Newsmakers of the week: October 13

Posted on November 15, 2007
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ISABELLE DINOIRE
A POIGNANT LIFE WITH A NEW FACE
Ever since she underwent the world’s first face transplant in 2005, Isabelle Dinoire has endured a long, strange recovery. She required the groundbreaking surgery after her dog, Tanya, bit off her nose and mouth. Now, in a new memoir, Dinoire describes a strange new existence. She can speak and eat, but kissing eludes her. She recounts discovering a small hair growing on her new chin and realizing that the donor must have been brunette. Before the dog attack, Dinoire had been facing feelings of suicide and had taken a large dose of sleeping pills (when she awoke she found her face bloody from Tanya’s attack). Then she learned that the donor had killed herself, and that gave Dinoire a feeling of sisterhood. Today she has a new dog to replace Tanya. The animal is affectionate enough, but some instinct always prevents it from licking the new part of her face. And Dinoire has finally gotten over initial disgust at living inside someone else’s skin: “Sometimes, I put my hand to my face to check that it’s still there.”

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FRED GOODWIN
THE BIGGEST BANKER OF THEM ALL
The bosses at two Canadian banks toasted their acquisitions of regional U.S. financial institutions last week. But they were mere tiddlers compared to the Royal Bank of Scotland’s CEO. Fred Goodwin, 49, was about to close the biggest banking deal in history. Along with Belgian-Dutch and Spanish banking partners, he was poised to spend US$101 billion snagging the giant Dutch bank ABN Amro. Buying the 183-year-old Dutch firm is just the ticket for Goodwin’s plan to grow RBS into one of the world’s dominant banks. Nicknamed “Fred the Shred” for brutal cost-cutting measures that catapulted thousands of workers from banks he’s previously headed, Goodwin will probably make similar cuts in the ranks at ABN Amro. Job one, however, will be shredding the bank itself. RBS, along with principal partners Fortis and Banco Santander, will break up ABN Amro into three pieces. Nothing on this scale has ever been done before. Even Shred will need three years, experts say, to deal with the remains.

MRTHA LOUISE
A FAIRY-TALE PRINCESS GETS TOUGH IN COURT
Hours before her father, King Harald V, opened the Norwegian parliament, Princess Mrtha Louise was in court last week, seeking to stop publication of a book about angels that put her photo and name on its cover though she had nothing to do with the project. Her lawyer labelled the publisher “cynical parasites” for exploiting her image. The king’s only daughter has been a lightning rod for otherworldly controversy ever since claiming earlier this year that she had been making “contact with angels.” Though the publisher settled the court case, agreeing to apologize and remove her name from the cover, Mrtha Louise’s problems persist — a veteran journalist has called the princess “a hypocrite” for apparently using his father’s of fairy tales in her own just-published book Princess Mrtha Louise’s Wonderful World. Now he’s asking for a halt to book sales.

JOSEPH KAISER
THE HUNKENTENOR GOES TO NEW YORK
To legions of opera fans, 29-year-old Joseph Kaiser of Montreal is known as the “Hunkentenor” for his blue-eyed good looks and affable, thoughtful manner. Last week, he made his debut on the stage of New York City’s Metropolitan Opera opposite superstar Anna Netrebko in Gounod’s Romo and Juliet. He was conducted by Plcido Domingo, who simply advised Kaiser to “have fun.” Kaiser has had a storybook rise: during the 2002 Jeunesses Musicales competition in Quebec, the great singer Teresa Berganza advised him to switch from being a baritone to a tenor. Kaiser recalls: “She pulled me aside at a dinner and she said: ‘Take three months, take six months. Try.’ ” Then came a chance to audition for a minor role in Kenneth Branagh’s film of Mozart’s opera, The Magic Flute. Kaiser won the lead, playing Tamino. That was one of his favourite , Kaiser says. The other two are singing in his synagogue and belting out O Canada at a Montreal Canadiens home game.

