Monday, December 14, 2020

More than ever, get vaxxed and beat Omicron


In this updated look at the Covid-19 vaccine we examine its rollout, one year ago. Now with the Omicron variant ravaging the world, getting the vaccine is more important than ever.  Stubborn resistance continues...and Covid variations will continue to happen unless we get everyone vaxxed.

How did that COVID-19 vaccine happen so fast? 

Years, even decades of research brought us to yesterday, the initial rollout of a vaccine for COVID-19, the most disastrous public health calamity in modern times.

In layman's terms, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are all about genetics, DNA, and cell biology. The vaccine utilizes our genetic processes and what they do...which is to create life in our bodies and in all living things. We lay people have known about genetics since high school, when we studied a little bit about Gregor Mendel and his experiments with peas. Mendel discovered the basic principles of heredity and laid the mathematical foundation of the science of genetics. 

What James D. Watson and Francis Crick discovered by 1953, and which revolutionized biology and medicine, was how each of our 30 trillion cells (except for mature red blood cells) is able to pack inside its nucleus the 20,000 genes that serve as the instruction manual for us and for all living things.

DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, is the material from which the 46 chromosomes in each cell's nucleus are formed. DNA contains the codes for the body's approximately 20,000 genes, which govern all aspects of cell growth and inheritance. Watson and Crick discovered that DNA has a double helix structure--two intertwined strands resembling a spiraling ladder. A gene is a distinct section of that DNA and contains the codes for producing specific proteins involved in our body function. In a very short-handed description, genes send information to single-strand structures called messenger RNA (messenger ribonucleic acid). It is the messenger RNA that leaves the cell's nucleus and begins the process of protein building, the essential work of life.

What the scientists and doctors at Pfizer accomplished was to harness the messenger RNA of the Corona-19 virus, which is the active agent of the of the corona virus. The scientists made a synthetic copy of the virus's messenger RNA instead of using a section of living, or dead, virus as has been typically done in previous vaccines. Also, it has been reported that the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines are less risky to the body and easier to make in mass doses...qualities much needed in an unprecedented pandemic.

As noted scientist and Nobel laureate Leon Cooper said, our investment in basic scientific research must be generous and ongoing. Advances that led to the creation of the personal computer, for example, relied on previous research on transistors, which relied on previous research in basic physics. Had the revolution in our understanding of genes and cellular biology not stood where it is, these vaccines, providing hope to a despairing world, would not have been possible.

Contents 

FOREWORD: HOW A TINY VIRUS CHANGED THE WORLD…..1. LET'S GET BACK TO NORMAL, WHEREVER POSSIBLE….2. THIS IS NOT THE SEASONAL FLU-- IT'S MUCH MORE DANGEROUS….. 3. OUR LUNGS AND COVID-19: A CLOSER LOOK…..4. HOW DID THE COVID-19 VACCINES GET DEVELOPED SO FAST?.....5. THE VACCINES ARE SAFE: THE ROLE OF CLINICAL TRIALS…..6. IMMUNITY: A SMART SYSTEM AND ITS SECRETS…..7. A POWERFUL ACHIEVEMENT: DR. JONAS SALK CONQUERS POLIO…. 8. TAKE PART IN HISTORY...BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE HAPPEN….. 9. SCIENCE SAVES MONEY, SAVES LIVES…..10. THE AGE OF THE GENOME BODES WELL FOR HUMAN HEALTH…..11. FAQS ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINES EPILOGUE: LIVING UNDER THE UNIQUE STRESS OF A PANDEMIC 


Online review:

"You might have read articles here and there about the Covid vaccines and the miracle of their development in less than a year. But here in book form, all the ingredients of this remarkable story are brought together in one place by author Dave Balog. Mr. Balog has a medical background, but he writes in clear, easy-to-understand prose that any reader will appreciate.

"Specifically, fundamental questions about the virus and the vaccines are answered in the book such as how did the vaccines get developed in record time, how was safety ensured -- particularly given the speed involved -- and the implications not only for the management of future pandemics, but also for overall public health in general.

