Friday, March 31, 2006
Out with the Old, in with the New
Neurobiologist
Frank LeFeria was asked if new drugs would allow Alzheimer's patients to recover their lost memories. His answer:
I doubt it will be possible to develop a drug that will allow one to recover lost memories, particularly if the reason
they lost them is because the neurons responsible for maintaining those memories died. However, it may be possible to allow
patients to be able to form new memories if we can successfully develop a disease-modifying drug.
What a gloomy thought!
But very convincing.
Neurons are the "memory chests" of our brains. We file away memories of our lives in these precious vessels.
Were we small enough and with the right neuron "DVR" or "TiVo" we could take a tour of these recorded memory programs. Look!
On Friday, September 5th, 1969, we find the memories of our wedding day. Look at us! How young, how handsome! How happy! How
much hair!
And over here: the birth of each of our children We relive the thrill and the terror of those first few
minutes as our most precious human beings arrive choking and crying into their new world.
All these moments in our lives, the bright, the dark, the cheerful and the sad, the ecstatic as well as the angry
and awful moments can be seen as tiny lights. Looking at these lights is like gazing in wonder at the heavenly spendor of
the nighttime sky. And as the Alzheimer's progresses, these lights slowly wink out. Instead of jeweled constellations all
we see is a black, black darkness.
RECREATING OLD MEMORIES
These original memories may be lost. But there is no reason why we can't recreate these memories.
If we get an Alzheimer's drug that enables us to grow new neurons, then we can systematically create new memories
to replace our lost memories. We can begin this process just by going through photo albums and scrapbooks of our lives.
For example, if I want to recreate memories of my wedding, I can look at a photo album of my wedding. I
won't have the original memories from the wedding. But I will have the memories I glean from the photo album. I can enrich
these memories by talking about my wedding with my spouse and with friends who came to my wedding.
I had this experience with my mother Libby. For her 80th birthday I created a 38-minute video of her life. Mom
is still suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. But each time we show her this video it briefly allows her to store up memories
of the highlights of her life. Sadly, Mom loses these memories just a few hours after she watches the video. But if she had
new places to store these memories, then they would replace the lost memories.
Alzheimer's is a memory thief. It is such a despicable thief because it robs us of the vital memories that form
the foundation of our life. It steals away our identity. But if we can grow new neurons and new neuron connections in our
brain, then we can start the joyful process of relearning where we came from and who we are.
OH, MY GOSH! I HAVE REAL READERS OUT THERE!
This week I have learned a humbling and joyful lesson. I have real readers of this blog. And when I write something,
you take me seriously.
Wow.
I usually write my blog early in the morning, often before the sun is up, in my little upstairs study in my house
in Apex, North Carolina. Maybe a cat is sitting on the windowsill. But otherwise the house is very quiet. Janet has already
left for work. Laura is sound asleep. Nothing is moving. And I am alone.
I type the words on the keyboard and they appear on the white screen. When I'm finished my blog, I click on "Done
and Publish" and send the words out into the infosphere somewhere. And magically they appear as a new entry in my blog.
It is a very abstract, very solitary experience.
EARTH TO FRED, EARTH TO FRED: WE'RE LISTENING TO YOU
Suddenly I have discovered that I have readers. And they are paying attention to what I've written.
I should have learned this lesson weeks ago when I wrote a blog on how I thought I was losing my memory. I read
Alzheimer's articles every day. I think about my mom and her Alzheimer's. After awhile I start thinking that I have Alzheimer's,
too. So I wrote a blog about what this feels like.
The same day that my blog appeared I got an email from my mother-in-law Doris Letts. The email was written all
in CAPITAL LETTERS! She said that she was using capital letters because she was "shouting." She was upset! She told me to
snap out of it. She said I didn't have Alzheimer's disease, and I should stop imagining that I had it. It was really worrying
her.
