Earlier research by Dr. Li-Huei Tsai of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and others found that APOE4 might raise Alzheimer’s risk by altering lipid metabolism in certain brain cells. But the underlying details of the process remained unclear.

To build on these findings, the team conducted a multi-pronged study that assessed gene activity of all major cell types in post-mortem human brain tissue from 32 men and women who had one, two, or no copies of the APOE4 gene. Results were published in Nature on November 24, 2022.

The researchers found that APOE4 affected gene expression across all measured cell types. The team then took a closer look at genes related to cholesterol and other lipids. Cholesterol-manufacturing genes were overly expressed, and cholesterol-transporting genes dysregulated, in brain cells called oligodendrocytes with the APOE4 gene. Oligodendrocytes are found in the brain and spinal cord. They make and maintain a fatty substance called myelin that surrounds and insulates long nerve fibers. The abnormalities were more extreme in oligodendrocytes with two copies of APOE4 rather than one.

The symptoms of severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD as it is more popularly known, may be reduced by half with deep brain stimulation, according to a pooled data analysis of the available data, which was recently published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, & Psychiatry.

According to the research, two-thirds of individuals who were affected saw a significant improvement after two years.

OCD is characterized by intrusive and persistent obsessive thoughts, as well as dysfunctional and ritualized behaviors. It is estimated that up to 3% of the population is affected by it.

He suffered both physical and mental long-term side effects.

In April of 2006, doctors from London University revealed a case study of what they believed at the time was the largest amount of ecstasy ever consumed by a single person. They published a case report of a British man named only Mr. A estimated to have taken around 40,000 pills of MDMA over nine years, the most amount known to anyone.

They reported that the man then suffered from prominent physical and mental health side effects, such as extreme memory problems, paranoia, hallucinations and depression, as well as painful muscle rigidity around his neck and jaw, which often prevented him from opening his mouth.

Fpm/iStock.

Now, a new interview with the British style magazine The Face has surfaced where Dr. Christos Kouimtsidis, a psychiatrist who coauthored the case study, explains why the man’s story is still so fascinating after all these years.