News Round-Up: June 12, 2019

(Petr Hollesch)

Some news items you might have missed:

• My family came from then-Czechoslovakia, but clearly I didn't swim in the same gene pool as Czech InstaHunk Petr Hollesch (above). #dang #eyes #body

• Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin shares with The Guardian that being gay "liberated" him from "all sorts of shit," and "sped up the process of wisdom." He also reveals he is estranged from his Trump-supporting brother.

• Researchers at the University of New Mexico are testing a vaccine they believe could prevent Alzheimer's disease.

• Ecuador's high court has legalized same-sex marriage for the South American country.

#URGENTE ▶ La Corte Constitucional aprobó el matrimonio igualitario en Ecuador pic.twitter.com/wlm7OxN5y6

— Diario Expreso (@Expresoec) June 12, 2019

• Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) slammed the Trump administration's ban on transgender military service members at a Department of Defense Pride event today calling the policy "heartless as it is dangerous."

• Christian hate preachers are planning an anti-LGBTQ conference in Orlando, Florida, during the city's Pride celebration.

• Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris says she would pursue obstruction of justice charges against Donald Trump if she were elected.

• Sultry out singer/songwriter Gia Woods dropped her latest single, "Feel It," recently and even as I type this I'm bouncing in my chair.

Sexy, seductive vocals slink over an irresistible electro-pop mid-tempo groove. "You can dance to it, but it’s not aggressive.," says Woods. "It’s sensual and fun — just like the beginning of a heavy crush."

News Round-Up: May 16, 2017

Some news items you may have missed:

• Summer's almost here and the pool is calling my name :)

• Hillary Clinton has launched a new political group, Onward Together, dedicated to supporting groups that encourage people to organize and run for office.

• Joining Will & Grace on the reboot trail, 80s/90s hit sitcom Roseanne is coming back in 2018 complete with the original stars.

• President Trump broke with bipartisan tradition by introducing politics into his speech as he addressed the 36th Annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service on Monday by attacking political opponents. The Trumpster even threw a campaign hat to the son of a fallen police officer during the speech.

• A Florida man is accused of second-degree murder in the choking death of his girl friend. He claims his gf accidentally died performing oral sex due to his huge endowment. His lawyer now wants the jury to see the man's penis to prove their case. #Seriously

• Longtime Trump pal Roger Stone says the president's cabinet is plotting to accuse the Donald of having Alzheimers in order to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove his from office. I have seen several opinions expressing the idea that Trump might be coping with some kind of mental issue, so...

• Why is it I can imagine those One Million Moms' heads exploding over this new ad spot from Liquid-Plumr?

The Power Of Music

The power of music.

This old man has Alzheimers, and singing brings him back to his old self.

So, his hottie son leads some "carpool karaoke" to help  his dad.  Bonus - they've got some great voices.

Fun clip but also very touching. Note the son's facial expressions :)

News Round-Up: September 1, 2016

Some news stories you may have missed:

• The first episode of woofy web series WHERE THE BEARS ARE Season 5 is here - watch below!

• Logo's "Finding Prince Charming" star under fire for his past work as a male escort.

• New study delivers promising results for new Alzheimers treatment.

• Guess who's hitting the dance floor for the next season of DANCING WITH THE STARS?

• Moulin Rouge The Musical heading to a Broadway stage in the near future.

• 9th Circuit Court of Appeals tells medicinal marijuana card holders: "No guns for you!"

Researchers Develop Blood Test That Can Detect Early Alzheimers With 100% Accuracy

A team of researchers at Rowan University in New Jersey believe they have developed a blood test that can detect early-stage Alzheimer's in patients.

The study included 236 subjects.

From CBS News:

In terms of identifying early Alzheimer’s in patients with mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, the overall accuracy rate was 100 percent, according to the researchers.

Cassandra DeMarshall, the lead author of the study, said that 60 percent of patients with MCI, have it due to an early stage of Alzheimer’s. “Our results show that it is possible to use a small number of blood-borne autoantibodies to accurately diagnose early-stage Alzheimer’s. These findings could eventually lead to the development of a simple, inexpensive and relatively noninvasive way to diagnose this devastating disease in its earliest stages,” DeMarshall said in a statement.

Nagele added that it is believed that “Alzheimer’s related changes,” occur in the brain at least ten years before common symptoms begin to show.

The researchers say that a larger study will be needed to verify whether or not their method will be a viable one for detecting Alzheimer’s, but they do believe that their test could lead to earlier treatments that could offset the impact that the disease has on those who are suffering from it and for families with loved ones who develop it.

I know several people who say they wouldn't want to know if Alzheimers was in their future.

I've grown so forgetful over the past couple of years that, in all seriousness, I believe it's possible I may have some mild cognitive impairment. So, I'm fascinated to see how the next stages of the researcher's work progresses.

(h/t JMG)

Australian Researchers Find New Treatment For Alzheimers

If this ends up working, this would be fantastic.


Researchers at the University at Queensland in Australia have found a treatment that appears to help remove one of the kinds of plaque in the brain that lead to Alzheimers:

Publishing in Science Translational Medicine, the team describes the technique as using a particular type of ultrasound called a focused therapeutic ultrasound, which non-invasively beams sound waves into the brain tissue. By oscillating super-fast, these sound waves are able to gently open up the blood-brain barrier, which is a layer that protects the brain against bacteria, and stimulate the brain’s microglial cells to move in. Microglila cells are basically waste-removal cells, so once they get past the blood-brain barrier, they’re able to clear out the toxic beta-amyloid clumps before the blood-brain barrier is restored within a few hours.

The team reports fully restoring the memories of 75 percent of the mice they tested it on, with zero damage to the surrounding brain tissue. They found that the treated mice displayed improved performance in three memory tasks - a maze, a test to get them to recognise new objects, and one to get them to remember the places they should avoid.

If all goes well, human trials could begin as early as 2017.

New blood test may predict Alzheimer's disease with 90% accuracy

Big news in the medical world as CNN is reporting that researchers have developed a blood test that can predict if a healthy person may develop Alzheimer's disease later in life with an accuracy of 90%.

They (researchers) decided to start with fats, since it was the easiest and least expensive. They drew blood from hundreds of healthy people over age 70 living near Rochester, New York, and Irvine, California. Five years later, 28 of the seniors had developed Alzheimer's disease or the mild cognitive problems that usually precede it.

Scouring more than 100 fats, or lipids, for what might set this group apart, they found that these 28 seniors had low levels of 10 particular lipids, compared with healthy seniors.

To confirm their findings, the researchers then looked at the blood of 54 other patients who had Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment. This group also had low levels of the lipids.

Overall, the blood test predicted who would get Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment with over 90% accuracy.

A study released by peer group Neurology last week estimated that nearly 500,000 lives are lost each year to Alzheimer's disease.