Alzheimer’s

We are getting closer to ahead of the arrival of Alzheimer’s. Knowing it can reassure us, but maybe too much

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Get ahead of the arrival of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s is today a chimera, but achieving it would be key when looking for treatments that manage to go beyond containing symptoms and are able to reverse the disease. What is already in our hand is to estimate our risk of suffering. The question is to what extent is a good idea. Pros and cons. This type of evidence that allows us to know our chances of suffering from Alzheimer’s impact on our psychological well -being and our motivation. A new study He has investigated In these effects and has observed that, although this knowledge does not have an effect on our emotional stress can reduce our motivation to maintain a healthy life. Even among people with a high risk of suffering from this disorder. Win the career to the disease. Get ahead of Alzheimer’s arrival It is key For professionals who treat it: the sooner the diagnosis is the greater the margin of maneuver to design the ideal therapeutic strategy that allows to slow down the appearance of symptoms and their progressive worsening. It also helps patients and their environment adapt to the arrival of the disease, psychologically but also more practical. Count plates. Although we do not know the mechanisms that operate after Alzheimer’s, we know that beta-amyloid plaques play a fundamental role. These clusters that are formed in the brain appear in people with this disease and are therefore an important diagnostic tool. The scanners Positron emission tomography offer a non -invasive technique that allows you to detect these clusters in the brain. From the identification of these clusters it is possible to estimate the risk that the disease begins to unleash a patient and allows health personnel and affected people to take the necessary preventive measures. 199 participants. The new study had 199 participantsall healthy adults who would go through this process to determine the presence or absence of plates in the brain. Before completing the scanner, the group completed surveys to find symptoms of anxiety, depression, memory and motivation problems; Surveys that repeated six months after the test. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Alzheimer’s & Dementia. Lights and shadows. As explained by the team responsible for the study, participants who did not present plaques experienced “emotional improvements”: lower depression, anxiety and even less memory problems. However, the team also observed a lower degree of motivation when taking measures to improve their lifestyle to make it healthier. Among the participants there were also cases in which plaques were detected. They also did not see an increase in depressive symptoms a memory problems, but their anxiety level was reduced. The problem is that, as in the case of the first group, its motivation to introduce changes in their day to day was also reduced. “The findings suggest that revealing the presence of amyloids does not negatively affect the participants, and simply knowing the results seems to decrease the negative feelings globally,” explained in a press release Schnaider Beeri, Ocautora of the study. The role of the psychological. Physiological diseases can affect our mental well -being, but our psychology can also play a determining role when facing body diseases. Motivation when introducing changes in our life is, in this sense, of difficult importance to estimate. In Xataka | If the question is how to hunt the Alzheimer Image | Daria Obymaha

Finding quick and reliable tests for Alzheimer’s is a key mission for science. And we have a new candidate

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Ahead of Alzheimer’s. It is a simple but difficult objective to achieve since the symptoms of this disease tend to appear when the disorder is advanced and has already caused important damage to our brain. A difficult objective but what It can help us treat the disease With greater efficacy, managing to delay the appearance of some of its symptoms such as cognitive deterioration. Maybe one day helps us cure it. In the blood. A group of researchers has tested a new blood test aimed at the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. The test is based on a biomarker present in the blood, P-TAU217, which shows changes long before the appearance of symptoms in people with the disease. The study showed precision when detecting the disease greater than 90%. These results also did not depend on the age or gender of the participants, either on the existence of comorbidities or whether the test was carried out by specialists or primary care personnel. This marker can be measured with simple and cheap tools and the process is automatic, which can facilitate detection in various circumstances, democratizing the diagnosis of the disease. “This is an important step to bring simple blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease to health systems around the world,” said the team responsible for the essay in a press release. P-TAU217. Detection methods based on the P-TAU217 compound They are not exactly new. These types of tools are already implemented in the United States and it is expected that they will soon reach the rest of the world, says the team itself. The new method seeks to offer a simpler alternative to the available tools. The new study analyzed the precision of this New Test in the conditions in which it would be used, not only in specialized clinics but also in primary care. In three countries. The essay was carried out from 1,767 participants with cognitive symptoms distributed in three countries: Spain, Italy and Sweden. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Nature Medicine. The New Test included two cut points. One of them served to interpret the negative results: from this threshold the test rules out the presence of the disease. The second of the cut points serves to find the positive ones: this threshold shows the presence of the disease. This leaves, between one cut and another, a “gray zone” in which the results are inconcuing, however the use of a test with a single threshold slightly reduced the accuracy of the diagnostic tool. Above 90%. The study showed that the test achieved an accuracy between 92% and 94% when used in its two cuts mode. However, this precision fell to levels between 83% and 87% when only a cutting point was used and applied to more advanced ages. “When the method was tested in patient sides, the precision was between 92% and 94%,” NOëlle Warmenhoven explainedfirst signer of the study. “This is promising since this method will probably become one of the most used in clinical practice around the world.” In Xataka | We have a new “theory of all” to understand Alzheimer’s. Your key is in small granules Image | Kaboomps.com

Terry Pratchett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2007. They have found signs of the disease in their 90s books

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In 2007, Terry Pratchett approached Rob Wilkins, his assistant, and told him that the ‘s’ of his keyboard had disappeared. He was laughing. I thought it was a joke, an innocent. “What the hell have you done with her?” He asked. But the ‘S’ was still in the same usual place: on the keyboard. After a few months of testing, the writer knew that the only place where the ‘S’ was disappeared was his head. Postterio cortical atrophy sufferedA, a neurodegenerative disorder typically related to Alzheimer’s, which causes problems to see, to process information, to read, speak and write. He died in 2015 In a small town west of Salisbury. When does dementia begin? That basically is The question asked Thom Wilcockson and his team from the University of Laughborough. Pratchett’s case was very interesting because posterior cortical atrophy has an impact on the use of language and this man wrote a lot. So Wilcockson’s team He examined 33 Books of World Disco (29 published before 2007 and four later) to see if there was any point where the first symptoms of the disease could be identified. And it seems that. Among the first books and the last, the researchers discovered a significant decrease of number of nouns, verbs and adjectives. In addition, they found that the number of phrases increased (something that, according to researchers, fits a tendency towards simpler language). The funny thing is that the turning point was not 2007, but 1998. In that year, Pratchett published ‘The country of the end of the world‘And it is the work in which the change in trend begins to become evident. “This demonstrates a long preclinical period of dementia and the subtle deficiencies that are not always detected with traditional cognitive evidence,” Wilcockson explained. It is not the first time that the equipment uses this type of analysis. They have done it with Iris Murdoch (who also died of Alzheimer’s) and with Agatha Christie (we suspect he suffered). However, not everyone is sane with researchers. Not because they believe they are wrong, but because there are many more factors to consider. In New Scientistfor example, Rob Wilkins explained that in recent years Terry began to have a much more intense “professional life” and that prevented reviewing novels as thoroughly as previously. Be that as it may, the investigation is fascinating. Especially now, at a time when we write (and do audios) much more often than ever. Algorithms like these could dive in our emails, our WhatsApp conversations and in our social networks to identify signs of problems many years before they become evident. Image | Solarisgirl | David Skinner In Xataka | Mundodisco technology

We knew that smell and memory are closely related. And that unlocks an advantage: detect the Alzheimer’s

