Hannah's heirs

The internationally acclaimed story of Hannah's Heirs now resumes in this updated paperback edition with the discovery in June, 1995 of Hannah's gene--now known to account for the majority of mutations causing early onset familial Alzheimer's disease--and the equally important identificationof the major genetic risk factor rendering increased susceptibility to the more frequently occurring late-onset Alzheimer's. With these recent discoveries, medical science is now poised to reach for an understanding of the causes of the various forms of Alzheimer's disease which, in turn, willinevitably lead to rational attempts to treat and prevent Alzheimer's. This fascinating medical detective story of modern science's promising assault on "the disease of the century" continues to unfold with suspense and to inform and inspire through the final word. In Hannah's Heirs, neurologist Dr. Dan Pollen himself tells the compelling story of Hannah's family and their monumental contributions to the fight against Alzheimer's. We are there in 1985 when Charles presents Pollen with three decades' worth of family medical records as well as data fromstudies that even Pollen and his associates did not then know existed. We see the selfless acts of Hannah's descendants in their struggle against Alzheimer's: great-grandson Jeff's conviction that after his death his brain be used for all possible research; great-granddaughter Lucy's decision toovercome her dread of flying in order to reach the research center for testing; and Charles's continued research in the face of a disease that might strike him at any moment. Pollen sets this gripping story within the larger context of the efforts to solve the mysteries of Alzheimer's. He presents the foundations of modern genetic research, from Gregor Mendel's classic discovery of genes, to Alois Alzheimer's work on the brains of presenile dementia victims, to Watsonand Crick's double helix model for the structure of DNA. He narrates the latter-twentieth-century efforts of scientists to systematically narrow down the causes of Alzheimer's: Carlton Gajdusek's research excluding slow viruses as a cause of Alzheimer's; and the stunning discovery of Peter St.George-Hyslop's group in Toronto in June, 1995 identifying Hannah's gene and thereby opening a new era in understanding the origins of Alzheimer's disease. At the same time, Pollen offers a penetrating look at the ongoing conflicts involved in scientific research, revealing how intense competit

שנה

1993

שפה

English

הוצאה

Oxford University Press

מהדורות

2

ISBN

9780198023265

מקור הנתונים: Wikidata