Free Republic

A new study suggests that certain drugs commonly used to treat enlarged prostate may also decrease the risk for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). This observational finding may seem surprising, but it mirrors previous work that links the drugs to a protective effect in another neurodegenerative condition—Parkinson's disease. The researchers think that a specific side effect of the drugs targets a biological flaw shared by DLB and Parkinson's disease, as well as other neurodegenerative diseases, raising the possibility that they may have broad potential for treating a wide range of neurodegenerative conditions. The researchers used a large database of patient...

It has long been known that a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, and most other neurodegenerative diseases, is the clumping together of insoluble protein aggregates in the brain. During normal disease-free aging, there is also an accumulation of insoluble proteins. Researchers have recently completed a systematic study in worms that paints an intricate picture of the connections between insoluble proteins in neurodegenerative diseases and aging. Furthermore, the work demonstrated an intervention that could reverse the toxic effects of the aggregates by boosting mitochondrial health. "Our study shows how maintaining healthy mitochondria can combat protein clumping linked to both aging and Alzheimer's,"...

Xanthine dehydrogenase/oxidase blockers may reduce the risk for neurodegenerative diseases, according to a study. Yizhe Song and colleagues conducted a population-based, case-control study of U.S. Medicare beneficiaries in 2009 to identify prescription medications associated with a lower risk for three neurodegenerative diseases: Parkinson disease, Alzheimer disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The analysis included 42,885 patients with neurodegenerative disease and 334,387 randomly selected controls. All filled medications were categorized according to their biological targets and mechanisms of action of those targets using medication data from 2006 to 2007. The odds ratios were estimated for 141 target-action pairs and each neurodegenerative disease....

What did Stephen Hawking and Mao Zedong have in common? They both suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), for which a cure remains elusive. Scientists took an important step toward the prevention of ALS and another brain disorder called Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) with their research on the effects of the antibiotic rifampicin on genetically modified mice. "The primary cause of FTD and ALS is a hexanucleotide repeat expansion (HRE) in non-coding regions of the C9orf72 gene," said Professor Takami Tomiyama. This mutation causes neurodegeneration through loss-of-function or gain-of-toxic-function mutations.Rifampicin is an antibiotic that slows bacterial RNA production; it is usually...

WASHINGTON (AP) — For two years, Becky Mourey pushed the Food and Drug Administration to approve an experimental drug for her Lou Gehrig’s disease. She went to members of Congress and health regulators to make the case for Relyvrio, until patient-advocates finally prevailed. In September, Relyvrio became only the third drug approved in the U.S. for ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable neurodegenerative disease that is usually fatal within five years. But patients and physicians who celebrated Relyvrio’s approval several months ago are now contending with the obstacles posed by the U.S. health care system. Their odyssey is an...

Things have not been the same since June 2021 for 53-year-old Douglas Howey from Colorado. Around a year after he received the second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the 6 foot 4 and a half inch paraplegic man who once weighed 262 pounds lost over 100 pounds after the sudden onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an incurable and fatal disease that gradually kills a person’s motor neurons. Douglas Howey before and after amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Douglas has lost more than 100 pounds between the two photos (Courtesy of Linda Howey/The Epoch Times) ================================================================== Though he never told his...

SAN DIEGO – Sometimes, scientific breakthroughs occur when researchers aren’t exactly looking for them. While attempting to better understand the function of a protein in connective tissue cells, UC San Diego School of Medicine scientists found a way to transform multiple types of cells into neurons. This discovery has led to the development of a treatment that eliminates symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in mice. The protein researchers were studying, called PTB, is known for its general role in activating or deactivating genes within a cell. In an attempt to better understand how PTB contributes to cell function, researchers silenced the...