Scientists don’t know exactly what causes Alzheimer’s, a mind-destroying disease that affects nearly 7 million Americans, mostly late in life. What’s clear is that silent changes occur in the brain at least two decades before the first symptoms, and the sticky gunk found in the brain which has become a hallmark of the disease, amyloid, is a major contributor. At some point, amyloid buildup appears to trigger a protein named tau to begin killing neurons, which drives cognitive decline.
Until now, there haven’t been hints that removing amyloid far earlier – many years before the first symptoms appear – just might postpone the disease. The research led by Washington University in St. Louis involves families that pass down rare gene mutations almost guaranteeing they’ll develop symptoms at the same age their affected relatives did. The new findings center on a subset of 22 participants who received amyloid-removing drugs the longest, on average eight years. Long-term amyloid removal cut their risk of symptom onset in half, researchers reported Wednesday in the journal Lancet Neurology.
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Welcome to my geopolitics blog site. This is a Hawaii Island news site focusing on geopolitical news, analysis, information, and commentary. I will cite a variety of sources, ranging from all sides of the political spectrum.