beta-amyloid

(Newser) - Doctors once sought to make very short children taller by injecting them with growth hormone taken from the brains of dead people. The procedure was banned 40 years ago—and cadaver-derived pituitary growth hormone (c-hGH) replaced with a synthetic version—when scientists discovered patients had also received bits of protein...

(Newser) - Alzheimer's isn't exactly contagious, but a protein that goes on to form the disease was perhaps passed to patients during surgery, meaning there could be an acquired form of the disease, a new study finds. UK researchers, who describe their finding in Nature , studied the brains of eight...

(Newser) - Could tests as simple as a scratch-and-sniff smell quiz or an eye exam help detect Alzheimer's early enough to make a difference? Research to be unveiled at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference this week outlines several promising directions scientists are looking at in order to spot the disease...

(Newser) - Researchers have triggered Alzheimer's disease in rats by injecting them with a particular type of sticky plaque found in the brains of human dementia patients, AP reports. Only one of three different types of plaques found in elderly brains sparked the disease—compelling evidence that scientists may have narrowed down...