Posted on 07/23/2006 4:20:02 AM PDT by Aussie Dasher
MELBOURNE scientists believe they may have found a cure for Alzheimer's disease if tests on mice prove successful in humans.
In a world first, a Melbourne research team has developed a once-a-day pill that could stop the debilitating disease in its tracks.
Human trials of the drug PBT2 will begin next month.
Professor George Fink, director of the Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, which developed the drug in partnership with Prana Biotechnology, said it was a major breakthrough.
"I'm getting great excitement out of it, it's certainly another Eureka," he said on Channel 10.
"If we can replicate in a human what occurs at the lab bench then this will be of great, immense importance."
Prof Fink said the drug could prevent or delay Alzheimer's from developing.
PBT2 works by attacking a build up of the protein amyloid, which is thought to cause the brain to rust.
Clinical tests on animals have found the drug acts fast, with amyloid levels dropping by 60 per cent within 24 hours of a dose.
About 700 Australians are diagnosed with Alzheimer's each week, with that figure expected to triple within 40 years.
"It is a major breakthrough and very much a Melbourne discovery," Prof Fink told the Sunday Herald Sun.
"Though much depends on the next phase of human clinical trials ... early results indicate this drug offers hope to people with Alzheimer's disease."
Alzheimer's Australia (Victoria) executive director Lynette Moore welcomed the development.
"The earlier we can get at this disease the more likely it is that we're going to halt it in its tracks or reverse it and the people aren't going to suffer the consequences," Ms Moore said on Channel 10.
And the Senators would spend all their time running around with their hands out, looking for somebody to give them a Quarter.
Great news! Thanks for posting.
I'm so sorry. I hope to have my father live with us, if his condition gets too difficult for my mother to handle, but I know it could also be disastrous.
A way to prevent Alzheimer's? Can't happen too soon. I went through what you described, Eddie. My amazing, beautiful, brilliant and beloved mother, otherwise very healthy but for deteriorating mental and emotional faculties...
I was the only person in the family willing to deal with it at all. The rest of them did that "after the visit sobbing" exactly once per relative. I did the 24/7 care until Mama died. It was so bad, I still can't talk about it in any detail, and probably never will.
Alzheimers (or senile dementia, as it used to be called) is such a sad disease. I think that I can handle any medical situation for my parents (at home) that is thrown at me, but it is impossible to deal with the problems that caregivers face at home with Alzheimers.
That would be the ONLY reason (for me, anyway) for nursing home care.
I am so sorry for the loss of your Mother.
How brave you are to have faced this tragedy alone.
Kudos to you. May great things come your way.
I hope so also because I notice lately I tend to repeat myself.
I hope so also because I notice lately I tend to repeat myself.
I hope so also because I notice lately I tend to repeat myself.
I hope so also because I notice lately I tend to repeat myself.
And Bill Buckley, unfortunately.
You just know there are Democrats out there who secretly hoping this won't pan out because it robs them of a wedge issue. They won't be able to say even Nancy Reagan is on their side.
Mothers
The young mother set her foot on the path of life.
“Is this the long way?" she asked. And the guide said, "Yes, and the way is hard. And you
will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning”
But the young mother was happy, and she would not believe that
anything could be better than these years.
So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them
along the way, and bathed them in the clear streams; and the sun shone on
them, and the young Mother cried, "Nothing will ever be lovelier than this."
Then the night came, and the storm, and the path was dark, and the
children shook with fear and cold, and the mother drew them close
and covered them with her mantle, and the children said, "Mother, we
are not afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come."
And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed
and grew weary, and the mother was weary.
But at all times she said to the children, "A little patience and we are there."
So the children climbed, and when they reached the top they said,
"Mother, we would not have done it without you."
And the mother, when she lay down at night looked up at the stars
and said, "This is a better day than the last, for my children have
learned fortitude in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage.
Today, I have given them strength."
And the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth,
clouds of war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and
the mother said, "Look up. Lift your eyes to the light."
And the children looked and saw above the clouds an everlasting
glory, and it guided them beyond the darkness. And that night the mother
said, "This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God."
And the days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years, and the
mother grew old and she was little and bent. But her children
were tall and strong, and walked with courage.
And when the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light
as a feather; and at last they came to a hill, and beyond they could
see a shining road and golden gates flung wide. And mother said, "I
have reached the end of my journey. And now I know the end is better than the
beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after
them."
And the children said, " You will always walk with us, Mother,
even when you have gone through the gates." And they stood and watched her
as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her. And they said, "We
cannot see her, but she is with us still. A Mother like ours is more
than a memory. She is a living presence."
Your Mother is always with you. She's the whisper of the leaves
as you walk down the street, she's the smell of bleach in your freshly
laundered socks, she's the cool hand on your brow when you're not well.
Your Mother lives inside your laughter. And she's crystallized in your
every teardrop. She's the place you came from, your first home;
And she's the map you follow with every step you take.
She’s your first love and your first heartbreak,
and nothing on earth can separate you......
Not time, not space...not even death.
The "non-recognition point" with my father was when I walked in, and he said, "Who are you?". When I identified myself, he held his hand out, about waist high, and said, "No you're not. My son is a little boy about this tall..."
Watching Alzheimer's take over a once-brilliant person is like watching the lights in a great city blink off -- one by one...
I pray that this medication test is a big success!
And in my bedroom.
The saddest words ever committed to celluloid, IMHO
My Dad's not to that point yet, although he remembers things from his childhood, or mine, more often than he remembers what happened yesterday.
Sometimes, when I compare Dad's level of cognizance with my husband's, it seems like he's not all that bad. Dad doesn't remember what I told him yesterday; neither does my husband. Dad doesn't remember all my kids' names; neither does my husband!
Many Democratic leaders would like for us to be unable to remember their wrongful deeds. Plus, I'm sure that they were glad when former President Reagan could no longer communicate with us.
Me, sometimes I have difficulty with my name.
Too late for my dad, he died with Alzheimer's 9 years ago. Three of my aunts died with it also, it seems to run in my family.
I just hope this pill works and it will be available while I still know who I am. It seems to take 8-10 years or more to get a new drug through the testing process and approved by the Feds.
Beautiful! And true.
I kept my dad at home until he passed away. I tried nursing homes when he became unable to walk or eat and was completely dependent on me, but after several weeks in 3 different places I saw that a nursing home is such a nightmarish way for anyone to exist I took him back to his home and cared for him like a baby for a year before he died.
I had to quit my job and leave my wife at her job 500 miles away for a year working to support us, but it was worth it to keep Dad where he felt comfortable rather than in a hellish snakepit like our commercial nursing homes have become. The nursing home situation is a disgrace to the US IMHO. After my experience with them I would rather die on the street like stray dog than to go into one myself.
I worked at nursing homes early in my nursing career and I have to agree with you about the conditions.
What has happened around here, IMHO, is that when places want to reduce costs, they cut direct care staff. Its easy, just puts the burden on the remaining caregivers.
Who suffers? The patient and the family.
But thats ok, as long as the $$$$ keeps rolling in.
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