Vascular Dementia Model: UNM Research Breakthrough
- Elaine Bearer's work represents a crucial step forward in understanding the complexities of vascular dementia.
- Vascular dementia - cognitive impairment caused by disease in the brain's small blood vessels - is a widespread problem, but it has not been as thoroughly studied as...
- In a newly published paper featured by the editors of the American Journal of Pathology,Elaine Bearer,MD,PhD,the Harvey Family endowed and Distinguished Professor in the UNM School of Medicine's...
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A New Model for Characterizing Vascular Dementia
Table of Contents
Understanding Vascular Dementia
Vascular dementia – cognitive impairment caused by disease in the brain’s small blood vessels – is a widespread problem, but it has not been as thoroughly studied as Alzheimer’s disease, in which abnormal plaques and protein tangles are deposited in neural tissue.
One researcher at The University of New Mexico hopes to change that.
In a newly published paper featured by the editors of the American Journal of Pathology,Elaine Bearer,MD,PhD,the Harvey Family endowed and Distinguished Professor in the UNM School of Medicine’s Department of Pathology,sets out a new model for characterizing and categorizing different forms of vascular dementia.
She hopes this approach will help researchers to better understand the various forms of the disease and find effective treatments.
Contributing Factors to Vascular Dementia
Conditions like hypertension, atherosclerosis and diabetes have been linked to vascular dementia, but other contributing causes, including the recent discovery of significant quantities of nano- and microplastics in human brains, remain poorly understood, Bearer saeid.
We have been flying blind.The various vascular pathologies have not been comprehensively defined, so we haven’t known what we’re treating. And we didn’t know that nano- and microplastics were in the picture, because we couldn’t see them.
Elaine Bearer, MD, PhD, the Harvey Family Endowed and Distinguished Professor, UNM School of Medicine
Ten Disease Processes Contributing to Vascular Brain Injury
Bearer identified 10 different disease processes that contribute to vascular-based brain injury, typically by causing oxygen or nutrient deficiency, leakage of blood serum, inflammation or decreased waste elimination. These cause tiny strokes that harm neurons. She lists new and existing experimental techniques, including special stains and novel microscopy, to detect them.
The 10 Processes (Detailed List)
- Process 1: [Details and clarification]
- Process 2: [Details and explanation]
- Process 3: [Details and explanation]
- Process 4: [Details and explanation]
- Process 5:[