To study the effects of coffee on cognition, researchers examined data obtained over a nine-year period from a subset of 8451 cognitively unimpaired people over the age of 60. As one would expect, there was a decline in test scores as the years passed, but the decline was steepest in the high coffee consumption group. It seems that moderate consumption slows the decline. What we have here is another example of the time-tested cornerstone of toxicology, namely that dose matters. Moderate coffee consumption is fine, more than four cups a day likely is not. This result is corroborated by Harvard researchers who followed 6000 subjects over the age of fifty for seven years and found moderate coffee consumption to be associated with a 28% lower risk of dementia.
An Australian study further documents the benefits of coffee on cognition including possible protection against Alzheimer’s disease. In the “Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle Study,” 227 cognitively normal adults were followed for ten years. They periodically filled out questionnaires about diet and health and underwent a battery of cognitive tests. A subset of the subjects was investigated via brain imaging for the buildup of beta-amyloid, a protein that is the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. The conclusion was that “increasing intake from one to two cups per day could potentially provide up to 8% decrease in executive function decline over an 18-month period and up to 5% decrease in cerebral beta-amyloid accumulation.”
The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Welcome, Indiana! up at The Other McCain.
According to PJM's VodkaPundit, If It's Tuesday, We Must Be Stuck With Biden Forever (Unless We Aren't), but unless I lost a day, it's Wednesday, so maybe we are and maybe we aren't.
At Breitbart, Weiss Denies IRS Whistleblower Claims, Says He Wasn’t Blocked from Charging Hunter Biden. But Tristan Justice at Da Fed thinks Weiss Letter Undermines Facade Of Independent Hunter Biden Investigation. Ace, David Weiss Resorts to Calculated Lawyerly Evasiveness When Asked About Whistleblower Allegations That He Was Blocked from Pursuing Charges Against Hunter Biden. "When his answer will support Merrick Garland, he's very clear in his response. But when his answer will cast doubt on Merrick Garland, suddenly he's as elusive as a fawn in the morning mist." John Solomon at JTN reports Hunter Biden prosecutor’s office briefed on bribery allegation before 2020 election, senator says. "Grassley demands answers from US Attorney David Weiss, claiming “hundreds” of people have had access to FBI informant memo." Somebody needs to subpoena both Weiss and Garland, put them under oath at the same table, and make them answer questions about this. Also, Biden probe charges forward with interview of key associate, possible whistleblower testimony, "Hunter Biden pal Devon Archer to face questioning soon from House Oversight committee." From Mediaite, Kevin McCarthy Suggests He’s Going to Force Hunter Biden Prosecutor to Testify: ‘You Cannot Sit Back and Hide’. At Becker News, Bribery Ring Investigators Wanted FBI Raid on Biden But Democrat-Linked Attorney Blocked It Due to ‘Optics’. Margot Cleveland at Da Fed notes Grassley Probes Weiss Deputy’s Role In Obstructing Biden Investigation, Leslie Wolf. At Da Wire, Questions Over Hunter Biden Probe Swirl Around Prosecutor Lesley Wolf. Here’s What You Need To Know. Ben Whedon at JTN reports how DOJ charges claimed Biden corruption witness for allegedly acting as an unregistered Chinese agent "Luft allegedly lobbied an unnamed advisor to then-President-Elect Donald Trump to embrace pro-China policies without registering as an agent of Beijing." You mean, like Hunter? At the Free Bacon, Justice Department Charges Think Tank Official Who Gave FBI Info on Hunter Biden. "Gal Luft claims Biden DOJ is ‘trying to bury’ him" and he's not wrong. Mary Chastain at LI, DOJ Indicts Man Who Claimed He Gave FBI Info About Biden Family Ties to China, "Dr. Gal Luft, a co-director of a Maryland-based think tank, has described the case against him as a “political hit job,” so he won’t be able to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee." From The Wombat's In The Mailbox: 07.11.23 The Geller Reports Biden’s DOJ Indicts Biden Whistleblower