President Biden’s health has been a topic of public discussion and concern. Will it impact his ability to win reelection and lead for another four years?

At 82 years old, he is the oldest person to assume the presidency in U.S. history, but some people have raised concerns about Biden’s mental fitness, citing occasional gaffes and misstatements. However, there is no consensus among medical professionals on whether these are indicative of cognitive decline.

A recent NBC News poll found that 76 percent of voters have major or moderate concerns about Biden’s mental and physical health. Biden’s health is likely to be a campaign issue in the 2024 presidential election, especially if he decides to run for a second term. His opponents may try to use his age and health as a liability, while his supporters will likely emphasize his resilience and experience.

One report described Biden’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations.” It said that Biden could not recall events in his own life, including when his son Beau died.

“When I was asked that question, I thought that it wasn’t any of their damn business,” he said. “Every Memorial Day we hold a service remembering him. I don’t need anyone to remind me when he passed away.”

The 258-page transcript of the interviews conducted by special counsel Robert Hur on Oct. 8 and 9 paints a more nuanced portrait of the president than was described in Hur’s report last month. Hur is set to testify before Congress on Tuesday about that investigation.

“It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness,” the report said.

The special counsel did not release the transcript of the interviews with Biden, so some context is unclear. In response to reporters’ questions about his memory, Biden disputed the report’s statements.

“My memory is fine,” he said. I’m the most qualified person in this country to be president.”

The release of the report overlapped with recent Biden speeches in which he mistakenly claimed to talk with European leaders — France’s Francois Mitterrand and Germany’s Helmut Kohl — who had, in fact, not held office since the 1990s and had died several years ago. As Biden defended himself, he misspoke about the Israel-Hamas War. He referred to Egypt’s leader Abdel Fattah El-Sissi as “the president of Mexico.”

During questioning after the press conference, reporters gave the president a pass on the mistake, but some media outlets are now pointing to this incident as further evidence that the President is suffering from cognitive decline. They argue that such gaffes are becoming more frequent and that they raise concerns about his ability to lead the country. Others have defended the President, arguing that he simply misspoke and that there is no need to draw any conclusions about his mental health.

The human brain has trouble pulling names out of stuffed memory banks on cue. But when are those and other verbal stumbles normal, and when are they a sign of cognitive trouble? Even House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., recently confused Iran with Israel.

“When I see somebody make a flub on TV, I’m really not all that concerned,” said well-known aging researcher S. Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois at Chicago. “What science will tell you about flubs is that they’re perfectly normal, and they are exacerbated by stress.”

It is important to note that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that President Biden is suffering from neurodegenerative disease. The incident in question is just one example of a public figure making a mistake. It is possible that the President was simply tired, stressed, or distracted when he made the mistake. It is also possible that he was simply thinking about the president of Egypt when he was asked about the president of Mexico.

“If you’re too senile to stand trial, then you’re too senile to be president. Joe Biden is unfit to lead this nation,” said Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesman for Make America Great Again Inc., the main super PAC backing Trump’s candidacy.

In an August poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs, 77 percent of U.S. adults said Biden is too old for four more years (89 percent of Republicans and 69 percent of Democrats say that Biden’s age is a problem).

“The Special Counsel’s opinions about President Biden’s health couldn’t be more wrong on the facts,” said Vice President Kamala Harris. “These conclusions were politically motivated. The comments were gratuitous, inaccurate and inappropriate.”

Former President Donald Trump, the current Republican front-runner, has boasted of his own vast memory but has also at times said in legal proceedings that he does not recall certain events. He also has had a series of his own mental missteps. The 77-year-old Trump faces questions about recent memory lapses. In a January speech, Trump confused former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, his opponent for the GOP nomination, with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Pelosi was the House speaker during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection by Trump’s supporters who sought to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. Trump said it was Haley who led the House and that she should have done more to secure it. Trump’s critics have questioned his mental health for years. Many Americans have memory problems if they want to give the former president another chance to overthrow the constitution.

“President Biden has said that age is a fair question on voters’ minds, but if you’re worried about your kid facing gun violence while going to school, the prospect a national abortion ban, or the future of our democracy, you may think about the president’s age, but at the end of the day the choice is easy,” said Kate Berner, a former deputy communications director in the Biden White House. “Donald Trump is on the wrong side of all of those issues.”

The New York Times editorial board opined yesterday that Biden has had “less substantive, unscripted interaction with the public and the press than any other president in recent memory.” It went on to ask if President Biden is “hiding, or worse, being hidden” from the American people.

World leaders are not immune from the perils of neurodegenerative disease. President Carter entered hospice care in February 2023 due to several health issues, including falls and recent hospitalizations. However, there has been no official announcement of a dementia diagnosis for him. However, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter was diagnosed with dementia in February 2023 and passed away last November. She was a beloved figure known for her strong advocacy for mental health awareness and caregiving support.

President Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in August 1994. He publicly announced his diagnosis on November 5, 1994. While Reagan’s Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis was made public in 1994, he lived for another ten years with the disease. During that time, he remained active in public life, advocating for research on Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. He also wrote a book about the disease, I Long to Return: Reflections on the Presidency and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Former President George H.W. Bush was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012. He died in 2018 from vascular Parkinson’s disease. Barbara Bush also died in 2018.

Elsewhere in the world, Margaret Thatcher struggled with dementia for more than a decade. She died of the disease in 2013. It’s never been officially confirmed whether she had Alzheimer’s disease or another form of prion disease.

Unfortunately, age is only one of many contributing factors that can contribute to neurodegenerative disease. Prion disease is now the fastest-growing cause of death in the world. The truth is more elusive than a cure. Many factors are contributing to the surge, including misinformation, disinformation and reckless public policies.

The medical term for prion disease is transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, which includes ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease. The operative word is transmissible. 