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Alzheimer’s disease may be difficult to detect. The symptoms of this disorder usually become evident only after the progress of this dementia, which is a huge problem. And, in the absence of a definitive cure, our ability to stop the impact of the disease depends largely on early detection. Smell. One of the clues we have when detecting Alzheimer’s in its early stages is through smell. A study conducted by researchers from the University of Chicago analyzed the impact of the disease on our sensory capacity and detected that there is a rapid loss of smell when making us greater could predict with some accuracy The advent of Alzheimer’s disease. Smell of Magdalena. The relationship between memory and smell is very narrow. We know that the evocative capacity of smells It did not go unnoticedbut in recent decades science He has been confirmed This unique connection. The reason for this close relationship can be anatomical. The olfactory bulb is the region of the brain that processes in the first instance the smells and then send the signal to other areas of the brain. This signal crosses key areas of the limbic system, areas linked to emotions and memory. “The olfactory signals reach the limbic system very quickly,” Explain to The Harvard Gazette Venkatesh Murthy, head of the university’s cell and molecular biology department. 515 participants. The study of the University of Chicago had 515 participants, advanced adults, registered in the memory and aging project of the Rush University. These participants were examined annually, exams that test their cognitive abilities to detect signs of dementia. These tests also studied their ability to identify odors, in addition to other health -related parameters. More than memory loss. The team thus found a new link between smell and memory: a rapid loss of olfactory capacity prior to any cognitive loss could predict the arrival of various symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s. These symptoms included a lower volume of gray matter in the areas of the brain linked to smell and memory, cognitive loss and a greater risk of dementia. They also found a relationship between this olfactory loss and the presence of the APOE-E4 gene, a genetic variant considered risk factor in the advent of Alzheimer’s. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Alzheimers & Dementia. “This study provides another clue on how a rapid loss of the meaning of smell is a very good indicator of what will end structurally in specific regions of the brain,” ” explained in a press release Jayant M. Pinto, co -author of the study. Get ahead of the disease. Alzheimer’s is an incurable disease for now, but there are different treatments that allow us to delay the development of its symptoms. For that, we must get ahead of the disease as much as we can. Something difficult in a disorder that only shows its consequences once the disease is advanced. “If we could identify their 40, 50 or 60 people with greater risk, we could potentially have enough information to aim them in clinical trials and develop better medications,” also added in a press release Rachel Pacyna, work caoautora. Own initiative. The fact that the change in our smell is rapid and before the arrival of cognitive deterioration opens an important window, putting the patient itself in warning. And it is that most of the ways we have to detect the appearance of dementia is through external evaluations, for example when family members detect memory problems or In language. The loss of smell is something that, in principle, It can be striking to the patient himself and put it on guard or encourage him to seek medical advice. When the smell of the Magdalena stops bringing us memories, perhaps what we are playing is not only the evocation of a memory. In Xataka | We have a new “theory of all” to understand Alzheimer’s. Your key is in small granules Image | Cottonbro Studio

Ahead of Alzheimer’s is vital when it comes to stopping its advance. Some of the most important clues are in language

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Alzheimer’s is one of several disorders causing dementia in the third age. It is also the most frequent: in Spain it is estimated that in 2019 there were about 800,000 people suffer from the disease, according to data Spanish Society of Neurology. Globally Estimates They suggest that more than 30 million people live with it. One of the challenges with which patients, family and health professionals have to face is Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Of a Early diagnosis It depends a lot on our reaction capacity to face the symptoms of this disease for now incurable. We have advanced a lot in the diagnosis of this disorder. So much that one of Our main tools Diagnosis is discard, that is, rule out that cognitive deterioration detected in one person is caused by other forms of dementia, such as Parkinson’s. Fortunately, it is not the only tool at our disposal. Another diagnosis pillar are capacities. Specialists can resort to evidence that allows them Evaluate our cognitive abilities And our memory. In this context, interviews can also be conducted to the relatives who help evaluate the patient. The images by scanner, both magnetic resonances, as computerized tomographies or by positron emission, can also give clues. On the one hand they can help in the work of discarding other pathologies, but also They can help To detect the presence of amyloid plates linked to the disease. Until relatively a short time, the confirmation of Alzheimer’s diagnosis could only be done after the patient’s death, examining his brain. Conremps diagnostic techniques can already offer us a comparable degree of certainty. Partly thanks to the last of the tools available to experts, biomarkers. Collecting clues The diagnosis of this disease can only be performed by experts in the field, but sometimes it is important to be attentive to the clues They tell us that in family or relative may be developing the disease. Tracks that can notify us that the time has come to request help from health professionals. In a Recent article in The conversationSarah Curtis, a language expert at Nottingham Trent, listed some perceptible clues through Speech changes of the people who are developing this disease. The first of these indications is the appearance of pauses and doubts in speech, accompanied by a certain vagueness when expressing. That is, the person may have difficulty finding the word you want to use and just trying to overcome this obstacle by resorting to trunk words as “thing” or describing the object vaguely. Another early indication of Alzheimer’s is in confusion when using words. These confusion can be almost imperceptible at the beginning since they can start with words that allude to more general categories, such as using “animal” instead of “dog.” They are more noticeable if the substitution is for another concept in the semantic field, such as using “cat”. Another track listed by Curtis It is the passage of facts to words. People with Alzheimer may have difficulties when completing certain activities, which will result in this person talking about the activity, the emotions that arouses them or even expressing doubts or longing regarding their ability to complete the action. Memory loss can be primed with the lexical variety of the person suffering from Alzheimer’s. That is why this disease can begin by manifesting with An increasingly reduced vocabulary and a greater tendency to repeat words. The fifth and last of the indications mentioned by Curtis on his list, has to do with precision when choosing the words. A person who develops Alzheimer’s can have difficulty listing diverse words in the same category, such as different animals, food or words that begin with a specific letter. This is why the tests used in their diagnosis often ask people who perform this type of enumerations. Many people can read some of these indications and think “this happens to me too.” And it is that confusion of this type are normal. It is common for us to be tongue in countless contexts. That is why it is important to attend to changes in speech and not simply to the existence of confusion or difficulties. Alzheimer’s is a disease that does not appear out of nowhere but is gradually aggravated and is generally not detectable in its early stages. That is why it is often of vital importance attend to your first symptoms. Even more if we consider that some of the treatments are only effective delaying the disease in these early stages. In Xataka | We have a new “theory of all” to understand Alzheimer’s. Your key is in small granules Image | Jiun-Je Lin

The new hope against Alzheimer’s is a simple protein. We have discovered it thanks to a tiny worm

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Many of the processes that happen in our body depend on proteins. All if we take into account the processes that do it indirectly. Sometimes proteins fail. Then, the function of cleaning these “defective” proteins falls, yes, on other proteins. MANF. A new study He has revealed The importance of MANF protein (Mesencephalic Astrocyte-Derned Neurotrophic Factor) For our aging or, to be more precise, when avoiding some of the problems that arise at the cellular level and that we usually associate with age. Doing cleaning. In principle, that a cell badly codifies a protein does not have to generate major problems in our body. Cell homeostasis, the process that discards proteins after use, is a cellular “maintenance” process that deals with this type of problem. However, with age our cells lose efficacy when keeping the house in order. “Defective” proteins can end up accumulating and generating protein clots. This is What we believe occurs with diseases such as Parkinson or Alzheimer’s. When the cell detects these problems, it can stop synthesizing new proteins until the problem is solved. If it does not, the cell dies. Cleaning work. The new study has observed that MANF protein It plays an important role in this cleaning process inside the cell. His work consists in breaking protein clusters to facilitate the expulsion of these and thus maintaining our healthy cells. The team observed that this protein also served to “activate” the intracellular cleaning system. C. Elegans. In his work, the team turned to a unique worm, the Caenorhabditis Elegansa usual microscopic size nematode in laboratories around the world. The team altered the genetics of these worms to increase the presence of the MANF protein in their cells. The worms C. Elegans They are transparent, which facilitates the work of researchers when visualizing the changes that induce their genes. The team managed to see the effects of MANF on cells and tissues. Protein, They pointwas present in the lysosomas (some cell organelles linked to longevity and protein aggregation). In this way they could appreciate how the protein broke cell clusters and activated the cleaning system. The details of the experiment were published In an article In the magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Beyond worms. What is true for the biology of a small worm does not have to be in that of humans, but the team points out that this would be a universal process, at least in animal cells since Manf is a common protein to all species of this kingdom. The fight against Alzheimer’s. The big issue is now how to transform this new knowledge into therapies to fight some of the diseases that we associate with aging, such as Alzheimer’s, or against aging itself. Alzheimer is an important since the dominant hypothesis to explain this disease part precisely of the appearance of intracellular clusters such as those that fight the Manf protein. As explained by those responsible for the new study, transforming this protein into a treatment will require better understanding its role in our body and other possible interactions between it and cellular functions beyond cell homeostasis. In Xataka | We have been listening to the benefits of Omega-3 for years. Now we know that it also rejuvenates us Image | McMaster University

