Page 70 - LIN M-J-J-2023 web-low

Technically Speaking

forgetting

to forget

Getting old is tough duty.

by Dave Trecker
Your prostate enlarges. You get measured for dentures. You are And there’s another factor. Genes contribute. Even if you take
forever changing your hearing aid batteries. Your hair goes grey, all of the precautions and lead a super-clean life, you can still
then white, then disappears altogether. get Alzheimer’s. Why? Some 70% of the risk is heredity. And,
And worst of all, you can’t remember a thing. unfortunately, you can’t choose your parents.
I know I can’t. I put my reading glasses somewhere, but I have Once Alzheimer’s is diagnosed, what can be done?
no idea where. And I put them down just a few minutes ago. My There’s been plenty of activity, but no breakthroughs. Big
wife can’t find them either.
Pharma has rolled out a continuum of drugs – progressively better
A few days ago I lost my sports jacket. How, you may ask, can
medicines that target the amyloid plaque. All have come under
you lose something as big as a coat? Well, I did. And I have no idea
fire from the medical community because of limited effectiveness.
where it is.
Most promising at this writing is Eisai’s Leqembi, which slows
It’s little comfort to know I’m not alone. A friend tells of
clinical decline by 27% after 18 months of treatment. More
leaving a cane in an airport restroom, then being unable to find the
candidates are in the pipeline.
restroom to retrieve his cane. Another tells of drawing a complete
But we may not be limited to drugs. There’s an altogether
blank when trying to remember where he parked his car. Was it in
a lot or a parking garage or along some street? It took him an hour different approach that’s generating excitement.
and a half of random wandering to find it. Zapping the brain with an electrical current that mimics
Unfortunately memory loss will be a constant companion neural activity appears to boost memory. Reporting in the journal
as we get older. Over 20% of the population over the age of 60 Nature Neuroscience, researchers at Boston University tell of
is afflicted, and nearly half of the greybeards over 85 have some experiments to test recall in 150 people aged 65-88. Participants
form of it. Naples, with its many elderly retirees, is a cauldron of listened to, then tried to remember a list of things while different
forgetfulness. parts of their brains were popped with current delivered through
The medical community tells us not everyone who suffers from electrode-studded hats.
memory loss has dementia, and those who do can be afflicted by And it worked. The electrical stimulation improved memory
any of a number of different types. by 50-65% over four days of treatment. Scientists were able to
The big kahuna is Alzheimer’s disease, a neurological disorder zero in on what frequencies worked best and what areas of the
that’s the cause of 60-70% of dementia cases. It affects 6.5 million
brain were most receptive.
Americans and is our 6th leading cause of death.
It’s breakthrough stuff, but still years away from home use.
Recent studies have confirmed that Alzheimer’s symptoms
But it’s coming. Imagine picking up the lightweight gadget
result from a buildup of beta-amyloid into a sticky plaque that
at your local pharmacy and settling into a routine of cognitive
disrupts neuron connectors.
improvement.
What causes the amyloid buildup is uncertain. Although not all
First you have breakfast. Then you brush your teeth. Then you
studies have been rigorous, some findings are emerging.
improve your memory for 20 minutes. Then you do your daily
And to no one’s surprise, lifestyle plays a role.
chores.
You can reduce your chances of getting Alzheimer’s by reducing
You know it might be worth a try.
stress, controlling your weight, getting plenty of sleep, exercising
regularly, eating well-balanced meals, keeping mentally active. I still can’t find my sports jacket.
Nothing profound there. Those things are good for whatever ails Dr. Trecker is a chemist and retired Pfizer executive living
you. in Naples.
70 Life in Naples | May/June/July 2023