is greater than you think. An appreciable number of people in this room will be affected by it. Dementia isn't a disease of the bumbling elderly. People get it in their 50s and 60s," he said.

Pausing occasionally due to the effects of the disease, Mr Pratchett said the strain on carers and their support was "bad enough now".

With a rising number of sufferers, he warned that unless more research was done to combat Alzheimer's: "Before long the effects on the NHS and society as a whole will be far too heavy. The load will be unbearable. What is unthinkable is to do nothing at all."

The Press Association: Pratchett warns of Alzheimer's toll

Related stories

25/09/2008 Alzheimer's Society commends PM's speech
The Alzheimer's Society has praised prime minister Gordon Brown for confronting the issue of dementia in has Labour Party Conference speech.

22/09/2008 Online support for 24 million Alzheimer's sufferers
A new Alzheimer's website aimed at providing global support to the estimated 24 million sufferers of the disease has been launched.

17/09/2008 Alzheimer's charity celebrates with fundraiser
Alzheimer's research charity Brace will be celebrating its 21st anniversary with a ball at the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum in Bristol.

12/09/2008 Blood test could detect Alzheimer's
The onset of Alzheimer's could be detected earlier with the help of a blood test, it has been claimed.

03/09/2008 Exercise may slow onset of dementia
Exercise can reduce memory recall problems in the over-50s, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

[Michaelangelica]

Grape seeds could stop Alzheimer's
Monday, 10 November 2008
Flinders University
Professor Xin-Fu Zhou

We’ve all been spitting them out for years, but now grape seeds have been identified by Flinders University researchers as a potential treatment in preventing the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

Using a mouse model, a team of medical scientists in the Department of Human Physiology, headed by Professor Xin-Fu Zhou, has found that adding grape seed extract to the diet acts to prevent the formation of deposits of amyloid proteins in the brain.

Professor Zhou said that over-production of amyloid-beta proteins, or the body’s failure to degrade them, leads to the formation of clumps or snarls in the brain and is a major cause of Alzheimer’s disease.
. . .
“We found that grape seed extract was a very powerful agent in reducing amyloid-beta deposits in the brain. It also produced marginal improvements in cognitive function and, most importantly, reduced inflammation,” Professor Zhou said.

Grape seeds could stop Alzheimer's*(ScienceAlert)

[Michaelangelica]

Older (75+) reasonably healthy people were tested on 240mg of commercial Ginkgo extract for five +years. The ginkgo did not seem to help.

To our knowledge, the GEM Study is the largest and first adequately powered randomized clinical trial conducted to evaluate the effect of G biloba on dementia incidence. The GEM Study specifically enrolled a population at increased risk for dementia whose mean age was older than 75 years at initiation of the trial.

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/300/19/2253

they did have some "that's funny/strange" moments

The higher rate of AD in individuals with pre-existing CVD and assigned to G biloba is puzzling and should be viewed with caution given the lack of evidence from published basic science research supporting a potential mechanism for G biloba increasing Alzheimer dementia risk in individuals with CVD

. Similarly, the very small number of purely vascular dementia cases identified in the GEM Study (n = 24) and the lack of effect on the incidence of myocardial infarction or stroke make any conclusion about the relationship between G biloba and prevention of vascular dementia imprudent.

Also, although no firm conclusion can be drawn from the higher number of hemorrhagic strokes in the G biloba group, this finding should be explored in future studies.

AD= ? All causes dementia
CVD=Cardio Vascular Disease.

[Michaelangelica]

Alzheimers Australia
Alzheimer's Australia estimates that there are 230,000 people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia and that will rise to 730,000 by 2050 unless effective treatments are found by research.
Close to 11,000 people a year.

[Michaelangelica]

Cold sores and Alzheimer's

The results of the study are difficult to interpret given the small sample size

The cold sore virus could be one of the main causes of Alzheimer’s disease, claims The Daily Mail today. It also suggests that existing cold sore drugs “could be used to treat the most common form of dementia”.

The story is based on a small lab study examining the brains of deceased Alzheimer’s

Cold sores and Alzheimer's

Science Scientists Find Brain Cell Suicide May Be Alzheimer's Culprit
Jason Mick (Blog) - December 12, 2008 8:50 AM

The researchers found an important culprit in the cause of brain cell death -- a tumor killing preventing enzyme surpress AKT (pictured here), a critical protein to cell survival. (Source: The Institute of Cancer Research)
Nature's kill switch seems to activate for some brain cells but not others, according to researchers

Preventing and reversing memory loss is a key field of research in the area of prolonging human life spans. While humans are living much longer than they once did, many suffer from debilitating conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, which limit their quality of life during their later years.

DailyTech - Scientists Find Brain Cell Suicide May Be Alzheimer's Culprit

Brain death=Human death ?

[SIZE="1"]The researchers found an important culprit in the cause of brain cell death -- a tumor killing preventing enzyme surpress AKT (pictured here), a critical protein to cell survival. (Source: The Institute of Cancer Research)[/SIZE

Treating snoring 'could help Alzheimer's sufferers' memories'
Treating Alzheimer's sufferers for a sleep disorder that causes heavy snoring can boost their memory, a new study shows.

By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent
Last Updated: 11:38AM GMT 12 Dec 2008
]

Treating snoring 'could help Alzheimer's sufferers' memories' - Telegraph

Curcumin as a treatment/preventative agent for Alzheimer's Disease

NOTE:

1. While technical in nature, this study demonstrates the value of Curcumin in the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease, and demonstrates the biochemical basis of action.
2. Why wait for the medical community to recommend this inexpensive, available and safe nutraceutical if there is a reasonable expectatation that it may treat, prevent or forstall the development of Alzheimer's Disease?

Pain Doctor: No Need to Suffer. Pain Center of Orlando: Curcumin as a treatment/preventative agent for Alzheimer's Disease
One of the major sources of Curcumin is Turmeric. Easy to grow in a warm climate.

[Michaelangelica]

Statins Show Promise in Protecting Against Alzheimer's
Joan Arehart-Treichel

Statins seem to offer some protection from heart attacks and stroke. They may also be useful for fending off Alzheimer's disease before cognitive impairment sets in.

Statins Show Promise in Protecting Against Alzheimer's -- Arehart-Treichel 43 (24): 2 -- Psychiatr News

Cold sores and Alzheimer's

Published Date: 22 December 2008
The cold sore virus could be one of the main causes of Alzheimer's disease, claims The Daily Mail today. It also suggests that existing cold sore drugs "could be used to treat the most common form of dementia".

Cold sores and Alzheimer's - North Wales Chronicle

[Michaelangelica]

No. 6: Stem Cell Genes and Alzheimer's

Solid, good news in Alzheimer's research is often hard to find. But in January, scientists at the University of California, Irvine, announced they had discovered an early step that could one day lead to a stem cell therapy for Alzheimer's disease, not to mention other neurodegenerative diseases or brain injuries.

The scientists had discovered the gene, called Lhx2, that tells cells in the developing embryo's brain to form the "thinking center" or the cerebral cortex, which controls language, vision and decision-making, according to a HealthDay report.

"This new understanding of Lhx2's role in cortical development can potentially be used in stem cell research efforts to grow new cortical neurons that can replace damaged ones in the brain," Dr. Edwin Monuki, an assistant professor of pathology at the university, said in a statement.

Now that researchers have found Lhx2, scientists in Monuki's lab will next try to turn on the gene and grow the "thinking center" cells at will -- yet another step toward treating irreparable brain damage in Alzheimer's and other diseases.

The top 10 medical stories of 2008 - 12/24/08 - Houston News - abc13.com

Reduced Blood Flow to Brain a Possible Alzheimer's Trigger
The study, in the December 26 issue of Neuron, found that when the brain does not receive enough glucose, such as might happen when a cardiovascular disease restricts blood flow in arteries to the brain, then a particular process is begun that eventually produces the sticky lumps of protein known as amyloid plaques that are a suspected cause of Alzheimer's disease.