Who Came Out of Hiding To Expose High Crimes By President and his Family, Da Wire, Comer Mocks ‘Missing Witness’ Indictment: ‘Amazing’ How Quickly DOJ Moved. "“The timing is always coincidental according to the Democrats at the Department of Justice,” Comer said, referring to the timing of the Luft charges being announced after Luft’s video." Rowan Scarborough at WaT, has a A deep dive into whistleblower testimony: How DOJ protected Hunter Biden and his father. "The protection of Hunter Biden is long in time and vast in geography. It stretches over five years, from East Coast to West Coast, and involves various Justice Department lawyers and, at the top, an attorney general who misled Congress." From The Wombat's In The Mailbox: 07.11.23 Nice Deb at Am Great, Secret Service to Brief Congress on Thursday as Biden White House Accused of ‘Cocaine Cover-up’
From The Wombat's In The Mailbox: 07.11.23 Animal Magnetism has Animal’s Daily Sundowner News and EBL, Joe Biden – The Once and Future Asshole. Charles Cooke at NRO reluctantly concludes, Joe Biden Is an Asshole. Dr. John at Flopping Aces thinks When you’re not looking, Joe Biden is a vulgar demeaning pr*ck. Even when you are looking. At the Free Bacon, Brain Rage: Biden’s Violent Temper a Common Symptom of Dementia, Alzheimer’s. Ace, Biden's Temper Tantrums and Angry Outbursts Are Symptoms of Alzheimer's and Dementia. "Andrew Stiles writes a great explainer to Axios' report that Biden routinely explodes in f-bomb-laden tirades against aides. And he also parodies Axios' Baby's First Blog style of writing, with topic-markers like "What Happened" and "What It Means" and "Why It Matters."" Sean Davis@seanmdav "Everyone can see that we've now reached the "pretend he's an angry alpha instead of an Alzheimer's patient" stage in the news cycle. Anyone who's cared for a loved one with dementia knows exactly what's going on here." Biden was an arrogant asshole long before he was president. Being President has only made it worse, and then you can throw growing dementia in. Nick Arama at Red State observes Biden Physically Moved Into Place by Lithuanian Leader, Makes Eyebrow Raising Comment About Russia. “It didn’t take us long to get thousands of troops here when Russia invaded the second time. We’ll be assured that you’re gonna have all that you need. We have the secretary of defense here today. We can send him along.” At Da Mail, Sleepy Joe! Biden, 80, SKIPS dinner with NATO leaders and goes straight to his hotel - after bragging to Turkey's Erdogan that he will win White House again in 2024. From The Wombat's In The Mailbox: 07.11.23 Mary Chastain at LI, Biden Skips NATO Leader Dinner Due to Workload Despite Just Coming Off Beach Vacation. You can only use uppers so long. Jazz Shaw at Hat Hair observes Yes, Biden has spent the most time on vacation in modern POTUS history, which doesn't matter because he's not really running things. Sarah Hoyt offers a View From Normal Street.
From Da Caller, It Only Took The Media 1,326 Days To Acknowledge President Joe Biden’s Granddaughter. 'Bonchie' at Red State, The Bat Signal Goes up to Defend Biden for Disowning His Young Granddaughter. At Fox, 'The View' host on Biden refusing to acknowledge 7th grandchild: 'If it was Trump, we would talk about it'. Sauron's Eye claims Biden's "grandfatherly appeal" may be asset overseas at NATO summit.
Stephen Moore at Hat Hair sees Biden Declare War on Profits. WUWT, Energy Appliance Victory! (DC Circuit vs. DOE). Steve Hayward at Power Line Biden Gets Two Black Eyes from the Courts.I’ve had a rule my entire life: No matter what’s happening, no matter how important the meeting, I’ll always answer a call from my grandchildren. pic.twitter.com/mmsB1GOxAu
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 18, 2020
Attracting much less news coverage, however, is a decision of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals out yesterday that rejected a proposed Department of Energy “efficiency” regulation of commercial boilers. This may not sound exciting, and to be precise this is a rule-making that stretches back to the Trump years, but suffice it to say this rule-making would serve as a precursor and platform for the proposed rules to ban gas stoves, which is high on the list of the climate cultists in the Biden Administration.
