MUST READS

A November 30, 2015 Time article reported that “Researchers found an intriguing link between BRCA1, a protein that when mutated can increase the risk of breast cancer, and Alzheimer’s.” According to the article, “Mucke also looked at BRCA1 levels in autopsy brains of humans who had died with Alzheimer’s. In these brains, levels of BRCA1 were up to 75% lower than those in brains of people who had not died with the disease. Does that mean that people with BRCA1 mutations are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s? Not necessarily, says Mucke. So far, there haven’t been studies linking BRCA1 mutations to a heightened risk of Alzheimer’s. But given these results, the connection between the two may be worth studying in more detail. Mucke says that no link may have emerged because people with cancer may have been excluded from Alzheimer’s studies.”

A November 30, 2015 The Wall Street Journal article reported that “On Monday, the New York City chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association formally rejected a plan that would have consolidated the local office into one nationwide, single legal entity.” [behind paywall]

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE 

A November 30, 2015 Quartz article highlighted Japan’s growing dementia problem. According to the article, “There are already 5.2 million Japanese over 65 with dementia. That will rise to up to 7.3 million in 2025—roughly one in five of Japan’s elderly people, and one in 17 of its total population. As well as wandering about aimlessly, dementia sufferers have a tendency to become confused by changes in their environment, and lash out verbally.”

RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

A November 30, 2015 Science Magazine article reported that “A new study offers evidence for the ‘grandmother hypothesis,’ which suggests humans live long past their fertile years to help care for future generations.”But grandmothers need to have all their wits about them to help out in this way, and the new study may explain how this happens. Physician-scientist Ajit Varki and evolutionary biologist Pascal Gagneux of the University of California, San Diego, arrived at the findings accidentally. The pair was studying a gene that helps control the body’s inflammatory and immune response to injury or infection. Previous studies have linked two forms of the gene—CD33—to Alzheimer’s disease. While one CD33 variant, or allele, predisposes a person to the disease, the other appears to protect against it by preventing the formation of protein clumps in the brain.”

A November 30, 2015 RTTNews.com article reported that “New data on the loss of brain synapses during Alzheimer's disease could help lead to a cure for the illness, according to researchers at Neuroscience Research Australia and the Dementia Research Unit of the UNSW School of Medical Sciences.”