Ultrasound triggers brain's waste disposal system in Alzheimer's patients:
Using ultrasound as a way of treating Alzheimer's is starting to gain some traction on the back of promising research in rodents. Much of this centers on how targeted ultrasound can open the blood brain barrier to enable the passage of drugs to destroy the buildup of amyloid plaques, which are associated with the progression of the disease.
In this new study, carried out at West Virginia University, scientists dove a little deeper into the physiological effects of opening the blood brain barrier. The experiments involved three volunteers with early-stage Alzheimer's aged 61, 72 and 73, who received ultrasound treatment targeting the hippocampus, the region associated with learning and memory capacity. Contrast-enhancement dyes were used and observed with MRI scans to track the resulting changes in the brain, which showed the dye moving through what are known as draining veins.
"This imaging pattern was unexpected and enhances our understanding of brain physiology," says Rashi Mehtam, who led the research. "The glymphatic system, which is a fluid-movement and waste-clearance system that's unique to the brain, has been studied in animals, but there is controversy about whether this system truly exists in humans. The imaging pattern that we discuss in the paper offers evidence not only to support that the system does likely exist in humans but that focused ultrasound may modulate fluid movement patterns and immunological responses along this system."
The scientists see this as evidence that using targeted ultrasound to open the blood brain barrier may induce an immunological healing response around the draining veins in early-stage Alzheimer's patients. It also adds to our understanding of the glymphatic system and the different ways we might influence its activity for better health outcomes, which include low-level alcohol consumption, regular deep sleep or even sleeping on your side.
Journal Reference:
Rashi I. Mehta, Jeffrey S. Carpenter, Rupal I.Mehta, et al. Blood-Brain Barrier Opening with MRI-guided Focused Ultrasound Elicits Meningeal Venous Permeability in Humans with Early Alzheimer Disease, Radiology (DOI: 10.1148/radiol.2021200643)
(Score: 2) by Eratosthenes on Monday March 01 2021, @06:02AM (3 children)
But when you are old, and you hit "flush", well, it depends.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 01 2021, @08:10AM (1 child)
Yep, them depends are great when you get old.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 01 2021, @11:09PM
Alzheimer’s is NOT forgetting to zip up, it's forgetting to zip down.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 01 2021, @01:28PM
Sure, but when you’re overdrawn at the memory bank you no longer give a shit how, when, or if you shit. One of the causes of death in old age homes is kidney failure because the person hasn’t had a shit in more than a week and the backed up intestines are putting pressure on the kidneys, causing them to fail.
Old, incredibly fussy eaters, no exercise (physical or mental), just pull the plug, ffs. In such cases Covid has replaced pneumonia as the “widows friend.”
anyone who hasn’t made arrangements to off themselves before that stage is asking for it. Because “long term living home” is a lie. You’re going there to die., not live.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday March 01 2021, @06:37AM
The DOI (10.1148/radiol.2021200643) [nih.gov] got cut off.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday March 01 2021, @06:40AM (5 children)
I was *just* on the phone with a friend talking about how people 200 years ago used to die less of cancer and more of, say, infections, and that cancer and Alzheimer's are something of the final frontier nowadays.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 01 2021, @03:14PM (4 children)
Evolution won't solve this one for us, so we are going to have to do it manually. The Nazis were right all along.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by krishnoid on Monday March 01 2021, @08:30PM (3 children)
Interesting point -- I guess evolution really only works with diseases/disorders visible/indicated before/during typical child-conceiving years, right? So it makes sense that once the human lifespan got longer, problems that show up after that age range are all out of evolution's abliity to correct?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 02 2021, @01:03AM
No, not really. Obviously it's a little harder than a problem that kills you as an embryo. But there are only a few animals that naturally have lifespans longer than their reproductive years, and they're all either domesticated or have social structures where the older members are leaders.
If you have a genetic problem that makes you more infirm in old age, that denies your family the benefits you would otherwise provide (wisdom, leadership, wealth, social status, child care) and can become a burden, all of which disadvantages your genes. The optimal thing is to remain healthy during your old age, and then die quickly - which is also what most people wish for.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 02 2021, @01:20AM (1 child)
The situation is even worse. In Paleolithic age natural selection worked in reverse direction for elder people. If you already have enough children and your contibution to a tribe is diminished, than from evolutionary POV you should die ASAP. That way your kids have more food and better chances to survive and pass you genes. Evolution is cruel. We are fighting agaist of 100k years of natural selection in case of Alzheimer and cancer. Only in Neolithic cultures situation with food is OKish, so you no longer need to spend >50% of your time to be fed. But only for last 10k years.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Tuesday March 02 2021, @02:20PM
There is a bright side to that though - old age is potentially *not* the result of inevitable build up of entropy in genetic information encoded as a babe. Rather, it is a selected-for process to get rid of people who are no longer capable of reproducing. This means that there is not a fundamental reason for old age (for example in terms of entropy and information theory arguments). It *is* a non-communicable disease, and it *is* possible to treat old age. We just don't yet know how.
(Score: 0, Troll) by aristarchus on Monday March 01 2021, @07:20AM (4 children)
Symptoms are, loss of comment counts, no mod points assigned, and a profound inability to recognize alt-right dogwhistles and approve aristarchus submissions. By all accounts, a terminal condition.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 01 2021, @01:38PM (1 child)
Oh, they recognize the alt right - takes one to know one.
Cognitive decline tends to make people conservative. They yearn for the “good ole days” because they can’t process all the new stuff.
Trying to reason with them is as useless as trying to get someone with dementia to know the difference between an IQ test and a test for mental decline if you mistake the latter for the former, you’ve got dementia. If you then brag about how it proves you’re a stable genius, you need to have your blood/brain barrier loosened up - your brain isn’t getting enough oxygen.
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Tuesday March 02 2021, @04:41PM
I have personally seen this on more than one occasion. For example, one of my friends on the East coast became much more conservative and much more religious after suffering several strokes.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 01 2021, @06:07PM
If only we send some high frequencies the way of Joe Bidet, his head would be less full of shit.
(Score: 3, Touché) by bart9h on Monday March 01 2021, @11:06PM
A terminal condition indeed, for those old timers that uses lynx to browse SoylentNews.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by nostyle on Monday March 01 2021, @07:54AM (3 children)
This makes me wonder if those who apply audible sounds to the head, by reading aloud, singing songs, or chanting/reciting
prayersstuff daily have better "brain waste disposal".I have often wondered if such audio frequency sounds had a beneficial effect on the pineal gland, and perhaps other structures in the head.
---
If only I could sing myself healthy!
(Score: 1) by hemocyanin on Monday March 01 2021, @08:37AM
Yes -- but only if done in soprano.
(Score: 1, Troll) by AnonTechie on Monday March 01 2021, @10:46AM (1 child)
You may want to check this out:
Alzheimer’s. Use the Rife or Zapper on the: Alzheimer Disease Frequencies: 0.11, 7.50, 67.50, 92.50, 377.91, 453.72, 515.16, 688.29, 712.00, 995.38, Set the Zapper Digital to automatically run all frequencies in a loop, so the frequencies are continuously produced.
Rife and Zappers Blog [rifeandzappers2.com]
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Tuesday March 02 2021, @02:28PM
Lol.
Better use the right loop frequency else the parasites gonna get you with their Aluminium Toluene pollutants.