A breakthrough study has identified a class of natural gene variants that may protect against Alzheimer’s disease. For the study, researchers at University College London analyzed DNA from more than 10,000 people — half with Alzheimer’s and half without. The investigators found that these gene variants reduce the functioning of proteins called tyrosine phosphatases. These proteins impair the activity of a cell signaling pathway important for cell survival, explained the authors of the study published online Feb. 5 in the Annals of Human Genetics. The pathway could be a key target for drugs to treat Alzheimer’s, and the study authors said that the findings provide more evidence that other genes may be linked to one’s risk for the memory disorder. “These results are quite encouraging. It looks as though when naturally occurring genetic variants reduce the activity of tyrosine phosphatases, then this makes Alzheimer’s disease less likely to develop, suggesting that drugs which have the same effect might also be protective,” lead author David Curtis said in a college news release. He’s a professor of genetics, evolution and environment. Previous research in mice and rats suggested that inhibiting the function of these proteins might help protect against Alzheimer’s, but this study is the first to find such an effect in people. There are already drugs that target tyrosine phosphatases, but they haven’t been tested in…  read on >

People afflicted with cluster headaches miss work twice as often as colleagues without the debilitating headaches, a new study finds. Cluster headaches are extremely painful headaches that last from 15 minutes to three hours, for many days, or even weeks, in a row. They’re more common in men. For the study, Swedish researchers compared more than 3,200 working-age people who get cluster headaches with 16,200 people who don’t have them. In 2010, headache sufferers averaged 16 sick days, compared to just under seven days for the headache-free group, the findings showed. When disability days were added in, people with cluster headaches averaged 63 missed workdays a year. Those without headaches averaged 34. And those with less education missed more work than those with more schooling: 86 days for those who completed only elementary school; 65 for those who finished high school; and 41 days for those who went to college, according to the report. The researchers also found that women with cluster headaches took twice as many sick days (24) as men (12), and had an average of 84 sick and disability days, compared with 53 for men. The study was published online Feb. 5 in the journal Neurology. Author Dr. Christina Sjostrand said the findings show that “cluster headaches dramatically interfere” with people’s capacity to work. She’s a researcher in the department of clinical…  read on >

A new discovery could lead to better treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases, such as psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, researchers report. MS occurs when immune cells get into the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord), causing nerve damage that results in neurological problems. However, the cause is unclear. Studies in a mouse model of MS — called experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) — have shown that immune T-cells, which secrete an immune molecule called IL-17, damage the myelin sheath surrounding nerves in the central nervous system (CNS). Drugs that block IL-17 have shown promise in early clinical trials for treatment of relapsing-remitting MS. The drugs have already been licensed for treating psoriasis. In this new study, researchers at Trinity College Dublin, in Ireland, identified another role that IL-17 plays in EAE, and possibly in MS. However, research in animals doesn’t always pan out in humans. “A key role of IL-17 is to mobilize and activate an army of disease-causing immune cells in the lymph nodes that then migrate to the CNS to cause the nerve damage,” study co-leader Kingston Mills said in a college news release. He’s a professor of experimental immunology. Study co-leader Aoife McGinley said the findings suggest that drugs that block IL-17 may not need to cross the blood-brain barrier to effectively treat MS. She’s a postdoctoral fellow…  read on >

Burns on the face, arms and hands that require skin grafts. Acne boils and ugly rashes. Black hairy tongue and other oral lesions. These are some of the ways that vaping can do serious damage to someone’s skin, a new evidence review shows. For example, an estimated 2,035 people with electronic cigarette burn injuries were treated in U.S. emergency rooms between 2015 and 2017, more than 40 times the number of vaping burns reported between 2009 and 2015, researchers found. Faulty or malfunctioning e-cigarettes can overheat and either explode or burn to the touch, said senior study author Dr. Kurt Ashack, a dermatology resident with the University of Illinois at Chicago. “It could cause a pretty significant burn, where you lose at least the top layer of skin, if not more,” he said. Device explosions also have caused people to lose teeth, the findings showed. The chemicals contained in vaping devices have also been shown to cause skin problems in some users, Ashack added. Some people are allergic to the propylene glycol that is used as the base for most e-liquids, Ashack said. Those folks could develop a rash from exposure. The nickel contained in the device’s heating element also can cause a rash, the researchers said. Cases include a woman with nickel allergy who developed a rash on her dominant hand and swelling of…  read on >