WASHINGTON – More than 35 million people around the world are living with Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia, says the most in-depth attempt yet to assess the brain-destroying illness – and it’s an ominous forecast as the population grays. Read the full story

GENES that increase the risk of Alzheimer’s and a blood protein that speeds up cognitive decline are radically changing our view of the devastating illness. Reported this week, both findings suggest new causes for Alzheimer’s, boosting prospects for its treatment and prevention.

“What we’ve found is absolutely fascinating, and will change the course of research into Alzheimer’s,” says Julie Williams of Cardiff University, UK, who led one of two genetics studies. She says the findings “show us the prime pathways into the disease”.

For the past 20 years, researchers have been trying to treat Alzheimer’s by blocking the accumulation of waxy plaques in the brain, with little success (see “Plaque drug trials fail”). While the exact role of these plaques is still unclear, the new studies suggest that disruptions of the immune system, the way cells metabolise fat, and wear and tear on the circulatory system may be as much to blame for Alzheimer’s, or perhaps even the root cause. Read the full story

LOS ANGELES, California, September 1, 2009 (ENS) – The level of inorganic mercury in the blood of American women has been increasing since 1999 and it is now found in the blood of one in three women, according to a new analysis of government data for more than 6,000 American women.

“My study found compelling evidence that inorganic mercury deposition within the human body is a cumulative process, increasing with age and overall in the population over time,” said author Dan Laks, a neuroscience researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. Read the full story

Mercury, a vaccine preservative, was withdrawn from childhood jabs five years ago after evidence linked it to brain damage.

However, the Sunday Express has discovered the pandemic ­vaccine, to be rolled out across the country within weeks, contains the heavy metal. Read the full story

ScienceDaily (June 18, 2009) — Our ability to withstand stress-related, inflammatory diseases may be associated, not just with our race and sex, but with our personality as well, according to a study published in the July issue of the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity. Especially in aging women, low levels of the personality trait extraversion may signal that blood levels of a key inflammatory molecule have crossed over a threshold linked to a doubling of risk of death within five years.

An emerging area of medical science examines the mind-body connection, and how personality and stress contribute to disease in the aging body. Long-term exposure to hormones released by the brains of people under stress, for instance, takes a toll on organs. Like any injury, this brings a reaction from the body’s immune system, including the release of immune chemicals that trigger inflammation in an attempt to begin the healing process. The same process goes too far as part of diseases from rheumatoid arthritis to Alzheimer’s disease to atherosclerosis, where inflammation contributes to clogged arteries, heart attacks and strokes.

The current study found that that extroverts, and in particular those high “dispositional activity” or engagement in life, have dramatically lower levels of the inflammatory chemical interleukin 6 (IL-6). Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung defined extroverts as focused on the world around them and most happy when active and surrounded by people. Introverts looked inward and were shy.

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