Researchers Discover How Compounds Found In Red Wine Thwart Alzheimer's Disease In Mice

Researcher David Teplow and others from UCLA, as well as at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, have recently discovered it is possible that red wine can reduce the incidence of the Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This discovery is associated with what “scientists call the ‘French paradox.’” This is in reference to the French who to eat lots of food with high cholesterol levels and saturated fat, but continue to maintain low death rates due to heart disease. The explanation for this is that in conjunction with these meals is red wine which is good for cardiovascular health; and now, as aforementioned, can help with AD.

The helpful components of red wine are polyphenols, and they block the formation of certain proteins which build toxic plaques in the brain, destroying its cells. Polyphenols also reduce the toxicity of existing plaques. It is also known, from past research, that two proteins, Aß40 and Aß42, deposit in the brain and form the plaques associated with Alzheimer's. Though until the research done by Teplow and colleagues, the way polyphenols worked was not fully understood.

In Teplow's lab, they studied how Aß is involved in causing AD and they watched how “Aß40 and Aß42 proteins folded up and stuck to each other to produce aggregates that killed nerve cells in mice.” After treating them the proteins with polyphenol from grape seeds, they found that the compound blocked the aggregates of Aß and also decreased toxicity. Their idea is that if this compound is given to AD patients, it could block the development of the aggregates and possibly prevent development of the disease itself. No trials have tested humans as of now, but they consider it a very important next step.

This article was of interest to me because I will be working in a lab next semester which also researches the relationship between amyloid beta and Alzheimer’s disease; and I like to find out as much information on the subject as I can.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/130450.php

Stem Cell Research

With a new president coming into office, the widely disputed argument of stem cell research is becoming more important. Until now, the U.S. has not been a big supporter of stem cell research and the government has ultimately been the reason why there hasn't been much progress in this research, but future president Obama is planning for change. One of the biggest problems with stem cell research is the funding. Research is very expensive and the governmnet has not put foward any kind of funding for it. If Obama and the dominantly democratic congress could pass a bill to start funding new research there will be drastic reactions. Many people disagree with this research because of moral issues but others are strongly supportive of it because they or people they know suffer from diseases that could possibly be cured by use of stem cells. Currently, research is being conducted on bone marrow stem cells, but the use of these stem cells is surrounded by many problems. Bone marrow stem cells can only be collected in small quantities, they may not be a match for the patient, and they have limited ability to transform into specialized cells. By using embryonic stem cells, research in this field could lead to phenominal outcomes. Keep an eye out for the topic to appear in the news very soon.

http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060717-statement_of_su/index.php



Patrick Long

VTPP 434-502

Insulin and Vitamin K

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081126122211.htm

In a recent study of 355 non-diabetic men and women from ages 60 to 80, it was found that vitamin K played a role in the development of insulin resistance. By the end of the 3-year trial, men that had received the vitamin K supplements had less progression in their insulin resistance, but the women saw a progression in insulin resistance.

In this experiment, the men and women took five times the adequate intake of vitamin K each day and kept a healthy lifestyle. A control group received no vitamin K supplementation. In order to measure the insulin resistance of a person, they used the homeostasis model and measured the insulin levels.

Insulin is a hormone that helps in moving sugar inside the cells to be used for energy. Insulin resistance is a step before diabetes and means that the body doesn't use insulin properly; therefore, glucose builds up in the blood.

One reason as to why this difference occurred in men and women in this particular study may be the choice of test subjects. It appears that there might have been more overweight women in the group, and the excess adipose tissue interferes with insulin function in the body.

There have not been many studies that concern vitamin K and insulin resistance, so further research seems to be the next step in determining what else could be done to treat diabetes.

Serotonin controls bone mass

A research group at Columbia University Medical Center, led by Gerard Karsenty, M.D., Ph.D., has discovered that the neurotransmitter serotonin controls bone growth. Serotonin is a chemical used in the brain to influence mood, appetite and sleep but only 5 percent of the serotonin in the body is produced in the brain. The rest of the body’s serotonin is produced in the duodenum, where its synthesis is controlled by a gene called Lrp5. The scientists discovered that when they turned the gene on or off they could control bone formation because the serotonin tells the skeleton when to slow production of new bone.
The group discovered that by stopping the intestine’s release of serotonin they could prevent osteoporosis in mice undergoing menopause. This is because by increasing the production of serotonin there is a decrease in bone mass but when the Lrp5 gene is deleted there is no effect on bone mass. The group also went on to verify that there are abnormal levels of serotonin in patients with two human bone diseases. Currently all but one osteoporosis drugs prevent the breakdown of old bone but do not generate new bone. The scientists are excited because developing a drug to control gastrointestinal release of serotonin should be relatively easy and would not need to enter the general circulation thus limiting side effects. The scientists did not find any problems in mice that could not produce serotonin in their intestines suggesting that the same would be true for humans.
Riley White
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081126122209.htm

Smells Influence Dreams

Researchers at the University Hospital Mannheim in Germany have found that there may be a connection between what you smell and what you dream.

They asked subjects about their dreams after three tests. A control with no scents at all and tests with rose scents and rotten egg scents giving shortly after the subject enter the REM stage of sleep. After the rose scent was given, most subjects reported more pleasant dreams. After the rotten egg scent was given, unpleasant dreams were reported. It was noted that although the dreams were seemingly affected, the scent itself was not incorporated into the dream.

The researchers concluded that pleasant smells can lead to pleasant dreams. This connection may be explained by the link between the sense of smell and the limbic system of the brain which also governs a person's emotions and behaviors. If pleasant smells lead to better emotions while awake the same could be true while asleep.

The indirect nature of the incorporation of the smell could lead to important clues about dream formation. One fallback of the research is that the subjects were woke up after only a minute of dreaming after the scent was administer. Because of this, it is unknown exactly to what extent the scent would be incorporated into the dreams if giving the chance.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/080923-smell-sleep.html

-John H.

Brain's Magnetic Fields Reveal Language Delays In Autism

Autistic children are known to respond several times slower than healthy children without autism; this may be due in part to faint magnetic signals from brain activity in autistic children.

In Dr. Timothy Roberts', the pediatric radiologist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, research using magnetoencephalography (MEG), he found that the brain has small magnetic fields which change with sensation and communication in the different parts of the brain. His research is geared toward developing "neural signatures" which will correlate between observed brain activity and behavior, usually difficulty in communication and social interaction, in autistic children.

The MEG machine consists of a helmet which is to be worn by the child. During the test, the child's brain activity is monitored as he responds to sounds, vowel sounds, and sentences. When comparing autistic children to the control cases (healthy, non-autistic children), the autistic children showed a twenty millisecond or more delay in response.

Research is still being developed. Dr. Roberts hopes that in the future, further findings will be able to help detect autistic spectrum disorders early on and better diagnose and treat the different subtypes of ASD.


URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081201081710.htm

Acacia Ho
VTPP 434 - 501