Yeah that's right, I'm back after my little break and ready to get blogging again, the news blogging continues.
Just a little update before I start, I have now officially moved in with my dad and step mum in Essex and I am now a student at Colchester Institute (my first day being on Monday the 10th).
Being in college means I could be in at anything between 15 and 30 hours a week (not including my two buses to travel there and two back), so at this time I am not sure as to whether this blog will continue to post of a Thursday or not, but I will keep you posted on that and let you know as soon as I know.
Anyway enough talking about me, let's get on with the news stories.
Bad sleep means Alzheimer's?
The first story, hooray.
This story is about sleep (sleep patterns) and Problems sleeping may be an early sign of Alzheimer's if a study in mice also applies to people, say researchers.
Here's the story.
For those of you who don't know what Alzheimer's is and what causes it, here's a little description.
Alzheimer's disease or AD (also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease), is the most common form of dementia. Unfortunately ts of the brain will have already been destroyed, making treatment extremely difficult or maybe even impossible.
Here's the story.
For those of you who don't know what Alzheimer's is and what causes it, here's a little description.
Alzheimer's disease or AD (also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease), is the most common form of dementia. Unfortunately ts of the brain will have already been destroyed, making treatment extremely difficult or maybe even impossible.
One large area of research is in plaques of beta amyloid which form on the brain.
Levels of the beta amyloid protein naturally rise and fall over 24 hours in both mice and people, suggesting the link that researchers are looking for.
However, the protein forms permanent rather than temporary plaques in Alzheimer's disease making thing even harder.
Experiments at Washington University showed that nocturnal mice slept for 40 minutes during every hour of daylight.
But as soon brain plaques started to form the mice were sleeping for only 30 minutes, a considerable difference in their sleeping patterns.
One of the researchers, Prof David Holtzman, said: "If sleep abnormalities begin this early in the course of human Alzheimer's disease, those changes could provide us with an easily detectable sign of [the disease]."
He followed up by saying "If these sleep problems exist, we don't yet know exactly what form they take, reduced sleep overall or trouble staying asleep or something else entirely."
Levels of the beta amyloid protein naturally rise and fall over 24 hours in both mice and people, suggesting the link that researchers are looking for.
However, the protein forms permanent rather than temporary plaques in Alzheimer's disease making thing even harder.
Experiments at Washington University showed that nocturnal mice slept for 40 minutes during every hour of daylight.
But as soon brain plaques started to form the mice were sleeping for only 30 minutes, a considerable difference in their sleeping patterns.
One of the researchers, Prof David Holtzman, said: "If sleep abnormalities begin this early in the course of human Alzheimer's disease, those changes could provide us with an easily detectable sign of [the disease]."
He followed up by saying "If these sleep problems exist, we don't yet know exactly what form they take, reduced sleep overall or trouble staying asleep or something else entirely."
People do not really show problems with their memory (or clarity of thought) until very late on in the disease. Which means by this point parts of the brain will have already been destroyed, making treatment extremely difficult or maybe even impossible.
One large area of research is in plaques of beta amyloid which form on the brain.
Levels of the beta amyloid protein naturally rise and fall over 24 hours in both mice and people, suggesting the link that researchers are looking for.
However, the protein forms permanent rather than temporary plaques in Alzheimer's disease making thing even harder.
Experiments at Washington University showed that nocturnal mice slept for 40 minutes during every hour of daylight.
But as soon brain plaques started to form the mice were sleeping for only 30 minutes, a considerable difference in their sleeping patterns.
One of the researchers, Prof David Holtzman, said: "If sleep abnormalities begin this early in the course of human Alzheimer's disease, those changes could provide us with an easily detectable sign of [the disease]."
He followed up by saying "If these sleep problems exist, we don't yet know exactly what form they take, reduced sleep overall or trouble staying asleep or something else entirely."
However, findings in mice do not always apply to people as there are many reasons for disrupted sleep (seeing as we are not that close you'd expect that, in fact, we try to get rid of them really).
Dr Marie Janson, from the charity Alzheimer's Research UK, called for more studies in people to see if there was a link between sleeping patterns and Alzheimer's (a bold move).
She added: "There has already been research linking changes in sleep patterns to a decline in thinking skills, but these results suggest that disrupted sleep may also be a warning sign of Alzheimer's.
If research confirms specific sleep changes as a possible early marker of Alzheimer's, it could prove a useful strategy for doctors to identify patients at risk of the disease."
Levels of the beta amyloid protein naturally rise and fall over 24 hours in both mice and people, suggesting the link that researchers are looking for.
However, the protein forms permanent rather than temporary plaques in Alzheimer's disease making thing even harder.
Experiments at Washington University showed that nocturnal mice slept for 40 minutes during every hour of daylight.
But as soon brain plaques started to form the mice were sleeping for only 30 minutes, a considerable difference in their sleeping patterns.
One of the researchers, Prof David Holtzman, said: "If sleep abnormalities begin this early in the course of human Alzheimer's disease, those changes could provide us with an easily detectable sign of [the disease]."
He followed up by saying "If these sleep problems exist, we don't yet know exactly what form they take, reduced sleep overall or trouble staying asleep or something else entirely."
However, findings in mice do not always apply to people as there are many reasons for disrupted sleep (seeing as we are not that close you'd expect that, in fact, we try to get rid of them really).
Dr Marie Janson, from the charity Alzheimer's Research UK, called for more studies in people to see if there was a link between sleeping patterns and Alzheimer's (a bold move).
She added: "There has already been research linking changes in sleep patterns to a decline in thinking skills, but these results suggest that disrupted sleep may also be a warning sign of Alzheimer's.
If research confirms specific sleep changes as a possible early marker of Alzheimer's, it could prove a useful strategy for doctors to identify patients at risk of the disease."
Well that's story one, here's an picture I thought is appropriate from the Alzheimer's association's "Walk to end Alzheimer's" last year:
Bernard Matthews' last wish "Denied"
The second story this week is about Norfolk Turkey tycoon Bernard Matthews and the denial of his last wish before he sadly passed away at the age of 80 on November the 25th 2010.
Here's the story.
Right so what was his last wish? was it something dramatic or deadly?
No not at all the last wish of Norfolk turkey tycoon (turkey as in the meat. not the country) Bernard Matthews was to leave a £12m French villa to the woman he lived with.
No not at all the last wish of Norfolk turkey tycoon (turkey as in the meat. not the country) Bernard Matthews was to leave a £12m French villa to the woman he lived with.
Well, he wanted to give Villa Bolinha in the south of France to Odile Marteyn, who had "unfailingly" supported him.
He had hoped his three adopted children and his son would give up legal rights to the villa to grant his last wish but no, the children thwarted (basically ignored) this wish and used a French law giving them a share of the villa.
In a dispute over inheritance tax, deputy High Court judge Nicholas Strauss QC heard that Mr Matthews' wishes had been "disregarded" by the adopted children and Ms Marteyn had been left with less than a half share in the villa.
Mr Matthews and his wife Joyce, who helped him found the turkey business, had lived apart for 35 years despite the fact that they had adopted Kathleen, Jason and Victoria.
He also had a son by Cornelia Elgershuizen called George who inherited much of the estate.
Judge Strauss said Mr Matthews had lived with Ms Marteyn in England and Ramatuelle for about 20 years, meaning that it was fair for her to have the villa, especially as it had Matthews consent.
It was apparent that Mr Matthews had left three wills and in which one he said that the Villa Bolinha was left to Ms Marteyn outright, this was confimed by in a written ruling published on Wednesday following a hearing in July.
The judge said: "He was aware that, by French law, his children were entitled to 75% of Villa Bolinha on his death."
Followed by "He hoped nevertheless that his children would not exercise their rights, and left a letter to that effect. While George respected his wishes, the adopted children did not, with the result that Odile could only inherit 43.75%."
In a letter to the children, Mr Matthews said: "Odile has supported me unfailingly for many years and particularly so during my recent illnesses.
Without such support I might not have been able to continue directing our family company for our mutual benefit, especially since trading conditions have become so difficult.
I wish the French villa to continue to be occupied and enjoyed, and consider Odile would be the best person to take on this responsibility."
The judge said Mr Matthews owned more than £50m worth of property when he died, meaning that the children would have had more than enough value of property to share between them, but still this has happened.
French tax authorities estimated Villa Bolinha to be worth £12m and Mr Matthews' property outside France was worth about £40m.
The adopted children's lawyers had claimed that French inheritance tax liabilities should be paid by the Matthews estate but this was rejected by Judge Strauss, thankfully.
Here's a nice picture of the man himself Mr Bernard Matthews to end with:
Summary of the week
So for my returning week we have "bad sleep" being a possible cause for Alzheimer's and the adopted children of a great food icon denying his last wishes.
