The Larger Head Size Reduces Brain Atrophy In Alzheimer's Disease

The Larger Head Size Reduces Brain Atrophy In Alzheimer's Disease.
A original look suggests that Alzheimer's disease develops slower in individuals with bigger heads, perhaps because their larger brains have more cognitive power in reserve. It's not determined that head size, brain size and the rate of worsening Alzheimer's are linked. But if they are, the exploration findings could pave the way for individualized treatment for the disease, said study co-author Lindsay Farrer, ringleader of the genetics program at Boston University School of Medicine.

The paramount goal is to catch Alzheimer's early and use medications more effectively. "The prevailing view is that most of the drugs that are out there aren't working because they're being given to mobile vulgus when what's happening in the brain is too far along".

A century ago, some scientists believed that the remodel of the head held secrets to a person's intelligence and personality - those views have been since discounted. But today, scrutinization suggests that there may be "modest correlations" between brain size and smarts. Still, "there are many other factors that are associated with intelligence," stressed Catherine Roe, a inspection trainer in neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis.

Nevertheless, there could be a connection between the size of the wit and how many neurons are available to "pick up the slack" when others go dark because of diseases such as Alzheimer's. The imaginative study, published in the July 13 issue of Neurology, explores that possibility.

The study authors examined the medical records of 270 patients with Alzheimer's. They looked for links between leader shrinkage, point circumference - an indicator of brain size - and the progression of their disease.

After adjusting their results so they wouldn't be thrown off by factors such as the mature and ethnicity of the patients, the researchers found that patients with larger perception sizes tended toward less brain atrophy. Also, their dementia was less advanced. While the change between larger-headed and smaller-headed people was significant from a statistical point of view, study co-author Farrer said it's unattainable to pinpoint exactly what the difference means in terms of how the brain works overall.

The delving doesn't confirm that brain size and the speed of the disease are directly connected. But if there is a connection, what's universal on? "One possible explanation is that larger heads, and therefore larger brains, confine more nerve cells and connections between cells," reasoned study lead designer Dr Robert Perneczky, a researcher at the Technical University of Munich in Germany.

Therefore more brain cells have to perish before "the threshold is crossed where brain damage leads to cognitive impairment and other symptoms of dementia". Roe, the neurology instructor, said the scan appears to be valid and useful, adding that it suggests that three things are connected: intelligence size, the shrinking of the brain and the progression of Alzheimer's disease strong. Whatever your be in size "the message is that the important thing is trying to charge of your brain as healthy as possible throughout life, which hopefully will allow you to cope better with diseases like Alzheimer's if they occur".