Category Archives: Science

Health, Medical, Research, Science

Alzheimer’s genes advance

MEDICAL RESEARCH

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have discovered many new genes that are linked to thinking and cognitive skills. The breakthrough could help in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.

SCIENTISTS have discovered nearly 150 genes linked to thinking skills in a breakthrough that could help combat Alzheimer’s disease.

A team lead by the University of Edinburgh found 148 genes that could have an impact on thinking skills – such as memory, reasoning, speed of mental processing and spatial awareness.

. See also New biological marker could detect Alzheimer’s disease ten years before symptoms appear…

Scientists said the results could help understanding of the declines in cognitive function that happen with illness as people age.

The study analysed data from 300,486 people aged between 16 and 102 who had taken part in 57 cohort studies in Australia, Europe and North America.

Dr Gall Davies, of the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, who led the analysis, said: ‘This study, the largest genetic study of cognitive function, has identified many genetic differences that contribute to the heritability of thinking skills.

‘The discovery of shared genetic effects on health outcomes and brain structure provides a foundation for exploring the mechanisms by which these differences influence thinking skills throughout a lifetime.’

As well as having better thinking skills, the genetic areas are associated with better cardiovascular and mental health, lower risk of lung cancer and longer life.

Those who participated in the study, first published in Nature Communications, had taken a variety of thinking and mental tests which were summarised as a general cognitive ability score.

All had genetic testing that examined their DNA, and none had dementia or a stroke.

Medicine Chest

Brazil Nuts

. Brazil Nuts – Selenium is found in Brazil nuts, which are actually one of the very few good sources of this mineral, needed in the body to make the antioxidant enzyme called glutathione peroxidase, which help prevent free-radical damage to your cells.

Studies continue to show that people who eat selenium-rich food greatly reduce their risk of developing cancer and heart disease. Research also indicates that selenium helps the kidneys to clean toxins from the body more efficiently. Other sources include whole-grain cereals, seafood and seaweed.

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Medical, Research, Science, Society

Research reveals a healthy diet helps to stave off dementia

RESEARCH

Dementia fighting foods. Research reveals a diet that is rich in these foods can lead to a bigger brain which reduces the likelihood of contracting dementia.

EATING healthily could ward off dementia and make your brain more than six months younger.

Researchers say people who eat a diet rich in vegetables, fruit, nuts and fish have bigger brains.

The findings are the latest evidence that ‘what is good for the heart is good for the head.’

A healthy diet, long known to protect people from heart problems, was found to add to brain volume, boosting people’s grey matter and the volume of their hippocampus – the brain’s memory centre. Across more than 4,500 people aged 45 and older, eating well was found to give people an average extra brain volume of two millimetres.

That is the equivalent of a brain being more than six months younger, as it shrinks with age. Having a larger brain is thought to ward off memory loss, which can often be followed by dementia.

Dr Meike Vernooij, co-author of the Dutch study from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, said: ‘People with greater brain volume have been shown to have better cognitive abilities, so initiatives that help to improve diet may be a good strategy to maintain thinking skills in older adults.’

He called for more research to ‘examine the pathways through which diet can affect the brain’. A healthy diet is believed to strengthen connections in the brain and ward off inevitable age-related decline.

The latest study, which was first published in the journal Neurology, involved people with an average age of 66 who were dementia-free. They were questioned on their diet, which was ranked with a score of zero to 14. The best were judged high in vegetables, fruit, nuts, whole grains, dairy and fish.

Participants then had MRI scans to determine their brain volume. Even considering brain-shrinking activities such as smoking and failing to exercise, those who ate well had an average of two millimetres more brain volume than those who did not.

Dr Sara Imarisio, of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said brain size was a useful indicator of brain health but the study did not allow any ‘firm conclusions’ about how diet quality relates to the development of dementia.

But she added: ‘Research suggests a healthy diet may help to reduce the risk of dementia, and Alzheimer’s Research is supporting pioneering research into ways we can encourage people at risk to adopt a Mediterranean diet.’

. You might also like Research reveals that walking is better for the brain than cycling

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Legal, Science, Scotland, Society, Technology

Forensic Science: Scientists will bring an end to unsolved crime

FORENSICS

SCOTLAND’S top forensics scientist has predicted it will be virtually impossible to get away with a crime within a generation due to advances in DNA technology.

The director of forensic services at the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), Tom Nelson, said rapid improvements made it more likely that criminals would always be found out.

. Related DNA Phenotyping…

He said the SPA was looking at ’12 cold cases’ in which modern techniques were being used to analyse old evidence in an effort to bring offenders to justice.

New methods mean DNA traces can be found on clothing and other materials even when there is no blood – something that would have been impossible in the past.

Mr Nelson said one of the guiding principles of forensic science is ‘every contact leaves a trace’.

He said: ‘We may be recovering material at the moment which doesn’t necessarily allow us to detect an individual but, as science develops in the next 15 years, that will become possible – science is always moving on.’

Mr Nelson said the challenge for police forensics experts was to ‘throw everything that we have in our toolbox’ at securing genetic samples from crime scenes.

He said that thanks to improvements in DNA analysis ‘an individual may commit a crime and think they have got away with it for a number of years, but I believe that individual will be detected’.

The SPA’s current caseload features 12 cold cases, stretching back up to 20 years, in which forensic investigators are analysing evidence to gauge whether new breakthroughs are possible.

Mr Nelson pointed to forensics work which contributed to the conviction of nine members of a gang who were jailed for a total of 87 years in January for drug and gun offences.

Their crimes included the ‘merciless’ torture of a man over a cocaine debt and an arsenal of weapons hidden in a car. A report by Mr Nelson revealed that more than 200 DNA samples were recovered from seized firearms. More than 1,000 DNA samples and 1,000 fingerprints were recovered from various scenes.

The results of these tests identified all of the initial suspects in the case and uncovered an additional six people that were not initially linked to the group until the forensic results were provided.

Mr Nelson’s report states: ‘Criminals should be aware that they cannot escape without leaving traces of material at the scene of their crime.’

Modern forensic techniques include DNA 24, a profile kit which targets 24 parts of a person’s DNA, whereas in the past it was only possible to look at 11 areas.

However, the daughter of a former police officer, who was wrongly accused of perjury when a fingerprint found at a murder scene in 1997 was mistakenly identified as hers, questioned the SPA’s confidence in forensic science.

He said: ‘While forensics has come a long way, they still perpetuate this fiction of perfection which is not true – rubbish in, rubbish out. Human error in the collection of forensic evidence and in its analysis is still a contributor to miscarriages of justice.’

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