The fight against Alzheimer’s disease has been a tough one, but we are making progress. Not only have scientists created tech that can detect Alzheimer’s in a single brain scan, but some research has also shown that repurposable drugs could help find a cure.
An analysis of 22 large-scale gene expression datasets pointed to exercise and activity in general as the most effective theoretical treatment for reversing gene expressions typical of Alzheimer’s disease. Fluoxetine, a well-known antidepressant, also showed effect, particularly when combined with exercise. Curcumin showed positive effects as well. The study was published in Scientific Reports.
Alzheimer’s disease is a complex neurodegenerative disorder that affects multiple brain regions. It is the most common disease that causes dementia and is very difficult to treat. In the course of the disease, abnormal collections of proteins called tau accumulate inside neurons.
Another type of protein clumps together to form so-called amyloid plaques that collect between neurons and disrupt cell functions. These and other changes harm the functioning of the brain across different regions and lead to dysfunction and death of brain cells.
Elon Musk’s Neuralink is under federal investigation for potential animal-welfare violations after staff complaints about rushed animal testing. Ana Kasparian discusses on The Young Turks. Watch TYT LIVE on weekdays 6–8 pm ET. http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live.
“Elon Musk’s Neuralink, a medical device company, is under federal investigation for potential animal-welfare violations amid internal staff complaints that its animal testing is being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and sources familiar with the investigation and company operations.
Neuralink Corp is developing a brain implant it hopes will help paralyzed people walk again and cure other neurological ailments. The federal probe, which has not been previously reported, was opened in recent months by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Inspector General at the request of a federal prosecutor, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. The probe, one of the sources said, focuses on violations of the Animal Welfare Act, which governs how researchers treat and test some animals.”
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A recent study from Tokyo Medical and Dental University found that melatonin and two of its metabolites help memories stick around in the brain and can shield mice, and potentially people, from cognitive decline. One of the easiest ways to test memory in mice is to rely on their natural tendency to examine unfamiliar objects.
Summary: Researchers have identified a protein that could be leveraged to help microglia in the brain stave off Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Source: The Conversation.
Many neurodegenerative diseases, or conditions that result from the loss of function or death of brain cells, remain largely untreatable. Most available treatments target just one of the multiple processes that can lead to neurodegeneration, which may not be effective in completely addressing disease symptoms or progress, if at all.
Entry for the #3Blue1Brown Summer of Math Exposition 2022 (#SoME2)byRodrigo Coin Curvo& Alexander Maier.
Our default intuition when it comes to consciousness is that humans and some other animals have it, whereas plants and trees don’t. But how sure can we be that plants aren’t conscious? And what if what we take to be behavior indicating consciousness can be replicated with no conscious agent involved? Annaka Harris invites us to consider the real possibility that our intuitions about consciousness might be mere illusions.
Our intuitions have been shaped by natural selection to quickly provide life-saving information, and these evolved intuitions can still serve us in modern life. For example, we have the ability to unconsciously perceive elements in our environment in threatening situations that in turn deliver an almost instantaneous assessment of danger — such as the intuition that we shouldn’t get into an elevator with someone, even though we can’t put our finger on why.
But our guts can deceive us as well, and “false intuitions” can arise in any number of ways, especially in domains of understanding — like science and philosophy — that evolution could never have foreseen. An intuition is simply the powerful sense that something is true without having an awareness or understanding of the reasons behind this feeling — it may or may not represent something true about the world.
In a new study published by Alzheimer’s & Dementia, scientists from Rush University and Tufts University were the first to compare cognitive decline factors to vitamin D concentrations not only in the blood, but in the brain as well.
Researchers analyzed participants of the Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP)—an ongoing longitudinal study that aims to identify risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive decline disorders—before and after death to see how their vitamin D levels impacted cognitive function in their later years.
Free of known dementia at the time of enrollment, all MAP participants agreed to participate in annual evaluations and organ donation when they died. In this study, the average age of participants was 92 at the time of death.
Summary: Tracking eye movements as a person views an image of a face in different lights provides vital clues about visual perception and consciousness overall.
Source: Yale.
Since he was a kid Hal Blumenfeld has wondered about the nature of human consciousness.
