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Pill promises to stop Alzheimer's
Sunday Herald Sun ^ | 23 July 2006

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.


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alzheimers; australia; cure; health; medicine; melbourne; pill
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To: Tax-chick
Yes. And I never knew my mother had such a colorful young life.

I seem to spend most of the visit being lectured on my wild behavior. And once I was severely scolded for working for the Nixon Campaign.

It's funny and heartbreaking all at the same time. But I prefer that to the times she just sits there looking so little and lost.

I think it must be like living in reverse.

61 posted on 07/23/2006 11:53:08 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (A propensity to hope and joy is real riches; one to fear and sorrow, real poverty)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear
I was severely scolded for working for the Nixon Campaign.

LOL!

62 posted on 07/23/2006 11:54:56 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Whiskey for my men, hyperbolic rodomontade for my horses.)
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To: NRA2BFree

Thank you very much!


63 posted on 07/23/2006 11:55:18 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Whiskey for my men, hyperbolic rodomontade for my horses.)
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To: strange1

LOL


64 posted on 07/23/2006 11:56:17 AM PDT by bmwcyle (Only stupid people would vote for McCain, Warner, Hagle, Snowe, Graham, or any RINO)
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To: epow
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.

You and I may have to take a trip to Australia before the FDA gets around to approving it.
I understand where you are coming from. My own father died nearly 4 years ago with "A". And now every time I forget something - I worry "has it begun?"

65 posted on 07/23/2006 11:58:04 AM PDT by daybreakcoming ("We will not tire. We will not falter. We will not fail")
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To: Tax-chick

Before we realized she was becoming ill, my great-aunt, a wonderful cook who hosted many holiday meals of my youth, would get up and start cooking these huge meals, thinking she was cooking for another family gathering.

It took awhile to get her to stop. At the beginning, when she would actually cook, that was one thing. But then she'd turn on the stove, leave raw food out, etc. That was when we realized something was going on.


66 posted on 07/23/2006 11:59:46 AM PDT by radiohead (Hey Kerry, I'm still here; still hating your lying, stinking, guts you coward.)
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To: radiohead

That's so sad, but at the same time, it shows that she was reliving the times of her life when she was useful, appreciated, and surrounded by her family.


67 posted on 07/23/2006 12:07:03 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Whiskey for my men, hyperbolic rodomontade for my horses.)
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To: Tax-chick
Thank you very much!

You bet. I've lived with the fear that his would be like all of the other horror stories that I've heard. That's probably why I'm always asking him if he remembers who I am. I feel like we dodged a bullet, but knowing how bad it could have been keeps me in prayer for those who are suffering from the effects of Alzheimers.

68 posted on 07/23/2006 12:12:30 PM PDT by NRA2BFree
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To: Tax-chick

~grin. Grandma would have been a Democrat except for the fact that she hated all politicians equally.


69 posted on 07/23/2006 12:18:41 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (A propensity to hope and joy is real riches; one to fear and sorrow, real poverty)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Sounds like my mother. She never got over Nixon and Kissinger letting her down.


70 posted on 07/23/2006 12:30:38 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Whiskey for my men, hyperbolic rodomontade for my horses.)
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To: Tax-chick; Graymatter
We kept Mama at her house as long as we could. We had a lovely woman who lived with her, and took care of her day to day needs. Mama was ambulatory, but needed prompting to take her medication, shower, etc, and couldn't be trusted to cook for herself. My siblings came in on Friday evenings and gave Mary the weekend off. I, and another brother, couldn't do this because we lived too far away, but we sent a little more money each month than the other siblings to help out with expenses. I only spent a week with her in that condition; while her caregiver went on a family vacation. It was difficult, and we did have a major blow up at one point, but at that point, I knew that the person I was dealing with was substantively NOT my mother, just her body holding the mind of someone who had begun to degrade mentally. That was what got me through that week.