We have a new “theory of all” to understand Alzheimer’s. Your key is in small granules

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Creating “theories of all”, unified models that explain various phenomena associated with a scientific field, is not exclusive heritage of physicists. The fight against some diseases can also benefit from models that help us understand their causes and consequences and the processes that mediate. New model. Now a group of researchers has devised a new modela theory that tries to explain Alzheimer’s disease through a “unified explanation of molecular chaos” that derives in this neurodegenerative disorder. According to this new theory, the disease and its symptoms would derive from a collapse of the transport system in charge of moving molecules between the nucleus and cell cytoplasm. This new theory can help simplify a topic as complex as Alzheimer’s. However, its authors remember that this disruption is still extremely complex, with more than a thousand genes involved in it. “Our proposal, focused on the rupture of communication between the nucleus and the cytoplasm leading to massive disruptions in gene expression, offers a plausible framework to understand the mechanisms that lead to this complex disease,” Explain in a press release Paul Coleman, co -author of the new model. A granular problem The model places the formation of chronic stress granules at the beginning of this process. These are clusters of proteins and RNA chains responsible for generating stress in the cell. Stress granules are usually generated temporarily. Its original function is to respond to cell stress by leaving some processes until the cell can recover. Once its duty has fulfilled and the stress disappeared, they dissolve. The problem unleashes when these granules become chronic, which leads them to catch other molecules, making it difficult for them to move between the nucleus and the rest of the cell. From inside out. The model starts from this trigger to explain with it the disease and its consequences outside the cellular unit. And it is that the changes that occur at the cellular level end up affecting cerebral synapses, metabolism, protein processing and cell survival, as explained by the model responsible for the model. The details of the new model were published In an article In the magazine Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. A disease with many faces. Alzheimer is one of the most intriguing diseases, Explain the responsible team of the new model. In part, they point out, this is because it takes the appearance of various diseases made one, with symptoms that include memory loss and cognitive deterioration, but also changes in personality and in our same internal biology. This complexity, continues to expose the team, is partly responsible for how extremely difficult it is to study this disease. Models like this that schematize their processes, can serve future researchers to find new routes of action that become more effective therapies when facing the symptoms of Alzheimer’s or, even, the same disease. In Xataka | In his tireless fight against Alzheimer’s, scientists have encountered an unexpected ally: coffee Image | Jason DREES/AS

The atlas of side effects (positive and negative) of Ozempic discovered | Health and well-being