"Mr. Balog's book is titled, "Get The Covid-19 Vaccine ASAP." Many people, but by no means everyone, know this. The nine chapters, however, explain why vaccination is so urgent in the face of a still evolving disease, the dimensions of which are detailed therein in no uncertain terms."


                                              


About the author 

David Balog, a freelance science/medical writer, served as an editor at the Charles A. Dana Foundation from 1995-2006. There he worked for William Safire, language columnist for the New York Times. David created, wrote, and edited the Dana Sourcebook of Brain Science through four editions. More than 50,000 copies were distributed to elementary schools, middle schools, colleges and to professionals and the general public. He worked with leading brain scientists and doctors, including Nobel laureates. David was also a contributing editor of the Dana Sourcebook of Immunology. and has created the Healing the Brain series of books and videos. Please visit www.HealingTheBrainBooks.Com to learn more. David is a graduate of Hamilton College, where he received a BA in History.





 



Sunday, December 13, 2020

I've got something to say

I've got something to say 12/13/20

Top news

The vaccines are coming!

A day after the US Food and Drug Administration issued emergency use authorization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee voted to recommend the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for immediate emergency use.

You can get the whole exciting story about the approval and the rollout at the link below. But this is such fantastic news. And it has nothing to do at all with Trump, Jared, Ivanka, Don Jr, Eric or any of the miserable Trumps. But I just want to say a word about confidence that people should have in the vaccine. I had the honor of working alongside many top scientists at the National Institutes of Health and the CDC. They are passionate, dedicated, rigorous, consummate professionals. Despite what Trump spilled out as misinformation, he will soon be gone and the adults, the highly trained, highly experienced leaders of the best health organizations in the world will take the stage. I never worked with Dr. Fauci, but I did some work with his boss Dr. Francis Collins, head of the National Institutes of Health. I cannot of course guarantee anything. I am not medically trained but I could not have done my job as a science writer without following the same rigorous standards for honesty and safety that these world-class professionals practice every day. 

Here's the link to the CNN story.

Trump attends a football game.

Just a day after suffering what most people acknowledge was a humiliating loss for his attempted coup d'etat, Donald Trump traveled to West Point to watch the annual Army-Navy football game. Honestly, he was treated like a conquering hero, receiving a standing ovation and great acclaim from the cadets, the midshipmen in the crowd, and from the football players.

What makes this ominous? Who is going to have to escort Mr. Trump out of the White House when all of his efforts to overturn his loss to Joe Biden fail? In an interview earlier this year, Biden himself said that, in all seriousness, there are plenty of military personnel ready to escort Trump out of the White House. But as with all things Trump, there's no certainty about anything. Will this be another crisis from this miserable president that we will have to endure?

Barely taking a breath, or pausing from his rage tweeting, Trump is now apparently moving on to other lawsuits, concocting plans to disrupt the counting of the electoral votes in Congress on January 5th, and any mayhem that he and his embattled and belittled team can dream up.

At the suggestion of a friend, I poked my nose into a few clips of the wacky world created by One America News and Newsmax, the two cable networks fighting their way to the bottom of the pool to beat out the now too-snowflakey Fox News. If you haven't seen these media creatures, you may want to take a look at them, but be forewarned, it ain't pretty. Seeking a new personal low bar, the ubiquitous Alan Dershowitz popped his head on one of the two channels and gave a surprisingly honest recount of yesterday's Supreme Court decision, only to be hushed up and quickly dismissed from his guest appearance.

I've always wondered about the phenomenon of right-wing talk. How could people listen to the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin, Ingraham? Very simply, said a friend years ago. Listeners don't have to think. Limbaugh said it himself early in his career: He would tell his mass audience what to think, what to do, and that was it. And conservative right-wing issues can be reduced to simple matters, black-and-white answers, no muss, no fuss. For better or worse liberal media takes time. They explain, deliberate, and ask people to think.

