Cognitive Labs

Low Bandwidth gets a new meaning.

One of the studies presented at the International Alzheimer's Association Conference was fascinating - asymptomatic APOEe4 positive people - the most reliable genetic indicator of Alzheimer's susceptibility yet identified - seem to have connectivity issues between the hippocampus and posterior cingulated cortex, according to researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

A new MRI technique being developed by Shi Jiang Li and colleagues and tested on 28 subjects, 12 APOEe4 positive, showed that the non APOEe4 group exhibited 65% better connectivity than the APOEe4 group by measuring response across the brain from a resting state.

This correlates rather well with Dr. O'Hara's paper involving the Cognitive Labs tests/games, where APOEe4 individuals were found overall to have lower scales of performance. Fortunately, it's much easier to take our test than to get an MRI. Can you imagine how expensive it would be for 7.4 million MRI sessions to be administered? With no paperwork and bureaucracy allowance (this is an unreal assumption) the cost would be at least $7 billion, and possibly $15-$20 billion, fully allocated.

Now you can take self-assessment in your own hands by putting this sensitive technology on your own website, if you want - it's still free, for now. The upside - a public good, is potentially in the billions per year.

Learning about your own body and mind - before problems and accumulated wear and tear impair performance, can lead to being proactive about your lifestyle, which at present is the best way to stay healthy physically and cognitively.

Labels: apoee4, brain, Jiang, Ohara, Shi, Wisconsin

Gladstone Institute at UCSF and University of Texas researchers have found the APOEe4 genetic marker, known as the most significant genetic risk determinant of Alzheimer's Disease and a factor in heart disease and stroke, also may play a role in the severity of HIV in people who have the disease. Results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A seemingly trifling sequence difference of just one amino acid has profound implications for the structure and function of the APoE4 protein. ApoE4 has an extra intra-molecular bond that results in a more compact structure, and it also is more likely to be unstable, linked to its deleterious effects. Although the apoE3 gene is the most prevalent in all human populations, with frequencies of 50%, the genetic variant that leads to production of apoE4 is also widely distributed; its prevalence is 15.% (Some sources estimate at 20% or more of all humans)

Those with two copies of APOEe4, the homogeneous zygote, had a much more rapid progressions of HIV, leading to death, than those with two copies APOEe3.

The APOEe4 protein is smaller and more compact, but more unstable - than the APOEe2 and APOEe3. The reason for the APOEe4 mutation, it is hypothesized, helped people metabolize a lean, scarce diet and avoid starvation and possibly lowered the chance of child mortality. It also may be linked to colder temperatures, or possibly to those groups with the mutation who migrated into northern latitudes - it is more prevalent in Finland as a percentage of the population than anywhere else on earth, and also amongst relatively homogeneous ethnic groups (for example, German Russians) where increased APOEe4 risk has followed such groups even after migrating to North America where it is seen in distinct family histories of Alzheimer's Disease.

Labels: apoe, apoee3, apoee4, gladstone, homogeneous, texas, ucsf, zygote

Real time DNA replication is featured in the following visualization video...Fascinating. Then test your brain

Labels: apoee4, coglabs, dna, DNA replication, myDNA, youtube

This Flash movie has 160,000 years of human development in just a few minutes - starting in East Central Africa. About 90,000 years ago there was a rapid and deep freezing which wiped out most of early man (a scenario which has been repeated occasionally).

The spread of genetic factors (such as APOEe4, which allowed some individuals to better weather famine) follows along with the migration routes.

Australia was populated long before most of Europe and the Americas.

Labels: africa, apoee4, bradshaw foundation, evolution

Dr. James Watson, usually credited with unraveling of DNA along with Francis Crick, became one of the first people to have his own personal genome mapped - maybe the first.

This entails a thorough assessment which can lead to a better understanding of risk factors for certain diseases and conditions which append their outcomes to genetic antecedents.

Think of it, perhaps, as a structural engineer conducting a risk assessment or failure analysis on a highway overpass or skyscraper - a personal genome map accomplishes this task for the superstucture of your physical body.

With this information in hand, 'bugs' in the program can be identified and corrected, sometimes due to junk code in our DNA left over from an evolutionary branch that was not followed.

With the Brain - APOEe4 positive is one of the genetic conditions to watch for since it greatly impacts Alzheimer's Disease and early onset cases across the human family.
So, exercising your brain and building cognitive reserve is good for everyone - APOEe4 assessment is key for those who are APOEe4 positive. Normally people are diagnosed without any genetic assessment when symptoms are already apparent. APOEe4 begins to impact individuals at a young age before there are any symptoms - knowing about it helps you take charge of your life.

Labels: apoee4, crick, dna, genome mapping, watson