CHEST PAINS RIPPLE THROUGH READERS
This week I learned again that I have real readers and that they pay attention to what I've written. I wrote,
in passing, about the chest pains I have and how my family, including my mom, responded quickly. I used my pains as an example
of how the role of caregiver and patient can be suddenly and dramatically reversed. Suddenly my mom was treating me
as the patient, and she was my caregiver.
I never imagined that my mention of chest pains would create such a stir.
Duh.
Within hours after I wrote my blog I got several phone calls and emails from family and friends expressing alarm
about my chest pains. Many of my dear friends and family members are cancer survivors and have friends and family who have
been through heart bypass surgery. For them, chest pains are no laughing matter.
To all of you who have called and written me, thank you. I am so sorry I alarmed you. Writing a blog is very
confessional. It is like writing in your private, personal diary. It is best when the writing is raw feelings, raw truth.
A blog shouldn't be too edited or polished for it to remain authentic.
But this creates problems. If you write about your private fears, anxieties, and speculations and seal them away
in a diary or computer file, then that's one thing. But if you publish these same dark thoughts and wild fancies on the Internet
and your friends read them, then that's something else.
I am going to continue to write my blog in a spontaneous style because I don't want to reflect too much and "prettify"
the feelings I'm going through about my mom's Alzheimer's and its impact on my family and on me. But I will try to keep my
readers in mind when I share information that I normally wouldn't share with anyone.
And, please, dear readers, remember I am letting you in on the inner Fred. As you've probably suspected, this
can be a very scary place. It's not by accident that I became a children's book writer who writes about lobsters under his
bed, getting kidnapped by evil robots, and falling into magic computers. My motto is and has always been: The things I imagine
are more real to me than the things I remember. This motto has special poignance now that I am writing a blog on Alzheimer's
Disease.
So, brace yourselves, readers, and stick with me. I don't promise that I won't alarm you from time to time. But
know that I am grateful to have you along for the ride.
You are my traveling companions, and I treasure your company.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
A Cure for Alzheimer's in ... 3 ... 5 ... 10 ... 20 ... 40 Years?
"A Cure for Alzheimer's in three to five years."
This was a headline in 1994.
Today in 2006 scientists understand Alzheimer's a lot better than they did in 1994. They understand that Alzheimer's
is a many-headed beast that attacks people in dozens of different, insidious ways. Causes of Alzheimer's are legion: heredity,
age, environment, lifestyle, diet, brain chemistry--the list goes on and on.
The most optimistic scientists now forecast that a cure for Alzheimer's will be found sometime in the next decade. More
conservative scientists hope for a cure sometime over the next generation--perhaps fifteen to thirty years.
On the positive side, many intermediary drugs are being developed that slow the progress of the disease in most people.
And new tests and biomarkers are appearing (similar to blood pressure and cholesterol for heart disease) that will identify high-risk
individuals and allow for preventive treatment before the disease kills too many precious brain cells.
AN ALZHEIMER'S VACCINE?
A group of scientists are working on a single shot or pill that all of us could take to "vaccinate" us against Alzheimer's.
(See "Taking the Fight to Alzheimer's" in the
Orange County Register.) Alzheimer's vaccines have shown great promise in animals. Human volunteers have responded well to an experimental vaccine.
Two caveats:
- A new drug takes up to thirteen years to bring to market.
- Six percent of the people receiving the vaccine came down with encephalitis (a viral inflammation of the brain!).
WHY IS ALZHEIMER'S SO DIFFICULT TO STUDY?
The biggest problem is that Alzheimer's occurs only in humans. No other species of animal catches Alzheimer's naturally.
And a certain diagnosis of Alzheimer's in humans can only be made in a biopsy of brain tissue after a person has passed.
Scientists are developing new scanners and imaging tools to look at living people's brains. However, they currently only
see large-scale brain changes, and Alzheimer's progresses at the microscopic level.
Alzheimer's has been genetically induced in special "designer" mice. (See my blog
article entitled "Mutant Mice Superheroes Sacrifice Their Lives for Alzheimer's.") Scientists have learned a lot from studying sacrificed
mice brain tissue at various stages of the disease. But, again, there are two big caveats. First, lessons learned with mice
can't necessarily be applied to humans. And, second, Alzheimer's is a disease based on
aging. Even the little mice
who sacrifice their lives for Alzheimer's research must be allowed to grow old so the disease has time to progress through
their brains. Scientists have talked about artificially speeding up the mice's aging process, but they worry that this will
make their results even less reliable for humans.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
If You've Seen One Form of Alzheimer's ...
There is a saying among Alzheimer's researchers: "If you've seen one form of Alzheimer's ... you've seen one form of
Alzheimer's."
Alzheimer's Disease is such a many-faceted disease that its cure is unlikely to be a single "magic bullet" pill, chemical
or solution. Is Alzheimer's caused by the environment? Is it caused by a person's lifestyle? Is it part of the aging process?
Is it hereditary? Yes, yes, yes and yes.
MOM MOM AND THE TELEPHONE
Our daughter Catie is visiting us from Boston this week. Catie is a conceptual performance artist with an MFA from the
Maine College of Art. But she has suddenly acquired some very strange bedfellows.
Geographers.
Geographers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have paid all of Catie's expenses to fly to North Carolina
so she could present to them on new concepts of mapmaking in the 21st century.
Last night Catie asked me how her grandparents, Libby and Babe, were doing. I said I was getting worried about "Mom Mom."
I told her about my short telephone conversations with Mom Mom. "I think she has such shallow grasp of reality," I said. "She
can't keep a phone conversation going more than a minute. We talk about the weather, then, zip!, she gets off the phone.
I think the Alzheimer's is really eating into her brain."
If you've been reading my column you already know that I am an excitable, imaginative sort of person who often takes
little data and jumps to dire conclusions. Catie, on the other hand, takes more after her mother than after her dad. She's
more grounded.
"You know, Dad," she said, not at all looking as upset as I expected her to look. "If you think back, Mom Mom has
always hated talking on the phone."
"Is that right?" I asked.
"Ever since I've known her," Catie said. "You know Mom Mom. She gets on the phone, says her piece, and gets right off."
"You don't think it's because her brain is being strangled by Alzheimer's?" I asked, starting to feel relieved.
"No, Dad. She's just being Mom Mom."
Sometimes having a daughter that is so calm can be a real blessing.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
What Happened to My Caregivers?
Last summer I went home to Pennsylvania to help look after my mother Libby who has Alzheimer's Disease. The day after
I arrived (July 13) I had a serious bike accident and ended up in the hospital. Not only was I not available as a caregiver
for my mom but neither was my father Babe. He spent over six hours with me in the emergency room at Riddle Memorial Hospital
while they stitched up some of my wounds and prepped me for orbital-bone surgery around my left eye.
My sister came to the hospital. My brothers came to the hospital. My brother-in-law came to the hospital. Everyone was
at the hospital!
My poor mother wondered what had happened to all her caregivers. She kept calling the hospital, asking for us to
come home.
CARE GOES BOTH WAYS
I call Florida every couple of days to check on my Mom. Now, suddenly, most of the calls are coming from Florida.
Yesterday, alone, I had three calls from my parents. I had a call from my brother Tim in Pennsylvania. I heard from my
brother Owsley in Florida. My sister Lisa called.
They were all calling to check on me!
In a call I made last week I mentioned to Owsley that I had a mysterious chest pain. That did it! Suddenly the family's
attention shifted from Key Largo, Florida, to Apex, North Carolina. Everyone was calling to see what I was doing about this
mysterious pain.
Even my mom called. In a phone message yesterday she said she had heard that I was "sick." I could hear the concern in
her voice. She asked me to please call her back to let her know how I was doing.
It amazes me how quickly the flow of caregiving and concern can shift. I had pictured myself as the healthy caregiver
and my mom as the "patient." But after a single phone call to one member of my family these roles were suddenly reversed.
Now I am the patient and Mom is the caregiver.
Maybe I shouldn't feel so bad about this. I am lucky to have a family that cares for me, too.
And maybe I have come up with a new form of caregiving -- caregiving by distraction.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Owsley called!
My brother Owsley called from Florida yesterday.
He said that things are going as well as can be expected. Mom is still slipping gradually. Dad, too. But there have not
been any crises or catastrophes so far. I think Owsley deserves all the credit for Mom and Dad's relative good health.
Owsley said he tries to plan at least a couple activities a day for Mom, including:
- A massage
- Water aerobics
- A walk
- A bike ride
- Shopping
- A hair appointment or manicure
- Tennis
- Sight-seeing
- Meals
He said that working with Mom is all about "bumps and roadblocks." To get Mom to do anything, he nags Mom, he cajoles Mom,
he teases Mom, and sometimes she responds. Other times she finds excuses to do nothing. So that's just what she does.
Getting her out of her little cottage is Owsley's hardest task.
And now Mom has started taking daily naps, just like Dad.
Naps? Mom never naps! But, according to Owsley, a nap has become part of Mom's daily routine. When Dad goes into the bedroom
for a nap, Mom follows. And soon they are both snoozing.
Mom and Dad were gaining weight before they left Pennsylvania. They got almost no exercise and they had become quite fond
of chocolate Dove bars and other ice cream.
Enter Coach Owsley. No more unneeded fats and carbohydrates for Team Mom & Dad. Since they have been in Florida Owsley
has gradually weaned Mom and Dad from their high-fat diet in Pennsylvania and subsituted a leaner, more nutritious diet.
(Boy, are we lucky to have a trained chef and X-games athlete as Mom and Dad's personal caregiver!)
Mom and Dad are now wearing the ID bracelets that my brother Tim ordered for them. In case they are injured or become disoriented,
the bracelets will identify them and get them reconnected with family and proper medical assistance.
WHAT DID I HAVE FOR BREAKFAST?
When Mom went to Florida she was having trouble remembering the past 24 hours. Now, Owsley says, her memory has declined
even further. He said she is having trouble remembering what she had for breakfast.
Also, Owsley said he is not sure Mom is taking her pills for her Alzheimer's. He has bought her a big pill case that is
right out for her to see. But if you have no memory, how are you going to remember to take your medicine? And how can you
remember if you have already had your medicine if you can't even remember what you had for breakfast?
After he said good-bye to me, Owsley said he was going to go "test" Mom to see if she remembered taking her pills
and to see what she remembered doing that same day. Talking to me made him realize there were a few potential "cracks" in
his otherwise well-designed care program for Mom and Dad.
HELP IS ON THE WAY
In two weeks my brother Tim, my sister-in-law Nancy and their family arrive at Mom and Dad's to help Owsley. My folks will
probably stay in Florida until the end of April, then Owsley will drive them home.
They have had a surprisingly good visit to Florida, despite the family's dire predictions. My brother Owsley is a master
wind-surfer and kite-boarder. He is also good at steering my parent's boat and keeping them on course these past couple months.
He is a good helmsman, a good brother, and a good son.
Friday, March 24, 2006
An Apology to My Readers
I have been away from my blog for over a week. It has been a hard time for me. I have not been in the best health. However,
I am determined to restart this blog. I hope to begin my regular daily blog again this coming Monday, March 27th.
Please don't give up on this blog. It is a very high priority for me.
WORLD'S FASTEST PHONE CALLS
My Mom and Dad and my brother Owsley are still in Florida. I try to call them every day. I try not to blink when I call
because if I do, I miss the conversation. It's that short!
Most of my phone calls go like this:
Fred: Hello, Mom?
Mom: Hello!
(Mom always shouts "Hello" as if she is mad at the person calling her. Actually she is just annoyed because the ringing
phone interrupts whatever she is doing.)
