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New Link to Brain Disease

July 3, 2016 By Dean Lamori Leave a Comment

Brain disease might be linked with blood vessels.

Many Americans suffer nowadays from various types of brain disease, and the most common one is Alzheimer’s. Around 5 million people suffer nowadays from this disease and scientists calculated that this number will range between 15 to 20 million by 2050 if no treatment is discovered in the meantime.

Alzheimer’s cannot be treated or cured by present medication. It can only be prevented if people improve their life quality and adopt a healthy lifestyle consisting of physical exercises, a healthy diet, recreational activities, and studying.

Experts have come to the conclusion that keeping your brain active significantly reduces the risks of developing brain disease.

A recent study revealed that people who keep themselves busy with various are less likely to develop dementia later in life compared with lazy people. Dementia might also be caused by other health conditions such as thyroid problems, HIV, stress, depression, low sleep quality, and strokes.

The latest study conducted by researchers from the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center showed that small and large blood vessels in the brain might be linked to dementia. When these vessels are affected, they are regarded as a possible cause of brain disease.

Scientists analyzed the brains of 1,143 people out of which 478 suffered from Alzheimer’s when they were alive. Based on the collected data, 35 percent of the participants (401) had brain arteriolosclerosis, whereas 39 percent of them (445) had moderate to severe atherosclerosis.

Scientists also discovered that as the brain vessels were more and more affected, the risks of developing dementia increased as well. Alzheimer’s is considered the leading cause of dementia. That is why it is crucial for experts to find a way to tackle this disease in order to prevent the development of dementia.

According to Dr. Zoe Arvanitakis, lead researcher and neurologist at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, small and large diseased vessels affect the process of thinking and increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s and strokes, which might eventually lead to dementia as well.

Arvanitakis underlined that the study did not aim to find the leading cause of Alzheimer’s or any other brain disease, but to establish whether diseased large and small blood vessels play a crucial role in the development of this disease.

By understanding more about brain disease, scientists hope to develop a treatment that will deal with these health conditions as soon as possible.

Image Source:Huffpost

The Longest Day of Alzheimer Funding

June 14, 2016 By Kurt Cottrell Leave a Comment

senior patient suffering from Alzheimer's.

New fundraise will support Alzheimer’s costs.

Despite the latest developments in the medical field, Alzheimer’s disease cannot be cured, treated or even prevented. Furthermore, Alzheimer’s is not normal aging as it has various symptoms depending on the patient and its progression cannot be slowed.

Fortunately, people can live up to 20 years with this disease. The only way we can prevent Alzheimer is by living a healthy life.

Experts have established that people having a healthier lifestyle based on a proper diet and physical exercises were less likely to develop life-threatening diseases, such as cancer, heart conditions and in this case, Alzheimer’s.

Regarding the elderly, this disease is associated with dementia whereas people diagnosed in their 30s show other symptoms that progress in time.

Around 6,400 people were diagnosed last year in the United States, and $56 million covered Medicaid treatment. Plus, one-third of the 33,000 caregivers in Alaska will suffer financial consequences as they spent 38 million hours of unpaid service last year.

According to Cindy Harris, Alaska’s ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Association, and leader for Mama Lena, a central Kenai Peninsula Longest Day team, this situation might lead to the bankruptcy of Alaska’s government.

Fortunately, nine teams from Alaska will participate in the Alzheimer Associations’ 2016 The Longest Day Fundraiser. In addition to this, they will have 19 hours of daylight on the summer solstice thanks to their geographical position.

Through this initiative, the teams hope to raise awareness and enough funds to support the costs of the most expensive disease in the United States.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, the statistics show that without policy changes, funding and targeted support, the federal government will have to spend $1.1 trillion in Medicaid and Medicare payments by 2050 when the number of diagnoses in the United States will reach a critical number of 13.8 million.

Furthermore, the average cost supported by caregivers or anyone contributing to a patient’s care is $15,000 every year, provided only by their income. This situation has consequences as 74 percent of these caregivers are worried that they will not be able to maintain their own health. Plus, one in five caregivers will rarely check their doctors because they will not be able to support any other expenses.

Hopefully, this fundraiser will gather enough money and scientists will find a treatment that will be able to tackle Alzheimer’s eventually.

Image Source:Approved Senior Network

Environmental Changes Related With Disease Outbreaks

June 13, 2016 By Tom Hager Leave a Comment

Zoonotic diseases might be prevented.

It is known that a disease such as Ebola has always been a huge problem for scientists, doctors and governments because of its unpredictable nature.

Furthermore, over 60% percent of these infectious diseases are zoonotic. Even if Ebola is well-known, there are still many other of which people are unaware, such as Lassa fever and Rift Valley fever. These diseases affect every year many individuals and are predicted to spread in the following years.

Nevertheless, a UCL team of scientists have developed a model that is able of predicting outbreaks of Ebola, Rift Valley fever, Lassa fever and other zoonotic diseases based on several factors, including land use, population growth, and climate changes.

According to Professor Kate Jones, lead author from UCL Genetics, with the help of this model, scientists hope to inform and warn people to prepare themselves for the worst case scenario of a disease outbreak. Prevention is the key to staying healthy. Therefore, if people knew what to expect, they would be better prepared to tackle a possible epidemic.

Thanks to this model, experts will be able to calculate every possible side-effect of the decisions made by national and international governments, such as the process of converting grasslands to agricultural lands. Plus, it can also account for any possible change on many diseases in response to the environmental changes.

For instance, Lassa fever is usually encountered in West Africa. The virus can be transmitted from rats to humans. The symptoms of the Lassa fever are similar to Ebola, as it causes a hemorrhagic fever that can lead to death.

Worse, this disease is dangerous because it has few symptoms and it is hard to detect. Plus, it is usually mistaken for malaria, meaning that many people sometimes receive the wrong diagnose.

The model works by pairing the changes in the distribution of the host based on environmental changes and the method through which the disease spreads from animals to humans. Therefore, researchers can establish the risk percentage of humans getting in contact with the disease-carrying animals.

The parts of West Africa considered to be at high risk are Guinea and Senegal, as well as Central Nigeria, Ghana and the coastline of Cote D’Ivoire. Plus, the animal responsible for carrying the disease is the sub-species of the multimammate rat, known as Mastomys natalensis.

Image Source:Global Biodefense

Few Facts About Alzheimer Disease

June 6, 2016 By Kurt Cottrell Leave a Comment

Alzheimer’s disease needs more attention.

Alzheimer disease is already known as an illness that causes people to lose their ability to remember. However, many things are still unknown regarding this disease. Worse is that Alzheimer’s is fatal, and there are many symptoms besides memory loss.

Our best bet remains early diagnosis. According to Tom Hlavacek, Director of the Alzheimer’s Association Southeastern Wisconsin Chapter, Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month is the best chance for scientists to crack the mystery of dementia and Alzheimer’s.

If people are better informed about the warning symptoms and signs, they will be able to detect the disease early. Thus, they will benefit from support services and extensive care available with no charge.

Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s is the sixth cause of death in the U.S. and the only one that can’t be slowed, cured or prevented. To raise awareness regarding this critical situation, the Alzheimer’s Association is underlining essential information about the disease that every person should know.

The first fact would be that Alzheimer’s disease leaves no survivors. The number of Alzheimer’s deaths increased 71 percent from 2000 to 2013. Plus, over 5 million people in the United States are fighting with Alzheimer’s disease.

Secondly, Alzheimer’s is not normal aging, but a progressive and fatal disease that goes for the brain, destroying tissue and nerve cells, thus affecting a person’s ability to plan, think or remember. Brain changes related to Alzheimer’s may emerge over 20 years before the symptoms. Even if age is the highest known risk factor, Alzheimer’s is not a common part of aging.

Besides memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease affects people in various ways. Nevertheless, the Alzheimer’s Association found ten key warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease that every individual should recognize and learn. Hispanic and Africa-American women have the highest risk of developing the disease. According to the experts, our best bet is early detection. Even if 5 million people are dealing with Alzheimer’s, only half of them were correctly diagnosed.

Despite the fact that Alzheimer’s disease cannot be prevented, a healthy lifestyle can highly maintain your brain health and reduce the risks of cognitive decline. Eating a healthy diet, relying on regular physical activity and keeping yourself mentally active will benefit your brain and body. Hopefully, the medical field will come up with better solutions in the future to tackle this disease and improve the life of many people.

Image Source:Palm Beach Neurological

Intercept Drug Approval

May 30, 2016 By John Cooper Leave a Comment

FDA approved Intercept’s new drug.

FDA has recently approved a new drug treatment produced by Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc., a product which will treat primary biliary cirrhosis, a slow-progressing liver disease.

The drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration with the condition that the company’s researchers will continue the study to prove that this treatment will reduce the risk of death and liver transplant as this is the first product that will be promoted on the U.S. market.

The National Institutes of Health established that primary biliary cirrhosis is very rare and usually affects women between 30 and 60 years old. Furthermore, this disease affects the ducts that carry bile, a digestive fluid. With no treatment, it might lead to severe consequences, such as liver failure and cirrhosis.

This drug may also treat another liver condition known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, which is related to a more encountered biliary cirrhosis and obesity. NASH treatments may go up from$5 billion to $10 billion every year, according to Michael Yee, an analyst with RBC Capital Market Corp.

Plus, statistics have shown that Obeticholic acid is expected to reach $1.6 billion in sales by 2020.

Scientists from Intercept initially studied if the drug lowers levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), a sign of liver damage. Presently, many patients are attending a thorough study to establish the effect of the drug on the percentage of death and liver failure. According to the National Institutes of Health, the study is expected to finish in 2023.

The reason why FDA’s approval was so important is that this drug was analyzed by many doctors and specialists. They work every day with many drugs and types of disease, making these experts the most qualified.

Plus, it is the first time in 20 years when a drug, such as Ocaliva is approved to deal with PBC. Moreover, the sales are expected to be decent enough to make the drug popular and most importantly useful in hospitals. Therefore, sales are expected to reach at least $5 or $6 billion.

Hopefully, the Intercept’s drug will decrease the death rate and the need of liver transplant. This way people will have more chances of living a healthy life and the medical field will have a wider variety of treatments.

Image Source:VG247

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