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All medications have side effects, just take a look at any leaflet to see this. But there are not many cases in which these amount to the main effect. This is what happened a few years ago with GLP-1 agonists, medications used for decades to treat type 2 diabetes that began to demonstrate weight-loss effects. After several reformulations, new commercial brands, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, became an effective way to end obesity. But science is proving that there are many other side effects that could become major ones. GLP-1 is a molecular Swiss army knife, a kind of all-purpose drug. They affect our bodies in ways we still don’t fully understand. But today we are closer to listing. A team of scientists from the University of Washington School of Medicine has published the first detailed atlas of the side effects of these drugs. They have found benefits for cognitive and behavioral health, while revealing an increased risk of developing pancreatitis and kidney conditions. “Until now we had seen anecdotes and reports here and there. “Some people saying that it can affect this or that,” explained its main author, the clinical epidemiologist, in the presentation of the study. Ziyad Al-Aly, from the John J. Cochran Veterans Hospital. “But no one, no one had thoroughly investigated the effectiveness and risks of GLP-1 and all the ways it can affect health.” The study was published this Monday in the journal Nature Medicineshowcase of the best world science. More information “We did an analysis that comprehensively mapped the associations between GLP-1 and 175 potential health effects,” Al-Aly notes. The benefits, beyond weight loss, included a lower risk of substance use disorders and a reduction in suicidal ideation, schizophrenia, and other psychotic disorders. They also observed a reduction in cognitive disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. And finally, a reduction in the risk of clotting disorders, including stroke. “We found that these drugs have a wide range of beneficial effects, but all this does not come without risks,” warns the expert. The study confirms that, in some cases, they can cause gastrointestinal problems, such as nausea and vomiting. This is quite common and has already been documented in some patients. An increased risk of gastroparesis or stomach paralysis in rare cases and an increased risk of low blood pressure have also been seen. The analysis also notes that the drug may increase the risk of sleep problems and headaches, kidney stones, and drug-induced kidney inflammation. For these reasons, the authors recommend that, when evaluating this treatment, it should always be done under medical supervision and after an individualized analysis. “It is an observational study, although it has a large database and has been carried out for a long time,” he explains. Christopher Moralesan endocrinologist at the Virgen Macarena University Hospital in Seville, who was not involved in the study. The study does not demonstrate, therefore, that the medication is the cause of the listed effects. But these are consistent enough (risk reduction between 10 and 20%) and the database large enough (almost two million patients over three years) to think there is a direct relationship. “With Big Data you can scrape these results in very large databases and this is positive. But we must remember that here we can only verify association, not causality.” The objective of this research, in the words of its own authors, was not to analyze a specific effect and demonstrate causality, but to build an atlas of the association of risks and benefits of this relatively new medicine. “It’s like when Christopher Columbus arrived in America, and he thought about mapping it to get his bearings,” explains Al-Aly. “This is what we are doing, drawing a landscape of benefits and risks.” This opens the door to the possibility that in the future, after many reformulations and research, we can talk about an Ozempic for dementia, alcoholism or Alzheimer’s. There is still a long way to go, but this study has drawn a first map to locate the path. And there are many companies willing to embark on this adventure. There is currently a scientific and commercial race to find the next revolutionary use of GLP-1 agonists. Everyone has in mind the case of Novo Nordisk, the Danish laboratory that presented Ozempic in 2018, and which today has a stock market capitalization of 382,000 million dollars, which makes it the largest company in Europe. This has enormous business and economic implications, but from the scientific world, the question is different. How does an anti-diabetes drug have so many and varied effects? “Medicines don’t work surgically. They are designed to do one thing, but the reality is that this is almost never the case,” reflects Al-Aly. “Biology is complex and multiple, and if you touch one thing you will create a network of various effects.” GLP-1 acts on the intestine, but also on the brain, affecting areas that are involved in impulse control and reward signaling. This would explain why they help mitigate addiction problems. These medications would also affect the blood vessels, and in doing so have a potential effect on the heart. There is research that suggests that they also reduce inflammation, including that of the brain, which could explain their protective effect against neurodegenerative diseases. “But there is also another simpler theory that can explain all these positive health effects,” explains Al-Aly. Obesity is considered a disease in itself, but also the gateway to many others. It is the fifth risk factor for death in the world and every year 2.8 million adults die as a result of this condition. “When we treat obesity, it is normal that this affects other diseases, since it is the mother of them all,” summarizes Al-Aly. The expert has not yet decided, with the available scientific evidence, on which of these two theories has more force. The first would mean that we are talking about a miracle drug with multiple uses. The second would be less profitable for companies, would fill … Read more

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