Despite the smoke and mirrors, the major difference between all of these forms of neurodegenerative disease is the species under attack by infectious prions. The primary difference between Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, for example, is the region of the brain that is under attack by the pathological protein.

In deer, the disease is known as chronic wasting disease. In cattle, it’s mad cow disease. In sheep, it’s scrapie. The only difference is the species under attack. There is no such thing as a mad cow prion or a CWD prion. A deadly prion is a deadly prion. There is no reliable species barrier among most mammals, including sea mammals.

If you add up all of these variations of prion disease and look at the body count, you will see a very alarming trend and an equally alarming trend to cover up the mismanagement.

Humans are at the top of the food chain, so we are most vulnerable to the spread of prion disease. As the disease spreads in the population, prion contamination spreads exponentially. As more humans get sick and die, the sewage system and other pathways become deadlier.

Humans likely spread the disease to livestock and wildlife with the mismanagement of sewage (sewage sludge a.k.a. biosolids) and wastewater. Cattle and deer are likely giving prion disease back to humans via the food chain.

Bad policy at the U.S. EPA has contributed to the problem. Mismanagement of prion regulation at the federal level has contributed to the problem. In fact, prions went from the list of select agents to no regulation at all. As a result, the prion threat has been turned loose on an unsuspecting public—including presidents past, present and future. Even teenagers are dying from CJD today. We all are vulnerable.

Unfortunately, there are many prion pathways that must be avoided and there is an over-abundance of misinformation and disinformation about prion disease. Answers begin with the truth.

There are proven strategies to help avert neurodegenerative disease, including nutrition, exercise and prion aversion. There is not a cure for prion disease. Preview and order the eBook now to defend yourself and your family.

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Last May, the Carter family announced that former First Lady Rosalynn Carter had been diagnosed with dementia. Unfortunately, that diagnoses claimed her life at the age of 96.

Carter was a vocal supporter of research into Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. She also was the nation’s leading mental health advocate much of her life. First in the Georgia Governor’s Mansion, then in the White House, and later at The Carter Center, she urged improved access to care and decreased stigma about issues surrounding mental health.

As the founder of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, Mrs. Carter often explained that there are only four kinds of people in this world: those who have been caregivers; those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers. The universality of caregiving is clear in our family, and we are experiencing the joy and the challenges of this journey.

In addition to her work on mental health, Rosalynn Carter was a strong advocate for other causes, including women’s rights, education, and environmental protection. She was a true humanitarian who cared deeply about making the world a better place.

Jimmy Carter, 98, also battled neurodegenerative disease. He was open about his diagnosis and the importance of early detection and treatment.

The Carters were the longest-married first couple in US history. They were married for 77 years. Their diagnoses have brought additional attention to the issue of neurodegenerative disease, which affects millions of people around the world. The family’s openness about their condition is helping to break down the stigma associated with brain disease, while encouraging people to seek help.

Several world leaders have been diagnosed with dementia in he past century, including:

Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2013. He died in 2013 at the age of 95.

Ronald Reagan, the former president of the United States, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1994. He died in 2004 at the age of 93.

Park Geun-hye, the former president of South Korea, was diagnosed with dementia in 2020. She is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for corruption.

Kgalema Motlanthe, the former vice president of South Africa, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2022. He is currently 76 years old.

Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, served from 1979 to 1990. Her family announced in 2008 that she was suffering from neurodegenerative disease. She died in 2013 at the age of 87.

The medical term for prion disease is transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, which includes ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease. The operative word is transmissible.

There are proven strategies to help avert neurodegenerative disease, including nutrition, exercise and prion aversion. There is not a cure for prion disease. Preview and order the eBook now to defend yourself and your family.

The post Alzheimer’s Disease Claims Rosalynn Carter appeared first on Neuroscience News.

Neurodegenerative disease is now the fastest-growing cause of death around the world. Many factors are contributing to the surge, including misinformation, disinformation and reckless public policies.

The number of individuals with dementia in China, for example, is the highest in the world and is increasing rapidly. According to a nationwide study in 2020, the prevalence of dementia among people aged 60 years and above in China is 6.0 percent. The prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease is 3.9 percent.

The prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia increased substantially between 1990 and 2010. The information available in the Chinese scientific literature is sufficient to generate precise estimates of the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia in China.

China’s population has rapidly aged over the recent decades and neurodegenerative disorders are soaring, especially Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD).

Alzheimer’s disease incidence rate, morbidity, and mortality make it the fifth-leading cause of death in China.

The surge in Alzheimer’s disease is compounding the financial burdens on individuals, families and society.

The China Alzheimer Report 2022 compares China’s socioeconomic information and the status of healthcare provisions associated with dementia. Compared with the annual World Alzheimer Report, this report gives a detailed picture of ADRD within China, including epidemiological data and information on the diagnosis, treatment and public resources available for the care of those with AD. This paper is commissioned by the China AD report editorial board and includes the work of many highly respected researchers in China. It is an important source of information both within China and globally.

The data suggests that the true burden of disease in China is double the estimates used by Alzheimer’s Disease International for China and east Asia. The data suggests that global estimates of Alzheimer’s disease should be revised upwards by at least 5 million cases (20 percent or more).

The Healthy China Action plan of 2019–2030 promotes the transition from disease treatment to health maintenance for this expanding population with ADRD. This report describes related epidemiological trends, evaluates the economic burden of the disease, outlines current clinical diagnosis and treatment status and delineates existing available public health resources.

The plan also addresses the public health impact of ADRD, including prevalence, mortality, costs, usage of care, and the overall effect on caregivers and society. In addition, this special report presents technical guidance and supports for the prevention and treatment of AD, provides expertise to guide relevant governmental healthcare policy development and suggests an information platform for international exchange and cooperation.