The court’s opinion is dense and highly technical, but the bottom line is that the court made a rare finding that the proposed rule was “arbitrary and capricious,” and relied on unsubstantiated models and made-up data, which the DoE refused to back up when challenged earlier in the rule-making process and district court trial. The court essentially said—”Sorry, we’re not deferring to your self-serving claims any more.”
At Fox, Federal debt explodes by $1 trillion in five weeks since deal suspending limit became law. "Total national debt now sits at $32.47 trillion and counting." Thanks, Brandon! Ben Whedon at JTN, Federal court blocks Mountain Valley Pipeline yet again, delivering blow to Joe Manchin. "The legislation explicitly removed the Fourth Circuit's jurisdiction over the matter by directing cases as to the legislation's constitutionality to the D.C. Court of Appeals." At Breitbart, Rep. Bob Good: Biden Forcing ‘Socialist’ Obamacare Down Throats by Axing Short-Term Health Insurance.
From The Wombat's In The Mailbox: 07.11.23 Herr Professor Jacobsen at LI, Trump Wants Florida Trial Postponed Until After 2024 Election, "Trump court filing: “there is simply no question any trial of this action during the pendency of a Presidential election will impact both the outcome of that election and, importantly, the ability of the Defendants to obtain a fair trial.” Capt. Ed at Hat Hair, Trump attorneys: Let's push off classified-material trial to ... (Update). Alex Berenson at Unreported Truths, The Trump documents trial (and all Trump's criminal trials) must be stopped until after the 2024 election, "The law is crashing into the highest-stakes political process we have; Donald Trump's opponents have no choice but to let voters decide if he is fit for the White House." Lloyd Billingsley gives a history lesson in Third World Regime or Stalinist Re-Run? "Biden gets a pro-bono Vyshinsky for the Trump show trial."At Da Wire, Trump Calls DeSantis A ‘Son Of A B****’ That seems excessive. Sundance at CTH reports President Trump Denounces Biden Decision to Send Cluster Bomb Munitions to Ukraine. Star News cites a Trump Pollster who Says New Politico Mag Poll Skews the Numbers to Come Up with Another Anti-Trump Narrative. At SLAY, Ex-NBA Player Competes in Nationally Televised Game with ‘Trump Won’ Written on His Head. At Am Spec Dan Flynn wonders Does Ron DeSantis Want to Be the GOP Nominee? "He needs to look in the mirror instead of blaming his flailing campaign on the media."
|
| Myra Flores |
From The Wombat's In The Mailbox: 07.11.23 Ed Brodow at Am Think thinks Affirmative Action is A Thoroughly Useless Idea, Dan Greenfield at Front Page claims Affirmative Action is At the Heart of the Left’s Wrongness "The Left’s only answer is to repay injustice with injustice." From the Free Bacon, Irrelevant, Mistake-Prone Liberal Justice Is Supreme Court's 'Voice,' Media Say, "Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson had essentially no impact during this year's Supreme Court term, and she made a number of high-profile errors. Yet according to the mainstream media, Jackson's debut on the High Court was nothing less than a historic tour de force." Peter van Buren at Am Con gives A Tutorial on Freedom from the Supreme Court "Two common-sense rulings from the Supreme Court uphold core principles of American democracy and law." At Am Great Chris Roach thinks Supreme Court Independence Jeopardized by Leftist Fanatics.
Mary Chastain at LI is outraged Sotomayor’s Staff Pressured Schools, Libraries to Buy Her Books Even for Non-Book Events. "Sotomayor’s staff suggested selling books at all events, including a graduation commencement at UC-Davis!" What, can't they find enough straw buyers? Atop Da Hill, Sotomayor’s staff pushed library, colleges to buy her books. Spencer Brown at Town Hall thinks New Report on SCOTUS Would Have Liberals Screaming If It Were Justice Thomas. "Will Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) run to find a camera in the Capitol to decry the corruption of Justice Sotomayor using her official office for personal profit and demand the Court be packed with liberal justices? Will ProPublica run a scathing dark money-funded exposé on Sotomayor's book tours? Of course not."
Hat Hair's Jazz Shaw is not surprised to find the FBI still working to censor Americans on social media. Ben Weingarten at Substack, Feds Argue First Amendment Causes 'Irreparable Harm' in Bid to Save Censorship Regime. "The U.S. government betrayed its total and utter contempt for the First Amendment in a recent filing in the landmark Missouri v. Biden free speech case." Insty, THERE’S WRONG, AND THEN THERE’S INSANELY WRONG: "Roy S. Gutterman, a professor at Syracuse University and a self-professed expert in “free speech” published an Op/Ed piece on (where else?) CNN that misreads the remarkable victory handed to free-thinkers — especially in on-line forums — by Louisiana Federal District Judge Terry Doughty." Matt Taibbi at Racket wonders Is the FBI Helping Ukraine's Secret Service Censor Americans? "The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government releases a damning new report, revealing even more speech-smashing misbehavior by the federal government." Dave Catron at Am Spec argues Censorship Is More Dangerous Than Disinformation. "That this is now the subject of debate demonstrates how far we have drifted toward tyranny." From the College Fix, Law professor: ‘Unfortunate’ that Michigan anti-free speech bill likely unconstitutional "The proposal “is probably in trouble under American law. I also think that’s unfortunate because my personal view is the law should be constitutional, but I think it’s likely not.”" Herr Professor Jacobsen at LI, LinkedIn Should End ‘Diversity in Recruiting’ Feature: “Discrimination by algorithm is still discrimination”. "Equal Protection Project calls on LinkedIn to disable the DIR feature which injects race and other protected statuses into the candidate pools promoted by LinkedIn’s algorithms: “Discrimination by algorithm is still discrimination, and LinkedIn needs to stop.”" Lincoln Brown at PJM sees Zuck's Threads Already Throwing the Ban Hammer Around in an effort to be more appealing to liberal users. John Sexton at Hat Hair VIP, Utah Gov. Cox explains why his state is setting up barriers between kids and social media
At Da Wire, The Real Reason Parents In Los Angeles County Protested ‘Pride’, "My daughter was taught subjects such as 'scissoring,' which seems to be two females who decide to have sex with each other." ET hears Musk: It’s ‘Time for Parents to Fight Back’ Against Gender Ideology. Jordan Boyd at Da Fed reports the Largest School District In Ohio Spent More Than $24,000 On Trainings About How To Hide The Transing Of Kids. Breitbart, Sixth Circuit Allows Tennessee Ban on Transgender Surgery for Minors to Go Into Effect.
|
| Sage Steele |
From the Free Bacon, Not Just Bud Light: Anheuser-Busch's Other Beer Brands See Sales Crash. Sundance smiles Modelo Tops Bud Light in Latest Sales Report Just Before Key July 4th Holiday – Bud Light Sales Trend -28.5%. Nick Arama at Red State Reports Bud Light in Big Trouble, Hit With Costco 'Death Star.' Hat Hair's KT sees Another celebrity get sucked into the Bud Light controversy that just won't end, Ken Griffey, Jr.