Which is why a video clip I'll link below very much explains the power of Trump's authoritarian narcissism. People are exhausted and if somebody can take away the thinking part, life would get much simpler. I think that's at the core of why people think Trump is the greatest president ever, the greatest thing since sliced bread, practically the incarnation of the Messiah.

I'm reminded of the most recent devastating, Constitutional crisis before the present, the Bush v Gore election of 2000. As a matter of fact today is the 20th anniversary of Al Gore's concession. It was a depressing day for those who had counted on and needed a President Gore. Ironically, now-Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts, who is said to be very watchful of the Court's legacy, was stunned by the negative reaction to the Court's intervention and decision in Bush v Gore. I remember the late journalist Cokie Roberts seriously complaining on the news that she needed this to come to a conclusion because she had to arrange a holiday party at her local Crate and Barrel. Thanks, Cokie. 

Also, a couple I knew, newlyweds and avid Fox viewers, wished after 30-something days that the whole mess was over and that the Supreme Court just picked one, anyone, they didn't care. They also didn't care that somebody sitting next to them might have a non-Fox view of the world and would be greatly affected by the decision.

And here's the link to that video on authoritarianism, narcissism, and the American way right now.

Book

Speaking of great scientists, my new book is out profiling the work of the top brain scientists who are working to treat and possibly cure some of our most devastating diseases and disorders. What's in it for you? Since brain-related diseases and disorders account for more than half of our healthcare budget, the success of brain research could make a big dent in our healthcare crisis. 

High priorities include memory loss and Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and much more. They are also working on basic research to understand the magnificent resource we all possess, the brain, to optimize our health and make for a happy, fulfilling life.

Please have a look.

I think you might like this book – "Heroes of Medicine: Changing the Face of Healthcare" by David Balog.

Start reading it for free: https://a.co/bF0QfvE 

And let's end with a cute doggy picture.






Monday, November 2, 2020

I Survived Trumpworld (Barely). Will America?


For 12 years I worked as an editor at the Charles A. Dana Foundation in New York City. My office was at 745 Fifth Avenue which is significant because next door was 725 Fifth -- Trump Tower. I saw Trump himself from time to time while walking around on my lunch hour. He was always surrounded by a team of men in dark suits and dark personas being lectured by their leader. They'd gather at the nearby GM Plaza, where the men would cower and Trump would bloviate. (I hid nearby twice to get a flavor of his tone.)

I did not know then that my boss at the Dana Foundation, William Safire, had close ties to Trump and was part of the infamous "favor bank" of city power brokers. In this club, no money was  exchanged -- just deeds that advanced the interests of members. I've read that Safire's original, big favor to Trump was to help get his marginally qualified sister appointed to a federal judgeship. In the process, Safire held the young Donald's hand as he gained entry into the New York and DC Republican power elite.

Having now witnessed and experienced Trump and Trumpism for four years, I can say they mirror the experiences I had under Safire. My emotions sunk on Trump's inauguration day and fell therafter.

Through cronyism, William Safire came to be chairman of the influential Dana Foundation in 2000. Dana had a large commitment to the cause of brain research. I began work there in 1995.

Safire, who died in 2009, described himself as "the vituperative right-wing scandal monger" for the New York Times. He was probably more well-known as the Sunday language columnist for the Times Magazine. Former speech writer for President Richard Nixon (Safire was responsible for the term "nattering nabobs of negativism" -- actually delivered by Vice President Spiro Agnew), he traded in slash-and-burn, transactional relationships, just like Trump. (If you doubted Safire's loyalty to Richard Nixon, you need only stroll by the life-sized, autographed picture of the disgraced ex-president hung outside Safire's office. To Safire, Nixon did nothing wrong in the litany of scandals and crimes called Watergate. Nothing.)

Safire was hired by the Times when the paper realized it needed a right winger to counter the enlightened voices of Anthony Lewis, Russell Baker, Tom Wicker, Howell Raines, and others. 