According to the Chinese census of 2020, individuals 60 years and above and those aged over 65 years totaled 264,018,766 and 190,635,280, accounting for 18.70 percent and 13.50 percent of the population, respectively. Compared with the 2010 census figures, China’s aging population grew faster, and the incidence rate, morbidity and mortality of diseases associated with ageing were significantly higher. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) incidence continues to increase, and its social and economic burden is magnifying, posing major medical and social problems that threaten China’s urban and rural residents. 

According to a recent national cross-sectional study, China has 15.07 million individuals aged 60 years and over with dementia, including 9.83 million with AD, 3.92 million with vascular dementia and 1.32 million with other forms of dementia. In addition, the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in those over 60 years of age is 15.5%, with 38.77 million individuals affected by it. 

A national study showed that the 2015 annual treatment cost of patients with AD in China was US$167.74 billion, with ever-rising treatment costs expected to reach US$1.8 trillion by 2050. However, the country’s diagnosis and treatment rate for AD remains low, with few medical specialists and minimal public awareness. Therefore, improving the prevention and treatment of AD under the government’s leadership is urgent.

The China Alzheimer Report 2022 was designed to support the implementation of the Healthy China Action plan (2019–2030), provide effective measures to prevent and slow the occurrence of AD, reduce the burden on families and society and respond to WHO recommendations.

The report specifically describes epidemiological trends, evaluates the economic burden of disease, outlines current clinical diagnosis and treatment status and delineates existing public health available resources for AD and related dementias (ADRD). In addition, this special report presents technical guidance and supports for the prevention and treatment of AD, provides expertise to guide relevant governmental healthcare policy development and suggests an information platform for international exchange and cooperation. Finally, it strives to align with international standards regarding ADRD while addressing issues specific to China.

The burden of disease data for ADRD was collected from the 2019 China provincial section of the global burden of disease (GBD) research. The GBD used multiple data sources and adopted a unified and comparable method to comprehensively analyze the burden of disease in countries or regions worldwide from 1990 to 2019. The death data mainly were taken from the cause of death monitoring in the China Disease Surveillance Point System and the cause of death registration report information system of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Prevalence data in China is derived from relevant surveillance, large-scale surveys, and systematic reviews of published literature. Other important data sources included the monitoring of chronic diseases and their risk factors in China, the survey of Chinese residents’ nutrition and health status and the national health service survey.

A previous study showed that 70 percent of persons with dementia in China has Alzheimer’s Disease.

In total, the prevalence and death rate of ADRD were slightly higher than the global levels, and the data reflected higher rates for women than those for men. By gender, the prevalence rate (1188.9/100 000) and the death rate (30.8/100 000) of females were respectively higher than the prevalence rate (669.3/100 000) and death rate (14.6/100 000) of males. Interestingly, a pilot study in Shanghai using hospital-based samples reported a similar survival trend of patients with AD compared with that of the general population. Poor cognitive status and comorbid diabetes had a negative impact on the survival of patients with AD, and a noteworthy association between AD and specific types of cancer was observed in China.

In 2019, the top five causes of death in China were cerebrovascular diseases, ischemic heart diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, lung cancer and AD, respectively.

• In the past 30 years, the ranking of AD deaths in China rose from 10th in 1990 to 5th in 2019. The disease burden of ADRD in China from 1990 to 2019 rose from 27th to 15^th.

• In 2019, deaths due to ADRD worldwide reached 1,623,276. China contributed 320,715 deaths or 19.8 percent of the world total. ADRD prevalence worldwide compared with that in China.

• In 2019, there were 51,624,193 individuals with ADRD in the world. In China, the number of patients with ADRD was 13,143,950, accounting for about 25.5 percent of global prevalence.

• In 2019, provinces and municipalities with higher crude ADRD death rates were mainly concentrated in coastal cities, such as Shanghai Municipality (34.0/100 000), Chongqing Municipality (32.1/100 000), Jiangsu Province (31.1/100 000) and Zhejiang Province (30.1/100 000). The ADRD death rates in Northeastern China and parts of Central China were relatively low.

Treat Alzheimer’s Disease With Traditional Chinese Medicine

Recent studies showed positive effects on AD from tradition Chinese medicine, including traditional Chinese medicine and innovative Chinese compounds. An increasing number of Chinese traditional herbal medicines, including Liuweidihuang capsules, Taisi capsules, Bushenyijing granules, Yizhi decoction and Wujiayizhi granules, have been introduced to clinical trials in the past 2 years. Acupuncture, one of the most representative non-pharmaceutical treatments in traditional Chinese medicine, has attracted increasing attention recently due to its effectiveness and few side effects. A 28-week controlled study indicated that acupuncture could improve cognition and global clinical status in patients with mild-to-moderate AD. Two clinical studies, Sanlian Xingshen Yizhi Acupuncture therapy and acupuncture combined with donepezil, are ongoing to evaluate the efficiency and safety of acupuncture on AD.

In one clinical trial, folic acid combined with vitamin B12 showed a positive therapeutic effect on cognition in patients with AD. Preclinical evidence suggested sulforaphane has a multifaceted neuroprotective effect on brain health. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was carried out to study the efficacy and safety of sulforaphane in patients with prodromal to mild AD. In another clinical study, the antipsychotic amisulpride was used to relieve the neuropsychiatric symptoms of patients with AD.

Music therapy combined with strong light therapy was found to improve sleep quality for those with sleep disorders. Non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as music therapy, cognitive interventions, aerobic exercise and diet therapy, have fewer side effects and may provide promising therapeutic options for patients with AD.

In response to the appeal of a national program called Healthy China Action, the General Office of the National Health Commission issued a document on how to explore more effective prevention and treatment service for patients with AD in August 2020. It aims to accelerate establishing a public service system with Chinese characteristics to explore an integrated intervention mode. In the future, the treatment of AD in China would include comprehensive management based on the patients’ life span cycle, including specific disease-modifying medications, treatment of comorbidities, early interventions for risk factors and changes in personal lifestyles.

In recent years, the aging of the world’s population has intensified, and with it, the elderly population in China has grown significantly, showing a trend of accelerated increase. Along with this increase in ageing, the number of older adults with cognitive impairment is expanding rapidly. Surveys show that from 2010 to 2020, the proportion of people aged 60 years and above in China increased from 13.26 percent to 18.70 percent. WHO predicts that the proportion will rise to 28 percent by 2040. 

Memory clinics have been established to diagnose, identify and treat patients with cognitive impairment (represented by AD) early in the course of illness while also providing nursing education for families and training for caregivers. The memory clinics offer patients timely professional diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, they have become medical units for clinical diagnosis and treatment with essential functions such as health education and chronic disease monitoring

Beginning the 1990s, neurology, psychiatry and geriatric departments of hospitals in large-sized and medium-sized cities in China have successively opened memory clinics; the names of these clinics have changed from the original dementia clinic or Alzheimer’s disease clinic to the present term, memory clinic. By 2014, 128 memory clinics had been opened in China. Since 2018, 26 medical institutions in Shanghai have opened memory clinics, including 11 comprehensive tertiary hospitals, eight mental health specialty institutions and seven primary community health service centers.

The 2019 China Alzheimer’s Disease Patients Family Survival Status Survey Report showed that the general population’s AD awareness had increased significantly in recent years. When symptoms of amnesia occur, >50 percent of individuals and their family members suspect AD in the affected party. The patients’ consultation rate within one year rose from 32.47 percent in 2012 to 77.43 percent, and timely consultation rates greatly improved. By 2019, 28.12 percent of all patients with AD were diagnosed in memory clinics; this high percentage reflects the vital role of memory clinics in the early detection and diagnosis of cognitive impairment disorders.

As the rate of population aging in China increases, the accompanying increased risk of cognitive impairment has led to an increased social risk. In the future, this social problem is likely to escalate. The government and society are paying increasing attention to cognitive impairment disorders such as AD. In the Healthy China 2030 plan, the Chinese government has proposed to ‘improve effective interventions for diseases such as AD’ and the public’s awareness of the prevention and treatment of AD in pilot areas will increase to 80 percent by 2022. 

It is necessary to establish and improve the Alzheimer’s disease prevention and treatment service network, especially since the screening rate of cognitive function among the older adults in the community is expected to increase to 80 percent. Additionally, it is essential to establish a multidisciplinary team providing diagnosis, treatment and nursing services for patients with MCI and dementia that includes general practitioners, volunteers, social workers, psychotherapists, and so on. In addition, the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China is conducting a study on the ‘Guidelines for Home Care of Older Adults with Dementia.

To reduce the occurrence of disability and dementia in the older adults at its source, in 2021, the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China issued the Notice on Pilot Programs for the Prevention and Intervention of Disability (Dementia) in Older Adults, which aims to carry out pilot programs in 13 provinces. Furthermore, they formulated the Technical Plan for the Pilot Prevention and Intervention of Disability (Dementia) among Older Adults. The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Guangdong Province collaborated in this pilot project. Recently, intervention projects have been fully implemented in cities and districts of 15 intervention provinces.

Shanghai is a large city with the most rapidly aging population in China. It was one of the first cities to witness the increase in its aging population. In 2017, 170,000 older adults with dementia lived in Shanghai, accounting for 6.7 percent of older adults with registered permanent residences in Shanghai. The Shanghai government’s strategies for dealing with dementia are relatively advanced compared with the rest of the country.

Dr. Stanley Prusiner, an American neuroscientist from the University of California at San Francisco, earned a Nobel Prize in 1997 for discovering and characterizing prions and prion disease. President Obama awarded Prusiner the National Medal of Science in 2010 to recognize the importance of his research. Prusiner confirmed that Alzheimer’s disease is a prion disease–also known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSEs).

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy includes ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease. The operative word is transmissible. Victims generate a tremendous amount of infectious waste.

Learn more about Dr. Stanley Prusiner and the Nobel Prize for prion science and prion disease.

There are proven strategies to help avert neurodegenerative disease, including nutrition, exercise and prion aversion. There is not a cure for prion disease. Preview and order the eBook now to defend yourself and your family.

The post Prevalence Of Alzheimer’s Disease In China appeared first on Neuroscience News.

The accelerating incidence of neurodegenerative disease around the world is undeniable. Neurodegenerative disease is the fastest-growing cause of death on the planet. Contrary to popular belief, neurodegenerative disease is not a normal part of aging. In fact, neurodegenerative disease is now killing teenagers.

The global number of people living with dementia more than doubled from 1990 to 2016.

Every three seconds, someone in the world develops dementia. Unfortunately, millions of these people and their families will never know what hit them.

Alzheimer’s disease alone is taking the lives of 50-150 million people around the world now. Millions will die of the disease this year, while millions more will be diagnosed and misdiagnosed. Millions of additional people will go undiagnosed. It is estimated that nearly 500,000 new cases of Alzheimer’s disease will be diagnosed in the United States this year.

Between 2000 and 2018, the number of deaths from Alzheimer’s disease recorded on death certificates in the U.S. alone increased 146 percent, while the number of deaths from heart disease decreased 7.8 percent. A similar pattern is emerging around the globe. Determining the true extent of the prion pandemic is easier said than done. Poor records, suppressed diagnoses and misinformation compound the problem.

A study suggests that Alzheimer’s disease causes six times more deaths than official statistics indicate. 

In reality, the study said that Alzheimer’s disease was the underlying cause in more than 500,000 deaths in 2010. Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s deaths are often attributed to conditions, such as pneumonia. With more accurate data, it appears that Alzheimer’s disease could be the third-leading cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease and cancer. Researchers at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago led the study and published their results in 2013 in the medical journal Neurology.