At Campus Reform, Continued pro-abortion aggression accompanies widespread leftist influence at traditional schools. Insty, YES. IT COMPROMISES THE MISSION, AND THERE’S NO PARTICULAR BASIS TO THINK LAW SCHOOLS HAVE SPECIAL INSIGHT INTO THE RIGHTS AND WRONGS: "Programs [and law schools] are issuing statements on a host of political issues. That’s a mistake." From the Free Bacon, ‘Woke or KKK’: NYU Hosts Whites-Only ‘Antiracism’ Workshop for Public School Parents. "Experts say workshop violated multiple civil rights laws." Hat Hair's John Sexton says Thanks unions! New test scores indicate students aren't making up for pandemic learning loss. BL Hahn at Da Fed warns If You Think All Teachers Are ‘Heroes,’ You’re Part Of The Problem. My father was a teacher, and I'm well aware teachers have feet of clay. At Da Signal, The ‘Banned All Over’ Book Antifa Gave Me.
From Hollywood in Toto, Is This the Most Subversive Sketch of 2023? "Free the People skewers Patriot Front, media's White Nationalist obsession."
It's usually the morning post (or very early afternoon) but what the heck, why not?
WaPoo claims What we’ve learned from Trump’s tax returns. He didn't break any laws, though he claimed a lot of losses. You might remember, liberals tried hard to damage his businesses in the last few years, so we shouldn't be shocked. Matt Vespa at Town Hall tries to describe The Laughable Pivot Some in the Media Are Taking Over Trump's Tax Returns
Spencer wrote about it first—and it was a nothing burger. It might have been an even bigger dud than the Russian collusion hoax. Trump’s tax returns from 2015-2020 showed what we all knew about the former president: he got poorer being president. The cost to his real estate and business empire is not a secret. Trump often joked that he could be doing something other than dealing with Democratic Party attacks and liberal media lies but wanted to save the country.
The liberal obsession with Trump’s tax returns did lead to media leaks. The New York Times and other outlets obtained past returns, with the Times proceeding to write lengthy exposes that no one read. It also found no ties to Russia, which further torched the collusion delusion that engulfed progressive America.
Now, with no evidence of felonious activity, the Times is pivoting to say that the latest trove of returns, the big reveal, showed that the former president’s business prowess isn’t what was advertised (via NYT):
Now we need to start seeing some liberals taxes. Althouse, ".... the final nail in his coffin...." "A bunch of links about Trump's newly dumped tax forms — beginning with the screwiest one: Da Beasts's David Johnson, Trump’s Taxes Are the Best Case Yet for Putting Him in Prison. At the New Reform Club, Seth Barrett Tillman writes A Letter to David Cay Johnston at the Daily Beast "At this juncture, can you point to even one specific entry in any of Trump’s tax filings which you know to be fraudulent or, even, merely in error? That being the situation, your article’s title mentioning “prison” seems overly ambitious given what is now known about Trump’s past tax filings." Mike LaChance at LI warns Democrats May Regret Releasing Trump’s Taxes, “While a majority of voters are OK with House Ways and Means Committee Democrats releasing former President Donald Trump’s federal income taxes, they also feel that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”
Jordan Boyd at Da Fed clears the decks for a new list, Biden’s Top 10 Blunders Of 2022 That Prove He’s In Cognitive Decline. KT at Haut Hair hears Biden has a 'major' problem with the Secret Service agents who protect him. Paranoia is a common symptom of dementia.
Paul Bedard at WaEx hears MTG say Ray Epps ‘should be in jail’. "It remains unclear why Epps has not been arrested after his participation when hundreds of others have been tracked down and charged and jailed." Bob Spencer at PJ Media reports Now Ray Epps Admits He ‘Orchestrated’ Jan. 6 ‘Insurrection’, "A transcript of a deposition of Epps with the House Jan. 6 Committee, dated Jan. 21, 2022 but just released on Thursday, reveals that at 2:12 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, Ray Epps sent a text to his 28-year-old nephew, Dalin Epps: “I was in the front with a few others. I also orchestrated it.”" Victory Girls, Ray Epps “Orchestrated” January 6
Twitchy, Adam Kinzinger DEFENSIVE over Ray Epps and House GOP investigating his role in J6 … gosh, wonder why. 'Bonchie' at Red State, Adam Kinzinger Lies About Ray Epps Again, and We Should Probably Figure out Why.1/3 One of the most outlandish exchanges involve Epps being asked about a text HE SENT HIMSELF on J6: "I was in the front with a few others. I also orchestrated it."