Like Trump, Safire fabricated and inflated his public image. At the Times, by 1978 Safire was about to be fired for lack of reader interest when he reinvented himself as a "journalist" (for which he had no training…his biography said only that he "attended Syracuse University"). As a marketing pitch man for Maytag Appliances, Safire met then-Vice President Nixon at the "Kitchen Summit" with Khrushchev in the Soviet Union. 

The first victim of his "hatchet journalism" was Bert Lance, President Jimmy Carter's first budget director. Having helped push Lance out the door, as was his pattern, Safire later claimed that the two had become friends and colleagues. Safire also had a direct line to the office of the Israeli prime minister to feed and receive political dirt on world leaders. In the run up to the Iraqi War, Safire was stirring the pot of lies about Saddam Hussein's weapons program in his column. He also advocated for the discredited Times reporter Judy Miller, who promoted the theory of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction, later found to be based on inaccurate information from the intelligence community.

In one memorable meeting at Dana, Safire recounted how on Meet the Press, in his avuncular tone, he tried with the help of host Tim Russert, to patch things up with Bill Clinton after having called Hillary Clinton a congenital liar. On the air, Russert offered Safire a pair of oversized boxing gloves, which if he signed, Russert said he would get Bill Clinton to sign as well, as a symbol that, again all was well. The president, an enraged Safire told us, "refused to sign the gloves and returned them unsigned to my office." Red with anger, Safire indicated that this was all you needed to know about Bill Clinton.

Like Trump, Safire was penurious and a deadbeat. My freelance writers and designers had routinely been paid upon submitting a bill when he decided to "stretch them out," needlessly, to 30-days payment. The move strained freelancers' ability to budget their finances and added extra stress on me and my fellow Dana editors. And it was needless pain because Dana was a wealthy non-profit: Safire controlled an endowment just short of $400 million.

Donald Trump has shown astonishing indifference to the deaths and suffering of Americans in the pandemic, to the massive numbers of families without jobs and income, and to the children and families at our borders, emotionally scarred for life. Similarly, his patron, Safire, was called by his own treasurer "the cheapest man in the world." In the aftermath of 9/11, Safire authorized a paltry one-time contribution of $50,000 to the Times Fund for the Neediest New Yorkers. This at a time when New York corporations and individuals were making much larger contributions, financially and in-kind, to a devastated city.

Safire and Trump created desultory, mean environments where women were objects to be used in sexual relationships. Aside from being morally objectionable, these arrangements (in Safire's case with women on staff) created favoritism and distrust among the staff as we tried to figure who was in favor and who wasn't. I was ordered to spy on one such woman by another who had become my boss.

Finally, Trump and Safire shared a total lack of pathos, or empathy. Instead they valued loyalty, especially blind loyalty. Safire told us directly that we were to be available to him at any time. He asked for and received our cell phone numbers. He threatened to fire staff not willing to sacrifice themselves and their family life to his irrational, erratic needs. One colleague, the intensely smart and capable Barbara Rich, saw no other option but to surrender to monstrously long hours and work demands. Each year, I watched as she managed to get only four days away of her four-weeks of vacation time (which usually included a three-day holiday weekend). A proud liberal and one-time campaigner for Robert F. Kennedy, she felt it necessary to accede to Safire's views by reading far right-wing Web sites such as the dreadful Drudge Report. Barbara was the only experienced journalist at the Foundation and she admitted she felt debased as Safire called her his chief "flak."

A breast cancer survivor, Barbara resumed smoking to deal with the stress. I winced as she kept adding projects and travel to her workload. One day, I watched her, ashen, break up with her partner by phone. She died of a stroke far too young a few years ago.

I resisted his work demands as long as I could, but when asked to write and edit a book on an insanely short schedule of six weeks, I knew I couldn't pull all-nighters and give up my personal life. My partner, Fred, and I had just built a weekend house and I couldn't bear the thought of him there alone while I stayed in the city indefinitely.

The worlds that Trump and Safire created were harsh and heartless. When I quit the Dana Foundation in 2006, it was very painful and career-damaging. I left a job that as a gay man I felt comfortable in because of the access I had to smart, intellectually, and sociably able colleagues. My work, despite the stresses, had a high "psychic reward" I never was able to replace.

The consequences of Trumpism, so similar to "Safireism," cut deep. They derailed lives, and ruined the health of workers. We used to joke that we wrote about the stress hormone cortisol as oceans of it flowed past our offices. If you wanted to maintain your relationship with him, or your job, the key was being able to call him "Bill." It signaled an obeisance, a surrender to his views and world, at least superficially. I could and would not do it.

How did Safire ultimately gain and maintain his power and influence? Much in the same way that Trump does it. Safire exploited a very basic principal of human behavior, something I learned from the brain scientists at the Dana Foundation: Fear is our most powerful emotion. Anybody in the advertising world knows this basic fact and exploits it to the maximum extent. Those who abhorred Safire's right-wing views, nevertheless glommed on to him to avoid his wrath, which could be terrifying. He could offer a word of slight praise and then five minutes later be in your face physically shaking with rage, irrationally and often misguidedly. Much like other men on the high-end of the corporate ladder, Safire had an imposing physical presence: he was quite tall and physically intimidating. He was another arrogant CEO, who in the words of my colleague Barbara Rich,  was "looking for redemption from this world and not going to get it."

The "boss," as one especially maltreated secretary called him, also exploited another biological principle, phototropism, the basic tendency of plants...and humans...to bend toward a light source. He preyed on anyone's desire to be near power. He name-dropped his celebrity connections, (one being Monica Lewinsky) to remind you of the access he had created and to those who wanted to get that access (or a gift from the money he controlled) he readily offered a carrot. Oblivious to his audience, he once announced in a meeting that he was going to tell us everything we were dying to know about Monica. He had no clue that he was speaking to New York liberals and we did not want to hear his tawdry details, including information about the blue dress. I began to hate Amtrak trips to his office in Washington and I literally got depressed from the city and the atmosphere I experienced there.

Under Donald Trump, our country has gone down the same life-draining path. Particularly during the isolation induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by Trump's incompetence and indifference, rates of depression, isolation and despair are now sky-high across America. 

We won't fully realize how bad it's been until it ends -- both Trump's rule and the pandemic.

It took me years to recover from my traumatic experience on the periphery of America's power center. It eroded my self-confidence and self-image. It ended a writing career in which I took great pride.

I hope America fares better after Trump and recovers much more quickly. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, I'm pulling for you.



Wednesday, September 2, 2020

New hope for Alzheimer's disease, spinal cord injury, more

Date:

August 27, 2020



Source:

DZNE - German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases


Summary:

Researchers have developed a neurologically acting protein and tested it in laboratory studies. In mice, the experimental compound ameliorated symptoms of certain neurological injuries and diseases, while on the microscopic level it was able to establish and repair connections between neurons. This proof-of-principle study suggests that biologics, which act on neuronal connectivity, could be of clinical use in the long term.


    

FULL STORY

Researchers from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), UK and Japan have developed a neurologically acting protein and tested it in laboratory studies. In mice, the experimental compound ameliorated symptoms of certain neurological injuries and diseases, while on the microscopic level it was able to establish and repair connections between neurons. This proof-of-principle study suggests that biologics, which act on neuronal connectivity, could be of clinical use in the long term. The results are published in the journal Science.


Brain essentials in plain language. Click here.


The human brain's neuronal network undergoes life-long changes in order to be able to assimilate information and store it in a suitable manner. This applies in particular to the generation and recalling of memories. So-called synapses play a central role in the brain's ability to adapt. They are junctions through which nerve signals are passed from one cell to the next. A number of specific molecules -- known as "synaptic organizing proteins" -- make sure that synapses are formed and reconfigured whenever necessary.