Governments and industry are working diligently to keep prion disease off the public radar. The epidemic will persist. It will escalate even faster unless we respect the science.

As the following chart demonstrates, Alzheimer’s disease doesn’t impact all populations equally. Some regions of the world and the nation appear to be hotspots for neurodegenerative disease. Please spend more time familiarizing yourself with the research posted on this website to understand why.

According to the following data, South Dakota, Mississippi, Alabama, North Dakota, Vermont and Arkansas have the highest mortality rates from Alzheimer’s disease in the United States. The incidence of Alzheimer’s disease, however, is a more elusive statistic.

                                                Deaths            (per 100,000)                                    Mortality Rate

This information was obtained from death certificates and reflects the condition identified by the physician as the underlying cause of death. The COVID pandemic likely skewed these statistics downward in 2020, but the upward trend is firmly in place in most parts of the world. For example, in 2010, the mortality rate for Alzheimer’s disease/dementia was 27.0. In 2019, that number was up to 37.0. (a 37 percent increase).

Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s disease is rarely indicated on death certificates. In addition, many people go undiagnosed, so the true mortality rate and prevalence of the disease are unknown.

In 2018, some form of dementia was the officially recorded underlying cause of death for 266,957 individuals (this includes the 122,019 from Alzheimer’s disease). Therefore, the number of deaths from all causes of dementia, even as listed on death certificates, is more than twice as high as the number of reported Alzheimer’s deaths alone.

A variety of factors can trigger neurodegenerative disease, including genetics, head trauma and prions. A prion is a deadly form of protein that infects the entire body, while consuming the brain. Prion contamination, however, explains much of the variations in the mortality rates above.

• An estimated 6.2 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s dementia in 2021. Seventy-two percent are age 75 or older.
• One in three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or another dementia. It kills more than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined.
• One in nine people age 65 and older (11.3 percent) has Alzheimer’s dementia.
• Almost two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease are women.
• Older Black Americans are twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s or other dementias as older Caucasians.
• Older Hispanics are about one and one-half times as likely to have Alzheimer’s or other dementias as older Caucasians.
• Approximately two-thirds of caregivers are women; more specifically, over one-third of dementia caregivers are daughters.
• Most caregivers (66 percent) live with the person with dementia in the community.
• The long duration of illness before death contributes significantly to the public health impact of Alzheimer’s disease because much of that time is spent in a state of disability and dependence.

Prion disease is now the fastest-growing cause of death in the world. The truth is more elusive than a cure. Many factors are contributing to the surge, including misinformation, disinformation and reckless public policies.

The medical term for prion disease is transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, which includes ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease. The operative word is transmissible. Victims generate a tremendous amount of infectious waste. 

The major difference between these forms of neurodegenerative disease is the species under attack and the region of the brain that is under attack. The primary difference between Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, for example, is the region of the brain that is under attack by the pathological protein.

There are proven strategies to help avert neurodegenerative disease, including nutrition, exercise and prion aversion. There is not a cure for prion disease. Preview and order the eBook now to defend yourself and your family.

The post Alzheimer’s Disease Prevalence, Mortality Rising appeared first on Neuroscience News.

Neurodegenerative disease is the fastest-growing cause of death in the world. It will soon be the leading cause of death. Unfortunately, most of these deaths will be attributed to other causes, which makes the scope of the prion pandemic a mystery. These neurological diseases are always fatal. There is no cure.

Neurodegenerative diseases—including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and others—have been surging around the world for the past 30 years. So-called experts have chalked up the surge to an aging population, genetics, too much fat and alcohol intake and not enough exercise. The truth is that there are many factors that can trigger neurodegenerative disease, including head trauma. That’s why chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been on the rise.

When we compare the global surge in autism (a neurodevelopmental disease) to the global surge in neurodegenerative disease, it’s apparent that both began in the late 1900s. An alarming practice began dumping neurotoxins, carcinogens and others toxins into our food, water and air. Answers begin with the truth.

Dr. Stanley Prusiner, an American neuroscientist from the University of California at San Francisco, earned a Nobel Prize in 1997 for discovering and characterizing prions and prion disease. Unfortunately, prions are impossible to stop. Prions can’t be killed, because they aren’t alive. They are merely a deadly form of protein that migrates, mutates and multiplies. As they move up the food chain, they become deadlier. Once they reach the top of the food chain—humans— they are lethal. Once humans pass them on to other people and to other mammals, they kill with unparalleled efficiency. The deadly spiral only intensifies with time.

Until recently, few have considered the possibility that Alzheimer’s disease is a transmissible disease. Scientists have finally confirmed that Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of neurodegenerative disease are forms of prion disease.

The medical term for prion disease is transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, which includes ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease. The operative word is transmissible. Victims generate a tremendous amount of infectious waste.

The major difference between these forms of neurodegenerative disease is the species under attack and the region of the brain that is under attack. The primary difference between Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, for example, is the region of the brain that is under attack by the pathological protein.

Learn more about Dr. Stanley Prusiner and the Nobel Prize for prion science and prion disease.

Since Alzheimer’s disease is a confirmed prion disease, millions of people with Alzheimer’s disease (and millions who died ahead of them) are highly infectious. The evidence continues to stack up, while evidence to the contrary does not exist. In fact, one only needs to dissect the scientific names as proof. Prion is an acronym for proteinaceous infectious disease-causing agent that is believed to be the smallest infectious particle.

A prion is neither bacterial nor fungal nor viral and contains no genetic material. Furthermore, remember that the “T” in TSE stands for transmissible. They can’t put Pandora back in the box.

For years, neurologists have been guessing when distinguishing between Alzheimer’s disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). In reality, both are forms of TSE and both are on the prion spectrum.

At least 25 percent of Alzheimer’s diagnoses are actually CJD, which is further up the prion spectrum. CJD, without dispute, is extremely infectious to caregivers and loved ones, but it has not been declared a reportable disease in most nations. Are all diseases on the spectrum infectious? There is no evidence to the contrary.

As a spectrum disease, TSE varies in severity and symptoms. The diagnosis depends on which region of the brain is impacted. If the hippocampus is under attack, the person will exhibit problems with memory (Alzheimer’s disease). If the cerebral cortex is under attack, the patient will likely exhibit problems with movement and balance (Parkinson’s disease). Prion disease is a more accurate description of these ailments. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy is a more accurate description of the threat to public health.

Few cases of prion disease are identical in terms of symptoms and pathology because of the thousands of prion mutations circulating today. The number of mutations is increasing exponentially. Each mutation becomes more deadly.

“Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease in humans. It poses a considerable challenge to healthcare systems,” Prusiner said.

Unfortunately, government and industry are leaving this vital detail behind. Risk assessments for various industrial and professional practices have never been updated accordingly. Every mammal on earth is caught in the crossfire of prion contamination due to the misinformation and mismanagement.

Thanks to no meaningful testing, we don’t know how prevalent prion disease is within people or other mammals, but we know that deadly prions are migrating, mutating and multiplying unchecked. Failure to regulate prions in healthcare, food production, water supplies, blood supplies, drugs and beyond is reckless, if not criminal.

Unfortunately, the CDC quietly took prions off the highly regulated list of select agents because the regulation criminalized entire industries and several reckless practices. It also opened the floodgates to prion mismanagement. Victims are creating new pathways every day.

“There has been a resurgence of this sort of thinking, because there is now real evidence of the potential transmissibility of Alzheimer’s disease,” says Thomas Wiesniewski M.D. a prion and Alzheimer’s disease researcher at New York University School of Medicine.

A previous study published in the journal Nature adds to the evidence about the transmissibility of Alzheimer’s disease between people. A second study by the same scientist in early 2016 supports the claim.

The Problem With Prions

Alzheimer’s disease alone is taking the lives of 50-100 million people around the world now. Millions will die of the disease this year, while millions more will be diagnosed, misdiagnosed and undiagnosed. The epidemic is more severe in some countries than others. 

Prions are in the urine, feces, blood, saliva, mucus, skin and cell tissue of all victims–all human byproducts that are washed, dumped, or flushed down sinks and toilets. One can assume that the waste is extra infectious when it comes from funeral homes, nursing homes, hospitals, dental offices, veterinarians, slaughterhouses and some laboratories.

Wastewater treatment plants are collecting points for prions from infected humans. The sewage treatment process can’t stop prions from migrating, mutating and multiplying before being discharged into the environment where they can kill again. Wastewater treatment plants are spreading infectious waste far and wide because they are incapable of stopping prions. As such, all by-products and discharges from wastewater treatment plants are infectious waste, which are contributing to the global epidemic of neurodegenerative disease among humans, wildlife and livestock.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed that prions are in sewage and that there has been no way to detect them or stop them. As such, the EPA has never issued guidance on prion management within wastewater treatment plants. Unfortunately, the EPA’s risk assessment on sewage sludge (biosolids) was prepared before the world of science knew about prions. The agency continues to cling to its antiquated sludge rule crafted back in the dark ages. It does, however, consider prions an “emerging contaminant of concern.” Meanwhile, its outdated risk assessments are promoting a public health disaster.

According to prion researcher Joel Pedersen at the University of Wisconsin, prions in soil become up to 680 times more infectious. From there, they migrate, mutate and multiply. It’s a real world version of Pandora’s Lunchbox.

“Our results suggest that if prions enter municipal wastewater treatment systems, most prions would bond to sewage sludge, survive anaerobic digestion, and be present in treated biosolids,” Pedersen said. “Land application of biosolids containing prions represents a route for their introduction into the environment. I emphasize the importance of keeping prions out of municipal wastewater treatment systems.”

Pedersen also found that sewage treatment does not inactivate prions. Therefore, prions are lethal, mutating, migrating and multiplying everywhere sewage (biosolids) is dumped.

Prions could end up in sewage treatment plants via slaughterhouses, hospitals, dental offices and mortuaries just to name a few of the pathways. The disposal of sludge represents the greatest risk of spreading prion contamination in the environment. Plus, we know that pathogens, pharmaceutical residue and chemical pollutants found in sewage sludge are taken up by plants and vegetables.”

Thanks to the mismanagement of infectious waste, including sewage, the animal world is contracting prion disease from humans. They also are passing it among themselves via their own bodily fluids. When it comes to prion disease, species barriers are a myth.

Prions + Pathways = Victims

To contain prion disease, we must start with the facts. Prion disease is a pathway disease. Failure to acknowledge any pathway and isolate it is negligence. Failure to regulate and contain prions is a violation of the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002.

“Since it’s unlikely that the sewage treatment process can effectively stop prions, adopting measures to prevent the entry of prions into the sewer system is advisable,” said the Toronto Department of Health, November 2004.

Once unleashed on the environment, prions remain infectious. They migrate, mutate and multiply as they infect crops, water supplies, wildlife, livestock, sea mammals and humans. According to prion researcher Joel Pedersen at the University of Wisconsin, prions in soil become up to 680 times more infectious. From there, they migrate, mutate and multiply. It’s a real world version of Pandora’s Lunchbox.

Dumping millions of tons of infectious waste from humans in forests and on farms, parks, golf courses, playgrounds and beyond. Just last November the U.S. EPA backtracked on 40 years of lies when it admitted that it doesn’t fully understand the risks associated with dumping biosolids (infectious/toxic/radioactive waste) on land. As such, the dumping is illegal, yet the practice has not been stopped. Sick deer, elk, moose, reindeer and sea mammals are just canaries in the proverbial coal mine.

