I thought we could use a thread related to news on Alzheimer's research other than that related to amyloids or zinc, which already have their own threads.


Does Glucophage Make Alzheimer's Worse?
http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/02/26/does_glucophage_make_alzheimers_worse.php


Antidiabetic drug metformin (GlucophageR) increases biogenesis of Alzheimer's amyloid peptides via up-regulating BACE1 transcription
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/02/20/0807991106.short?rss=1


Musings of a Dinosaur
A Family Doctor in solo private practice; I may be going the way of the dinosaur, but I'm not dead yet
http://dinosaurmusings.blogspot.com/2007/07/i-cured-her.html


Enzyme Is Essential Contributor to Brain Growth
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/549973/?sc=rsmn
news on AMPK, which is activated by metformin

Some news related to Benson's Syndrome, also known as Posterior Cortical Atrophy, which is a form of Alzheimer's with much of its effect on the vision:

Benson's syndrome
http://wrongdiagnosis.com/b/bensons_syndrome/intro.htm

Benson's syndrome or Posterior Cortical Atrophy
http://www.orpha.net/data/patho/GB/uk-Benson.pdf

Benson's syndrome or Posterior Cortical Atrophy
http://www.orpha.net/data/patho/Pro/en/PosteriorCorticalAtrophy-FRenPro10748.pdf

Posterior cortical atrophy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterior_cortical_atrophy
Renowned fantasy fiction writer Sir Terry Pratchett OBE has been diagnosed with this disease.

I've found enough ads describing something to help Alzheimer's that I did some Yahoo searches to looks for scientific reports on whether it actually works. It's methylcobalamin, one of the two active forms of vitamin B12 (cobalamins). The sites I've found claim that many people with Alzheimer's, a suspiciously long list of other neurological problems, diabetes, or cancer, often have problems with converting the other cobalamins into the methylcobalamin form, and the resulting methylcobalamin deficiency causes these problems or makes them worse. The results of the searches show that many web sites are repeating these claims, without offering links to web pages showing where to find any scientific reports on whether this has actually been tested. So far, I haven't found any scientific reports on whether this has been tested against Alzheimer's. Can some of you with access to other search methods see if you can find any?

I did find some scientific reports saying that it slows down, but does not cure or fully control, ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

[Clinical trials of ultra-high-dose methylcobalamin in ALS]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17969354
article in Japanese, so I can't read it, but the abstract suggests that it helps

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
http://www.naturdoctor.com/Chapters/Research/ALS.pdf

I found some suggestions that much of any other research on methylcobalamin is likely to be reported in Japanese, also.

It doesn't look like a good idea to assume that all the claims are from people more interested in getting your money than in making sure they tell you something accurate - only that there's a shortage of relevant research reports in English.

One web site suggests that a scientific report related to methylcobalamin helping Alzheimer's may exist in English, but be too old to be available on the web.


[quote]
Alzheimer's Disease

A study in Clinical Therapeutics (1992 May;14(3):426-437)
showed that the intravenous administration of large doses of
methylcobalamin to Alzheimer's patients improved the
patients' intellectual functions such as memory, emotions and
communication with other people. The scientists concluded
that methylcobalamin is a safe and effective treatment for
psychiatric disorders in patients with Alzheimer-type dementia.
[/quoted]


You may want to check if that study actually exists and says something relevant.

Some articles mentioning the breakdown of myelin as being involved in Alzheimer's:



An article on George Bartzokis, a researcher investigating this:

http://www.alzforum.org/com/res/detail.asp?id={DD4A81CB-0CF2-4626-AE6C-6540C8287FED}



Less technical articles:


Breakdown of Myelin Implicated in Alzheimer’s, UCLA Research Shows

http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Breakdown-of-Myelin-Implicated-7921.aspx?RelNum=7921


Breakdown Of Myelin Implicated In Alzheimer's

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070510160759.htm


Breakdown of Myelin Implicated in Alzheimer's

http://www.huliq.com/21407/breakdown-of-myelin-implicated-in-alzheimers


Breakdown of myelin implicated in Alzheimer's, UCLA research shows

http://www.medicexchange.com/Imported/imported-512.html


Myelin to Blame for Many Neuropsychiatric Disorders

http://www.cnsfoundation.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7042


LONI: Laboratory of Neuro Imaging

http://www.loni.ucla.edu/About_Loni/people/Indiv_Detail.jsp?people_id=65


Blame Myelin For Many Neuropsychiatric Disorders

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/printerfriendlynews.php?newsid=57213


Midlife brain crisis spawns late-life Alzheimer's

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-12/uoc--mbc122303.php


New Clue to Alzheimer's Cause

http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/news/senior_living/0507/alz.shtml


Myelin Breakdown and Brain Decline

http://soundmedicine.iu.edu/segment.php4?seg=1974


Breakdown of Myelin Implicated in Alzheimer's

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/9191


When Myelin Is The Cause, Might Nicotine Be the Cure?

http://www.neuropsychiatryreviews.com/07jan/myelin.html


Study Follows Recent Report Of Myelin As Suspect In Alzheimer's Disease

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/74014.php


Imaging Study Links Key Genetic Risk For Alzheimer's Disease To Myelin Breakdown

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060103191252.htm

Names the Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype as being involved.


