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Infectious Theory Of Alzheimer's Disease Draws Fresh Interest
Old 09-10-2018, 10:08 PM   #1
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Infectious Theory Of Alzheimer's Disease Draws Fresh Interest

I thought that this was an interesting and unusual article:
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...fresh-interest


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It's an idea that just a few years ago would've seemed to many an easy way to drain your research budget on bunk science. Money has poured into Alzheimer's research for years, but until very recently not much of it went toward investigating infection in causing dementia.
But this "germ theory" of Alzheimer's, as Norins calls it, has been fermenting in the literature for decades. Even early 20th century Czech physician Oskar Fischer — who, along with his German contemporary Dr. Alois Alzheimer, was integral in first describing the condition — noted a possible connection between the newly identified dementia and tuberculosis.
If the germ theory gets traction, even in some Alzheimer's patients, it could trigger a seismic shift in how doctors understand and treat the disease.
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Old 09-10-2018, 10:38 PM   #2
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Really a interesting article.
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Old 09-10-2018, 10:50 PM   #3
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Interesting, the article mentions neurosurgeons and Alzheimer’s. My kid’s best buddy in high school whose dad was a neurosurgeon, who also was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few years back. This guy always trailed me for back to school night for parents, he’s not old, he’s and his wife are both Indian doctors, so that means he consumes a fair amount of turmeric but I guess it didn’t help. So my theory that turmeric helps with inflammation of the brain may not be correct at all.
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Old 09-11-2018, 06:54 AM   #4
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Going through what I could understand of the journals at our local medical school's library, I came to the belief that dementia was caused by a form of inflammatory response caused by something that got through the blood-brain barrier.

My Mom had several serious childhood infections...then was diagnosed with a non-Alzheimer's form of dementia around age 50.

Though, it was clear years earlier that something was wrong with her.
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Old 09-11-2018, 07:08 AM   #5
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The article ended with the analog to ulcers. We grew up thinking most ulcers were from "stress" and to treat them, change diet and get rid of acid.

And then, bam, it turns out it is a bacteria.

We had a friend die from a related dementia. She was a surgical nurse. One has to wonder...
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Old 09-11-2018, 01:50 PM   #6
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Both uncles died from Alzheimers. Then their primary caregivers - the aunts - turned up with it.

I have long suspected it is contagious. Bad news for the many, many caregiver spouses.
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Old 09-11-2018, 02:31 PM   #7
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I had a good friend with Alzheimer’s who I spent a lot of time with the last few years of her life. Doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling if it’s germ related.
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Old 09-11-2018, 02:34 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by JoeWras View Post
The article ended with the analog to ulcers. We grew up thinking most ulcers were from "stress" and to treat them, change diet and get rid of acid.

And then, bam, it turns out it is a bacteria.

We had a friend die from a related dementia. She was a surgical nurse. One has to wonder...
Not to side-track from the topic, but not all GI ulcers are caused by bacteria. I don't know percentages, but some are caused by Helicobacter pylori bacteria, some by overuse of Nsaids, and others are idiopathic. The idiopathic ones do seem to follow a family history of ulcers. That's how I got mine.

Now back to Alzheimer's.....
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Old 09-11-2018, 02:47 PM   #9
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A very special man by the name of Dr. William Walsh has been studying mental health disorders and how to treat them. He wrote an amazing book called Nutrient Therapy, which has information that literally cured my wife's bipolar 1. Turns out, there's a disorder called Pyroluria that's very easy to test for, that causes a B6 and Zinc deficiency in your body. After she started to supplement with these 2 (and P5P) her symptoms are GONE. Seriously. Life changing. It's likely the cause for the vast majority of mental health issues in the world, but it isn't widely known about and is generally not accepted, which is total BS. Anywho...

In chapter 9, he covers Alzheimer's Disease. While they're still learning about this terrible disease, they have made some progress. Since I'm such a nice guy, I'll type up the last few paragraphs of the chapter:


The Case for Metallothionein

Two separate autopsy studies have reported severe deficiency of MT(metallothionein) protein levels in deceased AD patients. MT proteins have several protective functions in the brain including the following:
Preventing toxic metals from passing the blood-brain barrier
Regulation of copper levels
Powerful antioxidant action against free radicals

The protective properties of MT depend on ample amounts of glutathione and selenium, and I often refer to these antioxidants as the Three Musketeers. Gene expression of MT is zinc dependent, and most AD patients are depleted in zinc. MT proteins are far more powerful than selenium, coenzyme Q10, vitamins C and E, and other antioxidants that have been used in experimental AD therapies. In 2007, I received a US patent for an MT-Promotion formulation for the treatment of AD. This formulation is comprised of 22 biochemical factors known to enhance the gene expression and functioning of MT. The treatment is a two-step process: normalization of plasma zinc levels followed by MT-Promotion therapy. A reliable caretaker is essential for treatment compliance since the AD patients may forget to take the capsules or take them repeatedly the same day. This treatment has been provided to more than 100 AD patients, resulting in many reports of improvement.

The first case involved an elderly Minnesota woman who had been diagnosed with AD and was a resident in a health care facility in the year 2000. She no longer remembered her grandchildren and was reported to have lost her sparkly and enthusiasm for life. After two months of MT-Promotion therapy, the family reported a partial return of memory and recognition of her grandchildren. They added that her irritability and malaise had disappeared and she wanted to go shopping. Her mental functioning remained fairly stable for the last seven years of her life.