— Jeff Clark (@JeffClarkUS) December 30, 2022
Cmte staffers then basically FEED to Epps how he should answer the question.
(Epps in green, Qs in yellow) pic.twitter.com/6jnivyvT8v
It’s worth noting that this is the second time that Kinzinger has gone to bat for Epps. He did so in January 2022, actually painting the man who helped incite the riot at the Capitol as a sympathetic figure. It was one of the weirder moments of the entire January 6th saga. More importantly, though, Kinzinger is lying, and he’s lying in a way that is very easily exposed.
Look at the language the ousted Illinois congressman uses. In response to someone saying “Ray Epps is on video encouraging the riot and admitted such in a sworn statement,” Kinzinger claims it is “literally completely untrue.” Now, I’m no linguist, but I’m pretty sure I know what the words “literally” and “completely” mean, and they would indicate that nothing in Eric Matheny’s statement is true.
Nick Arama at Red State sees Adam Kinzinger Gets Dragged Big Time by Lauren Boebert in Throwdown Over Trump Subpoena Lauren Boebert@laurenboebert "Never give up the dream, I guess, Adam. If there is a next time you will be watching on TV though. Keep the Kleenex nearby! Quote Tweet Adam Kinzinger #fella@AdamKinzinger "Nah Dont worry. His time will come… ain’t over. twitter.com/laurenboebert/…"
Aaron Kleigmann at JTN says Not so fast: Supreme Court ruling could protect George Santos from legal punishment "The movement to launch a probe into the soon-to-be congressman for potential crimes faces a major roadblock: a 2012 decision by the nation's highest court."
At News Week, Dr. Marty Makary opines Fauci Leaves a Broken Agency for His Successor.
The Bookworm Room is Memorializing the Twitter Files – IX. Twitter & Other Gov’t Agencies and X. Rigging the Covid Debate (and all the rest). The New Neo is hot for a A new Church Committee?
In some cases, the path from sugar to Alzheimer’s leads through type 2 diabetes, but as a new study and others show, that’s not always the case.
A longitudinal study, published Thursday in the journal Diabetologia, followed 5,189 people over 10 years and found that people with high blood sugar had a faster rate of cognitive decline than those with normal blood sugar—whether or not their blood-sugar level technically made them diabetic. In other words, the higher the blood sugar, the faster the cognitive decline.
. . .
Melissa Schilling, a professor at New York University, performed her own review of studies connecting diabetes to Alzheimer’s in 2016. She sought to reconcile two confusing trends. People who have type 2 diabetes are about twice as likely to get Alzheimer’s, and people who have diabetes and are treated with insulin are also more likely to get Alzheimer’s, suggesting elevated insulin plays a role in Alzheimer’s. In fact, many studies have found that elevated insulin, or “hyperinsulinemia,” significantly increases your risk of Alzheimer’s. On the other hand, people with type 1 diabetes, who don’t make insulin at all, are also thought to have a higher risk of Alzheimer’s. How could these both be true?
Schilling posits this happens because of the insulin-degrading enzyme, a product of insulin that breaks down both insulin and amyloid proteins in the brain—the same proteins that clump up and lead to Alzheimer’s disease. People who don’t have enough insulin, like those whose bodies’ ability to produce insulin has been tapped out by diabetes, aren’t going to make enough of this enzyme to break up those brain clumps. Meanwhile, in people who use insulin to treat their diabetes and end up with a surplus of insulin, most of this enzyme gets used up breaking that insulin down, leaving not enough enzyme to address those amyloid brain clumps.
Malcolm Young, the rhythm guitar player and founding member of heavy metal legends AC/DC, has died, the group announced Saturday. He was 64.
Known for the powerhouse riffs and rhythm guitar that propelled the group from Sydney, Australia, to superstardom, Young had been suffering from dementia for the past three years, the Australian Associated Press reported.
 |
| Typical AC/DC fans |
He died peacefully on Saturday with his family by his bedside, the news agency reported.I like to think he would approve of me posting this video of some his best fans covering AC/DC:
Young started the band with his brother Angus Young in 1973
“As a guitarist, songwriter and visionary he was a perfectionist and a unique man,” Angus Young said on the AC/DC website. “He always stuck to his guns and did and said exactly what he wanted. He took great pride in all that he endeavored. His loyalty to the fans was unsurpassed.
A new study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators provides additional evidence that amyloid-beta protein - which is deposited in the form of beta-amyloid plaques in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease - is a normal part of the innate immune system, the body's first-line defense against infection. Their study published in Science Translational Medicine finds that expression of human amyloid-beta (A-beta) was protective against potentially lethal infections in mice, in roundworms and in cultured human brain cells. The findings may lead to potential new therapeutic strategies and suggest limitations to therapies designed to eliminate amyloid plaques from patient's brains.It was to be expected that the A-beta had a function. The body rarely makes proteins without one, and it would not be widely found in nature if it wasn't needed. Still, this seems like a pretty important function, and it make the likelihood that just turning off or strongly suppressing the synthesis of A-beta will be a viable treatment for Alzheimers. It would be weird, indeed, if the problem with Alzheimer's ultimately trace back to infections or other immune responses that triggered the production of A-beta.
. . .
A 2010 study co-led by Moir and Rudolph Tanzi, PhD, director of the MGH-MIND Genetics and Aging unit and co-corresponding author of the current study, grew out of Moir's observation that A-beta had many of the qualities of an antimicrobial peptide (AMP), a small innate immune system protein that defends against a wide range of pathogens. That study compared synthetic forms of A-beta with a known AMP called LL-37 and found that A-beta inhibited the growth of several important pathogens, sometimes as well or better than LL-37. A-beta from the brains of Alzheimer's patients also suppressed the growth of cultured Candida yeast in that study, and subsequently other groups have documented synthetic A-beta's action against influenza and herpes viruses.
. . .
That superiority appears to relate to properties of A-beta that have been considered part of Alzheimer's disease pathology - the propensity of small molecules to combine into what are called oligomers and then aggregate into beta-amyloid plaques. While AMPs fight infection through several mechanisms, a fundamental process involves forming oligomers that bind to microbial surfaces and then clump together into aggregates that both prevent the pathogens from attaching to host cells and allow the AMPs to kill microbes by disrupting their cellular membranes. The synthetic A-beta preparations used in earlier studies did not include oligomers; but in the current study, oligomeric human A-beta not only showed an even stronger antimicrobial activity, its aggregation into the sorts of fibrils that form beta-amyloid plaques was seen to entrap microbes in both mouse and roundworm models.
. . .
Says Tanzi, "While our data all involve experimental models, the important next step is to search for microbes in the brains of Alzheimer's patients that may have triggered amyloid deposition as a protective response, later leading to nerve cell death and dementia. If we can identify the culprits - be they bacteria, viruses, or yeast - we may be able to therapeutically target them for primary prevention of the disease."
. . .in an the editorial in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, it is suggested that it is a viral or bacterial infection which triggers the plaque build-up in the first place. Targeting them specifically with antimicrobial drugs could halt dementia.Current attempts to find the cause, and cures for Alzheimer's aren't going that well. Following another line of research is worth the time and expense.
Professor Douglas Kell of the University of Manchester’s School of Chemistry, said “We are saying there is incontrovertible evidence that Alzheimer’s Disease has a dormant microbial component. We can’t keep ignoring all of the evidence.”
. . .
The authors say that viruses and bacteria are common in the brains of elderly people, and although they are usually dormant, they can ‘wake up’ after stress or if the immune system is compromised. Around two thirds of people will acquire the herpes virus at some point in their lives, and many will not realise they have it.
