Swedish Researchers Find Test For Predicting Alzheimer's

[From article]
simple blood test to identify if men have lost crucial genetic material in later life could finally close the gap in life expectancy between men and women, scientists believe.
New research shows that when men lose their Y sex chromosome they are hundreds of times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Previous research has shown that smoking hugely increases the risk of losing the Y chromosome, suggesting that the missing genetic material may also be linked to cancer.
It is thought that Y chromosome is crucial for the normal function of the immune system and without it the body struggles to eliminate cancerous cells, and amyloid plaques in the brain which cause Alzheimer’s disease.
Now scientists at Uppsala University in Sweden have found it is possible to test for loss of the chromosome in a breakthrough which could lead to widespread screening which could pick up which men are at risk so that early health interventions could be made.
"The addition of testing in the general population could give medical practitioners the possibility of using preventive strategies in men at risk,” said lead author Prof Lars Forsberg of Uppsala University.
[. . .]
Although there are presently no cures for Alzhiemer’s disease it is known that lifestyle changes such as eating well, exercising, and brain training can ward off early symptoms if spotted early.
[. . .]
The findings were published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. 



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/24/simple-dementia-test-to-warn-men-they-are-at-risk-of-developing/

Simple dementia test to warn men they are at risk of developing disease discovered by Swedish university
Sarah Knapton, Science Editor
24 May 2016 • 11:10am

Scientists Can Improve Memories of Damaged Brains, That Recall What Officials Don't Want Recalled

This is all well and good, especially to help persons with damaged brains. One concern is when evil doctors decide that a person has a damaged brain and needs an implant to bypass his damaged brain. But the person has no brain damage. That pattern appears with criminal psychiatrists on occasion for personal, political and economic purposes. Frequently politicians, like those in the White House say of persons they disagree with, "They are the crazies." Insanity is often attributed to persons in Cambridge, MA, on university campuses if they disagree with the dominant liberal dogma. "Repairing damaged brains" too can be used for harm. What, if any, protocol exists to prevent abuses of this capability? Researchers with high standards and unquestionable rectitude, seldom think of the use of new technology for evil. They cannot imagine anyone using for evil, what they created or discovered to help others. 



[From article]
When your brain receives the sensory input, it creates a memory in the form of a complex electrical signal that travels through multiple regions of the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain. At each region, the signal is re-encoded until it reaches the final region as a wholly different signal that is sent off for long-term storage.
If there's damage at any region that prevents this translation, then there is the possibility that long-term memory will not be formed. That's why an individual with hippocampal damage (for example, due to Alzheimer's disease) can recall events from a long time ago -- things that were already translated into long-term memories before the brain damage occurred -- but have difficulty forming new long-term memories.
Song and Berger found a way to accurately mimic how a memory is translated from short-term memory into long-term memory, using data obtained by Deadwyler and Hampson, first from animals, and then from humans. Their prosthesis is designed to bypass a damaged hippocampal section and provide the next region with the correctly translated memory.
[. . .]



In hundreds of trials conducted with nine patients, the algorithm accurately predicted how the signals would be translated with about 90 percent accuracy.
"Being able to predict neural signals with the USC model suggests that it can be used to design a device to support or replace the function of a damaged part of the brain," Hampson said.
Next, the team will attempt to send the translated signal back into the brain of a patient with damage at one of the regions in order to try to bypass the damage and enable the formation of an accurate long-term memory.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150929142524.htm

Scientists to bypass brain damage by re-encoding memories
New prosthesis aims to help people living with memory loss
Date:September 29, 2015
Source:University of Southern California
Summary:Researchers are testing a prosthesis that translates short-term memories into longer-term ones, with the potential to bypass damaged portions of the brain.

Cure For Memory Loss Close

A nerve cell. David Glanzman believes that the nervous system could regenerate lost synaptic connections.
Photo: Alamy

[From article]
"Long-term memory is not stored at the synapse," said David Glanzman, the study's co-author and professor of integrative biology and physiology and of neurobiology at UCLA. "That's a radical idea, but that's where the evidence leads. The nervous system appears to be able to regenerate lost synaptic connections. If you can restore the synaptic connections, the memory will come back. It won't be easy, but I believe it's possible."
[. . .]
He added that the research could be a major breakthrough for Alzheimer's sufferers as even though the disease destroys synapses in the brain, memories might not necessarily destroyed.
"As long as the neurons are still alive, the memory will still be there, which means you may be able to recover some of the lost memories in the early stages of Alzheimer's," said Prof Glanzman.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/11307411/Cure-for-memory-loss-could-be-on-the-horizon.html

Cure for memory loss could be on the horizon
Breakthrough study could hold the key to ending memory loss and offer a lifeline to Alzheimer's sufferers
By Telegraph Reporter
10:02AM GMT 22 Dec 2014

* * *

http://elifesciences.org/content/3/e03896

Reinstatement of long-term memory following erasure of its behavioral and synaptic expression in Aplysia
Shanping Chen, Diancai Cai, Kaycey Pearce, Philip Y-W Sun, Adam C Roberts, David L Glanzman
University of California, Los Angeles, United States; David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, United States; Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, United States

Harassment Increases Risk of Alzheimer's, Dementia

One more reason why police, crime families harass me.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2295180/Could-stressful-job-Alzheimers-New-research-shows-link-stress-hormones-disease.html

Could a stressful job give you Alzheimer's? New research shows constantly being harassed increases the risk
Stress hormones inhibit brain activity and, if chronically elevated, can cause Alzheimer's, say researchers
Mice with high levels of the steroid in their brains suffered from impaired learning and memory
Also had increased levels of the proteins that cause plaque deposits in the brains of Alzheimer's patients
By EMMA INNES
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 10:27 EST, 18 March 2013 | UPDATED: 10:32 EST, 18 March 2013

Dancing In The Rain

Dancing In The Rain
[What kind of person wrote this? See answer below.]

It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80's
arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 AM.

I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over
an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound.

On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the
needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor's
appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry.

The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to
the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her
health.

He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim
of Alzheimer's Disease.

As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late.

He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized
him in five years now.

I was surprised, and asked him, "And you still go every
morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?"

He smiled as he patted my hand and said, "She doesn't
know me, but I still know who she is."

I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm, and
thought, "That is the kind of love I want in my life."

True love is neither physical, nor romantic.

True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not
be.

The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they
just make the best of everything they have.

Life isn't about how to survive the storm,
But how to dance in the rain.

Answer: [The person who wrote this is a woman practicing medicine without a license. She was arrested two days ago, after this message was sent out on the internet.]