Speaking of "the other site", there was recent thread I thought some of you might find interesting. Excerpts:

Hi all,
I would like to take the chance to give a link to a new and exciting study on so called Epigenetic effects in Alzheimer’s disease. It was published today at the PLoS ONE Journal website (http://www.plosone.org/home.action; free access).
It is a study on the effects of epigenetic (cellular information that is not stored in the DNA code) modifications in Alzheimer’s disease. The implications from this study are highly intriguing. The article is entitled “Age-Specific Epigenetic Drift in Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease” and can be accessed online at http://www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0002698 .
We believe that this excellent and timely study will change the view on Alzheimer’s disease dramatically and we are sure that it will be highly interesting for everybody interested in Alzheimer’s disease and other complex brain disorders. The information gained from this publication is extremely valuable in understanding complex neurodegenerative disorders. It can be no question that the idea that epigenetics plays a role in ageing, in particular Alzheimer disease, is extremely important and fascinating. Highly recommended !
Best,
JB


JB---I attempted to read the study. Got a headache and ended up bookmarking the link. The study is not that long...but...Scientists often appear to write things that only they can understand. Is there any way that you could find the time to translate the study into general, layman's terms?
skericheri


Hmm . . . I'm not certain, but I think this is an article written by & for genetic experts. I believe it's main point is that a lot of what causes Alzheimer's probably isn't transmitted genetically.
Alan


Yes, the main point is that not only genetic factors will affect the likelyhood of getting AD. Probably much more important are so called epigenetic factors. These are chemical modifications of the DNA or the higher order structure of the DNA. Such epigenetic factors change in every person during the aging process. They are like the bricks of a house. With aging the get loose or get weaker and with time the whole house (the cell) seems unstable. Once a certain threshold is reached, the house falls apart, just like the human brain. These epigenetic factors can change under the influence of the environment, which means basically, that what we eat, what medications or drugs we take, if we smoke, exercise, the way how we live etc.. dramatically affect the stability of these 'bricks'.

This finding is very important in many aspects. First of all, we learn that we all have a certain predisposition to the disease. Second, there may be ways to prevent late-onset AD (e.g. by changing diet or exposure to harmful environmental factors). Third, in contrast to the old dogma, most cases of AD (>90%)are likely not due to mutations in the genetic code, so many resources which still go in classical studies of gene mutations (so called association studies) may have to redirect in research into epigenetics. The money seems to be spend much more wisely there.
JB