British scientists say they have found the key to stopping Alzheimer’s disease in the early stages.
The study at Cambridge University could lead to a “statin-like” drug that could be prescribed to stop dementia.
The scientists found a naturally occurring molecule that slows down the formation of plaque in the brain. The plaques are closely connected to memory loss and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s.
“This is the starting point for finding a drug that stops Alzheimer’s disease in its tracks. It might be used when the first symptoms appear. But another potential approach is that people would take it as a preventative drug,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Samuel Cohen.
The molecules that slow the plaque are Brichos, a family of proteins that naturally exist in human lungs. Testing in mice showed the molecules stick to fibrils and stop them from forming more plaques.
“There may well be lots of other molecules like this – we just have not been looking until now because it was not clear what to look for,” Dr. Cohen said.
“People could take them in their 60s to stop these proteins grouping together, well before the symptoms appear, which would reduce the risk of developing the devastating effects of this disease.”
A jihadi who faked his death in an attempt to sneak back into Britain has been jailed for 12 years.
Imran Khawaja joined a faction aligned with ISIS and was part of a terrorist training camp in Syria for six months. He also appeared in several online videos for the group including one where he posted with the severed head of the terror group’s victims.
The lawyer for Khawaja said that his client just wanted to return to the country because he had “had enough” of the terrorist camp. He faked his death in online postings until it was reported in local newspapers. He thought by doing so he could resume his life in Britain.
He was caught when he tried to enter England in June by sneaking into a port in Dover.
Judge Jeremy Baker said that Khawaja was a risk to the public and said that despite his claims, he was a “willing and enthusiastic” participant in the terror group.
“You took part in the production of films designed to promote the Islamic State cause and encouraging U.K. Muslims to join you in jihad,” he said. “Your interest was sufficiently profound for you to travel to Syria to train for jihad.”
A British woman has been telling everyone that God is great after Christians gave her the hope to save the life of her child rather than going through with an abortion.
Suzan Briggs, 27, named her now 8-month-old daughter Miracle.
Briggs told the BBC that she had scheduled an abortion because she already had three children and didn’t think she could handle a fourth child. She arrived at the appointment only to be met by members of the pro-life group Abort 67.
“They started preaching the word of God and telling me abortions aren’t good,” she told the BBC. “They told me God would help me and give me strength. I tried not to listen to them, but they were praying for me and I was crying and shaking. The way they talked to me gave me faith and their encouragement made me decide to keep the baby.”
But the group didn’t just talk her out of the abortion and leave her hanging. The group stayed in touch with Briggs, bringing her clothes for the baby and other supplies she needed to get through her pregnancy.
“When I finally saw my daughter, I thought, ‘How could I have wanted to terminate this baby?’” she explained. “Everybody says she’s so cute. When they say that, I thank God I didn’t do it.”
The Taliban attacked a British convoy on Thursday killing five people.
The homicide bomb attack focused on a vehicle from the British embassy and killed two embassy workers, one British and one Afghani.
The attack wounded at least 30 bystanders.
“I am deeply saddened to confirm that a British national civilian security team member and an Afghan national working for the embassy were killed in the incident,” Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a statement.
The blast was the first of the day. A second blast a few hours later struck at a compound run by a contractor for the U.S. aid agency in the country. It shook buildings throughout the diplomatic section of Kabul and was the start of an hour long shootout between terrorists and Afghani security forces.
A foreign national and two terrorists died in the second explosion.
There have been five major terrorist attacks by the Taliban this week.
A British woman has been revealed to have killed her disabled 12 year old daughter by stopping hydration and nutrition.
Nancy Fitzmaurice died in August after officials at London’s Great Ormand Street Hospital stopped her support. The child suffered from hydrocephalus, meningitis and septicemia at the time of her death.
Her mother had petitioned a judge to allow her to kill her child via a slow death from lack of hydration. The mother, Charlotte Fitzmaurice Wise, said that she felt her daughter had suffered enough.
The death in August was kept secret until the parents came forward to advocate for the parents of other special needs children to be able to kill their children without court approval.
Disability advocates around the world immediately condemned the family for their killing and said that approval of such actions sets a dangerous precedent.
“Euthanasia of people with disabilities is an extremely dangerous and wholly inappropriate solution to inadequate pain management. In cases where painkillers are insufficient, a number of alternatives for pain management exist. A policy of euthanasia targets vulnerable people, particularly when it is applied to children. People with disabilities who experience chronic pain should have same access as others to life-sustaining medical treatment,” the Autism Self Advocacy Network said in a statement.
Foreign fighters who have grown disillusioned by the truth of ISIS once they begin fighting for the group are finding it hard to leave as the terrorist outfit threatens to kill anyone who leaves.
British newspaper The Observer quotes a source in Syria as saying dozens of British citizens who became radicalized and joined ISIS want to come home to Britain but are being held against their will.
“There are Britons, who, upon wanting to leave have been threatened with death, either directly or indirectly,” the source said.
Moazzam Begg, who had been a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay, told the newspaper that when someone joins ISIS they swear an allegiance to the caliphate, which is in essence saying you are a citizen of that “state”.
“When it becomes solidified as an Islamic State, a caliph, and you swear allegiance, thereafter if you do something disobedient you are now disobeying the caliph and could be subject to disciplinary measures which could include threats or death,” said Begg.
The article in the Observer comes days after 19-year-old Mehdi Hassan, a British man who had tried to return to Britain, was killed in battle fighting for ISIS. Hassan was caught trying to leave and imprisoned for four days by ISIS leaders until he agreed to stay with the terrorists.
British police have stopped and Islamic terror plot aimed at London.
Four men were taken into custody according to London’s Metropolitan Police. Police did not release details on the attack but said they were “part of an ongoing investigation into Islamist related terrorism.”
“They have all been taken to police stations in central London and remain in custody,” Metropolitan Police said.
The arrests come on the heels of 10 men arrested two weeks ago on similar terrorism related charges. The men were charged with supporting a banned organization and encouraging terrorism.
The UK’s Press Association said that radical British cleric Anjem Choudary, who has been accused of brainwashing men in Belgium to fight for Islamic terror groups in Syria, was among the men arrested in late September.
UK officials say that at least 500 British citizens are in Iraq or Syria fighting with Islamic terrorist groups. The country has banned any Briton who fights with an Islamic terror group from being able to return to the country.
The Islamic extremist group ISIS has murdered another western hostage.
The group posted a video on Saturday labeled “a message to the allies of America” where they showed footage of British Prime Minister David Cameron condemning ISIS and then cut a video of British aid worker David Haines kneeling in front of a masked man.
Haines then made a statement that condemns Britain and blames Cameron for his execution although most intelligence experts say his captors were feeding that message to him.
The terrorist who killed Haines is believed to be the same British man who beheaded two American captives.
Islamic extremists kidnapped the 44-year-old Haines last year while he was providing humanitarian aid in Syria.
ISIS is threatening to kill another British hostage if airstrikes continue against their terror organization.
A British imam appeared on a Russian television program and confirmed that terrorism is part of the Islamic faith.
Imam Anjem Choudary was being interviewed by Russia Today journalist Oksana Boyko about the beheading of two American journalists by the Islamic terrorist group Islamic State.
“You said just recently on CNN that the decapitation of journalist James Foley was, in fact, an attempt by the Islamic State to terrorize their enemy, which in this case is the United States,” Boyko said to Choudary. “I wonder whether something like that could be justified under the Sharia law. Can you really hold an individual responsible for the actions of a collective? Is that legal in Islam?”
Choudary said that every action for a Muslim has to be based on the Qur’an and the teachings of Mohammed. Then he surprised many with his next statement.
“I would first invite the people to think about and embrace Islam, but those who are already Muslim must know that Allah mentions in the Koran—in fact if you look in chapter 8 verse 60, he said, ‘Prepare as much as you can steeds of war to terrorize the enemy,’” he explained.
“So terrorizing the enemy is in fact part of Islam.”
Choudary is the former leader of Al-Majajiroun which is banned in England. Two former members of the group were involved in the beheading of a British soldier in broad daylight on a public street.
Scientists in Britain have developed a test that can detect as much as a year in advance if a patient will develop Alzheimer’s disease.
The test comes after a decade of research by Oxford University and King’s College London. A study showed that the brain develops 10 proteins just before the disease takes hold in the brain.
The doctors hailed the test as groundbreaking because once someone develops Alzheimer’s, there’s no real way to treat it. With the development of an early warning test, doctors hope to find a way to treat a patient to stop the development of Alzheimer’s.
“Although we are making drugs [to treat Alzheimer’s] they are all failing. But if we could treat people earlier it may be that the drugs are effective,” said Simon Lovestone, professor of translational neuroscience at Oxford. “Alzheimer’s begins to affect the brain many years before patients are diagnosed with the disease. If we could treat the disease in that phase we would in effect have a preventative strategy.”
The test has been proven to have 87 percent accuracy in predicting the onset of Alzheimer’s.