JAMMIE THOMAS
THE HIGH PRICE OF DOWNLOADING MUSIC
When she was slammed with a lawsuit from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for downloading copyrighted music for free off the Internet and it again, 30-year-old Jammie Thomas of Minnesota did what no one else had done. The RIAA has served 26,000 other people with legal action for swapping music on file-sharing sites. All have settled with the industry, but Thomas was the first to go to trial. The closely watched proceeding ended last week with a jury awarding in favour of several recording companies. They ordered the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe employee to pay US$9,250 in damages for each tune she’d downloaded, including Destiny’s Child’s Bills, Bills, Bills and Sarah McLachlan’s Building a Mystery. The total: a whopping US$220,000. The award infuriated critics of the recording industry. “Four venal record companies,” wrote Jon Newton, editor of a website devoted to file-sharing, “have bankrupted a single mother with two chidren in their lust for money.” But the win may be symbolic: pundits belive Thomas can win an appeal of the case.

DIDA
SOCCER DIVE WAS A MAJOR FLOP
Soccer players dive; it is a wart on the face of the beautiful game. Occasionally, though, a player goes too far even by soccer’s standards. In a game in Glasgow last week, defending champions AC Milan suffered a shock defeat by hometown Celtic FC after Milan goalkeeper Nlson de Jesus Silva — known by his nickname Dida — conceded a last-minute goal. In the ensuing pandemonium, a fan ran onto the field. Passing Dida, he slapped the 34-year-old Brazilian keeper lightly on the shoulder. Dida angrily began charging after the fan, then seemed to change his mind and collapsed, clutching his head. Medics stretchered him off the field. It was one of the most cynical dives in memory. And if it was a flimsy attempt to have Celtic forfeit the game owing to an injury, it failed and then some. Dida was reproved by teammates and fans, and may face discipline by UEFA. British football commentator James Richardson recalled Pel’s endorsements for Viagra a few years ago when he sniped: “Not since Pel spoke out about men’s issues has a Brazilian man had this much trouble staying upright.”

TOKITSUKAZE
THE BANISHING OF A SUMO MASTER
Sumo stable master Tokitsukaze claimed he was just trying to whip a charge into shape, but Japan’s sumo authority has sacked him for beating Takashi Saito, 17, with a beer bottle a day before the young trainee died in June. While Tokitsukaze admitted he struck the junior wrestler on the knee and head, he claims other senior wrestlers also assaulted the teen, including one who hit him with a baseball bat. In the world of sumo, such hazings are meant to toughen new recruits. Saito subsequently collapsed while practising with another wrestler. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead from heart failure. An autopsy revealed multiple bruises, lacerations and cigarette burns, and led to a police probe. Now Tokitsukaze has been pushed out of the centre ring forever. Japan Sumo Association rules stipulate that the dismissal prevents him from ever returning to the national sport. But the scandal has dealt sumo a very public battering.

KIMBERLY BELL
LIFE WITH BARRY: AN OVERGROWN MESS
The ex-girlfriend of home-run king Barry Bonds used to examine her lover’s body in minute detail. “There was bloating. Acne. Losing of hair. Dysfunction sexually,” Kimberly Bell says, blaming it on the baseball player’s alleged steroid use. Now, the public can examine Bell’s body in equally minute detail: she’s posed nude for November’s issue of Playboy. To promote it, Bell’s been dishing the dirt on her ex and she’s got a big spoon. She details his transition from being simply moody (”I always figured he had PMS, like a woman̶ ;) to downright scary. Bell claims Bonds threatened to chop off her head. Steroids also put a hamper on their sex life: “You exaggerate your reactions.” Bell has big plans for her future, including writing a self-help book and becoming a teacher. She hopes to “inspire children,” she says. Maybe posing in Playboy isn’t such a good start.

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Sex Patch Revs Menopausal Women

Posted on November 11, 2007
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(AP) Menopausal women had more sex and were happier about it when using an hormone patch hailed by some as a possible female equivalent of Viagra, doctors reported Tuesday.



Women on the testosterone patch had sex about four times more than they usually did in two months compared to only one session for women given a fake patch containing no hormone, a study found.



Those who got real patches also reported more arousal, pleasure and orgasms, and had better self-images.



“We found an increase in activity, an increase in desire and a decrease in distress,” said Dr. Robin Kroll, a Seattle gynecologist who reported results of the study Tuesday at a meeting of specialists. The research was sponsored by Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals, which is developing the patch, called Intrinsa, with Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc.



It was the first big test of the patch in women who went through menopause naturally and complained of low sex drive. A previous study in women who became menopausal because of surgery found similar results, and the companies already have asked the federal Food and Drug Administration to approve its use for those women.



“The testosterone patch looks very promising. It may be the answer for what women are looking for for a libido lag in menopause,” said Dr. Marian Damewood, a University of Pennsylvania gynecologist who is president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.



