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spraak

Another theory is that Alzheimer's is a vascular disease [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6], i.e. atherosclerosis of the brain.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12480752

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24489130

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23239205

[4] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20695015

[5] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15699381

[6] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23204143

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This would make sense. HerpesVirus has been shown to cause atherosclerosis as well, in humans. The connection? Herpes binds to the APOE gene sitting on cholesterol-carrying LDL particles ....

https://medium.com/@InfinoMe/cholesterol-have-we-shot-the-me...

I spent 3 years in one of the nations top alzheimers centers. It is still shocking to me how some of the seasoned veteran professors in the field are both unfamiliar with the 20 years of viral literature behind Alzheimers, but that they also completely write it off as being unlikely. Curing alzheimers starts with curing the old dogma pervasive in the field.

Incidentally, the time is now for young hackers to get into biomedicine. We need you.

So maddening to hear that! The funding should be diverse enough not to go to all the veterans.

Sadly, the requisites to enter in biomedicine research are overhelming.

Nada - most hospitals really need computational help. If you come in and have machine learning chops, you can do can even do better financially than most bench biologists.

Starting your way in IT and working into a data science role is definitely possible, regardless of credentials. It's all a matter of finding the right lab and project.

So what's up with tangentially related associations like Parkinsons, Lewy Body dementia (see: Robin Williams) and also Chicken Pox and Shingles. Aren't these all a relatable set of problems, then?

I personally think so, yes. Evidence in the literature is more scant, but there are documented cases.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-0404....

The more I think about the anatomy of cranial nerves, the more I wonder if different dementia subtypes are caused by different viral strains that have gotten really great at infecting specific nerves. Take for example the trigeminal nerve. There is literature out there showing that a large fraction of people (>70%) have HSV-1 present there at time of death : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3546524/

How would the virus get in? Im wondering if its via the nerves in your teeth! http://teachmeanatomy.info/head/cranial-nerves/trigeminal-ne...

For dementia .... still working on that.... Im convinced though now that frontotemporal dementia might have something to do with the facial nerve getting infected somehow. It would make sense, given the facial paralysis present in bvFTD patients. Can't find it now, but theres a paper out there connecting coxsackievirus to FTD

EDIT: BTW, for shingles, connection is much stronger with Alzheimers

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5699837/

There actually exists a type of Dementia called Vascular Dementia too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vascular_dementia

It's more recently called diabetes type 3, too, which would also make some sense, as diabetes and atherosclerosis have also been linked.

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