Scientists employ range of tactics to provide insight to early Alzheimer’s detection methods

Orange County, CA - July 14th 2016 - Filled with antioxidants and vitamins, pomegranates have long been considered a superfood with many benefits to enumerate. While past studies have proven that consuming pomegranates can help stave off certain cancers and diseases, a new study’s focus is creating an Alzheimer’s treatment from a compound found in the fruit.

Pomegranates are just one of several ways in which researchers around the world have chosen to combat the disease, which begins with dementia. Although the research of Alzheimer’s varies in method and findings, the goal remains the same: to explore methods for early detection in order for patients to implement lifestyle changes and undergo treatment to significantly slow and control the disease.

Today, Alzheimer’s affects nearly 5.4 million Americans and is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States. As the baby boom generation begins to reach age 65 and over, estimates project that 13.8 million will be affected by 2050.

Scientists employ range of tactics to provide insight to early Alzheimer’s detection methods

To combat this, a group of European researchers at the Karolinska Institutet investigated amyloid proteins—strongly believed to be a key feature of Alzheimer’s detection—in the brain and spinal cord. They utilized the centiloid method, a tool for standardized amyloid plaque PET measurement, to assess amyloid values among 230 individuals across seven memory clinics.

The findings showed that healthy individuals should have a number of amyloid-β 42 and amyloid-β 42/40 proteins found in fluid in the brain and spine. However, unusual variance was found in Alzheimer’s patients in their amyloid-β 42/40 values. Thus, if a discord in the ratio is measured following a spinal tap, a PET scan should be ordered to re-measure the proteins to confirm or deny the diagnosis. This method is not limited to early detection; additional implications of this finding have impinged on alternative treatment methods and may have bearing on a patient’s inclusion in clinical trials.

Recently published findings from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital purport to overturn the widely-accepted notion that the increase of certain amyloid proteins suggests the earliest sign of the condition. With the goal to understand late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD) progression, the group used the Open Science model to collect thousands of MRI and PET scans from 1,171 people diagnosed at varying stages of the condition. The big data approach taken by the researchers has established their study as the most thorough Alzheimer’s progression study to date.

Critically, the researchers found that decreased blood flow in the brain can predict Alzheimer’s up to ten years before symptoms of the degenerative disease appear, and that changes in cognition occur earlier in its progression. Their findings were produced through examination of amyloid concentration, glucose metabolism, cerebral blood flow, functional activity and brain atrophy. Through these tests, they were able to create 30 year trajectories for each biological factor.

But these are just two in a long list of studies currently in progress hoping to gain a better understanding of the disease’s progression. For instance, an endeavor from the Netherlands is combining MRI techniques with artificial intelligence—an approach that can diagnose early dementia and predict Alzheimer’s disease with 82 to 90 percent accuracy with a special MRI called arterial spin labelling.

Additionally, scientists at Rowan University demonstrated that a blood test identifying 50 autoantibody biomarkers may be able to accurately predict the onset of the disease up to ten years before symptoms occur.

According to the Washington Post, Alzheimer’s disease will claim 500,000 lives a year and cost the U.S. healthcare system $1.2 trillion dollars by 2050. With estimates of that year projecting to reach epidemic status, experts agree that focusing on early detection is necessary. However, they remain hopeful in the vast quantity of studies and varied approaches acquiring positive results.

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Scientists employ range of tactics to provide insight to early Alzheimer’s detection methods Orange County, CA – July 14th 2016 – Filled with antioxidants and vitamins, pomegranates have long been considered a superfood with many benefits to enumerate. While past studies have proven that consuming pomegranates can help stave off certain cancers and diseases, a new study’s […]