The global surge in autism, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and chronic wasting disease all began at the same time.

It’s more than a coincidence. Misinformation is being spread in abundance. Corruption, negligence and incompetence are fanning the flames. Answers begin with the truth. Millions of caregivers and healthcare professionals deserve the truth. Entire communities deserve a chance to defend themselves.

The risk assessments prepared by the U.S. EPA for wastewater treatment and sewage sludge are flawed and current practices of recycling this infectious waste are fueling a public health disaster. 

Deliberately poisoning people, livestock and wildlife with infectious waste, radioactive waste, carcinogens, neurotoxins (prions) and other forms of bioterrorism is a sad statement about homeland defense and public health. It’s time to divert all sewage sludge to lined landfills to protect human health, animal health and entire watersheds. Sewage sludge is a prion super-highway. It’s killing more than our wildlife.

There are proven strategies to help avert neurodegenerative disease, including nutrition, exercise and prion aversion. There is not a cure for prion disease. Preview and order the eBook now to defend yourself and your family.

The post Neurodegenerative Disease A Global Pandemic appeared first on Neuroscience News.

Neurodegenerative disease is the fastest-growing cause of death around the world. It will soon be the leading cause of death. Scientists have finally confirmed that Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of neurodegenerative disease are forms of prion disease, which means that they are highly infectious.

Caregivers, family members and billions of innocent people are caught in the crossfire of this explosive epidemic. It’s even killing wildlife. Victims are prion incubators and prion distributors. Prions kill with unparalleled efficiency. The epidemic has been building for decades. So has the global denial.

Alzheimer’s disease alone is taking the lives of 50-100 million people around the world now. Millions will die of the disease this year, while even more will be diagnosed, misdiagnosed and undiagnosed. The epidemic is more severe in some countries than others. Sick mammals are serving as proverbial canaries in a coal mine, but we are ignoring the bodies of evidence—millions of infectious bodies.

Prion disease often is described as a wasting disease that causes a loss of body mass and brain mass. Alzheimer’s disease alone is taking the lives of 50-100 million people around the world now. Despite millions of deaths annually, experts suggest that the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease will quadruple by 2050, if not sooner. Unfortunately, there is a growing stack of evidence that Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other brain diseases are transmissible. Deadly, self-replicating proteins appear to be one of the common threads. Abnormal proteins appear to be related to the global autism epidemic.

Prions (PREE-ons) are a deadly and unstoppable form of protein that migrates, mutates, multiplies and kills. Prions cause fatal neurodegenerative disease in humans and other mammals by converting the cellular version of prion protein into a toxic form of prion that erodes the brain and body. It’s comparable to the way cancer cells develop and spread, except that deadly prions are indestructible pathogens.

Dr. Stanley Prusiner, an American neuroscientist from the University of California at San Francisco, earned a Nobel Prize in 1997 for discovering and characterizing prions and prion disease. President Obama awarded Prusiner the National Medal of Science in 2010 to recognize the importance of his research. Important reforms to policies to protect public health, however, have been elusive.

According to Prusiner, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease are both forms of prion disease. Millions of these victims are walking and talking time bombs. They transmit prions everywhere they go and everywhere that their bodily fluids go. Recycling the modern sewage stream back into our food and water supplies is blowing up in our faces.

“Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease in humans and will pose a considerable challenge to healthcare systems in the coming years,” Prusiner said.

Prusiner’s most recent study confirms that Alzheimer’s disease is a prion disease, which means that millions of people with Alzheimer’s disease (and millions who died ahead of them) are highly infectious. They permanently contaminate the world around them with deadly prions.

Prion disease also is known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). The operative word is “transmissible.”

Victims become prion incubators and distributors. So do wastewater treatment plants. Despite all of the smoke and mirrors, prion disease is prion disease. It’s killing more and more mammals, including humans, every year. The misinformation and mismanagement are extreme.

Thanks to reckless policies hacked together by the U.S. EPA, we are dumping tons of infectious waste (sewage sludge and biosolids) from people with prion disease on open ground, including farms, ranches, golf courses, parks, school grounds and sports fields. Wastewater treatment companies are even dumping this toxic waste in our forests and on public lands. It’s contaminating food, water and air. It’s killing wildlife. In other mammals, it’s called different things, but prion disease has been found in camels, dolphins, elephants, mink, cats and many other species.

Deer, elk, moose and other mammals are actually getting prion disease from humans when we dump sewage sludge and biosolids on open ground. When we reclaim wastewater, we are spreading prion disease to man and beast. It’s insane to think that there is a species barrier to prion disease.

As such, the epidemics that are striking humans and wildlife are connected. Livestock aren’t immune from prion exposure, but industry and government have led us to believe that testing for mad cow disease (prion disease) isn’t necessary. Such a stance further underscores the negligence and incompetence of those who produce and regulate our food supplies.

Regardless of the species impacted, prion disease causes memory loss, impaired coordination, abnormal movements and overall wasting of the mind and body. Victims should be quarantined because prions are in the urine, feces, blood, saliva, mucus, skin and cell tissue of all victims–all human byproducts that are washed, dumped, or flushed down sinks and toilets. One can assume that the waste is extra infectious when it comes from funeral homes, nursing homes, hospitals, dental offices, veterinarians, slaughterhouses and some laboratories.

Alzheimer’s disease is currently defined based on the presence of toxic protein aggregations in the brain known as amyloid plaques and tau tangles, accompanied by cognitive decline and dementia.

But attempts to treat the disease by clearing out these proteins have been unsuccessful. The new evidence that active Aß and tau prions could be driving the disease – published May 1, 2019 in Science Translational Medicine — could lead researchers to explore new therapies that focus on prions directly. Hopefully, it will lead to many reforms to safeguard public health.

