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Researchers Restore Youthful Memory In Aging Mice
An anonymous reader writes "German neuroscientists made a breakthrough in 'age-related cognitive decline', a common condition that often begins in one's late 40s (especially declarative memory — the ability to recall facts and experiences). Their new study identifies a genetic 'switch' for the cluster of learning and memory genes that cause memory impairment in aging mice. By injecting an enzyme, the team 'flipped' the switch to its on position for older mice, giving them the memory and learning performance they'd enjoyed when they were young. Now the team ultimately hopes to recover seemingly lost long-term memory in human patients." The video, which explains the gene flipping mechanism, is worth a watch (2:18).
My grandmother slowly died of Alzheimer's and it could not have been a sadder thing to witness. Bias fully admitted, I can't help but say... Alzheimer's is the 7th leading cause of death and it afflicts 19% of people aged 75-84 and over 40% of people over 84. If we care about our elders and we care about the shoes we will one day fill, we should all help raise awareness and put our spare money and time to good use.
The toll of Alzheimer's on America is estimated at about $100 billion per year. If only we could convince Congress of the simple truth, that this sort of basic research will completely pay for itself in the long run and do wonders for humanity. Unfortunately, we can't depend on someone else to pay for this knowledge and progress. We must all pitch in what we can and help keep this sort of research as well funded as possible.
www.alz.org is a great organization if you have money to donate. Or you can easily start a "Memory Walk" team to go out for a charity walk to raise money and awareness. Plus, can't we all use a good excuse to enjoy a nice day in the sun and have fun with friends and family?
While declarative memory does decline as one ages, only recall memory is affected while the ability to recognize does not significantly decline.
That is, people over 40 tend to decline in scores on fill-in-the-blank tests without a word bank (that require the taker to recall a specific answer) while staying about the same on multiple choice tests, where the answer must be recognized.
Well, illegal unless you live in Mendocino County...
Everything sounds great, except the bit about distance running. Running isn't really good for your body; it's really hard on your joints, especially if you run on concrete or asphalt (which just about everything in a metro area is covered with these days).
I recommend cycling instead. It's better exercise, uses at least as many calories (as long as you don't ride lazily), and doesn't cause joint injuries. It's also a lot better if you're flat-footed like me. It also gets you around a whole lot faster, and if you're really lucky in where you live and work, you might be able to use it for commuting instead of driving, so you can get your exercise as part of going to and from work.
Fuck me!
I'd rather not.
He may have a medical condition like early onset Alzheimers.
Indeed, I specifically excluded people in that type of category.
Try excercising if you're overweight and have some kind of physical injury. The trouble with unhealthy is that a couple of issues can then lead to a spiral. This idea that someone can click their fingers and excercise some will power to get healthy is a luxurious dellusion only healthy people with too much spare time can afford.
I didn't say it was easy, but if they can't find a way to exercise and lose weight, they are going to suffer the consequences. I mean, this is nature: nature doesn't care if it's hard. Hopefully for them they will be one of the lucky people who doesn't see any negative health effects even though they are overweight and treat their body badly. But it's not likely.
Incidentally, regarding the people who treat their bodies badly and still end up healthy, they usually have something else going on that balances it out. Like maybe they eat bacon every day, but they also eat spinach and get lots of exercise. Or maybe they party all night, but then balance it out by sleeping until the afternoon. It's rare to find people who truly abuse their bodies and don't end up paying for it.
Qxe4
Heck, while I'm at it, I found some studies for you. Here's a reference to a study that found exercise even keeps your telomeres in your cells longer. This one at Stanford that lasted 20 years found that running specifically helps keep you healthy, they said, "Elderly runners have fewer disabilities, a longer span of active life and are half as likely as aging nonrunners to die early deaths."
And then there's this one, a study of over 100,000 people that basically found the more you run each week, the less likely you are to develop high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol, although the study author thinks (for whatever it's worth) that a similar effect would be found for swimming or cycling or any other aerobic exercise.
So yeah, there's tons to back up what I said. You may disagree with those studies, and no science is perfect, but there's a good bunch of evidence.
Qxe4
Fail, "postpone the decline" is not a correction of "prolong the decline".
If you previously lost some memory from 40 to 70 but with treatment lose the same memory from 40 to 90 you have prolonged the decline by 20 years. If you instead lose it from 60 to 90 you have postponed the decline by 20 years. In total given all the effects of aging, there will probably be some form of decline so the grandparent is likely more right than you too. Damn, I love zinging a grammar and spelling Nazi.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings