More about Alzheimer's Disease
Scientists have developed skin tests that may be used in the future to identify people with Alzheimer's disease and may ultimately allow physicians to predict who is at risk of getting this neurological disorder.
The only current means of diagnosing the disease in a living patient is a long and expensive series of tests that eliminate every other cause of dementia.
“Since Aloes Alzheimer described the disease nearly a century ago, people have been trying to find a way to accurately diagnose it in its early stages,” said Patricia Grady, acting director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland. “This discovery, if confirmed, could prove a big step forward in our efforts to deal with and understand the disease.”
Alzheimer's is the single greatest cause of mental deterioration in older people, affecting between 2.5 million and 4 million people in the United States alone. The devastating disorder gradually destroys memory and the ability to function, and eventually causes death. There is currently no known treatment for the disease.
Researches discovered that the skin cells of Alzheimer's patients have defects that interfere with their ability to regulate the flow of potassium in and out of the cells. The fact that the cell defects are present in the skin suggests that Alzheimer's results from physiological changes throughout the body, and that dementia may be the first noticeable effect of these changes as the defects affect the cells in the brain, scientists said.
The flow of potassium is especially critical in cells responsible for memory formation. The scientists also found two other defects that affect the cells' supply of calcium, another critical element.
One test developed by researches calls for growing skin cells in a laboratory culture and then testing them with an electrical detector to determine if the microscopic tunnels that govern the flow of potassium are open. Open potassium channels create a unique electrical signature.
A spokesman for the Alzheimer's Association said that if the validity of the diagnostic test can be proven it would be an important development, but cautioned that other promising tests for Alzheimer's have been disappointing.
1. The newly developed skin tests may be used in the future is to allow doctors to
A. cure those with Alzheimer's disease.
B. discover the cause of Alzheimer's disease.
C. predict who might get Alzheimer's disease.
D. find the consequence of Alzheimer's disease.
2. The passage indicates that Alzheimer's is a disease
A. common to people, old and young.
B. not costly to be cured.
C. easy to be handled.
D. not easy to be diagnosed.
3. Which of the following statements about the Alzheimer's disease is NOT true?
A. It was so named because Aloes Alzheimer first described it.
B. It is the greatest cause of mental deterioration in older people.
C. It can destroy memory gradually and eventually cause death.
D. There are many ways to deal with and cure the disease now.
4. Which of the following about the relationship between Alzheimer's and dementia is true?
A. Dementia is one of the signs of Alzheimer's
B. Alzheimer's is one of the causes of dementia.
C. They are two completely different diseases.
D. They are similar defects of the human brain.
5. The last paragraph implies that the diagnostic test
A. will not be as promising as others.
B. is a very important development.
C. may not be proven valid smoothly.
D. will surely be disappointing in the end.
New Attempts to Eradicate AIDS Virus
A high-profile attempt to eradicate the AIDS virus in a few patients continues to show promise.
But researchers won't know for a year or more whether it will work. , scientist David Ho told journalists here Wednesday for the Fourth Conference in Viruses and infections.
“This is a study that's in progress,” says Ho, head of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, New York.
The study involves 20 people who started combinations of anti-HIV drugs very early in the course of the disease, within 90 days of their infections. They've been treated for up to 18 months. Four others have dropped out because of side effects or problems complying with the exacting drug system.
The drugs have knocked the AIDS virus down to undetectable levels in the blood of all remaining patients. And, in the latest development, scientists have now tested lymph nodes and semen from a few patients and found no virus reproducing there, Ho says. “Bear in mind that undetectable does not equal absent，”He says.