[Harp-L] Subject: Re: Cham-ber Huang and Alzheimer's

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

A friend of Cham-ber Huang posted on another list that he would be  visiting 
him shortly but that he was, unfortunately, suffering from  Alzheimer's.  I 
had had no idea prior to this.  
 
I've just read an article containing a mention  of perhaps a gleam of hope 
for those of us who have had parents  afflicted with this dreadful 
condition....it's too late for them, but  perhaps there's yet a chance for us...or our 
children.  
 
"NEW STRATEGY FOR ALZHEIMER'S UNDER STUDY    

SAN FRANCISCO, -- A possible strategy for preventing  or   
treating Alzheimer's disease and other brain and  spinal   
cord damage has been uncovered by researchers. The  study   
team, from the San Francisco Veteran  Administration   
Medical Center and the University of North  Carolina,   
identified several compounds that reportedly  could play   
a role in treating degenerative conditions of  the nervous   
system. The compounds bind with a receptor  found in the   
brain and spinal cord, providing a binding  site in the   
body for molecules known as neurotrophins.  But, other   
studies show the molecules that usually promote  brain cell   
growth can also kill them. Now that the  compounds have been   
identified, scientists believe they  could provide a new   
binding site, a new means of  preventing damage that neuro-   
trophins otherwise would  cause. The study appears in the   
current issue of the  Journal of Neuroscience."  
 
For someone as brilliant as Cham-ber Huang...and what he did for  the 
chromatic harmonica, it seems particularly a shame that this  awful disease should 
now rob his mind of clarity. This news has  made me terribly sad.
 
Elizabeth