Encouraged by this case history, we provided MT-Promotion therapy to increasing number of AD patients. In 2007, researcher Aditi AGulibani and I reviewed the progress of the first 60 AD patients who received MT-Promotion therapy. We learned that approximately 70% of the families reported a partial return of memory followed by stable mental functioning the continued for several years. In collaboration with Dr. John Crayton, CANTAB system testing was performed before and after treatment for dozens of patients, and in most cases, the data confirmed the reports of improved memory and stable cognitive function. Several of the improved patients were eventually told that they had been misdiagnosed, apparently since they hadn't deteriorated and died. Diagnosis of AD is preliminary prior to autopsy, so we cannot be certain that all of these patients actually had AD. It's also possible that some of the nonresponders had Lewy body disease or vascular dementia and not AD. In addition, the absence of a blinded control study means that the MT-Promotion approach must be regarded as unproven. Still, the positive reports from the first 100 persons treated with the MT-Promotion protocol suggests this approach is promising and worthy of additional study.
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Old 09-11-2018, 02:53 PM   #10
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Vascular dementia, I’ve heard a lot about this, but don’t really know exactly what it is. My husband’s best friend MIL has this
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Old 09-11-2018, 03:54 PM   #11
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"Norins is quick to cite sources and studies supporting his claim, among them a 2010 study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery showing that neurosurgeons die from Alzheimer's at a seven-fold higher rate than they do from other disorders.

Another study from that same year, published in The Journal of the American Geriatric Society, found that people whose spouses have dementia are at a six-times greater risk for the condition themselves.

Contagion does come to mind."


Holy crap!
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Old 09-11-2018, 04:06 PM   #12
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[I]"Norins is quick to cite sources and studies supporting his claim, among them a 2010 study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery showing that neurosurgeons die from Alzheimer's at a seven-fold higher rate than they do from other disorders."
Hmm... not sure how to parse this. Does this mean that the study found that neurosurgeons die from AD at a seven-fold higher rate than other conditions like cancer or heart disease? Or does it mean that they are 7 times more likely than non-neurosurgeons to die from AD? I would guess it's the latter, but the wording sounds like it's the former.
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Old 09-11-2018, 04:26 PM   #13
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With a very personal interest in the subject, the article is very interesting. Along with this, comes a somewhat parallel study about genes and possible editing and altering that could open new vistas .

https://www.firstpost.com/tech/scien...t-5125181.html

Another interesting subject that could be a possible help in solving the Alzheimer's problem. Google for latest articles on "CRISPR".
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Old 09-11-2018, 04:29 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by Fedup View Post
Interesting, the article mentions neurosurgeons and Alzheimer’s. My kid’s best buddy in high school whose dad was a neurosurgeon, who also was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few years back. This guy always trailed me for back to school night for parents, he’s not old, he’s and his wife are both Indian doctors, so that means he consumes a fair amount of turmeric but I guess it didn’t help. So my theory that turmeric helps with inflammation of the brain may not be correct at all.
Or he might have gotten it even earlier if he hadn't eaten lots of turmeric, or it didn't have the preventative effect in him because of a particular quirk of his metabolism....

Remember, the plural of "anecdote" is "anecdotes", not "data".

Seriously though, sorry about your friend.
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Old 09-11-2018, 06:00 PM   #15
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Vascular dementia, I’ve heard a lot about this, but don’t really know exactly what it is. My husband’s best friend MIL has this
Here's a link to the Alzheimer's page about vascular dementia. Seems to be related to strokes.

https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-demen...cular-dementia
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Old 09-11-2018, 06:27 PM   #16
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Yes, vascular dementia is basically when you have a series of small strokes and they cause dementia.
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Old 09-11-2018, 06:31 PM   #17
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Yes, vascular dementia is basically when you have a series of small strokes and they cause dementia.
From what my friend told me, her mom tried to climb out of a window, my dad had stroke and he was paralyzed and used cane. I doubt that he could climb out a window. I admit, I don’t see her mom, she’s in nursing home in Ireland, so I don’t know what state she’s in.
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Old 09-11-2018, 06:50 PM   #18
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The infectious theory of Alzheimer's is interesting, but my guess is that the insulin resistance/diabetes hypotheses will be proven to be more accurate eventually. In fact, some researchers now refer to Alzheimer's as "Type 3 Diabetes". Here is a link to an article with more information about that.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/

A quote from the Conclusions section of the article:

"Altogether, the results from these studies provide strong evidence in support of the hypothesis that AD represents a form of diabetes mellitus that selectively afflicts the brain."

If this turns out to be accurate, the good (or at least somewhat encouraging) news is that people can have some influence over whether they ultimately develop Alzheimer's, through lifestyle choices made earlier in life, especially diet and exercise.
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Old 09-11-2018, 07:49 PM   #19
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I did research for 4 years at one of the Alzheimer's Research Centers in the 1990's . We use to joke that if AD was infectious, we'd all be on the memory unit together. Not sure it is funny now.......... I agree though, we know so little about Alzheimer's despite decades of research.
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Old 09-14-2018, 08:14 PM   #20
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The infectious theory of Alzheimer's is interesting, but my guess is that the insulin resistance/diabetes hypotheses will be proven to be more accurate eventually. In fact, some researchers now refer to Alzheimer's as "Type 3 Diabetes". Here is a link to an article with more information about that.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/

A quote from the Conclusions section of the article:

"Altogether, the results from these studies provide strong evidence in support of the hypothesis that AD represents a form of diabetes mellitus that selectively afflicts the brain."

If this turns out to be accurate, the good (or at least somewhat encouraging) news is that people can have some influence over whether they ultimately develop Alzheimer's, through lifestyle choices made earlier in life, especially diet and exercise.
You beat me to it.
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