Fred: It's me, Mom. Fred. How are you?
Mom: I'm okay. I'm making breakfast for your father.
Fred: How are you and Dad?
Mom: We're fine. How's your weather?
Fred: It's been very warm recently. We're having a warm winter here in North Carolina.
Mom: It's in the 80s here and sunny. The wind is picking up. Here I'll let you talk with your father.
Dad: Hello? Who's this?
Fred: It's me, Dad. Fred.
Dad: Fred who?
Fred: You know. Your son Fred.
Dad: Here, I'll let you talk with your mother.
Fred: Dad?
Mom: It's nice of you to call, Fred. I love you. Good-bye.
Fred: Good-bye?
(My mother hangs up the phone. I look at my phone in disbelief.)
Monday, March 13, 2006
Scientists Are Like Weather Men!
NEWS BITE FROM FLORIDA
My sister Lisa returned last week from Florida after a visit with my parents. She said they are doing well under the
devoted care of my brother Owsley. Owsley is so attentive, so loving and so skilled as a caregiver he will be a hard act to
follow if my parents ever hire a "professional." He cooks for my parents most days of the week and fixes them gourmet treats
and hors doeuvres. He also doubles as laundry boy, handyman, and errand boy. Last, but not least, is his personality -- nonstop
charming.
I worried about my parents going to Florida. But as long as Owsley is their anchorman, they are thriving.
WHO TO BELIEVE?
My wife Janet flies into a tizzy whenever she hears new nutrition reports from scientists. "They all contradict each
other," she says, shaking her head ruefully. "In the end, it's best to ignore them all and do what you think is best."
Scientists' credibility is sinking fast. In the public's eyes they are less believable than the weatherman. And no wonder!
First we hear that milk is good for bone health and can lower the risk of osteoporosis especially in older women. Now
scientists say that milk has been over-hyped and doesn't play a large role in bone health.
Once upon a time we thought that margarine was a healthy alternative to butter. Now we learn that margarine is full of
the evil trans fats and we are to avoid it at all costs.
We read in the paper one day that coffee is good for us. The next day we learn that it is bad. The day after that the
headline is that maybe it is good after all.
The same goes for chocolate.
Eggs once were verboten. Now they're fine -- in moderation.
Red wine was touted as a heart-healthy drink. Now we learn it's healthy to drink all kinds of alcohol -- again in moderation.
Nuts are bad. No, that was last week. This week, they're good.
And on, and on. Pick a food, any food. We can track it like a stock on the stock market -- up and down and back up again.
No wonder we are confused.
When we look at our waistlines the 1950s and 1960s boogeyman was calories. Then in the 1970s and 1970s we
became obsessed over carbohydrates and fats. Now here we are in the new millennium and we are told to forget the carbs and
fats; instead it really is all about calories.
We hear about all these magical chemicals -- lycopenes, flavenoids, folic acid, antioxidants, reservatrol, probiotics,
"healthy" bacteria, high-density lipids, low-density lipids, free radicals. All play a role in our body's health. But their
role changes each time we open the newspaper and read a story that contradicts the findings we just learned about last week.
Look at the female hormone estrogen. At first, hormone replacement therapy was all the rage. Women were given estrogen
to reduce heart disease and to relieve menopausal symptoms like hot flashes. Then new scientific studies rocked the public
when they showed that doses of estrogen can drastically increase the rate of breast cancer, strokes, blood clots, and, yes,
heart disease. So is estrogen bad? Maybe, but new studies show that it can be good for younger women and for short periods
of time. So now we're totally confused. Estrogen, like everything else, isn't black or white. It's murky and gray.
IS FAT GOOD OR BAD?
The latest study to confuse us is the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) that reported its results last week. WHI followed
older women (ages 50 to 79) over 15 years. It is a massive study, involving 161,808 women from all over the U.S. It cost more
than $725 million.
And what did it tell us?
