A current working hypothesis in the field of AD research is that preventing the accumulation of Aß peptides will slow or prevent cognitive decline. Two main strategies for accomplishing this goal have been pursued in recent years...
One of the most daunting tasks facing attendees of this gigantic neuroscience data exchange (dare I say "flea market"?) is identifying signals in the noise (speaking both scientifically and literally). One approach is to sit through slide sessions...
In today's Journal of Cell Biology, researchers of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI) report that a molecule called ubiquilin regulates levels of presenilins, and is "highly expressed" in human neurons...
What do ßamyloid, buckyballs, and dark matter have in common? They were all mentioned in an intriguing presentation by Dr. Westlind-Danielsson (AstraZeneca, Abstract 299.2) on the formation of spheroidal "supramolecular structures"...
Being both an active scientist and a part-time reporter leads to some interesting situations. Most of the time, my scientific background could be considered an advantage when evaluating reports because...
It has previously been reported that the nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor trkA is depleted within the nucleus basalis, which is selectively damaged in early Alzheimer's disease...
It's a poorly kept secret that Aβ peptides are highly inconsistent in their neurotoxic properties. One batch of synthetic peptide will kill neurons handily, while another will be benign...
One of the earliest clues that apoE may contribute to AD pathology was the immunohistochemical demonstration by Namba and colleagues that ApoE was present in both plaques and tangles...
The award for most aesthetically pleasing presentation almost certainly could go to Dr. Paul Thompson, who reviewed recent advances being made by a UCLA team in developing AD-specific brain atlases for assessing alterations in the brain over time...
At least I hope they will come. Brian Cummings presented an overview of a web-based database for Alzheimer’s cases (known as the Neuropathological Examination Research Database or NERD) that could serve as a model for other AD centers...
A number of lines of evidence implicate oxidative damage caused by free radicals—particularly reactive oxygen species—as having some role, perhaps even a major or causative one, in the etiology of neurodegenerative diseases...
Douglas Kerr and colleagues at Johns Hopkins (Abstract 209.13) reported success in using neural stem cells to restore function in an animal model of spinal motor atrophy (SMA). In SMA, the ventral horn motor neurons...
Parkinson's disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases, affecting about one percent of all people over the age of 65. It is characterized by rigidity, bradykinesia and tremors, which are caused by the progressive degeneration of dopamine-containing neurons...
A central problem in Alzheimer's disease is to understand how Aβ affects the brain's biology, and how it contributes to neurodegeneration. A diverse array of mechanisms have been proposed...
It is not only the abnormal product of amyloid precursor protein—the amyloid-β peptide—that interests researchers of Alzheimer's disease. There is also a line of inquiry that hopes to find clues to the disease in the normal function of amyloid precursor protein...