Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center will seek to determine the influence of alcohol consumption on risk of developing hypertension and type 2 diabetes using data collected duri
Feeling sick can be "all in the head" for people with inflammatory disorders or for those receiving immunotherapy, say Robert Dantzer and Keith Kelley, professors in the department of animal sciences at the
After a series of studies in the laboratory of Dr. Gregory Freund, a clearer picture is emerging: A disruption of signaling proteins in the immune system may be responsible for the inflammation that makes someone with type 2 diabetes feel sick and incr
Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered a method for detecting intra-amniotic infections in pregnant women using state-of-the-art methods. The finding may result in
Medical Research Council (MRC) scientists have made an important advance in understanding the biological processes involved when cells die. The work may help scientists to eventually develop new treatments for cancer
ATP - adenosine triphosphate, the vital energy source that keeps our body's cells alive, runs amok at the site of a spinal cord injury, pouring into the area around the wound and killing the cells that normally allow us to move, scientists report
A University of Queensland researcher has been awarded $850,000 by one of Australia's largest private, charitable, medical foundations to develop ways to inhibit head and neck cancers, the fifth most co
Authors of a research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET outline progress in the ability to rapidly detect anthrax inhalation in the event of bioterrorist attacks. Limiting the effect
New ethics committee regulations impede and delay clinical research, sometimes to the extent that conclusions are flawed and patients damaged, according to several articles in this week's BMJ.Hest
New research carried out by doctors in the Twin Research Unit at St Thomas' Hospital, London, indicates that a gene called PAX6 may play a crucial part in the development of myopia.
Their alternative approach opens up new prospects for developing a treatment which can slow the disease's progress. The researchers have shown that 'the plaques' which form in the brain of patients are linked to damage to nearby blood vessels. Leakage appears to occur between the blood vessels and the brain, as a result of which the plaques develop and the disease manifests itself. This research is published in the American Journal of Pathology.
Alzheimer's disease, a degenerative disease that gradually and progressively destroys brain cells, affects between 50% and 70% of all dementia patients and is therefore the major form of dementia. About 100,000 people suffer from this disease in Belgium. The damage caused to memory and mental functioning makes it one of today's most frightening syndromes. In particular, the first realization of the loss of any sense of reality is extremely difficult to accept. So, science continues to search feverishly for ways to treat the disease.
Alzheimer's disease is characterized by an increasing deposit of the amyloid-â protein in the brain. The accumulation of this protein results in 'plaques'; deposits which settle in the brain cells responsible for memory and observation. How the plaques develop is the key in the search for a treatment. Samir Kumar-Singh and his colleagues on a team headed by Christine Van Broeckhoven have unraveled how certain plaques are formed. In various mouse models, they demonstrate that the plaques attach primarily onto the blood vessels. The vessels show clear structural damage, so that the strictly-controlled separation between blood vessels and brain is compromised and leakage occurs.
Under normal circumstances, the blood vessels transport the excess amyloid-â protein away from the brain. However, the protein has a harmful effect on blood vessel walls. This effect is perhaps strengthened as a result of ageing, which causes the protein to be removed less efficiently. The blood vessel loses strength and in its immediate vicinity the accumulation of the amyloid-â protein increases and plaques develop. Finally, the damage to the blood vessel is so great that it is no longer functional and other blood vessels take over its tasks.
The results of the research of Samir Kumar-Singh opens up alternatives for developing new treatments. For example, a treatment which promotes the removal of the amyloid-â protein from the brain can significantly impede the onset of Alzheimer's disease. A new approach which might have far-reaching consequences. Additional research should make it possible to verify this in greater detail.
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