The headlines told the grim story:
LOW-FAT DIET DOES NOT CUT HEALTH RISKS
EATING LEAN DOESN'T CUT RISK
REDUCING FAT MAY NOT CURB DISEASE
After following tens of thousands of women over 15 years the study found that a low-fat diet did not reduce the risk
of breast cancer and other fatal diseases in older women.
I know Janet's reaction. She's told me. She's fed up with all the scientists and their ridiculous studies. She's stopped
listening. They just mess with her head.
I'm with her. I say it's time for us to belly up to the counter and order some more "comfort food." Who's with me? Anyone
going to join me for a cheeseburger, a big bag of fries and a delicious milk shake to wash it all down?
I'M PULLING YOUR LEG
Did you believe me? I wrote the article above to make a point. The point is that we regard scientific reports the same
way we listen to the weatherman: subjectively. We want to hear about medical miracles. We want to hear the truth
about how to eat, just as we want to hear what today's weather will be. Yet, over and over we are disappointed. The reason
is that scientists, just like weathermen, are fallible. Neither has a lock on the truth. Weathermen often get it
wrong about the weather. And scientists get it wrong about what makes our bodies sick and what makes them better.
We hunger for simple, accurate predictions from both groups. But we are not going to get them. Weather is an immensely
complex phenomenon. It defies easy prediction. The same is true for our bodies and for the diseases that attack our bodies,
starting with our own mortality.
HOW MUCH CAN WE TRUST NEW MEDICAL FINDINGS?
In this blog I report daily on new medical findings concerning Alzheimer's Disease. Reading my blog might convince you
that the cure for Alzheimer's is just around the corner. Sadly, that is not the case. Scientists predict that it may be another
ten years before an effective cure for Alzheimer's will be found.
The trick is to change the way we think about scientific reports. We expect each new report to lead us closer toward
some clear and permanent truth. But the real truth is that science is anything but straightforward. It is painstakingly
incremental. It follows blind leads and hits brick walls. It backs up and takes detours. It builds up new explanations (hypotheses)
about diseases and cures and nutrition and health. We think this is a rock-hard building of fact. But it is really a deck
of cards. And then a new finding comes along and smashes the deck of cards (the hypothesis) and scientists are left picking
up the pieces. Then they go about building a new deck of cards, a new hypothesis, a new explanation for why we get Alzheimer's
or what makes our bodies healthy.
The problem is that each time one of these studies is published, we, the public, hang on every word. We might benefit
personally from the new information. Or we have a father or mother or a brother, a sister, a child who might benefit. To us,
this information is life or death.
No wonder we are emotional about science, just the way we are about the weather. We have high expectations for both.
And we are often disappointed.
So when you read my reports about Alzheimers' Disease, remember all the nutrition studies that have gone awry, remember
the weatherman's report for sunshine that ended in a cloudburst.
Be skeptical. Be patient. It's an emotional subject, but try to think in baby steps. Be forgiving of the scientists.
They'll eventually get it right.
Be hopeful.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Sorry for My Absence!
Hello, faithful readers. Please don't give up on this blog. I will return.
The past couple weeks have been difficult. My wife Janet has been away from home on business. And my daughter Laura and
I have been suffering from a variety of respiratory ailments. We are still pretty sick.
Please check in on the blog. I will resume it on Monday, March 13th.
Thank you for your loyalty and patience.
Fred
Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Twin Bad Guys: Cholesterol and Copper
From the Topeka, Kansas, ABC-TV news affiliate comes a
report that shows how copper in tap water combined with high cholesterol can contribute to plaque buildup in the brain. Amyloid
plaque and protein tangles are the two chief symptoms associated with Alzheimer's Disease.
According to Dr. Larry Sparks of the Sun Health Research Institute:
I think the cholesterol induces the overproduction of the toxin that makes up these senile plaques, and that copper inhibits
the clearance from the brain.
Safe levels of copper in tap water actually stop amyloids form leaving the brain, which means they can build up.
Sunday, March 5, 2006
More Hopeful Tidbits on Alzheimer's
Scientists are becoming optimistic about conquering Alzheimer's Disease. In a
report yesterday from the ABC-TV affiliate (Channel 49) in Topeka, Kansas, reporter Jessica Lovell writes:
Alzheimer’s is a disease that robs many people of their past and future. But there is hope.
"We will have something on the market, in the hands of the public, that prevents Alzheimer's disease in about seven or
eight years," said Dr. Joseph Rogers, Sun Health Research Institute.
Dr. Rogers' group is using PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scans to follow the progress of Alzheimer's
in people's brains by tracking the accumulation of amyloid plaques. Dr. Rogers' team is on the verge of being able to image
the amyloid proteins at an early stage before they do significant brain damage.
The plaques show up as black spots in the scans. Everyone has a few of these plaques, but people suffering from
Alzheimer's have a much larger number of plaques. As you have read in this blog, Alzheimer's strikes in the form of protein
plaques and tangles. The plaques and tangles accumulate in the brain, kill neurons, and cause a person to lose memory and
other brain and body functions.
WALKING AS A TEST FOR ALZHEIMER'S
In another study published at the Canadian MacLeans.ca website, scientists report that they have linked unusual walking patterns with dementia:
Dr. Julie Schneider and her coworkers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago found that unexplained abnormal
walking patterns in older men are associated with brain abnormalities called tangles.
Dr. Schneider's team studied 86 men. After their deaths they found that 67 of the men had the telltale tangles.
The more tangles, the more likely the man had an impaired gait before his death.
Friday, March 3, 2006
Blog Potpourri
I still have not had my "catch-up" calls with my sister Lisa and my brother Owsley, both of whom are in Florida with
my parents. Lisa and Owsley have reported to me that Mom is happy but going downhill mentally. I won't know what that means
until I can really talk with them on the telephone.
Owsley's wife Teri reports that Owsley is suffering from the strain of being primary live-in caregiver to my parents.
I can relate to that. Even when I stay with them for three or four nights I feel run down and somewhat claustrophobic. Owsley
has now lived with them for an entire month without any other family support.
Fortunately Lisa is down there now, so Owsley could get away for a few days over his birthday.
In lieu of more information from my parents here is some more news on the Alzheimer's front:
CURING ALZHEIMER'S IS THE KEY
Mom is taking two of the four main Alzheimer's drugs--Namenda and Aricept. None of the four drugs arrests or cures Alzheimer's.
They slow the process of the disease in the brain, but eventually Alzheimer's wins.
A new generation of drugs is now being tested that can cure Alzheimer's. One of the most promising of these drugs is
AZD-103 from Transition Therapeutics in Toronto, Canada.
Here is how it works:
A protein known as Amyloid-Beta disintegrates into smaller fragments in the brain. In a normal, healthy brain these fragments
are removed from the brain. However, in the presence of Alzheimer's these fragments accumulate and "stick together" and form
protein clumps, chiefly in the brain's hippocampus and cortex regions.
AZD-103 can be taken orally. It crosses the blood-brain barrier, and it has no documented side effects. When it enters
the brain, it targets the Amyloid protein fragments and flushes them out of the brain before they form the plaques that damage
brain neurons.
AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION ...
The two biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease are the protein plaques and protein tangles. The plaques and tangles are like
an infection that gradually spreads through the brain, usually outward from the Hippocampus region. At first only a few brain
cells are killed; eventually whole regions of the brain are damaged.
Outward symptoms of Alzheimer's include memory loss, disorientation, and emotional changes. By the time these symptoms
are noticed by a person or their family or friends, Alzheimer's has destroyed significant sections of the brain.
The key is early detection. If we can find earlier warning signs for Alzheimer's then we can begin to treat it before
the brain has been injured and crippled by the disease.
Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley are doing just this. They have just completed a
study of 60 normal Latino males who showed no signs of Alzheimer's or other brain disease. The average age of the men when the
study began was 69.5. They were followed for four years. Each year they took extensive memory and brain-function tests. Each
year they underwent brain scans.
Six of the 60 men--ten percent--developed dementia or cognitive impairment during the study. The early brain
scans of the six men turned out to be good predictors of the disease. All six men showed a lower level of glucose processing
in the side and upper regions of the brain at the outset of the study.
Brain scans could become a non-invasive "early warning" for Alzheimer's. They could be prescribed for seniors every few
years, just like other tests designed to catch diseases while they are still treatable.
Thursday, March 2, 2006
A Promising New Drug to Fight Alzheimer's Disease
I woke up early this morning, groggy and not feeling too well. I'm fighting a cold, and my perverse body is battling
the sleep that will help it recover.
Since I was already up I decided to do my blog. I shambled into my study with a hot cup of tea and started studying the
new research postings on Alzheimer's Disease that had been "alerted" to my email inbox during the night.
I came across a great news story. Suddenly, I was feeling much better.
A new drug has been found that counteracts Alzheimer's Disease in its two "killing fields" -- the protein plaques
and tangles that infest and kill off our brain cells. This is the first time a drug has been found that is effective
against both manifestations of the disease. It could be a turning point in our fight against Alzheimer's.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA MICE
In my recent
blog ("Mutant Mice Superheroes Sacrifice Their Lives for Alzheimer's") I wrote about the ways that special
designer mice
are being used in laboratories to find cures for Alzheimer's Disease. Through an amazing process of DNA transplantation, human
genes are inserted into mice DNA. These genes stimulate the growth of Alzheimer's-like plaques and tangles in the mice's brains.
Scientists then breed these new "mutant ninja mice" and feed them various experimental drugs. They study the behavior of the
mice, then they sacrifice them and do extended autopsies on their tiny mouse brains to gauge the drugs' effectiveness in arresting
or reversing Alzheimer's.
Two years ago a team of scientists led by Dr. Frank LaFerla, a professor of neurobiology at the University of California,
Irvine (UCI), developed a new strain of ninja mice who suffer from both protein plaques and tangles. This was a crucial breakthrough.
Both types of brain lesions had to be defeated at the same time.
Thus began the search for the "magic bullet" that would roll back the damage caused by the plaques and tangles in the
mice's brains.
AF267B TO THE RESCUE
Enter experimental drug AF267B, discovered by a group of Israeli brain researchers at the Israel Institute for Biological
Research, in Ness-Ziona, Israel.
In a report issued today, March 2nd, the Israeli scientists showed results of the effectiveness of AF267B on the mice's
brains. According to a supporting
article in Forbes magazine:
For the first time, an experimental drug has been shown to curb both forms of brain lesions found in Alzheimer's disease
-- at least in mice.
Even more impressive, AF267B seems to partially cure the diseased mice and restore some of their brain
functions:
... AF267B also appeared to reverse cognitive declines in mice genetically designed to mimic Alzheimer's disease.
Mice appeared to gain renewed powers of memory and learning after treatment ...
STAY TUNED
This is exciting news. I will look for studies in the next few days to see how the scientific community is reacting
to this development. I am hopeful that this will spur Alzheimer's groups around the world to try to duplicate the effects
of this drug.
Stay tuned, and I will report back what I find.
Wednesday, March 1, 2006
Owsley Gets a Break
Another quick blog today.
I spoke with my sister Lisa on the phone this afternoon. Lisa and her husband John are in Florida for several days with
my parents. The good news is that this gives my brother Owsley a much-needed break. He called me a couple hours
ago on the Florida Turnpike, heading north to visit a friend. He gets a couple days off as Mom and Dad's caregiver while Lisa
is visiting them in Key Largo.
The bad news is that Lisa says Mom's condition has gotten worse. Also, Lisa said Mom is not having a good day today.
I'm going to speak with Lisa tonight or tomorrow morning, and I'll tell you what I learn.