After two years at home, she developed some physical conditions for which the caregiver wasn't trained, and at that point, nowhere was 'home' anymore, so we made the decision to put her in a nursing home that could handle Alzheimer's patients. Her physical condition improved, and mentally she didn't degrade anymore because she was more stimulated by meeting new people every day. She was also nearer our hometown, from which she had moved after my Daddy had died twenty years before, so more of her family, siblings, nieces, nephews, and family friends, could come by for a visit. Mercifully, congestive heart failure took her before she had degraded mentally much more, and at the time she died, she still recognized all her siblings, children, and grandchildren, though she needed prompting on the great-grands. We were fortunate in that.

71 posted on 07/23/2006 12:37:50 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: Aussie Dasher

Until there's a pill, fish oil supplements seem to be the best bet. And red wine.


72 posted on 07/23/2006 12:42:06 PM PDT by Raebie
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To: SuziQ

It sounds like it worked out pretty well for you. My parents have long-term-care insurance, so we will have the finances to choose the best option when we need to.


73 posted on 07/23/2006 12:50:14 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Whiskey for my men, hyperbolic rodomontade for my horses.)
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To: Aussie Dasher
If it works, we'll have something on hand for when some nerdy genius decides to use a volcano to disperse pacifist water across the globe : )

Seriously, this could help a lot of people.

74 posted on 07/23/2006 2:44:21 PM PDT by WestVirginiaRebel (Common sense will do to liberalism what the atomic bomb did to Nagasaki-Rush Limbaugh)
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To: ga medic
The only people out hoping that this won't work are those that have no idea how devastating Alzheimers can be. I don't care what party you are from. If you know someone with Alzheimers, you will think this is good news. My stepfather suffers from it, and even my ultra liberal sister was thrilled when she read this.

I should have been more precise: I didn't mean liberals, I meant the DNC hierarchy, i.e. the Deans, the Begalas, the Schumers, the Durbins; the type of people who dash to a camera to declare that anything bad that occurs in the world happened because Bush is a dimwit.

I say this because their intellectual dishonesty is such that the aforementioned refuse to address all other stem cell research progress except the embryonic. As you know if you are on FR or listen to conservative talk, there have been more rock-solid medical advances made in treatment of fatal disease using umbilical cord blood and adult stem cells than embryonic cells.

As much as I like Michael J. Fox as an actor (Back to The Future is one of my favorite movies), it really annoys me that when he speaks, it's like hundreds of "snowflake children" didn't even exist. I would like to see his reaction to the question, "Which one of the children at President Bush's press conference would you have liked to see die for your benefit?"

75 posted on 07/24/2006 8:08:10 AM PDT by L.N. Smithee (Hassan Nasrallah needs to be kicked in Hezbollahs)
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To: Tax-chick

I may be too late for my grandmother, but maybe not for my great aunt...


76 posted on 07/24/2006 8:09:25 AM PDT by Maigrey (Judicial activism isn’t so much fun when the rabbit has the gun. - Ann Coulter)
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To: Aussie Dasher

If this is successful this will be great... I know the Pittsburgh Compound had been proven to cross the blood brain barrier and attach itself to the plaque buildup.. but I haven't heard anything since that breakthrough a few years ago...

If they have now successfully be able to remove the plaque in humans this is an amazing accomplishment and holds great promise.


77 posted on 07/24/2006 8:11:25 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: Raebie

Good to hear it. I'm in intense cabernet therapy, myself.


78 posted on 07/24/2006 8:13:11 AM PDT by linda_22003
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To: daybreakcoming
Nope. the best non-diagnosed indicator is "Can I still balance my checkbook?" if you can, you're fine. If you can't, then it has begun. If you can't remember the way home from a restaurant more than 1 mile away, you probably have it.

My aunt is in first stages, and I've got to balance her checkbook. It will progress, but she's fighting it, and she's also planned the rest of her life should her mental faculties diminish.

79 posted on 07/24/2006 8:19:53 AM PDT by Maigrey (Judicial activism isn’t so much fun when the rabbit has the gun. - Ann Coulter)
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To: nina0113

self ping for later


80 posted on 07/24/2006 10:26:18 AM PDT by nina0113
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