{"id":2312,"date":"2007-01-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/2007\/01\/25\/active-minds\/"},"modified":"2007-01-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-25T00:00:00","slug":"active-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rakansarawak.com\/active-minds\/","title":{"rendered":"Active Minds"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first time, scientists have shown
\nthat learning slows the build-up in the brain of protein plaques and tangles
\nthat are the signature of Alzheimer's disease.<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Although the study was conducted in mice,
\nit does reinforce the idea that, in humans, maintaining an active mind may help
\ndelay or even prevent Alzheimer's disease. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

"This has shown for the first time
\nthat using your brain can protect you physically," said Kim Green, co-lead
\nauthor of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of
\nCalifornia, Irvine. "We show that when you do this, it causes changes in
\nthe brain, and these changes are protective." <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Many experts believe that Alzheimer's is
\ncaused by a steady accumulation of amyloid plaque proteins in the brain. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Previous studies had shown that
\n"mental exercise" could delay the onset of the disease, but the proof
\ncame only in the form of memory and other cognitive testing measures.<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The authors of this study, which is published
\nin the Jan. 24, 2007 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, wanted to see if
\nthere was a biological correlation for those encouraging results.<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The study involved hundreds of
\n"transgenic" mice — mice that had been genetically altered to
\ndevelop human Alzheimer's disease. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Mice in a "learning" group were
\nallowed to swim in a tank of water until they discovered a submerged platform
\non which to stand. This training took place four times a day for one week at
\ntwo, six, nine, 12, 15 and 18 months of age. The other group of mice swam in
\nthe tank just once before their learning and memory skills were tested and
\ntheir brains examined. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Mice up to 1 year old in the learning
\ngroup developed 60 percent less of the proteins that form plaques and tangles
\ncompared to mice in the non-learning group, the researchers found. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

"The sort of learning we gave the
\nanimals was fairly mild, yet it still had a big effect," Green said. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

However, by 15 months of age, the learning
\nmice had declined and were now physically and cognitively identical to the
\nnon-learning mice. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Can these findings be extrapolated to
\nhumans? <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

"We do find a lot of similarities,
\nbut clinical data also backs up what we've shown in this study," Green
\nsaid. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

"I think it's reasonable to
\nextrapolate," Kennedy added. "The recommendation certainly is to keep
\nyour mind active." <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

"Think of the brain as a
\ncomputer," Kennedy continued. "Alzheimer's degrades the hardware, and
\neducation enhances the software. The brain is also a muscle, and conditioning
\nmay protect it." <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Green and his colleagues hope to use the
\ninformation to one day develop a drug for the disease. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

"We want to identify exactly how
\nlearning influences pathology and identify a novel drug target," he said. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

source : www.mentalhelp.net<\/i><\/font><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May Keep Alzheimer's at Bay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3166],"class_list":["post-2312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-featured","tag-gaya-hidup-sihat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rakansarawak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rakansarawak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rakansarawak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rakansarawak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rakansarawak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rakansarawak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rakansarawak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rakansarawak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rakansarawak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}