The latest Alzheimer Research Newsletter:
http://www.alzforum.org/
contains a fascinating account of research which has found that some people who appear to have Alzheimer's symptoms do not have the biomarkers indicating the presence of amyloid deposits (plaques) which most people with these symptoms do have.
Regular readers of this blog will know that there seems to be a growing scepticism amongst researchers about the almost universally promoted view that the build up of these plaques in the brain constitutes 'the cause' of the disease.
There is also recently reported research which suggests that some of those with the symptoms but not the plaques tend to have a type of dementia that progresses significantly more slowly than the AD which people with symptoms and plaques have.
The question arises: do these groups of people even have the same disease?
As usual, the reports on this site are quite technical. If anyone can explain these finding more clearly. they are more than welcome to comment.
I have posted prviously about the nuns study
http://adventureswithdementia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/possibly-most-exciting-research-into.html
The research discusssed above might begin to explain why some nuns whose brains post-mortem showed no sign of deposits had all the symptoms of AD. I still await with interest any explanation as to why some nuns had significant deposits but were not, whilst alive, dementia sufferers.
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