Investigators Seek Ways to Detect and Delay Early Alzheimer’s

-

Drugs administered before symptoms appear could be key to combating the leading cause of dementia

By THIS IS A PREVIEW.to access the full article.Already purchased this issue?

In his magical-realist masterpiece One Hundred Years of Solitude, Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez takes the reader to the mythical jungle village of Macondo, where, in one oft-recounted scene, residents suffer from a disease that causes them to lose all memory. The malady erases “the name and notion of things and finally the identity of people.” The symptoms persist until a traveling gypsy turns up with a drink “of a gentle color” that returns them to health. In a 21st-century parallel to the townspeople of Macondo, a few hundred residents from Medellín, Colombia, and nearby coffee-growing areas have begun to assist in the search for something akin to a real-life version of the gypsy's concoction. Medellín and its environs are home to the world's largest contingent of individuals with a hereditary form of Alzheimer's disease. Members of 26 extended families, with more than 5,000 members, develop early-onset familial Alzheimer's, usually before the age of 50, if they harbor an aberrant version of a particular gene.

Familial Alzheimer's, passed down as a dominant genetic trait from only one parent, accounts for less than 1 percent of the more than 35 million cases of Alzheimer's and related dementias worldwide, but its hallmark brain lesions appear to be identical to those in the more common late-onset form of the disease, in which symptoms do not appear until after the age of 65.

THIS IS A PREVIEW.to access the full article.Already purchased this issue? Buy Digital Issue$9.99 You May Also Like

Scientific American Archive Single Issue

Special Editions Volume 23, Issue 5s

Scientific American Archive Single Issue

Scientific American Single Issue

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Heart Drugs More Expensive than Expected

-
Image
Two of the most anticipated new heart drugs to be launched in recent years have been priced well above analyst expectations, fuelling the debate about whether modern medicines cost too much July 27, 2015 | By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Two of the most anticipated new heart drugs to be launched in recent years have been priced well above analyst expectations, fuelling the debate about whether modern medicines cost too much. Praluent (alirocumab) injection, made by Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and Entresto (sacubitril/valsartan) from Novartis are both treatments that represent significant advances for millions of patients at risk of serious heart problems. But their positioning in the marketplace was always likely to be contentious since they offer more effective alternatives to very cheap, off-patent drugs. The manufacturers have taken an ambitious view on pricing, arguing that the clear medical benefits of their products and their ability to keep patients out of ...
Read more

The Physics of Baseball: How Far Can You Throw?

-
Image
A sports science activity by Science Buddies By | | What is one trick to throwing a ball farther? Learn a little about physics--and how those baseball outfielders can make such impressive plays--with this fastmoving activity!  Key concepts MotionResistance Introduction Background When air resistance is very low, a projectile moves in the shape of a parabola—a type of mathematical curve. (You can do an Internet search for "parabola" to see what one looks like.) The path the ball follows (called its trajectory) will determine how far it goes before it hits the ground. Adjusting the ball’s initial angle and keeping its initial speed constant is one way to find out the best angle to throw a ball as far as possible. In this experiment you will throw a ball as hard as you can while changing the ball's initial angle relative to the ground. What angle do you think will make the ball go the farthest? Materials Sports ball of your choice (baseball, tennis ball, football, ...
Read more

Can the U.S. Jump-Start Offshore Wind Power?

-
The Department of Energy has awarded around a half-million dollars to New York, Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts state organizations to cooperate on scaling up the offshore wind industry in the region. Under the leadership of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the group will lay out a collaborative road map by the end of the year on how to build up the new industry. The project largely aims to reduce the cost of offshore wind projects, which has been a barrier to development, and establish a regional supply chain. Industry and state representatives learned about the federal grant at the first-ever offshore wind summit hosted by the White House yesterday. Offshore wind has struggled to take off in the United States. Europe, meanwhile, has more than 80 offshore wind farms with more than 10,000 megawatts of capacity. The White House summit marks a renewed effort to get the industry going in the United States, said various attendees. “There’s a...
Read more