As many as 30 million American women will have gone through natural menopause by 2005 and another 10 million will be menopausal because of having their ovaries removed, Procter & Gamble estimates.



Lack of interest in or pleasure from sex is a big problem for such women, partly because of the decline in testosterone. Even though men make far more of this hormone than women, females still need a certain amount of it to have healthy sex lives, experts say.



Taking testosterone pills isn’t advised because it can cause excessive hair growth, liver and other problems. Testosterone creams that are applied to the inner thigh are an option, but they’ve gotten little scientific study, Damewood said.



She had no role in the patch study, which involved 549 women in Seattle, Denver, Boston, Canada and Australia, averaging 54 years old, who were upset because they didn’t feel like having sex. They were assigned to get either hormone or placebo patches. All kept logs of their sexual activities and filled out standard questionnaires about their feelings.



Those on the hormone patch improved in all measures. Side effects were mild and reported by three out of four women in each group - mostly excess facial hair and red or irritated skin from the patch, Kroll said.



“None of those patients wanted to stop taking the testosterone,” she added.



The experiment was done over six months, the longest period of time the patch has been tested.



Meanwhile, a survey of 2,000 American women sponsored by Procter & Gamble and done by the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey found that one in three naturally menopausal women reported lackluster sex lives, but only one in 10 said it upset them.




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Selling Drugs With Celebrities

Posted on November 9, 2007
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(AP) Former presidential nominee Bob Dole admits he takes Viagra. The perfectly composed Joan Lunden suffers from itchy eyes and sneezing. Denver Broncos running back Terrell Davis fights migraine headaches. All three are helping drug makers pitch their medications.



“The use of celebrities is the next big way to differentiate a drug,” said Kelly Peters, senior marketing manager for IMS Health, a health information firm.



Drug makers began using celebrities to market to consumers last year. Before that, the industry’s sole focus was promoting its products to doctors.



Using celebrities to advertise drugs comes amid an explosion in consumer advertising since the Food and Drug Administration loosened restraints on TV and radio commercials for prescription drugs in August 1997.



In July, Schering-Plough became the first firm to use a celebrity in a national television campaign. It tapped Lunden to promote its prescription allergy pill Claritin.



The company wouldn’t say how much she was paid. Analysts have speculated about $1 million a year. The payoff for Schering-Plough: Claritin worldwide sales soared by 35 percent last year to $2.3 billion, including $1.9 billion in the United States.



“We saw this as the next step to reach out to consumers,” said Schering-Plough spokesman Bob Consalvo.



Celebrity represent only a tiny portion of the billions the industry spends on drug promotion each year. Drug companies still rely on thousands of sales agents to persuade doctors to prescribe their medications, said Ed Mathers, vice president consumer health-care marketing for Glaxo Wellcome.



Some times, drug companies use celebrities who can give a firsthand testimonial to the effectiveness of the drug, as Lunden did with her hay fever treatment. Other companies use public figures to raise awareness of an illness to spur visits to a doctor for treatment.



For instance, Pfizer, maker of Viagra, the only pill available for treatment of impotence, will launch an educational campaign this month featuring former Senate Majority Leader Dole. Dole, who has acknowledged taking Viagra, won’t mention it by name in the ad.



In other instances, celebrities use their to make the pitch. Merck, the world’s largest drug company, hired baseball star Cal Ripken to promote the company’s Prinivil drug in ads that appear in medical magazines. Ripken, as the ads disclose, doesn’t suffer from high blood pressure.



“Cal symbolizes hard work and a solid work ethic, and Prinivil provides hard work ethic against a disease,” said Merck spokesman John Bloomfield.



Football player Terrell Davis has been hired by Novartis to talk to groups of migraine sufferers about his experience with its Migranol drug. He suffered a migraine attack during the 1998 Super Bowl and used the nasal spray to head it off. The drug helped Davis stay in the game by preventing him from being sidelied by the severe headache. The Broncos went on to win the game and Davis was named Most Valuable Player.

China, US bust fake Viagra ring

Posted on October 29, 2007
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Chinese and US Customs officials say they have broken a major pharmaceuticals smuggling ring.

Eleven Chinese citizens and an American man have been arrested in a counterfeit medicine scheme that spanned 11 countries.

It involved around $4m-worth of fake drugs, officials of both countries have said.

But it is a rare success in China's attempts to safeguard intellectual property rights.

The arrested men are accused of manufacturing fake versions of well-known drugs including Viagra and the cholesterol-reducing Lipitor.

The drugs were made in China, sold on the internet and delivered by mail to customers in Britain, America and Israel.

It was a tip-off from the pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, that led to the investigation.

Both US and Chinese officials have made much of the arrests.

China has promised to put the counterfeiters out of business and respect intellectual property rights in advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But still the country is awash with counterfeit goods. DVDs, designer handbags and even well-known food brands are pirated here in enormous quantities.

 

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Feds Close Viagra Loophole

Posted on October 28, 2007
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(AP) A federal agency has begun notifying all 50 states that they don’t have to offer Medicaid-funded Viagra to sex offenders, a step taken after it was discovered that more than 400 convicted sex offenders in New York and Florida were reimbursed for the erectile dysfunction drug.



The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services acted swiftly Monday, one day after the New York comptroller’s office said audits from 2000 through March found that 198 rapists and other high-risk sex offenders in the state received Medicaid-reimbursed Viagra after their convictions.
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Buying Drugs Online: It’s Convenient and Private, but Beware of ‘Rogue Sites’

Posted on October 27, 2007
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See related site about generic viagra pill.



The scene is becoming
increasingly common in the United States: Consumers are replacing a trip to the
corner drugstore with a click onto the internet, where they find hundreds of
websites selling prescription drugs and other health products.

Many of these are lawful enterprises that
genuinely offer convenience, privacy, and the safeguards of traditional
procedures for prescribing drugs. For the most part, consumers can use these
services with the same confidence they have in their neighborhood druggist. In
fact, while some are familiar large drugstore chains, many of these legitimate
businesses are local “mom and pop” pharmacies, set up to serve their
customers electronically.

But consumers must be wary of others who are
using the internet as an outlet for products or practices that are already
illegal in the offline world. These so-called “rogue sites” either sell
unapproved products, or if they deal in approved ones, they often sidestep
established procedures meant to protect consumers. For example, some sites
require customers only to fill out a questionnaire before ordering prescription
drugs, bypassing any face-to-face interaction with a health
professional.

“This practice undermines safeguards of a
direct medical supervision and physical evaluation performed by a licensed
health professional,” says Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., Medical Officer in the
Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Policy, Planning and Legislation.
“The internet makes it easy to bypass this safety net.”

Skirting the system this way sets the stage
for problems that include dangerous drug interactions and harm from
contaminated, counterfeit or outdated drugs. “websites that prescribe based
on a questionnaire raise additional health concerns,” says Shuren.
“Patients risk obtaining an inappropriate medication and may sacrifice the
opportunity for a correct diagnosis or the identification of a contraindication
to the drug.”

To date, FDA has received only a few reports
of adverse events related to internet drug sales, but some of these cases point
out the potential danger of buying prescription drugs on the basis of just a
questionnaire. For example, a 52-year-old Illinois man with episodes of chest
pain and a family history of heart disease died of a heart attack last March
after buying the impotence drug Viagra (sildenafil citrate) from an online
source that required only answers to a questionnaire to qualify for the
prescription. Though there is no proof linking the man’s death to the drug, FDA
officials say that a traditional doctor-patient relationship, along with a
physical examination, may have uncovered any health problems such as heart
disease and could have ensured that proper treatments were
prescribed.

FDA is investigating numerous pharmaceutical
websites suspected of breaking the law and plans to take legal action if
appropriate. The agency has made internet surveillance an enforcement priority,
targeting unapproved new drugs, health fraud, and prescription drugs sold
without a valid prescription.
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Spammers find new ways to slip through

Posted on October 24, 2007
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Original article

SAN FRANCISCO - Just when it appeared tech firms had the upper hand against spam, spammers have unleashed new forms of the meddlesome e-mail to trick filters.

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Spam in the form of popular PDF e-mail attachments and electronic greeting cards is confounding e-mail security systems and annoying consumers. The recent Storm e-mail virus and several pump-and-dump stock scams are clogging inboxes and snookering consumers into downloading malicious software. And it could get worse as the holidays approach, anti-spam experts say.

The trend illustrates the shifting nature of spam&39;s a cat-and-mouse game, and PDFs are the latest twist,” says Adam Swidler, senior marketing manager at Postini.

Spammers also are beginning to use Excel and Zip files.

