Alzheimer’s Brain Protein Accumulation Real Cause of Disease Confirms Mice Work

Tags: Alzheimer's Protein Accumulation in Brain Real Cause of Disease

In the past few years I have tried to tell my readers that Alzheimer’s results from our brain not being able to get rid of excess proteins, for years. I reported that mice with a gene for Alzheimer’s developed Dementia were treated with an enzyme that gets rid of excess protein in the brain and the mice became normal again with the ability to go through mazes as easily as mice who did not have this disease. As I recall, this study came out in late 1990s, a long time ago.

This is a perfect example that people who are very smart can make major mistakes in research by not willing to veer from what they originally believed.

When Einstein came out with his Relativity Theories, the publisher of the article by Max Planck, got a letter signed by 100 physicists saying that Einstein’s paper must be rejected. Einstein just said only one physicist could have made me change my mind if that letter proved I was wrong. This happens in science, medicine, and economics all too often.

Economic interests run our society so something obvious as the increase in obesity after the introduction of High Fructose Corn Syrup which was approved without testing because Food special interests wanted to make much money. Finally Americans are starting to reject HFCS forcing producers of Gatorade to change to regular sugar. The same with many ketchup makers. Hope this continues.

Vitamin D3 has both fraudulent studies coming out of prestigious schools such as Harvard competing with studies showing that vitamin D3 can improve health considerably at the same school. We can tell which professors are being funded by Big Pharma.

I spent years trying to tell people that sunscreen was correlated with increased rates of skin cancer, especially melanoma, but so far I have not succeeded. I really pushed hard after reading that just 15 minutes in the noon sun produces 20,000 IU of vitamin D3 in our skin.

Right now our smart people are saying that stimulus is not good by experts on Bloomberg and are criticizing Bernanke who is an expert on the Great Depression. They keep forgetting that Roosevelt stopped in stimulus in 1937 and a full Depression occurred again which only World War II and huge printing of money saved us from Hitler and Tojo.

Jim Kawakami, Dec 14, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

THE VANISHING MIND

Insights Give Hope for New Attack on Alzheimer’s

Dr. Thomas G. Beach/Civin Laboratory for Neuropathology

By GINA KOLATA

Published: December 13, 2010

Alzheimer’s researchers are obsessed with a small, sticky protein fragment, beta amyloid, that clumps into barnaclelike balls in the brains of patients with this degenerative neurological disease.

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2. Times Topic: Alzheimer's Disease

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Dr. Thomas G. Beach/Civin Laboratory for Neuropathology

In this microscopic views of brain tissue, cortical gray matter is shown in yellow, with amyloid plaques appearing dark brown. A buildup of amyloid is the first sign of Alzheimer’s disease.

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Nigel Cairns/Washington University

DETERIORATION Brain slices from a patient with Alzheimer’s.

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Dilip Vishwanat for The New York Times

IN PURSUIT Dr. Randall Bateman, left, and Dr. David Holtzman of Washington University in St.Louis are examining the role of beta amyloid in Alzheimer’s disease.

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Nigel Cairns/Washington University

PLAQUES Research suggests beta amyloid, revealed by different techniques overstays its welcome in the brain.

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Nigel Cairns/Washington University

It is a normal protein. Everyone’s brain makes it. But the problem in Alzheimer’s is that it starts to accumulate into balls — plaques. The first sign the disease is developing — before there are any symptoms — is a buildup of amyloid. And for years, it seemed, the problem in Alzheimer’s was that brain cells were making too much of it.

But now, a surprising new study has found that that view appears to be wrong. It turns out that most people with Alzheimer’s seem to make perfectly normal amounts of amyloid. They just can’t get rid of it. It’s like an overflowing sink caused by a clogged drain instead of a faucet that does not turn off.

That discovery is part of a wave of unexpected findings that are enriching scientists’ views of the genesis of Alzheimer’s disease. In some cases, like the story of amyloid disposal, the work points to new ways to understand and attack the disease. If researchers could find a way to speed up disposal, perhaps they could slow down or halt the disease. Researchers have also found that amyloid, in its normal small amounts, seems to have a purpose in the brain — it may be acting like a circuit breaker to prevent nerve firing from getting out of control. But too much amyloid can shut down nerves, eventually leading to cell death. That means that if amyloid levels were reduced early in the disease, when excess amyloid is stunning nerve cells but has not yet killed them, the damage might be reversed. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/health/14alzheimers.html?_r=1&ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=all