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Health Highlights: Dec. 3, 2012
Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay: New Alzheimer's Drug Begins Clinical Trial The first combined mid- and late-stage study of a new type of drug designed to slow mental and functional decline in Alzheimer's patients was announced Monday by Merck & Co. The 78-week trial involves a BACE inhibitor called MK-8931. It's meant to limit production of beta amyloid protein, the main component of brain damaging amyloid plaques believed to be the most likely cause of Alzheimer's, the Associated Press reported. The first phase will involve safety testing of the drug in about 200 patients. It will then expand to include as many as 1,700 patients and will test three different doses of the drug, compared with a dummy pill. Previous research showed that MK-8931 blocked formation of nearly all the toxic amyloid plaques. "No one's ever done that before," Darryle Schoepp, Merck's head of neuroscience research, told the AP. "If (amyloid) plaques are the cause, the medicine will work." ----- More Proof of Link Between Head Injury, Brain Disease: Study A new study provides further proof of a link between head injury and long-term, degenerative brain disease. Researchers analyzed brain samples from 85 athletes, military veterans and others who suffered repeated head trauma during their lives. Eighty percent (68) of them had evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive and incurable brain disorder that includes symptoms such as memory loss, depression and dementia, The New York Times reported. Among those found to have CTE were 50 were football players, including 33 who played in the NFL. There were also seven pro boxers, four professional hockey players, and 21 military veterans, many of whom were also athletes, according to the study in the journal Brain. The four-year study was conducted by investigators at the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy and the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, in collaboration with the Sports Legacy Institute, The Times reported. The study more than doubled the documented cases of CTE and the researchers also created a four-tiered system to classify degrees of CTE in the hope that it will help doctors treat patients.
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved. URL:http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=671246
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