Alzheimer's Roots

New study zeroes in on the genetic roots of Alzheimer's

Scientists have known for more than a decade that individuals with a certain gene are at higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Now research, led by scientists at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF), has uncovered a molecular mechanism that links the susceptibility gene to the process of Alzheimer’s disease onset. The findings appear in the April 11 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience and may lead to new pathways for development of Alzheimer’s therapeutics.

Approximately 15 percent of the population carries a gene that causes their bodies to produce a lipoprotein—a combination of fat and protein that transports lipids (fats) in the blood—known as apolipoprotein (Apo) E4. Studies have found that those who inherit the E4 gene from one parent are three times more likely than average to develop Alzheimer’s, while those who get the gene from both parents have a tenfold risk of developing the disease.

The new study discovered that ApoE4 (along with other apolipoproteins) attaches itself to a particular receptor on the surface of brain cells. That receptor, in turn, adheres to a protein known as amyloid precursor protein. The brain cells then transport the entire protein mass inside.

Once inside, cutting enzymes—called proteases—attack the amyloid precursor protein. These cuts create protein fragments that, when present in the brain for long periods of time, are believed to cause the cell death, memory loss and neurological dysfunction characteristic of Alzheimer’s.

Although researchers have known for more than a decade that ApoE4 was involved—somehow—in development of Alzheimer’s, Tang’s new study is the first to connect the process of protein fragment formation to ApoE4.

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurological disorder characterized by slow, progressive memory loss due to the gradual death of brain cells. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, the disease affects more than 5 million Americans, including nearly half the population over the age of 85.
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Quantum Sys-stems

Science Tunnel - Max Planck Society

Nothing in the physical sciences predicts the phenomenon of consciousness. Yet its reality is apparent to each and every one of us

Consciousness is as fundamental as matter - in some ways, more fundamental. Advances in physics, psychology, and philosophy have shown that reality is not what it seems.

Take vision, for example. When we look at a tree, light reflected from its leafs is focused onto cells in the retina of the eye, where it triggers a cascading chemical reaction releasing a flow of electrons.

Neurons connected to the cells convey these electrical impulses to the brain’s visual cortex, where raw data is processed and integrated. Then — in ways that are still a complete mystery — an image of the tree appears in our consciousness.

It may seem that we are directly perceiving the tree in the physical world, but what we are actually experiencing is an image generated in our mind.

The same is true of every other experience. All that we see, hear, taste, touch, smell and feel has been created from the data received by our sensory organs. All we ever know of the world around are the mental images constructed from that data. However real and external they may seem, they are all phenomena within our mind.

Peter Russell
The Universe as a hologram by Michael Talbot
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The human brain stores and processes its information at the level of single organic molecules and is a single macroscopic quantum system. Acts of consciousness may be viewed as incorporating quantum events.
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