Decoding Darkness: The Search for the Genetic Causes of Alzheimer's Disease Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Decoding Darkness: The Search for the Genetic Causes of Alzheimer's Disease Book

Alzheimer's disease, a fatal, annihilating brain disorder, affects millions of men and women around the world. In the United States alone, perhaps one in five persons aged 75 or older suffers from it, though hundreds of thousands of younger people also bear the condition. Despite its ubiquity, the malady was, until recently, considered a "backwater disease" to which little research attention (and funding) was paid. Advances in gene research, some spearheaded by neurologist Rudolph Tanzi, have led to a new understanding of the causes of Alzheimer's disease, and new possibilities for its cure. In this well-written account of that research, Tanzi and journalist co-author Ann Parson examine the role of amyloid neuritic plaque, "mucked-up, misfolded protein that fibrilises and forms rock-hard aggregates that the body can't get rid of". This plaque occurs in humans and certain other carnivorous species (including bears and dogs), and it appears to play a role in neurological disorders of several kinds. Tanzi reports on recent studies in the use of cholesterol-reducing drugs in lessening levels of "brain dirt," as well as on research that suggests that cardiovascular exercise and a diet low in animal fats can benefit the brain as well as the body. He even cautiously hints that the conquest of Alzheimer's may occur in the very near future. For the time being, his book provides a thoughtful portrait of the illness and of the scholars and scientists who have devoted their lives to combating it. --Gregory McNamee Read More

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  • ASDA

    For nearly a century the cause of Alzheimer's has eluded scientists. But research over the past fifteen years has yielded enough knowledge about the disorder's culprit genes and proteins that today drug companies are vying to create a breakthrough drug.

  • Blackwell

    Working from the intriguing hypothesis that Alzheimer's dementia is the result of a renegade protein - beta amyloid - Tanzi and others set out to find the gene responsible for its production. Tanzi and science writer Ann Parson take us deep into...

  • 0738201952
  • 9780738201955
  • Rudolph Tanzi
  • 1 May 2000
  • Perseus Books
  • Hardcover (Book)
  • 304
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