From: mha23x@gmail.com   
      
   Healthline : Power of Intelligent Health    
   Alzheimer's Begins Much Earlier in Life Than Doctors Thought   
      
   Written by Kristen Fischer   
   Published on March 2, 2015   
   Just how early does Alzheimer’s disease start? New research says it can   
   begin when someone is in their 20s.   
      
   A new study reports that amyloid — a protein that signifies Alzheimer’s   
   disease — can start building up in people as young as 20.   
      
   Researchers say this is the first study to show the development in young   
   humans.   
      
   Advertisement   
      
   Changiz Geula, research professor at the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's   
   Disease Center at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said   
   the discovery is “unprecedented.”   
      
   “This is very significant,” Geula said. “We know that amyloid, when   
   present for long periods of time, is bad for you.”   
      
   His study in Brain details how researchers evaluated basal forebrain   
   cholinergic neurons.   
      
   Amyloid   
   They wanted to see how the neurons were impacted at an early age. The   
   scientists also wanted to know why the neurons are among the first to die. The   
   neurons are linked to memory and attention.   
      
   The team looked at the neurons from brains of deceased people in three groups.   
      
   Advertisement   
      
   The first group consisted of 13 cognitively normal young people ranging in age   
   from 20 to 66. The second group had 16 nondemented older individuals who were   
   70 to 99 years old. The third group was comprised of 21 people with   
   Alzheimer’s who ranged in    
   age from 60 to 95.   
      
   The scientists found that amyloid molecules started to accumulate inside the   
   neurons in young adulthood. The molecules created small toxic clumps called   
   amyloid oligomers. The clumps were larger in older people with and without   
   Alzheimer’s disease.    
   Nerve cells in other areas of the brain did not have as much buildup.   
      
   Get the Facts: What Is Alzheimer’s Disease? »   
      
   Scientists already know that the clumps can cause calcium to leak into the   
   cell and destroy it. Geula believes the accumulation of amyloid probably makes   
   the cells vulnerable, damaging and eventually killing the neurons.   
      
   Geula said it’s also possible the clumps grow to a certain size and clog the   
   cell. The clumps could also damage cells by secreting amyloid outside the   
   cell, which leads to the large amyloid plaques seen in people with   
   Alzheimer’s.   
      
   Advertisement   
      
   What’s Next in the Study of Amyloids?   
   In the future, Geula’s team wants to look at how amyloid damages the neurons.   
      
   Dr. Raj C. Shah, an associate professor at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center   
   in Chicago, said that if the findings can be replicated, it leads him to   
   consider two options.   
      
   “First, we need to explore if amyloid accumulation has a normal function in   
   humans,” he said.    
      
   Second, if they find that amyloid accumulation is not a normal function in   
   humans, Alzheimer's disease may need to be viewed as a lifelong condition —   
   not just something that happens when we are older.    
      
   Read More: Tests and Treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease »   
      
   Advertisement   
      
   “General knowledge about the timing of exposure to a risk factor opens the   
   window for exploring lifelong approaches to try to prevent the symptoms of   
   Alzheimer's disease … symptoms that may occur many decades from the time of   
   initial amyloid    
   accumulation,” Shah said.   
      
   Dr. Richard Isaacson, director of the Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic within the   
   Weill Cornell Memory Disorders Program, said that many people do not know that   
   Alzheimer's disease starts in the brain decades before memory loss symptoms   
   start.   
      
   “This study is interesting as it provides strikingly early evidence of   
   amyloid accumulation in the brain,” Isaacson added.   
      
   Related News:    
      
   A Caregiver’s Guide to Alzheimer’s»   
      
   What Are the Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease?   
      
   Latest on Alzheimer’s Research: Probiotics, Plaque Busters   
      
      
      
   http://www.healthline.com/health-news/alzheimers-begins-much-ear   
   ier-in-life-than-doctors-thought-030215   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)