Jerusalem – Leading Scientist: Dementia Will Be Bigger World Plague Than AIDS

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    Jerusalem – AIDS is a relatively minor plague compared to the epidemic of dementia that will occur around the world in the coming decades, said leading brain researcher Prof. Richard Frackowiak on Wednesday. He was speaking at a symposium on brain research at the Fifth Presidential Conference at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center.

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    Frackowiak told the overflowing audience that the future of brain research lies in the creation of a hospital database to contain complete records of all brain-disease-related patients from around the world. If available to all researchers and scientists, this information would improve diagnosis accuracy.

    “Dementia is a disease that is going to be like a plague in our aging population,” said Frackowiak.

    “It’s going to be worse than AIDS – much worse, economically, personally. Each of you undoubtedly has someone who is already losing their memory or developing some other neurological disorder.”

    The British-born scientist – director of clinical neuroscience and head of the neurology service at CHUV University Hospital in Lausanne – conducts research on the functional and structural architecture of the human brain in health and disease.

    He is also codirector of the Blue Brain Project with Prof. Henry Markram. The project aims at building a virtual model of the human brain, neuron by neuron, so that scientists will better understand the hundreds of different brain diseases, from Alzheimer’s to schizophrenia, and develop effective ways to treat them.

    Frackowiak was part of a panel also composed by narrator Prof. Eilon Vaadia, director of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences at the Hebrew University, Prof.

    Yadin Dudai, a leading neurobiologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Markram, a neuroscientist at the Swiss Federal Institute for Technology and Hebrew University Prof. Idan Segev, a leading participant in the project and an expert in computational neuroscience.

    In the afternoon physicians and scientists examined the future of medicine, including personalized medicine and proteomics.

    A Health Page feature on the scientific sections of the conference will appear on Sunday, June 30.

    Content provided as courtesy by The Jerusalem Post


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    8 Comments
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    10 years ago

    It already is. Experts suggest playing CHESS might slow the process.

    The_Truth
    Noble Member
    The_Truth
    10 years ago

    Problem is,once it happens, people don’t know it and aren’t aware of it. And ass far as I know, there is nothing to do for it, except possibly delay it / prevent it getting worse. Its something that has been swept under the carpet, people leaving their parents in nursing homes and basically forgetting about them.

    10 years ago

    In our family it is a result of uncontrolled diabetes.

    enlightened-yid
    enlightened-yid
    10 years ago

    Why is it going to get worse than it is?

    jewishcat
    jewishcat
    10 years ago

    In the article:” Frackowiak told the overflowing audience that the future of brain research lies in the creation of a hospital database to contain complete records of all brain-disease-related patients from around the world. If available to all researchers and scientists, this information would improve diagnosis accuracy.” So much for privacy. Frackowiak and his colleagues had best start worrying about how healthy their own brains are.

    10 years ago

    Funding won’t be as swift as for AIDS. No political motivation there that will get you “in” in certain crowds…
    Dementia effects every group out there, which like cancer should making funding a cure a priority. However, due to political concerns from PACs and special interest groups, funding tends to go to the groups that will help those in power stay there (or get new guys in). C’mon, if someone promised a cure for Tay-Sachs wouldn’t we all jump to support him/her? But unfortunately, the diseases that afflict us all are pushed to the side.