Myelin Breakdown And Alzheimer's

http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/view_news_item.cfm?news_id=2150


Looks like the actual research reports aren't easily available on the web, but enough pointers to the researchers are to allow contacting the researchers directly.

Gene Key To Alzheimer's-like Reversal Identified: Success In Restoring Memories In Mice Could Lead To Human Treatments

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090506144309.htm

Doesn't appear to have been tested on humans yet, but may eventally point the way to a successful treatment for humans.

Thanks for posting all this, Robert.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090526/hl_hsn/whychimpsmonkeysdontdevelopalzheimers

Gene Key To Alzheimer's-like Reversal Identified: Success In Restoring Memories In Mice Could Lead To Human Treatments

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090506144309.htm

Doesn't appear to have been tested on humans yet, but may eventally point the way to a successful treatment for humans.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090526/hl_hsn/whychimpsmonkeysdontdevelopalzheimers

Do the Alzheimer's researchers connected to Rosetta@home have the amino acid sequence of the chimp amd monkey proteins similar to the human proteins related to Alzheimer's yet? Looks like it may help pinpoint how the human proteins lead to Alzheimer's.

A diet change that may help Alzheimer's:

Eating Curry Every Week 'could Prevent Dementia'

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/152768.php

The important ingredient is curcumin, found in the spice turmeric.

A Protein That Protects Against Alzheimer's?

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/134658.php

apolipoprotein D, or ApoD

Vitamin D and Alzheimer's:

Link Between Vitamin D And Cognitive Impairment

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/136411.php

This may affect the current arguments about whether the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of vitamin D should be increased.

Here's the Time magazine article about that new Alzheimer's gene discovery. Now why wasn't this discovery made by Rosetta or any group using WCG I wonder? Another interesting question will be whether or not this discovery can help the work of Baker labs and allow them to build upon this work.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090906/hl_time/08599192074500;_ylt=AjYNGdu9wBJtOLeOPXgOOA2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJkZGI5MDZrBGFzc2V0A3RpbWUvMjAwOTA5MDYvMDg1OTkxOTIwNzQ1MDAEcG9zAzYEc2VjA3luX21vc3RfcG9wdWxhcgRzbGsDYWZ0ZXJ5ZWFyc29m

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In case you haven't seen it yet, the following thread names the human brain's natural defense against Alzheimer's - a copper-binding peptide. Not shared with any animal species, apparantly,
which makes research difficult. Its other function is to regulate the level of free copper ions in the brain.

https://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/forum_thread.php?id=5101#63655

Is Rosetta@Home doing any work to compare the amino acid sequence of samples of that peptide from Alzheimer's victims with samples from others of similar ages? What about the folding patterns?

Is there a non-invasive way to map the total copper distribution in the brain? What about the distribution of free copper not bound to this peptide? If not, what efforts are underway to develop
such methods?

Can you find any information about whether this peptide can cross the blood-brain barrier?

Have you seen any research results on the results of injecting copper compounds into living animal brains? If the results resemble Alzheimer's, that may give a way to do more of the Alzheimer's
research on animals instead of humans.

Gene May Link Diabetes and Alzheimer’s, CCNY Researchers Find
http://www2.ccny.cuny.edu/advancement/news/Gene-May-Link-Diabetes-and-Alzheimers.cfm

Alzheimer's gene 'diabetes link'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18445701

Alzheimer's Disease: Music Brings Patients 'Back to Life'
http://gma.yahoo.com/alzheimers-disease-music-brings-patients-back-life-184231284--abc-news-health.html

Roche ups Alzheimer's bet as rival drug data looms
http://news.yahoo.com/roche-ups-alzheimers-bet-ac-immune-deal-070300960--finance.html

Researchers Link Herpes to Alzheimer’s Disease
http://neurosciencenews.com/researchers-link-herpes-virus-alzheimers-disease-cold-sores-hsv1/

Alzheimer's 'early signs timeline developed'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18796309