“I believe this shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that amyloid beta and tau are both prions, and that Alzheimer’s disease is a double-prion disorder in which these two rogue proteins together destroy the brain,” said Stanley Prusiner, MD, the study’s senior author and director of the UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, part of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences.

Learn more about Dr. Stanley Prusiner and the Nobel Prize for prion science and prion disease.

Unfortunately, the CDC quietly took prions off the highly regulated list of select agents because the regulation criminalized entire industries and several reckless practices. It also opened the floodgates to prion mismanagement.

Once unleashed on the environment, prions remain infectious. They migrate, mutate and multiply as they infect crops, water supplies, wildlife, livestock, sea mammals and humans. According to prion researcher Joel Pedersen at the University of Wisconsin, prions in soil become up to 680 times more infectious. From there, they migrate, mutate and multiply. It’s a real world version of Pandora’s Lunchbox.

Prion disease is now the fastest-growing cause of death in the world. The truth is more elusive than a cure. Many factors are contributing to the surge, including misinformation, disinformation and reckless public policies.

The medical term for prion disease is transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, which includes ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease. The operative word is transmissible. Victims generate a tremendous amount of infectious waste.

The major difference between these forms of neurodegenerative disease is the species under attack and the region of the brain that is under attack. The primary difference between Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, for example, is the region of the brain that is under attack by the pathological protein. 

Despite the smoke and mirrors, the major difference between all of these forms of neurodegenerative disease is the species under attack by infectious prions. The primary difference between Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, for example, is the region of the brain that is under attack by the pathological protein.

Livestock, wildlife and humans have been transmitting prion disease back and forth for years. It’s a vicious circle that can’t be stopped. The truth is our only hope. The new blood test offers hope in the form of truth. Answers begin with the truth.

Learn how to prevent and treat all forms of prion disease. Learn the truth about the prion pandemic.

For starters, it’s time to stop the land application of sewage sludge and biosolids (infectious waste) in all nations. Safer alternatives exist. It’s time for reform on many levels to contain the prion epidemic.

There are proven strategies to help avert neurodegenerative disease, including nutrition, exercise and prion aversion. There is not a cure for prion disease. Preview and order the eBook now to defend yourself and your family.

The post Time To Rethink Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s Disease appeared first on Neuroscience News.

A study led by led by the University of Texas Medical School at Houston in the US confirms that Alzheimer’s disease is an infectious disease. The researchers injected a small amount of Alzheimer’s disease human brain tissue into the brains of mice bred never to develop this kind of brain alteration, and found the animals gradually developed the disease and that it spread to other parts of the brain.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of prion disease. It affects memory, thinking and behavior, and gets worse with time. The two main hallmarks of the disease are build-up in the brain of misfolded amyloid beta protein, and twisted fibers of tau protein.

In the US there are 5.4 million people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Although there is compelling evidence that build-up of misfolded amyloid beta is a major factor in the disease, we know very little about what might trigger this in otherwise normal proteins, except that in prion diseases like mad cow disease and CJD, the damage is also due to accumulation of misfolded versions of otherwise normal proteins. Prions are infectious misfolded proteins (the word prion comes from the first two letters of protein and the last three of infection).

Senior author Dr. Claudio Soto, professor of neurology at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, said in a statement:

“The underlying mechanism of Alzheimer’s disease is very similar (if not identical) to the prion diseases. It involves a normal protein that becomes misshapen and is able to spread by transforming good proteins to bad ones.”

“The bad proteins accumulate in the brain, forming plaque deposits that are believed to kill neuron cells in Alzheimer’s disease patients,” he added.

Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease are known in the medical world as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (prion disease).

Prion disease is now the fastest-growing cause of death in the world. The truth is more elusive than a cure. Many factors are contributing to the surge, including misinformation, disinformation and reckless public policies.

The medical term for prion disease is transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, which includes ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease. The operative word is transmissible. Victims generate a tremendous amount of infectious waste.

The major difference between these forms of neurodegenerative disease is the species under attack and the region of the brain that is under attack. The primary difference between Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, for example, is the region of the brain that is under attack by the pathological protein. 

Despite the smoke and mirrors, the major difference between all of these forms of neurodegenerative disease is the species under attack by infectious prions and the region of the brain that is under attack (first symptom). The primary difference between Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, for example, is the region of the brain that is under attack by the pathological protein. Learn how to prevent and treat all forms of prion disease.

For their study, Soto and colleagues injected brain tissue from a confirmed Alzheimer’s patient into mice, which, without exposure to such material, would never develop these alterations.

They also injected a similar amount of brain tissue into a second group of similarly bred mice, except in that group (the controls), the injected tissue came from someone who did not have Alzheimer’s disease.

None of the control mice went on to develop Alzheimer’s disease, while those injected with Alzheimer’s brain tissue developed plaques and other hallmarks of the disease.

“The accumulation of amyloid beta deposits increased progressively with the time after inoculation, and the [amyloid beta] lesions were observed in brain areas far from the injection site,” write the researchers.

They conclude that these findings suggest some of the typical brain abnormalities seen in Alzheimer’s disease “can be induced by a prion-like mechanism of disease transmission through propagation of protein misfolding.”

This could have broad implications for understanding the underlying mechanisms that trigger Alzheimer’s, and may help develop ways to prevent and treat the disease, they added.

“We are currently working on whether disease transmission can happen in real life under more natural routes of exposure,” said Soto.

Funds from the George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Center for Research in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Brain Disorders at University of Texas Health (UTHealth) helped pay for the study. Soto is director of the Mitchell Center.

Learn more about Dr. Stanley Prusiner and the Nobel Prize for prion science and prion disease.

There are proven strategies to help avert neurodegenerative disease, including nutrition, exercise and prion aversion. There is not a cure for prion disease. Preview and order the eBook now to defend yourself and your family.

The post Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s Are Infectious appeared first on Neuroscience News.