A success story

It's been an exciting week for Alzheimer's research!  An international team has identified a gene variant that dramatically increases the risk of developing alzheimer's disease.  This is significant for treatment because it could alert people with a greater likelihood of developing the disease to watch for symptoms, and that could lead to early diagnosis and treatment.  It may also help researchers work out what the gene is doing, and that in turn could lead to new treatments.

The research project, led by scientists at the UK's University College London, found that a variant of the TREM2 gene increases the risk of developing alzheimer's disease threefold.  It's not the only gene linked to the disease, but it has a stronger relationship with alzheimer's than any other gene identified so far.  Interestingly, this gene has a relationship with the immune system, and that could give researchers some clues for what to look for next.  For example, a team in Southampton, UK, are investigating whether inflammation plays a role in the development of Alzheimer's diease.

I'm pleased to be able to tell you that Alzheimer's Research UK funded some of this work.  If you read through a list of the projects they're currently funding, you'll see that they have people investigating an incredibly wide range of issues in causes and treatments.

Running to Save Your Mind

Running is meant to be good for you, and regular activity is said to help reduce the chance of developing dementia and many other illnesses.  So what better way to raise money for dementia research than to run?

In the "run up" to the London Marathon 2013 I'm trying to get myself into some kind of a state of fitness.  Today's effort was just two miles, and I was going for speed.  No such luck - it was a slow two miles - though my fastest time was 6.5 miles per hour, so it wasn't all slow.  I went for the "Tormarton Three Letterbox Run" - so named because it takes in all three of Tormarton's letterboxes - the one outside the excellent Major's Retreat pub, the one on Old Hundred Lane, and the one at the corner of Marshfield Road and Norley Lane.

My thought is that I might make this a regular run for easy days, and see if I can improve my time on each repeat.

This is all in aid of the excellent research funded by Alzheimer's Research UK, and if you would like to make a donation, you can do so here.  After this week's excellent news, I hope you're convinced that this is a winning charity and deserves your support!