Reader\'s Digest Australia - 07.2019

July• 2019 | 25

NEWS FROM THE

World of Medicine

HEALTH

On the Hunt for the

‘Superager’ Gene

Everyone experiences some cognitive

decline as they get older, but some

people seem to suffer little memory

loss even decades after middle age.

Dubbed ‘superagers’ by scientists,

they are the 80-somethings who

scored as well as the average 50- to

65 year old on certain memory

tests. When scientists sequenced

the genomes of 56 superagers, they

found one gene, called MAP2K3,

had changed more in their brains

than is typical. The findings suggest

that “superagers may have higher

resistance to age-related cognitive

changes” than the normal population,

said the study’s lead author.

Does that mean you might as well

abandon the healthy lifestyle choices

that have long been associated with

stronger ageing brains? Certainly

not. What this new research

indicates is that therapies

targeting the MAP2K3

gene could reduce age-

related memory decline

for everyone one day –

including people with

Alzheimer’s.

Testing Tears May Help

Diagnose Parkinson’s

Researchers found that tear samples

from people with Parkinson’s

disease had higher levels of a toxic

form of a protein called alpha-

synuclein than those from healthy

individuals. This discovery might

one day allow doctors to diagnose –

and even treat – Parkinson’s before

symptoms appear.

Air Pollution Can Harm
Your Kidneys
Polluted air has long been linked
to major health conditions such as
heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma
and chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD). A new study based
on data from nearly 2.5 million
people now adds kidney disease
to the list. According
to the researchers,
the adverse effects
increase as pollution
levels increase, but
even relatively low
amounts of particulate
matter may increase
the risk of chronic kidney
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGESdisease.