Posts

Relative risk of Alzheimer's between men and women: Record corrected

The findings from one of the world's largest big-data studies on Alzheimer's counter long-held beliefs about who is at greatest risk for the disease and when, suggesting new avenues for clinical trials. Study results show genetically vulnerable 55- to 85-year-old white men and women have the same odds of developing the memory-erasing disease. One exception: From their mid-60s to mid-70s, these women still face significantly higher risk. That may provide clues to disease causes and potential interventions among these women. "Our discovery is important because it highlights how clinical trials could be weighted toward women -- a susceptible part of the population -- to help scientists more rapidly identify effective drug interventions to slow or cure Alzheimer's," said Arthur Toga, director of the USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute at the Keck School of Medicine -- among the nation's leaders in innovative scientific discovery. The study...

Brain's defense cells live longer than expected

Image
The scientists labelled particular person microglial cells (one cell marked in yellow). This allowed them to distinguish the cells from different microglia (in inexperienced) and to comply with them over their lifespan in vivo. Credit score: Petra Füger, 2017 Eliminating pathogens and mobile waste -- this is a vital job of microglia cells, the immune cells of the mind. They belong to the group of non-neural mind cells that assist the conventional perform of nerve cells. A brand new research now exhibits that in mice these scavenger cells might stay so long as the rodents themselves. The brand new discovering comes from scientists on the Hertie Institute for Scientific Mind Analysis, the College of Tübingen, and the German Middle for Neurodegenerative Illnesses (DZNE). In an advance on-line publication of the journal Nature Neuroscience the scientists adopted particular person microglia cells underneath the microscope in vivo. The unexpectedly lengthy lifespan of mic...