Possible Alzheimer's breakthrough? Go, Aussies, go!

MANY thanks to the friend who introduced me to Collective-Evolution, a website dedicated to inspiring "us to begin expanding our way of thinking so we can take conscious steps towards creating BIG change on the planet."  Gotta love a website committed to expanding our minds & lives!

The CE article she posted was about a potential Alzheimer's breakthrough, out of the University of Queenland's Queensland Brain Institute (QBI).  Using a non-invasive ultrasound technique, they are investigating whether removing toxic plaque & lesions from nerve cells commonly associated with the condition's onset might prove an effective treatment, perhaps "reversing the processes that are commonly associated with the onset of Alzheimer's and other dementia-related diseases."   

According to their findings, published in Science Translational Medicine, QBI researchers have developed a way to treat amyloid plaques & neurofibrillary tangles, the two types of lesions scientists  commonly associate with Alzheimer’s disease.  

The article goes into the details, but to sum up the fascinating findings, the QBI team beams non-invasive ultrasound waves directly into affected brain tissue!  

 

The technique, described in full in the article, allows them to clear out toxins tied to Alzheimer's "most severe symptoms."  They report a hope-inspiring 75% success rate in FULLY restoring memory function for the rats used in the initial testing ~and~ the treatment appears to cause NO brain damage to the surrounding healthy tissue (caps are mine).  

 

To date, researchers have found that treated lab mice showed marked memory improvement in three tasks - a maze, recognizing new objects, and remembering places they should avoid.  Wow!  Go, QBI, go!

Imagining a world with an effective treatment for the disease that has touched so many of my friends.  One that is non-invasive, avoids any drug therapies.  Oh, calm, my beating heart!

QBI's press release expresses relatively (for scientists) unbridled hope - “We’re extremely excited by this innovation of treating Alzheimer’s without using drug therapeutics.  The word ‘breakthrough’ is often misused, but in this case I think this really does fundamentally change our understanding of how to treat this disease, and I foresee a great future for this approach.”

50 million people worldwide are currently affected by Alzheimer's & other dementia-related diseases. Each year, over 7.7 million new cases are reported - that's the number reported, not the total number!  That rate is spiraling as we live longer, making our brains more susceptible to being ravaged.  Scientists expect the reported number to reach 135 million by 2050.  

Researchers at QBI are planning on starting trials soon with sheep & other higher animal models, with human trials targeted to start in 2017.  God speed, QBI.  Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi!!!