As spam evolves, from text in the body of e-mail to images embedded in attachments, it has become more difficult for filters to identify, says Tom Gillis, co-founder of IronPort Systems, a security firm acquired by Cisco Systems (CSCO). “There is a social engineering element to this. People are more likely to open a PDF file or Excel document, which are more trusted.”

Spammers now are also leveraging popular online applications to tout ads for everything from stock scams to Viagra. Subscribers to Google&39;s (SYMC) senior director of engineering.

New strains have largely supplanted image spam, which accounted for half of all spam in January. Image spam varies the content of individual messages - through colors, backgrounds, picture sizes or font types - and was harder to detect than text-based spam. Since software makers came up with a solution, image spam has dropped to 8% of all spam, Symantec says.

News - Celebrity Health - Sir Stirling Moss

Posted on October 14, 2007
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In a series on celebrities and their health, the BBC News website talks to racing driver Sir Stirling Moss about his erectile dysfunction.

Sir Stirling, 76, started racing at the age of 18 and soon made his name in Formula One, Two, Three and hill climbs, sports and touring car races as well as rallies and world speed record events.

An accident at the Goodwood track in 1962 left him partially paralysed for six months and ended his Grand Prix career, although he continued to race historic cars.

Sir Stirling, a spokesman for SortED in 10, the education campaign sponsored by drug’s manaufacturers Bayer, (makers of Levitra) was given an OBE in 1959 and knighted in 2000.

HOW DID YOU FIRST REALISE SOMETHING WAS WRONG?

I have had this problem twice. The first time was after I had a crash in 1962 and was in a coma for four weeks.


Men worry that admitting they have the problem will reflect on their masculinity, but it has nothing to do with masculinity
Sir Stirling Moss

I had a very attractive nurse and I turned to her and said, ‘I would love to do something about this but I can’t’.

Talking to her about it helped me through it.

The second time was when my prostate was taken out when I had cancer at 70. They cut it out and said I might have a problem with an erection.

My wife, Susie, and I are very close though and we fought the problem together.


HOW DID YOU GET DIAGNOSED?

I was diagnosed in a clinic in America, the Mayo Clinic, when I went for a complete check-up.

They found I had prostate cancer.

They took 12 tissue samples and four of them were cancerous.

WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO THE DIAGNOSIS?

I said I wanted the cancer out. They gave me three options, but I said I just wanted an operation and I wanted it straight away.

I think if you have cancer and they can cut it out then do it.

I just felt ‘lets get rid of it’.

WHAT WAS YOUR TREATMENT?

My prostate was removed. Then I just took it easy.

As for the erectile dysfunction when I got that far ahead, because I did not realise straight away that there was a problem, I said to the doctor that I had a problem and he told me the options.

The impotence drug Viagra did not help me and I found an alternative called Cialis did not have very quick results, but a drug called Levitra suited my lifestyle. I took it and within 15 minutes I could be ‘in action’.

If you take one of these drugs you do not get an erection immediately.

HOW DID YOU FEEL DURING TREATMENT?

When I was in hospital getting treated for the prostate cancer I felt knocked out - it took quite a lot out of me.

This might have had something to do with the fact I had just turned 70 when I found I had cancer.

With the erectile dysfunction I felt frustrated when the treatment did not work and then elated when it did.

When you are with a person you know so well and are close to you can really feel the urge (for sex) and if you have erectile dysfunction you can not do anything about it.

You can feel really amorous and really horny but if you don’t get an erection your partner will not know anything about how you are feeling.

It is amazing how many people suffer from it. I think the government should give more funding to addressing this problem.

The biggest problem is that men will not come forward. Men worry that admitting they have the problem will reflect on their masculinity, but it has nothing to do with masculinity.

One in three men suffer from this and if they have got this problem they should go to their doctor and if they have got a partner they should go with them to see the doctor. It should be a shared problem.

HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW?

Now I just feel that is a bit annoying that I have to take a pill to ‘get it up’.

It is much more exciting for it to happen naturally, which is a lovely thing.

WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE TO OTHER PEOPLE WITH THE SAME CONDITION?

The message to anybody is go and see the doctor - they can help and do help.

If you have a partner take them with you. You have got to share it.

You can’t think it will just get better. There are a lot of things that could be the cause - things like diabetes you should get it checked out.


