Study Links Protein to Severe Memory Loss

[ecstatic]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050715/ap_on_he_me/alzheimer_s_new_front

WASHINGTON - New research shows a mutant protein named tau is poisoning brain cells, and that blocking its production may allow some of those sick neurons to recover. It worked in demented mice who, to the scientists' surprise, fairly rapidly regained memory.

No one knows exactly what causes Alzheimer's, a creeping brain degeneration that afflicts about 4.5 million Americans and is on the rise as the population ages.

The leading theory is that something spurs abnormal production of beta-amyloid, which forms sticky clumps that coat brain cells and kill them — plaque that is the disease's hallmark. But tau clearly plays some role: A mutant form of this protein forms fibrous tangles in brain cells of Alzheimer's patients, and tau seems to be primarily responsible for another form of dementia.

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I wonder if these scientists have ruled out Mad Cow disease as part of the problem.

[bettyellen]

1. the braind damage + symptoms are different from mad cow.

[ThomWV]

2. How About The Common Cold?

Or maybe the eradication of polio as a cause? Just because two things happen doesn't mean that they are related.