Report: Over 5M living with Alzheimer's

[Guest guest]

News item is followed by three abstracts that convey possible associations

between Alzheimer's and at least three metals - mercury, copper, and

aluminum. Search was very non-thorough, intended just to provide a

sampling. Elevated copper is among the risk factors.

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Report: Over 5M living with Alzheimer's

By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer

03/20/2007

http://www.denverpost.com/healthcare/ci_5476832

WASHINGTON- More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's

disease, a 10 percent increase since the last Alzheimer's Association

estimate five years ago—and a count that supports the long-forecast

dementia epidemic as the population grays.

Age is the biggest risk factor, and the report to be released Tuesday

shows the nation is on track for skyrocketing Alzheimer's once the baby

boomers start turning 65 in 2011. Already, one in eight people 65 and

older have the mind-destroying illness, and nearly one in two people over

85.

Unless scientists discover a way to delay Alzheimer's brain attack, some

7.7 million people are expected to have the disease by 2030, the report

says. By 2050, that toll could reach 16 million.

Why? Ironically, in fighting heart disease, cancer and other diseases,

" we're keeping people alive so they can live long enough to get

Alzheimer's disease, " explains association vice president Steve McConnell.

Indeed, government figures released last year that show small drops in

deaths from most of the nation's leading killers between 2000 and

2004—even as deaths attributed to Alzheimer's disease increased 33 percent.

Yet the report also contains a startling finding: Between 200,000 and half

a million people under age 65 have either early-onset Alzheimer's or

another form of dementia. Researchers have been hard-pressed to estimate

of the number of young sufferers.

" I think this has been drastically underreported, " said Dr. Bill Thies,

the Alzheimer's Association's medical director.

He cites as an example a 55-year-old having problems at work, such as

behavior changes or missing deadlines, that may be early signs of brain

impairment but that go unrecognized until they progress to full-scale

memory problems.

The new report—based on federal population counts, not new disease

research—is the first update of the Alzheimer's toll since 2002, when it

was estimated to afflict 4.5 million people. It comes as Congress is

considering funding for research into Alzheimer's and other diseases.

No one knows what causes Alzheimer's creeping brain degeneration. It

gradually robs sufferers of their memories and ability to care for

themselves, eventually killing them. There is no known cure, and today's

drugs only temporarily alleviate symptoms.

Because it complicates treatment for every other illness, the new report

shows Medicare spends nearly three times as much for dementia patients'

care as for the average beneficiary—$13,207 a year vs. $4,454. Medicare's

spending on dementia-related care is projected to double to more than $189

million by 2015.

That doesn't include the value of the unpaid round-the-clock care that

families and friends provide the vast majority of Alzheimer's patients who

live at home—a tab the new report calculates at almost $83 billion— or

nursing home costs.

There are nine drugs in late-stage clinical trials, including a few that

aim to slow Alzheimer's worsening. If such drugs pan out, delaying

Alzheimer's symptoms by even a few years could cut by millions the coming

decades' predicted toll, the report notes.

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1: Neurotoxicology. 1997;18(2):315-24.

Mercury vapor inhalation inhibits binding of GTP to tubulin in rat brain:

similarity to a molecular lesion in Alzheimer diseased brain.

Pendergrass JC, Haley BE, Vimy MJ, Winfield SA, Lorscheider FL.

College of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40536, USA.

Hg2+ interacts with brain tubulin and disassembles microtubules that

maintain neurite structure. Since it is well known that Hg vapor (Hg0) is

continuously released from " silver " amalgam tooth fillings and is absorbed

into brain, rats were exposed to Hg0 4h/day for 0, 2, 7, 14 and 28 d at

250 or 300 micrograms Hg/m3 air, concentrations present in mouth air of

some humans with many amalgam fillings. Average rat brain Hg

concentrations increased significantly (11-47 fold) with duration of Hg0

exposure. By 14 d Hg0 exposure, photoaffinity labelling on the

beta-subunit of the tubulin dimer with [alpha 32P] 8N3 GTP in brain

homogenates was decreased 41-74%, upon analysis of SDS-PAGE

autoradiograms. The identical neurochemical lesion of similar or

greater magnitude is evident in Alzheimer brain homogenates from

approximately 80% of patients, when compared to human age-matched

neurological controls. Total tubulin protein levels remained

relatively unchanged between Hg0 exposed rat brains and controls, and

between Alzheimer brains and controls. Since the rate of tubulin

polymerization is dependent upon binding of GTP to tubulin dimers, we

conclude that chronic inhalation of low-level Hg0 can inhibit

polymerization of brain tubulin essential for formation of

microtubules.

Publication Types:

* Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

* Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

PMID: 9291481

2: J Nutr Health Aging. 2006 Jul-Aug;10(4):247-54.

Trace copper levels in the drinking water, but not zinc or aluminum

influence CNS Alzheimer-like pathology.

Sparks DL, Friedland R, Petanceska S, Schreurs BG, Shi J, G,

MA, Sharma A, Derosa S, Ziolkowski C, Stankovic G.

Laboratory for NeurodegenerativeDisease Research, Sun Health

Research Institute, Sun City, AZ, USA.

Mounting evidence suggests copper may influence the progression of

Alzheimer's disease by reducing clearance of the amyloid beta protein

(Abeta) from the brain. Previous experiments show that addition of only

0.12 PPM copper (one-tenth the Environmental Protection Agency Human

consumption limits) to distilled water was sufficient to

precipitate the accumulation of Abeta in the brains of cholesterol-fed

rabbits (1). Here we report that addition of copper to the drinking water

of spontaneously hypercholesterolemic Watanabe rabbits,

cholesterol-fed beagles and rabbits, PS1/APP transgenic mice produced

significantly enhanced brain levels of Abeta. In contrast to the

effects of copper, we found that aluminum- or zinc-ion-supplemented

distilled water did not have a significant effect on brain Ab

accumulation in cholesterol-fed rabbits. We also report that

administration of distilled water produced a reduction in the expected

accumulation of Ab in three separate animal models. Collectively,

these data suggest that water quality may have a significant influence on

disease progression and Ab neuropathology in AD.

Publication Types:

* Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

* Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 16886094

2: J Alzheimers Dis. 2005 Aug;7(4):273-84

Brain aluminum, magnesium and phosphorus contents of control and

Alzheimer-diseased patients.

Andrasi E, Pali N, Molnar Z, Kosel S.

Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, L. Eotvos University,

Budapest, Hungary. anal@...

A study was undertaken to determine Al, Mg and P concentrations in 5

different brain regions of 3 control and 3 Alzheimer-diseased

patients. One of the aims of this work was to evaluate the performance of

applied analytical techniques. The digested samples were analyzed by

inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry for Al, Mg and P.

The dried samples were measured by instrumental neutron

activation analysis for Al and Mg. The determination of human brain Al

levels is complicated by the interfering reaction of P. We have

previously worked out an analytical method which can eliminate this

interference. The accuracy of the measured data was investigated by the

analysis of biological standard reference materials. Our second goal was

to study the possible elemental concentration changes in

Alzheimer-diseased patients. Significantly higher Al and lower Mg and P

values were found in some AD brain regions compared to the controls.

Publication Types:

* Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 16131728

*

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