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News - Spam is making computers sick

Posted on October 13, 2007
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Spam overload is making computers sick and driving users mad.

Research commissioned by Yahoo finds that the average British PC has nine ’sick days’ per year, two more than the average for workers.

Six of these are wasted battling with spam and three more days are lost due to viruses.

Nearly half of British computer users find dealing with junk e-mails more stressful than traffic jams and the majority want service providers to act.

Lethargy



[Providers] are not listening to their consumers and I can’t see that changing


Martino Corbelli, SurfControl

Over half of the 2,500 people questioned by Yahoo as part of its anti-spam campaign had asked their provider to do something to stop the deluge of junk e-mails they were receiving.

Around a third of people would be prepared to make a drastic lifestyle change, such as exercising five times a week, if it meant an end to spam.

Martino Corbelli, marketing director of e-mail filtering firm SurfControl, thinks internet and e-mail providers are not fulfilling their obligations to consumers.

“They never have done much about spam and all the indications are that they are lethargic about fighting the problem,” he told BBC News Online.

“They are not listening to their consumers and I can’t see that changing,” he added.

Mr Corbelli believes that if net service providers were to install anti-spam technology they could cut out 90% of spam.

“There is no silver bullet solution to spam. The spammers are very intelligent and use multi-faceted techniques to get to inboxes so the technology has to be multi-faceted too,” he said.

Wound up

Woman frustrated with computer

Junk e-mails are driving computer users mad

Spam is not just a nuisance. So-called phishing e-mails are increasingly being used by spammers to get at people’s personal details.

Mr Corbelli warns users to be wary of any e-mails asking for such details and urges consumers to keep putting pressure on ISPs to tackle spam.

The survey found that 22% of people had responded to spam, a sure fire way of getting more junk.

“That is the last thing you should do,” said Professor Steven Palmer, who has been studying the effects of spam on stress.

“But people get so wound up that they want to give spammers a piece of their mind,” he added.

The Yahoo survey estimates that spam is costing the UK economy 6.7 billion a year. It is estimated that around 14.5 billion spam messages are sent around the world each day.


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News - Gene fault gives Alzheimer’s clue

Posted on October 12, 2007
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American scientists have identified a gene error which causes faults in the brain’s nerve and blood supply system in Alzheimer’s disease.


The gene plays a major role in determining how the systems operate, Nature Medicine reports.


But University of Rochester researchers found that expression of the gene is low in the brain cells of people with Alzheimer’s disease.


Experts in the field said the research offered a promising line of study.


The concept is akin to use of ‘mental Viagra’ to increase blood flow to the brain
Professor Raj Kalaria, Alzheimer’s Research Trust


The scientists studied endothelial cells from the lining of blood vessels in the brain, taken from autopsy samples from people with Alzheimer’s.


They found that expression of MEOX2, or mesenchyme homeobox 2, also known as GAX, was low in the cells of those with Alzheimer’s.


When there are low levels of MEOX2 expression, the affected cells cannot form any form of blood supply system, and so die.


It also increased the level of a protein that removes amyloid beta peptide, the toxin that builds up in brain tissue in Alzheimer’s disease.


Restoration of the gene expression level in the human brain cells was found to stimulate the formation of new blood vessels.


In further studies, one copy of the gene was deleted in mice, creating damage similar to that seen in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s.


Restoration


Berislav Zlokovic, who led the study, said: “This gene could be a therapeutic target. If we can stop this cycle, we could slow or stop the progression of the neuronal component of this disease.


“If we can restore the dysfunctional gene, we might be able to slow or stop the disease wherever it started.”


Professor Raj Kalaria, of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, said: “This study reports a highly interesting advancement in research into Alzheimer’s disease.


“This research emphasises the importance of improving the brain microcirculation in old age and possibly encouraging clearance of toxic compounds from the brain.


“The concept is akin to use of ‘mental Viagra’ to increase blood flow to the brain.”


He added: “The discovery suggests that Alzheimer’s patients are unable to form new blood vessels to possibly increase and meet the changing needs of the microcirculation in the brain.


“The report also importantly suggests that the gene may have an effect which causes a protein called amyloid to accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.


“If this is the case, this research could lead to ways to stop this protein clogging up the brain of Alzheimer’s patients.”


But he said the research had to be repeated to ensure it was not just a chance finding.


Susan Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “This study seems to have identified a new target for intervention through a line of investigation not reported before.”



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