Cognitive Labs

Duke researchers are asserting that eating curry-prepared foods two or more times per week may reduce the chance of Alzheimer's by targeting amyloid plaque formations.

In particular, the team of scientists believes that curcumin, which helps to make up the spice tumeric, works to prevent the spread of amyloid protein plaques in the brain, linked to the onset of Alzheimer's in a number of previous studies.



Speaking at the annual meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK, lead researcher Professor Murali Doraiswamy said: "There is very solid evidence that curcumin binds to plaques, and basic research on animals engineered to produce human amyloid plaques has shown benefits."

Greg Cole at UCLA has found similar benefits in other research. 1 | pdf

The most common form of dementia, Alzheimer's disease was first recognised by the German neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer in 1905.

Labels: amyloid, cole, curcumin, doraiswamy, Duke, tumeric, ucla

The lack of expression of the gene UBE3A on the 15th chromosome manifests itself in the brain through a severe inability to learn, according to UNC and Duke University researchers.

This inactive gene disables neuron communications, so the brain is unable to encode experiences into memory or learned paractice. One of the medical terms for the resulting condition is Angelman Syndrome. Understanding the genetics behind the condition may offer hope for solutions in the future.

Science Release at EurekaAlert.

Labels: angelman, Duke, syndrome, UBE3A, unc

Duke University researchers have found that individual differences in disease through genetic heritability can sometimes be explained by an 'on' or 'off' switch which governs the activity of the genes.

Labels: binary, Duke, genes

Although it’s true that sleep deprivation can lead to short-term memory loss, new research suggests it’s not that our minds become too tired to absorb new material, but that the information doesn’t get relayed past the eyes.

Experiments show that visual processing is impaired in the sleep-deprived, scientists reported last month.

Those short on sleep can only see and take in a small number of objects at a time. Anything over a certain threshold is lost.

“When people are sleep-deprived, they may not be seeing what they think they should be seeing, and it appears that this is what contributes to memory declines following sleep deprivation,” said Dr. Michael Chee, a neuroscientist at the National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School. He headed the team of researchers from his institution and Duke University.

The study involved 30 healthy volunteers whose memory was tested after a regular night’s sleep and after going 24 hours with no sleep.

“We generally think of memory decline as a result of faulty storage of information,” Chee said. “However, if the information is not properly handled by the visual system, either as a result of a failure to direct attention appropriately or a failure of visual areas (of the brain) to process what is seen, you can forget about the later stages of information consolidation and storage.”

Chee’s findings were published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

He noted that a small group of sleep-deprived volunteers who had better performance in the tests were more able to tune out distractions, “but even they suffered from compromised visual attention and processing.”

In his next round of experiments, Chee wants to use brain imaging during tests to see if there are structural differences in the brains of people who are more or less susceptible to attention deficits from sleep deprivation.

Individuals who are less susceptible might make better candidates for long shifts at air traffic control centers, power plants or emergency dispatch centers, the researcher suggests.

And while we’re talking about attention deficits, can we not talk about them in a crowded car?

Australian researchers – including some who first noted that a driver who chats on a cell phone quadruples his risk of ramming another car – now say that driving with passengers substantially increases the risk of a serious crash, no matter how old the driver is. This is especially the case when driving with two or more passengers.

“Drivers with passengers were more than 60 percent more likely to have a motor-vehicle crash resulting in hospitalization, irrespective of their age group,” said Dr. Susanne McEvoy, lead investigator for the project at the George Institute for International Health in Sydney.

“The likelihood of a crash was more than doubled in the presence of two or more passengers,” McEvoy added.

The distraction level was not as great as that reported from phone use. But a lot more people drive with passengers than talk on phones in transit, so the toll from this kind of distraction is likely higher.

In addition, the researchers said the distraction risk is probably just one part of the equation for those most easily diverted – teenagers. They run extra risks from riding with other teens because peer pressure and showing off make them do stupid things.

Labels: Duke, memory loss, sleep deprivation