An artificial protein


An international team of researchers has now combined various structural elements of such naturally occurring molecules into an artificial protein called CPTX and tested its effect in different disease models. To this end, the compound was administered to mice with neurological deficits that occur in similar fashion in humans. Specifically, the tests focused on Alzheimer's disease, spinal cord injury and cerebellar ataxia -- a disease that is characterized primarily by a failure of muscle coordination. All these conditions are associated with damage to the synapses or their loss. The study was a collaborative effort by experts from several research institutions, including the DZNE's Magdeburg site, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in UK, Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo, and, also in Japan, Aichi Medical University.


Easing symptoms of disease


"In our lab we studied the effect of CPTX on mice that exhibited certain symptoms of Alzheimer's disease," said Prof. Alexander Dityatev, a senior researcher at the DZNE, who has been investigating synaptic proteins for many years. "We found that application of CPTX improved the mice's memory performance." The researchers also observed normalization of several important neuronal parameters that are compromised in Alzheimer's disease, as well as in the studied animal model. Namely, CPTX increased the ability of synapses to change, which is considered as a cellular process associated with memory formation. Furthermore, CPTX was shown to elevate what is called "excitatory transmission." This is to say that the protein acted specifically on synapses that promoted activity of the contacted cell. And finally, CPTX increased the density of so-called dendritic spines. These are tiny bulges in the cell's membrane that are essential for establishing excitatory synaptic connections.


Brain essentials in plain language. Click here.


Further research by the study partners in the UK and Japan revealed that application of CPTX to mice with motor dysfunction -- caused either by spinal cord injury or pathological conditions similar to cerebellar ataxia -- improved the rodent's mobility. And at the cellular level, the drug was shown to repair and promote excitatory synaptic connections.


A molecular connector


CPTX combines functional domains present in natural synaptic organizing proteins in a unique way. The compound was designed to act as a universal bridge builder for excitatory connections between nerve cells. Where two neurons meet, either in adhesive contact or actually in synaptic connection, CPTX links to specific molecules on the surfaces of both involved cells, and thereby either triggers the formation of new synapses or strengthens already existing ones.



"At present, this drug is experimental and its synthesis, the credit for which goes to our UK partners, is quite demanding. We are far off from application in humans," Dityatev emphasized, who in addition to his research at the DZNE is also a member of the Medical Faculty of the University Magdeburg. "However, our study suggests that CPTX can even do better than some of its natural analogs in building and strengthening nerve connections. Thus, CPTX could be the prototype for a new class of drugs with clinical potential." Application would be in disorders that are associated with impaired neuronal connectivity. "Much of the current therapeutic effort against neurodegeneration focuses on stopping disease progression and offers little prospect of restoring lost cognitive abilities. Our approach could help to change this and possibly lead to treatments that actually regenerate neurological functions. Based on the principles we have used in designing CPTX, we thus intend to develop further compounds. In future studies, we want to refine their properties and explore possible therapeutic applications."

Brain essentials in plain language. Click here.




Saturday, August 15, 2020

Hope for chronic pain



Science News
from research organizations

Potential treatment for chronic pain

Date:
April 30, 2020
Source:
University of Copenhagen The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Summary:
Researchers have developed a new way to treat chronic pain which has been tested in mice. With a compound designed and developed by the researchers themselves, they can achieve complete pain relief.
Share:
    
FULL STORY

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have developed a new way to treat chronic pain which has been tested in mice. With a compound designed and developed by the researchers themselves, they can achieve complete pain relief.

The treatment has been tested in mice, and the new results have been published in the scientific journal EMBO Molecular Medicine. For more than a decade, the researchers have been working to design, develop and test a drug that shall provide complete pain relief.

"We have developed a new way to treat chronic pain. It is a targeted treatment. That is, it does not affect the general neuronal signalling, but only affects the nerve changes that are caused by the disease," says co-author Kenneth Lindegaard Madsen, Associate Professor at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen.

"We have been working on this for more than ten years. We have taken the process all the way from understanding the biology, inventing and designing the compound to describing how it works in animals, affects their behaviour and removes the pain," says Kenneth Lindegaard Madsen.

Chronic pain can occur, among other things, after surgery, in people with diabetes, after a blood clot and after an amputation in the form of phantom pain.

Clinical trials as the next step

The compound developed by the researchers is a so-called peptide named Tat-P4-(C5)2. The peptide is targeted and only affects the nerve changes that pose a problem and cause the pain.

In a previous study, the researchers have shown in an animal model that use of the peptide can also reduce addiction. Therefore, the researchers hope that the compound may potentially help pain patients who have become addicted to, for example, opioid pain relievers in particular.

"The compound works very efficiently, and we do not see any side effects. We can administer this peptide and obtain complete pain relief in the mouse model we have used, without the lethargic effect that characterises existing pain-relieving drugs," says Kenneth Lindegaard Madsen, adding:

"Now, our next step is to work towards testing the treatment on people. The goal, for us, is to develop a drug, therefore the plan is to establish a biotech company as soon as possible so we can focus on this."

The researchers are now working towards clinical trials in collaboration with, among others, pain researcher Nanna Brix Finnerup, Professor at Aarhus University.



Brain essentials in plain language. Click here


Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Copenhagen The Faculty of Health and Medical SciencesNote: Content may be edited for style and length.



 


Brain essentials in plain language. Click here

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Breakthrough Test for Alzheimer's

New blood test shows great promise in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease



Date:

July 29, 2020

Source:

Lund University


Summary:

A new blood test demonstrated remarkable promise in discriminating between persons with and without Alzheimer's disease and in persons at known genetic risk may be able to detect the disease as early as 20 years before the onset of cognitive impairment, according to a large international study.



Brain essentials in plain language. Click here!

    

FULL STORY


A new blood test demonstrated remarkable promise in discriminating between persons with and without Alzheimer's disease and in persons at known genetic risk may be able to detect the disease as early as 20 years before the onset of cognitive impairment, according to a large international study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and simultaneously presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference.


For many years, the diagnosis of Alzheimer's has been based on the characterization of amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain, typically after a person dies. An inexpensive and widely available blood test for the presence of plaques and tangles would have a profound impact on Alzheimer's research and care. According to the new study, measurements of phospho-tau217 (p-tau217), one of the tau proteins found in tangles, could provide a relatively sensitive and accurate indicator of both plaques and tangles -- corresponding to the diagnosis of Alzheimer's -- in living people.


"The p-tau217 blood test has great promise in the diagnosis, early detection, and study of Alzheimer's," said Oskar Hansson, MD, PhD, Professor of Clinical Memory Research at Lund University, Sweden, who leads the Swedish BioFINDER Study and senior author on the study who spearheaded the international collaborative effort. "While more work is needed to optimize the assay and test it in other people before it becomes available in the clinic, the blood test might become especially useful to improve the recognition, diagnosis, and care of people in the primary care setting."




Brain essentials in plain language. Click here!



Researchers evaluated a new p-tau217 blood test in 1,402 cognitively impaired and unimpaired research participants from well-known studies in Arizona, Sweden, and Colombia. The study, which was coordinated from Lund University in Sweden, included 81 Arizona participants in Banner Sun Health Research Institute's Brain Donation program who had clinical assessments and provided blood samples in their last years of life and then had neuropathological assessments after they died; 699 participants in the Swedish BioFINDER Study who had clinical, brain imaging, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and blood-based biomarker assessments; and 522 Colombian autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease (ADAD)-causing mutation carriers and non-carriers from the world's largest ADAD cohort.


In the Arizona (Banner Sun Health Research Institute) Brain Donation Cohort, the plasma p-tau217 assay discriminated between Arizona Brain donors with and without the subsequent neuropathological diagnosis of "intermediate or high likelihood Alzheimer's" (i.e., characterized by plaques, as well as tangles that have at least spread to temporal lobe memory areas or beyond) with 89% accuracy; it distinguished between those with and without a diagnosis of "high likelihood Alzheimer's" with 98% accuracy; and higher ptau217 measurements were correlated with higher brain tangle counts only in those persons who also had amyloid plaques.


In the Swedish BioFINDER Study, the assay discriminated between persons with the clinical diagnoses of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases with 96% accuracy, similar to tau PET scans and CSF biomarkers and better than several other blood tests and MRI measurements; and it distinguished between those with and without an abnormal tau PET scan with 93% accuracy.

In the Colombia Cohort, the assay began to distinguish between mutation carriers and non-carriers 20 years before their estimated age at the onset of mild cognitive impairment.


In each of these analyses, p-tau217 (a major component of Alzheimer's disease-related tau tangles) performed better than p-tau181 (another component of tau tangles and a blood test recently found to have promise in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's) and several other studied blood tests.


In the last two years, researchers have made great progress in the development of amyloid blood tests, providing valuable information about one of the two cardinal features of Alzheimer's. While more work is needed before the test is ready for use in the clinic, a p-tau217 blood test has the potential to provide information about both plaques and tangles, corresponding to the diagnosis of Alzheimer's. It has the potential to advance the disease's research and care in other important ways.


"Blood tests like p-tau217 have the potential to revolutionize Alzheimer's research, treatment and prevention trials, and clinical care," said Eric Reiman, MD, Executive Director of Banner Alzheimer's Institute in Phoenix and a senior author on the study.


"While there's more work to do, I anticipate that their impact in both the research and clinical setting will become readily apparent within the next two years."


Alzheimer's is a debilitating and incurable disease that affects an estimated 5.8 million Americans age 65 and older. Without the discovery of successful prevention therapies, the number of U.S. cases is projected to reach nearly 14 million by 2050.




Brain essentials in plain language. Click here!




Thursday, July 23, 2020

Covid-19 and the Brain

July 8, 2020

Source:

University of Liverpool


Summary:

Cases of brain complications linked to COVID-19 are occurring across the globe, a new review has shown. The research found that strokes, delirium and other neurological complications are reported from most countries where there have been large outbreaks of the disease.





    

FULL STORY

Cases of brain complications linked to COVID-19 are occurring across the globe, a new review by University of Liverpool researchers has shown.



Published in The Lancet Neurology, the study found that strokes, delirium and other neurological complications are reported from most countries where there have been large outbreaks of the disease.


COVID-19 has been associated mostly with problems like difficulty breathing, fever and cough. However, as the pandemic has continued, it has become increasingly clear that other problems can occur in patients. These include confusion, stroke, inflammation of the brain, spinal cord, and other kinds of nerve disease.


A recent Liverpool-led study of COVID-19 patients hospitalised in the UK found a range of neurological and psychiatric complications that may be linked to the disease.




To get a sense of the wider picture, the researchers brought together and analysed findings from COVID-19 studies across the globe that reported on neurological complications. The review, which included studies from China, Italy and the USA among others, found almost 1000 patients with COVID-19-associated brain, spinal cord and nerve disease.


Research Fellow, Dr Suzannah Lant, who was working on the project, said: "While these complications are relatively uncommon, the huge numbers of COVID-19 cases globally mean the overall number of patients with neurological problems is likely to be quite large."


One of the complications found to be linked to COVID-19 is encephalitis, which is inflammation and swelling of the brain.


Dr Ava Easton, CEO of the Encephalitis Society, and co-author on the paper said: "It is really important that doctors around the world recognise that COVID-19 can cause encephalitis and other brain problems, which often have potentially devastating, life-changing consequences for patients."


Professor Tom Solomon, senior author on the paper and Director of the Global COVID-Neuro Network, added: "Although such patients are being seen everywhere the virus occurs, many of the reports are lacking in detail. We are currently pooling data from individual patients all around the world, so that we can get a more complete picture. Doctors who would like to contribute patients to this analysis can contact us via the Global COVID-Neuro Network

website."