Family Diseases
Every family seems to have a particular disease running through it. For some it's cancer. Others have a lot heart disease, or diabetes. In my family it's Alzheimer's Disease. My paternal grandfather died of it. My father died of it nearly five years ago. A year and a half ago, my older brother died of it two years after the diagnosis was made. Obviously I have a vested interest in Alzheimer's research and periodically comb the net to see where we're at with that horrible mind stealer.
The doctors and researchers I have actually spoken to all seem to agree that this disease probably won't benefit from stem cell research. Still, the news isn't all bad.
Newsday recently described some current research involving gene therapy. The treatment described requires actual surgery at various parts of the brain to insert the genetic material. Sure, this is drastic, to say the least, but there were some very promising findings.
Moreover, he said, it would never be practical to perform brain surgery on millions of patients. Already, 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's, and with the country's population aging, a staggering 14 million may have it by 2050.
But if the gene-therapy approach ultimately works, it could revive interest in finding easier methods, he said.
A baby step, but at least a step.
The second article deals with a study in Spain involving the use of a cannabinoid for treatment. The obvious eyebrow-raiser is the chemical involved: a derivative of cannabis, i.e. marijuana.
Scientists showed a synthetic version of the compound may reduce inflammation associated with Alzheimer's and thus help to prevent mental decline.
They hope the cannabinoid may be used to developed new drug therapies.
The research, by Madrid's Complutense University and the Cajal Institute, is published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
The article quotes several of the researchers on the issue of the chemical involved. All of them indicated that smoking joints is not going to be particularly helpful because so much of the chemical would be needed that the inhalee would be loaded-plus all of the time. While that might seem like an improvement over Alzheimer's, it really isn't.
Unfortunately, we're still a long way from some major breakthrough, but at least we're moving. Hopefully, governments who help fund such research will continue to do so. Hopefully, big pharmaceutical companies will also get seriously involved, leaving the Viagra-type development on its own for a while.
The doctors and researchers I have actually spoken to all seem to agree that this disease probably won't benefit from stem cell research. Still, the news isn't all bad.
Newsday recently described some current research involving gene therapy. The treatment described requires actual surgery at various parts of the brain to insert the genetic material. Sure, this is drastic, to say the least, but there were some very promising findings.
Moreover, he said, it would never be practical to perform brain surgery on millions of patients. Already, 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's, and with the country's population aging, a staggering 14 million may have it by 2050.
But if the gene-therapy approach ultimately works, it could revive interest in finding easier methods, he said.
A baby step, but at least a step.
The second article deals with a study in Spain involving the use of a cannabinoid for treatment. The obvious eyebrow-raiser is the chemical involved: a derivative of cannabis, i.e. marijuana.
Scientists showed a synthetic version of the compound may reduce inflammation associated with Alzheimer's and thus help to prevent mental decline.
They hope the cannabinoid may be used to developed new drug therapies.
The research, by Madrid's Complutense University and the Cajal Institute, is published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
The article quotes several of the researchers on the issue of the chemical involved. All of them indicated that smoking joints is not going to be particularly helpful because so much of the chemical would be needed that the inhalee would be loaded-plus all of the time. While that might seem like an improvement over Alzheimer's, it really isn't.
Unfortunately, we're still a long way from some major breakthrough, but at least we're moving. Hopefully, governments who help fund such research will continue to do so. Hopefully, big pharmaceutical companies will also get seriously involved, leaving the Viagra-type development on its own for a while.
posted by Diane at 9:57 AM
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