article A new diagnosis of dementia, a rare but disabling disease, has prompted an urgent shift in the way doctors and other health professionals are treating the disease, a shift that may lead to new strategies to combat it.
Dr. Brian M. Anderson, a neurosurgeon at the University of Florida, has discovered that Alzheimer’s is a genetic condition that can be triggered by environmental factors.
He said he found the connection by studying the genomes of two other people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr Anderson has become a target of anti-Dementia activists who say he’s using his research to promote anti-science beliefs about the disease.
The new diagnosis was made on Wednesday, according to Dr Anderson, who is the lead author of a paper in the Journal of Neurosurgery that describes his research.
“It’s a rare condition and we have to be vigilant about it,” he said.
“But the research that we’ve done has led me to believe that there’s an environmental component, and it’s a problem that we’re really going to have to grapple with.”
The researchers used blood samples from two other patients with Alzheimer, including a woman with dementia, to test their genes for an enzyme called COX-2.
They found that the genes in those patients were more closely linked to Alzheimer’s than those of a control group.
The researchers say they’re investigating other ways to find the same gene in the blood of patients who have the disease but don’t have it.
The study also suggested that environmental triggers may be involved in causing the symptoms of Alzheimer.
Dr M Anderson says his research has helped him understand the causes of Alzheimer and dementia, and that he believes his findings will help doctors better understand the disease and how to treat it.
In a news release, the Alzheimer’s Association said his research could be the “first step to understanding how and why people with dementia develop and develop dementia.”
“These findings will lead to better diagnoses, treatments and research for people with this condition,” said Dr Anderson.