Tag Archive: alzheimers
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Is Mad Cow Disease behind the surge in Alzheimer’s?
Not out of the woods yet.
Mad Cow Disease May Be More Prevalent Than Thought
In the study, when tissue of 54 people diagnosed with AD were autopsied, 5.5% were instead found to have had vCJD, and to have died from it. In a study at Yale, 13% of presumed AD patients were also found to have had vCJD.
Yet, the CDC reports that only one human case of vCJD has occurred in the US from 1995 to 2004. (The incidence of non-variant CJD, also known as spontaneous CJD, is reported as 1 in 1 million worldwide.) (”spontaneous”?)
On the other hand, the incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease has been increasing exponentially. There are currently more than 5 million people in the US diagnosed with (supposed) AD.
Men more inclined to memory problems
Where are my keys?
Men face memory loss earlier than women
When it comes to remembering things, men are more likely than women to become dotty and forgetful in old age, according to a study presented to the American Academy of Neurology, Chicago.
The study found that men were 1.67 times more likely to have such impairment, problems with memory and thinking skills, than women. The finding remained the same regardless of a man’s education or marital status.
I suspect that this has a lot to do with the fact that women maintain their social networks into old age better than men. After retirement, men’s interaction with other people can drop off significantly.
Given that a very large part of our brain power is devoted to negotiating social relationships, this isolation likely has an atrophying affect on the brain.
As an aside, men also seem to show a lifelong quirky tendancy to forget where they put things.
Alzheimers Drug Shows Amazing Promise
Patients respond within minutes
Nevertheless, the results aren’t always so dramatic:
