A major mystery in Alzheimerâs disease research is why some brain cells succumb to the creeping pathology of the disease years before symptoms first appear, while others seem impervious to the degeneration surrounding them until the diseaseâs final stages. Â
An image of human brain samples used to study why some brain cells are more vulnerable to Alzheimerâs disease than others.
Image by Rana Eser, UCSF Grinberg lab
Now, in a study published Jan. 10, 2021, in
Nature Neuroscience, a team of molecular biologists and neuropathologists from the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences have joined forces to identify for the first time the neurons that are among the first victims of the disease ââ¯accumulating toxic âtanglesâ and dying off earlier than neighboring cells. Â
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Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health developed an infectious disease early warning system that includes areas lacking health clinics participating in infectious disease surveillance. The approach compensates for existing gaps by optimally assigning surveillance sites that support better observation and prediction of the spread of an outbreak, including to areas remaining without surveillance. Details are published in the journal
Nature Communications.
The research team, including Jeffrey Shaman and Sen Pei, have been at the forefront of forecasting and analyzing the spread of COVID-19. Their highly cited paper in the journal
Science Advances estimated the number of lives saved had physical distancing and other measures taken effect one week earlier. They have also led the development of methods to forecast other infectious diseases, including seasonal influenza.
“Of course, we didn’t put Democrats in the vial; we didn’t put Republicans in the vial,” University of Washington’s Dr. Larry Corey writes in a recent COVID-19 Vaccine Matters blog jointly produced by Johns Hopkins University and the UW. While development of vaccines now being distributed to combat COVID-19, the deadly disease caused by the novel coronavirus, are a “remarkable achievement” that demonstrate the power of science to save lives, mistrust and fear continue to cause nearly 40% of Americans to say they would be unlikely to get vaccinated. Larry Corey Some of that mistrust stems from before the pandemic, but unfortunate politicization of COVID-19 vaccine development is also to blame. When the current administration jumped in to claim credit for the rapid development of the vaccines, that act personalized the science behind its creation.
MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: So much has been achieved over the past nine months, with NHS staff and scientists going above and beyond the call of duty and they should be honoured.