A New Way to Solve an Old Problem

Alzheimers disease is a degenerative memory disorder that affects millions of people yearly and unfortunately there is no known cure for it.

Currently, we have an ample knowledge of this subject. Alzheimer's is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks (n.d). In most people with Alzheimer’s, symptoms first appear in their mid-60s. The damage initially appears to take place in the hippocampus, the part of the brain essential in forming memories. As more neurons die, additional parts of the brain are affected. By the final stage of Alzheimer’s, damage is widespread, and brain tissue has shrunk significantly (n.d). 

Because of the detrimental and rapid effects of this disease, scientists have been attempting to find new approaches to treating it. TIME magazine’s journalist Alice Park Wrote an article titled “Alzheimer from a New Angle”, which presents Dr. Frank Longo’s, A neurologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, collected data about his new form of treatment to tackle it. He states, “For decades, scientists have pursued a cure with a nearly single-minded focus on how to treat the disease: by trying to get rid of the hallmark feature of Alzheimer’s, which is sticky, insidious protein plaques of amyloid that they have fought so well in mice”, (Park, 2016). So, instead of going the same route as all the rest he created a pill called LM11A-31 which does not target the amyloid at all (Park, 2016). Instead Dr. Longo’s treatment is simply to keep brain cells strong, protected against neurological onslaughts, whether they’re the effects of amyloid or other factors involved in Alzheimer’s.

Through several trials on both mice and human brains, the data he recorded demonstrates significant improvement in people who have already acquired the disease full on and in those who are at its onset of symptoms. LM11A-31 may become the first drug in this new Alzheimer’s cocktail; the results of the first studies among 72 healthy people who don’t have any signs of the disease are promising (Park,2016). The next step is to see if it can make any difference in their memory and thinking.

The article reaches a very detailed analysis that would be beneficial to read to fully understand the proficiency of this new drug.

The study itself does have a few setbacks. First in the sample size which so far is relatively small as well as confounding variables which depend on the person’s health and mental capacity.

Nonetheless, Dr. Longo’s approach demonstrates that it is always a good idea to take the road less traveled by. His ability to see different angles for such a complex problem brings all those suffering from the disease hope that a cure or at least an improvement in the quality of their lives is just around the corner. This information is pertinent to a general public because Alzheimer affects 1 in every 4 people and your chances of having it increase with age.

The only question left unanswered by this is when is this horrible disease going to finally see an end?

References:

About Alzheimer's Disease: Alzheimer's Basics. (n.d.). Retrieved May 01, 2016, from https://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/topics/alzheimers-basics

Park, A. (2016, February 11). Alzheimer's from a New Angle. Retrieved May 01, 2016, from http://time.com/4217067/alzheimers-from-a-new-angle/

Music: The only food the auditory cortex craves

Music is a universal language and it is usually said to be the food that fills all souls. In an article written in the New York Times by journalist Natalie Angier, it is demonstrated that music is much more than a hypothetical meal it actually owns a small place in our minds (which constitutes as our soul). 

The article states that for years scientist have attempted to find clear evidence of a music-specific region in the brain through conventional brain-scanning technology, but the quest to understand the neural basis of a quintessential human passion have failed (Angier,2016). So, up until this point all that is known about this neural mechanism, being the auditory cortex, is that it is situated in the temporal lobe, it is divided into three separates (primary, secondary, tertiary), and at a base level understanding it receives data from the ventral dissection of the medial geniculate complex. The auditory area is a significant part of the hearing process; its main function is to process sound along with its volume, pitch and location. It is essential to comprehend the spoken language and has specific areas which aid in that such as Wernicke’s for understanding of words and Broca’s for the ability to form coherent sentences (Cheour, 2014). There has never before been evidence that there was an actually distinction between other sounds and music.

Credits to : NeuroanatomyBlogspot

However, researchers at MIT have come up with a radical new approach to brain imaging that reveals what past studies had missed. By mathematically analyzing scans of the auditory cortex and grouping clusters of brain cells with similar activation patterns, the scientists have identified neural pathways that react almost exclusively to the sound of music — any music (Angier, 2016). Other specific sounds like bells, honks or animal noises left that specific circuit unfazed. 

This new discovery expands our knowledge in a particular way. It demonstrates that we, as scientist, still have a lot to figure out about brain connectivity and the underlying role that neural mechanisms play in them. In regards to this information being pertinent to the general public it demonstrates that music can be actually categorized as a form of speech, and for that to be concrete information should be very exciting because it leads back to understanding why we gravitate mostly towards the people with similar music tastes– we understand their language.

References:

Angier, N. (2016). New Ways Into the Brain’s ‘Music Room’. Retrieved April 30, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/science/new-ways-into-the-brains-music-room.html?_r=1

Cheour, M. (2014, May 11). Primary Auditory Cortex Functions. Retrieved May 01, 2016, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/165212-primary-auditory-cortex-functions/