. . .
The herpes virus in particular is known to damage the central nervous system, and the limbic system in the brain which regulates mood and instinct and is associated with mental decline and personality changes.
They also point to the fact that a gene mutation - APOEe4 - which makes one in five people more susceptible to Alzheimer’s disease, also raises their susceptibility to infectious disease. Viral infections in the brain are already known to cause symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s and the experts say the link has been ‘neglected’ for too long.
A virus found in sewage has spawned a unique drug that targets plaques implicated in a host of brain-crippling diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).
Results from tests of the drug, announced this week, show that it breaks up plaques in mice affected with Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease, and improves the memories and cognitive abilities of the animals.
Other promising results in rats and monkeys mean that the drug developers, NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals, are poised to apply for permission to start testing it in people, with trials starting perhaps as early as next year.
The drug is the first that seems to target and destroy the multiple types of plaque implicated in human brain disease. Plaques are clumps of misfolded proteins that gradually accumulate into sticky, brain-clogging gunk that kills neurons and robs people of their memories and other mental faculties. Different kinds of misfolded proteins are implicated in different brain diseases, and some can be seen within the same condition.
One thing they share, however, is a structural kink known as a canonical amyloid fold, and it is this on which the new drug acts (Journal of Molecular Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2014.04.015).
Animal tests show that the drug reduces levels of amyloid beta plaques and tau protein deposits implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, and the alpha-synuclein protein deposits thought to play a role in Parkinson’s disease.I see a couple of issue, but none which are necessarily fatal. First, the brain is protected by the blood brain barrier, which substantially limits the compounds that can move from the bloodstream to the brain. Second, the very nature of the clumps of proteins makes it difficult for drugs to attack the plaques, since they are only likely to have access to their surface.
Tests on lab-made samples show that the drug also targets misfolded transthyretin, clumps of which can clog up the heart and kidney, and prion aggregates, the cause of CJD, another neurodegenerative condition.
 |
| Be careful big guy she may go senile on you |
Alzheimer’s disease may have evolved alongside human intelligence, researchers report in a paper posted this month on BioRxiv.
The study finds evidence that 50,000 to 200,000 years ago, natural selection drove changes in six genes involved in brain development. This may have helped to increase the connectivity of neurons, making modern humans smarter as they evolved from their hominin ancestors. But that new intellectual capacity was not without cost: the same genes are implicated in Alzheimer's disease.
It's not uncommon for rapid evolution of a trait to have side effects that are less than ideal, as long as the trait being selected for is beneficial enough to overcome the downsides. Hence the appendix (well, maybe; there's some thought that it serves as a reservoir for good gut bacteria), and wisdom teeth. The evolution of fair skin left a lot of us more susceptible to skin cancer, too.
Kun Tang, a population geneticist at the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences in China who led the research, speculates that the memory disorder developed as ageing brains struggled with new metabolic demands imposed by increasing intelligence. Humans are the only species known to develop Alzheimer's; the disease is absent even in closely related primate species such as chimpanzees.
Tang and his colleagues searched modern human DNA for evidence of this ancient evolution. They examined the genomes of 90 people with African, Asian or European ancestry, looking for patterns of variation driven by changes in population size and natural selection.
In the near future, there will be so many human genomes available that such studies will be a matter of programming a computer to search the records and assemble the data. Interesting times.In this way, the researchers looked back at selection events that occurred up to 500,000 years ago, revealing the evolutionary forces that shaped the dawn of modern humans, thought to be around 200,000 years ago.Given that Alzheimer's occurs in older individuals, in most case long past their reproductive age, evolution would have a difficult time working on it in humans. If the increased brains made them fitter while in their reproductive and child rearing ages, it's benefits would outweigh the disadvantage of the old folks (who might serve as baby sitters, and fonts of knowledge) going dotty in their later years. In any event, during prehistory, it was unlikely for a human to survive disease, disaster, homicide and predators long enough to die of Alzheimer's.
