Alzheimer’s Disease Research: What Has Guided Research So Far and Why It Is High Time for a Paradigm ShiftThis book highlights the key phases and central findings of Alzheimer’s Disease research since the introduction of the label ‘Alzheimer’s Disease’ in 1910. The author, Christian Behl, puts dementia research in the context of the respective zeitgeist and summarizes the paths that have led to the currently available Alzheimer’s drugs. As the reader is taken through the major developments in Alzheimer's Disease research, particularly over the past thirty years, Behl poses critical questions: Why are the exact causes of Alzheimer's Disease still in the dark, despite all the immense, worldwide research efforts in academia as well as in the pharmaceutical industry? Why has the majority of an entire research field kept focusing on a single hypothesis that establishes the deposition of the amyloid beta peptide in the brain as the key trigger of Alzheimer's pathology, even though this concept has still not been convincingly proven in the clinics? Are there other hypotheses that might explain the pathogenesis of this complex brain disease, and if so, why were these perspectives not adequately followed? In this book, Behl tries to answer these questions. Starting with the historical background, the author illustrates the long and arduous research journey, its numerous setbacks, and the many alternative explanations for the disease, which have started gaining increasing attention and acceptance in the Alzheimer’s research community only more recently. With his deep dive into the history and progression of this research, including the most recent developments, Behl explains why he believes that it is high time to promote a paradigm shift in Alzheimer’s Disease research. |
Contents
1 | |
26 | |
Alzheimers Disease Research After 1945 The Recommencement | 47 |
Alzheimers Research Goes Deeper Ultrastructural Electron Microscopy Studies | 60 |
Focus on Neurochemistry Led to the Cholinergic Hypothesis of Alzheimers Disease | 73 |
The Glutamatergic Hypothesis of Alzheimers Disease | 93 |
Biochemistry and Genetics Point Out a Prime Suspect for Causing Alzheimers Disease | 108 |
Getting to the Bottom of It Amyloid Beta Peptide Is Derived from a Larger Precursor | 119 |
Focus on Tauopathies and Beyond | 261 |
Alzheimers Research Gains Momentum and Spreads Out | 285 |
The Amyloid Cascade Hypothesis Has to Deliver Finally | 308 |
Beyond APP PSEN1 PSEN2 and APOE What Else Does the Genome Tell Us? | 351 |
Alternative Hypotheses and Observations that Were Somehow Lost on the Way | 385 |
Is the Persistence of the Amyloid Cascade Hypothesis a Result of Constant Confirmation Bias? | 451 |
Driving Forces of Alzheimers Research Directions | 470 |
Thirty Years After the Launch of the Amyloid Cascade Hypothesis Is there a Shift of Gears at Last? | 527 |
Step by Step Toward an Amyloid Beta PeptideBased Hypothesis of Alzheimers Disease | 134 |
Concerns about the Amyloid Cascade Hypothesis and Reappraisals | 167 |
Ignorance or Conspiracy? Or Just an Amyloid Firewall that Blocks Alternative Ideas? | 185 |
In the Slip Stream of Amyloid The Tau and Tangle Hypothesis | 227 |
If You Change the Way You Look at Things Things You Look at Change | 575 |
Epilogue | 636 |
Glossary | 645 |
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Alzheimer’s Disease Research: What Has Guided Research So Far and Why It Is ... Christian Behl No preview available - 2023 |