Could Alzheimer’s Stem from Infections?
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
Then again, her sister also has it, so it could also just be genetic.
These factors aren't mutually exclusive, and are likely complementary.
Many (or pretty much all) women experience UTI's at some time in their lives, but few of them are so severe as to trigger dementia.
The difference between those whose UTI's lead to dementia vs not is likely genetic (or epigenetic, which is a whole other topic/controversy).
The plague serves a primary purpose of regulating voltage between neurons like a buffer, but now according to this study it looks like it serves a secondary purpose like an immune reaction to disease but it gets out of control and causes alzheimers, so removing the plaque cures the alzheimers but that's not getting the underlying cause which this study says is the disease.
It's fantastic research and hopefully will provide a lot of hope to people and their familes suffering from it.
http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/7/278/278ra33.full
The mechanism claims to be that the SUS merely selectively opens the blood-brain barrier long enough for microbubbles to pass through, implying (as I read it) that their action is mechanical.
First ad campaign: "Scrubbing Bubbles -- not just for bathroom surfaces anymore!"
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10401344
Very interesting to see more suggestive evidence from another group!
It is best to assume "everything is correlated with everything else", rather than jump on every correlation. On the other hand it is important to encourage people to notice correlations and coincidences, but realize not every one can be followed up on, and most of these that are noticed will be only weakly involved in any solution.
Really all we know at this point is that Alzheimer's disease is associated with the presence of more stuff that stains with antibodies raised towards Amyloid-beta aggregates than usual. It isn't even clear whether these are a cause or a symptom, nor whether these stains are near 100% specific towards beta-Amyloid (ie as derived from Amyloid precursor protein) rather than other aggregations of beta-sheets (like any prion "infection").
There was a mythical past when Hacker News was much smaller, when (early) downvotes meant something. But that's gone.
A study looking at the rates of Lyne disease and Alzheimer's by state did not find a correlation. States where Lyme disease was more prevalent tended to actually have lower rates of Alzheimer's.
> Like I reject your comment - because it contains no information whatsoever apart from a very short opinion. If your own work is so shoddy, what conclusions can I draw about your criticism of others? A few reasons or a link that states them should have gone with your criticism.
But thank you for uselessly pointing out options. You know, you could have taken a walk, eaten a sandwich, did some random activity, written a comment that's actually useful, or many other things. And yet you chose to write what you did, for some inexplicable reason.
I don't know why you've chosen to be antagonist to both the other commenter and myself. How are you doing in your life? Are you under a lot of stress? Honest question.
Read paper yourself. Google it. Look at the discussion in the previous HN thread, which is referenced in this thread.
OK, but now:
> Not everyone who has had a brain infection develops Alzheimer’s, though. Why would some be more vulnerable than others? According to the new theory, it probably has to do with the brain’s ability to clear out the balls of beta amyloid after they have killed microbes, Dr. Tanzi said. For example, it is known that people with a gene called ApoE2 have brains that are good at sweeping out plaque, and have a low risk of Alzheimer’s in old age. Those with a different version, ApoE4, are inefficient in removing plaque and have a high risk of Alzheimer’s.
"Clearing out" seems a lot like getting rid of garbage ;)
Now many doctors have changed their understanding: arterial plaques are scar tissue and scar tissue happens to contain a lot of cholesterol. Anything that causes scarring - like high blood pressure - leaves these plaques. So really the plaques are the by-product of an underlying pathology, which themselves create a secondary pathology.
Likewise, perhaps, with Alzheimer's. The plaques in the brain are themselves a by-product of some other pathology. Solve the underlying pathology (or the body's response to it), and you solve Alzheimer's.