A blood test that detects ten types of lipids in a person's blood has been shown to predict whether a person will develop Alzheimer's disease. This test will hopefully be made available within the next two years. If this test proves to be successful, it could make it possible to identify a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's before they show symptoms. Although there has been no proven treatment for Alzheimer's, identifying a person's risk before they show symptoms opens doors for new treatment options.
Researchers from The University of Rochester, Georgetown University and UC Irvine recruited 525 subjects over the age of seventy. They tested their blood and waiting to see if they developed dementia symptoms. Forty-six subjects were diagnosed with Alzheimer's after entering the test. Twenty-eight others went on to develop a more mild case that will later develop into a more serious case.
Later, researchers gathered forty-one other recruits. Twenty-one of which had developed early Alzheimer's and twenty had not. The researchers did not know who had Alzheimer's and who did not; they did this to see if they could identify the recruits with Alzheimer's. As a result, they found that they could identify a person with Alzheimer's with a 90% accuracy.
This connects to class because it is such a widespread problem for people around the world. In class, we discuss diseases that affect a large number of people. Also, researchers are looking for a cure. In class, we often discuss diseases that did not have a cure at the time, I think it is interesting to think that years from now people will be looking back on Alzheimer's and wondering why it took us so long to find a cure.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-blood-test-alzheimers-disease-20140310,0,1626721.story#axzz2vkdoom00
I think this is a great article and that this test will hopefully be successful in the future. I think it's amazing that researchers were able to find out who had alzheimer's and who did not with a 90% accuracy. My great-grandfather had alzheimer's and if this test was around back then I know it would have made a big difference knowing he would have alzheimer's before it happened. I also thought this article seemed very interesting and I hope it turns out to be successful in the future.
ReplyDeleteI like your chose of article and it's relation to the everyday lives of people you know. It's a sad but true fact that many of our loved ones are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. I wonder how they will apply this new knowledge once finalized. Will everyone be tested or perhaps just people with disease in the family. Also, could other diseases be spotted in this manner and thus slow it's progression as well? Very interesting! Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis was a really great article, I had no idea that there was any form of treatment/prevention for Alzheimer's available in the world today. Like you said, tons of people worldwide are affected by this condition and it strains many families when the disease begins to show in elders. The thing that interested me most about this article is how simplistic the test is to detect such a widespread and heavy-hitting form of dementia. The fact that just ten lipids being present in an individual's bloodstream is able to predict their likelihood of developing Alzheimer's is shocking, and begs the question as to why it took them so long to figure this out. Additionally, the 90% accuracy is appealing, but it shows that 10% of people could still be misdiagnosed, which could end in some questionable ethics. Overall, though, this article was pretty eye-opening on how we should approach Alzheimer's treatment.
ReplyDeleteAlzheimer's is a frightening disease because we know so little about it. Up until recently, it was such a mystery to scientists and terrifying for the public. This article really shows how far medicine has come. The fact that we can now predict the disease so early and with 90% accuracy is really impressive. This will definitely allow better treatments for the disease in the future.
ReplyDeleteLizzy, this article was very well written and very interesting. I did know that they were coming up with a test to check for Alzheimer's, but I didn't realize how accurate it was. My question for at least myself or for a member of my family would be but do you really want to know the results of such a test since there is currently no cure? While Alzheimer's is not an infectious disease I do believe that it definitely relates to our class since the number of people with this disease is growing.
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was really interesting because you summed it up nicely and you made it interesting. Alzheimer's is so scary because once diagnosed there is no going back. I think it is interesting how scientists are trying different studies to try and figure out a plan to hopefully someday have a cure for this disease. I know from a personal experience, that it is not easy and only gets harder as the patient worsens. Hopefully in the future someone will come up with a way to end Alzheimer's Disease.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed reading this article because of all the new developments in how our genetics and what we can predict from our DNA. Alzheimer's is a disease that not only connects to what we learn in a science classroom but also has connections to psychology. With science we can hopefully predict who will develop this widespread disease. However I believe it will be in the psychological aspects of the disease that we will find solutions and cures. But who knows, science and DNA research so far has allowed us to learn more and more about the human mind and how it works then scientists could have anticipated 50 years ago.
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