Alzheimer’s disease tagged posts

Neural cell adhesion molecule 2 in PDB entry 2v5t

UNSW scientists have discovered how connections between brain cells are destroyed in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease – work that opens up a new avenue for research on possible treatments for the degenerative brain condition. “One of the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease is the loss of synapses ” says Dr Vladimir Sytnyk, of the UNSW School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences. “Synapses are required for all brain functions, and particularly for learning and forming memories. In Alzheimer’s disease, this loss of synapses occurs very early on, when people still only have mild cognitive impairment, and long before the nerve cells themselves die.

The team studied a protein in the brain called neural cell adhesion molecule 2, or

Deposits of Beta-Amyloid in Fruit Flies Stopped by Using Porphyrin and Blue LED Lights

Medical application of photoactive chemicals offers a promising therapeutic strategy for neurodegenerative diseases. A Korean research team jointly led by Professor Chan Beum Park of Materials Science and Engineering Department at KAIST and Dr. Kwon Yu from Bionano Center at KRIBB conducted research to suppress an abnormal assembly of beta-amyloids by using photo-excited porphyrins.

Light-induced treatments using organic photosensitizers have advantages to managing the treatment in time and area. In the case of cancer treatments, doctors use photodynamic therapies where a patient is injected with an organic photosensitizer, and a light is shed on the patient’s lesion...

This is a UHFSine photo of the layers created by Sine waves. Credit: Brian Patchett/Utah Valley University

Physicists are literally applying rocket science to the field of medical diagnostics. With a few key changes, the researchers used a noninvasive ultrasonic technique originally developed to detect microscopic flaws in solid fuel rockets to successfully detect cell stiffness changes associated with certain cancers and other diseases. The method uses sound waves to manipulate and probe cells.

The method combines a low-frequency ultrasonic wave to levitate the cells and confine them to a single layer within a fluid and a high-frequency ultrasonic wave to measure the cell’s stiffness. “An acoustic wave is a pressure wave so it travels as a wave of high and low pressure...

This is a photograph of brain areas whose pattern of activation matched significantly while watching a video and remembering that same video. Credit: James Keidel

Rehearsing information immediately after being given it may be all you need to make it a permanent memory, a new study suggests. Psychologists found that the same area of the brain activated when laying down a memory is also activated when rehearsing that memory. It has implications for any situation in which accurate recall of an event is critical, such as witnessing an accident or crime.

The study showed that the brain region known as the posterior cingulate – an area whose damage is often seen in those with Alzheimer’s – plays a crucial role in creating permanent memories...