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What are the first signs of young-onset Alzheimer’s disease? It isn't memory loss and mistaking the symptoms can put people off seeking medical help, says a University of Reading neuroscientist. Alzheimer’s disease is often thought of as a condition that only affects the elderly. But around 3.9 million people worldwide aged 30 to 64 live with young-onset Alzheimer’s disease - a form of dementia in which symptoms appear before the age of 65. English journalist and broadcaster Fiona Phillips, 62, recently revealed that she’d been diagnosed with it. In the interview, Phillips shared that the main symptoms she had experienced...

a drug used to treat addiction could be what millions of long Covid sufferers around the world need to finally address their symptoms. Naltrexone is a generic drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat both alcohol and opioid addicts. But in small trials it has been able to relieve long Covid patients of lingering ailments like brain fog and fatigue that last months after the initial infection. The drug - sold under the brand name Revia - is now being touted as a crucial piece of the puzzle of long Covid that has stumped experts for over...

I know this proposal will be met with strong opposition, but it is my firm belief that the 108-year old 'War on Drugs' needs to come to an end. It has turned into a decades-long war on millions of our young people. It would be replaced with FDA-supervised quality control systems for supplies of comparatively safe recreational drug forms, probably reducing the number of overdose deaths by over 98% (~50,000/year -> ~1,000/year). Manufacturers, distributors, retailers and customers would have to get DEA licenses. There would be three forms of customer DEA licenses: casual user, habitual cocaine user and habitual opiate...

With many of us chained to a desk for hours a day before heading home to slump in front of the telly, we're spending much of our time on our bottoms. And it's having an impact on our health, a growing body of evidence suggests. Last month, for instance, it emerged that spending an extra hour sitting a day (for 13, rather than 12, hours) is linked to a 50 per cent greater risk of being disabled. And this was regardless of whether the participants - all over 60 - also did moderate exercise, according to the U.S. study published...

The research suggests that some people have an inherent bias against conservative thinking, that is independent of their education or upbringing. The effect is caused by a neurotransmitter in the brain called DRD4 which could be stimulated by the novelty value of left of centre opinions, say US researchers. In people who are naturally outgoing, the feature encourages them to seek out companions with unconventional views as they grow up. This in turn means they tend to form less conventional political viewpoints as adults, according to the study by the University of California and Harvard. The research, based on 2,000...