Bursts of gentle electricity may slow down Alzheimer’s

Simple, everyday activities like crossword puzzles or reading books may stave off the mind-robbing Alzheimer’s disease. Those studying and working with Alzheimer’s patients generally accept this as fact. When the mind processes challenging puzzles or new information, it makes links in the brain, possibly exercising brain synapses, the neural networks that power our brains.

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Looking deeper into the brain as to what controls these synapses is a new study from Tel Aviv University. Based on the long-suspected evidence that a build-up of amyloid-beta protein in the brain causes Alzheimer’s, which affects 5.4 million people in the United States alone, Israeli researcher Inna # has found an important missing link. It’s not just the amount of amyloid that can create the onset of Alzheimer’s, she says, but the specific kind of amyloid protein found in the brain. An imbalance of amyloid-beta 40, compared to its counterpart amyloid-beta 42, is found in those suffering the effects of the disease. More...

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