Reduced Blood Flow to Brain Possible Alzheimer's Trigger

The Future of Preventing Alzheimer's Moves Closer to Reality
The Future of Preventing Alzheimer's Moves Closer to Reality

Blood sugar loss may trigger Alzheimer's

A new study in the journal Neuron "suggests that improving blood flow to the brain might be an effective therapeutic approach to prevent or treat Alzheimer's". These finding should be of particular interest to anyone suffering from high cholesterol or hypertension (high blood pressure). A previous study showed that high cholesterol in your 40s increases the odds of contracting Alzheimer's disease by 50 percent. Another research study showed that high blood pressure drugs may prevent the cognitive decline caused by Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's Reading Room: Blood sugar loss may trigger Alzheimer's


Can Anti-Oxidants Prevent Alzheimers?
Can Anti-Oxidants Prevent Alzheimers? | NBC Los Angeles

The herb Ginseng is a"Longevity" herb in Chinese medicine
It has been shown to reduce cholesterol and tone up the muscles in blood vessel and arterial walls.
In doing this it can elevate blood pressure, but taken in small does over time this is counteracted by the cholesterol reduction.
It is also seen as a male aphrodisiac, no doubt due to the improvement in blood supply to the relevant appendage.
m

[Michaelangelica]

[quote

If it made you feel sick, it would be legal.
The history of Prohibition II is not well known although the facts are out there - and they're scandalous. The long and the short of America's drug prohibitions is that it started as a way to keep the prohibition people on the government payroll. Forged studies and racist propaganda forced it through congress and it's such a massive industry, it has the power to write laws for us and against our will.

By Blogger Capt. Fogg, at 9:27 AM
*



Good post, Libby. I had no idea of the promise of this intervention. We should all support whatever it takes to make inroads into the absolute devastation of Alzheimers, to its victims and to their families.


It's truly a shame Carol. Cannabis shows great promise as a medicine but the arguments immediately fall into accusations about motives -- e.g. the dreaded backdoor to full legalization -- and as Fogg points out there are a lot of people with a vested interest in keeping the perception alive that's it's an evil drug instead of a relatively harmless plant.

And of course, we haven't even mentioned the Big Pharma's interest in keeping it illegal so they can keep plying their expensive poisons instead. A huge chunk of the anti-drug movement is funded by Big Pharma.
[/quote]
The Reaction: Cannabis cure for Alzheimer's

Interesting site
http://www.articlesbase.com/article-...imer%E2%80%99s

Marijuana May Present Or Reverse Memory Loss In Alzheimer's

"Marijuana's memory paradox" from MSN reports that marijuana may provide beneficial effects for Alzheimer's patients as the ingredients in cannibis - THC may be helpful in preventing and even reversing the memory loss associated with Alzheimer's

PAXALLES: Marijuana May Present Or Reverse Memory Loss In Alzheimer's

]Fish Fat Fights Alzheimer’s

New studies from the Louisiana State University’s Neuroscience Center of Excellence revealed that decosahexaenoic (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acids found in fish like herring, mackerel and salmon, etc., might help prevent Alzheimer’s. The DHA helps the brain cells by (1) minimizing the production of beta-amyloid proteins, and (2) increasing the production of another protein called NPD1 which helps the brain cells stay alive.

Previous researches have shown that people who eat fish at least 4 times a week, or those who take refined omega-3 from fish oil in gelcaps twice daily, reduce their risk of developing this dreaded disease, compared to those who hardly eat fish. A healthy lifestyle -- daily exercise, abstinence from tobacco, moderation in alcohol ingestion, low-fat, low-carb diet, like eating vegetables, nuts and grains, and fish INSTEAD OF (not together with) red meats -- significantly lowers the risk, not only for Alzheimer’s, but also for cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

Prevent Alzheimer’s

[Michaelangelica]

Subject: Three women
Choosing a wife

A man wanted to get married. He was having trouble choosing among three likely candidates. He gives each woman a present of $5,000 and watches to see what they do with the money.

The first does a total makeover. She goes to a fancy beauty salon, gets her hair done, new makeup; buys several new outfits and dresses up very nicely for the man. She tells him that she has done this to be more attractive for him because she loves him so much.

The man was impressed.

The second goes shopping to buy the man gifts. She gets him a new set of golf clubs, some new gizmos for his computer, and some expensive clothes. As she presents these gifts, she tells him that she has spent all the money on him because she loves him so much.

Again, the man is impressed.

The third invests the money in the stock market. She earns several times the $5,000. She gives him back his $5,000 and reinvests the remainder in a joint account. She tells him that she wants to save for their future because she loves him so much.

Obviously, the man was impressed.

The man thought for a long time about what each woman had done with the money he'd given her.

Then he married the one with the biggest tits
Men are like that, you know.



There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer's research.
This means that by 2040, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them.

If you don't send this to five OLD friends right away there will be five fewer people laughing in the world