A National Cheng Kung University research team said it has proven the efficacy of a zinc finger-like protein in restoring memory deficits, suggesting it has the potential to treat Alzheimer’s disease.
The team was led by Institute of Molecular Medicine director Chang Nan-shan (張南山), Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy director Sze Chun-i (司君一) and department professor Kuo Yu-min (郭余民).
Alzheimer’s disease is mainly the result of cell death and tissue loss in the brain that is believed to be caused by plaque and tangles building up in nerve cells, the team said.
Researchers found that Zfra, a naturally occurring 31-amino-acid protein, can effectively reduce plaque aggregation and tangle formation.
Zinc fingers are small protein structures coordinated by at least one zinc ion that serve a wide variety of biological functions.
The effectiveness of Zfra was proven in an experiment, in which mice were injected with a small dose of synthetic Zfra peptides every week, the team said.
After one month, 50 percent of the plaques and tangles in the mice’s brains had disappeared, with the mice’s memory deficits almost fully restored, it added.
However, the team said that more time would be needed before the discovery could lead to a breakthrough in Alzheimer’s treatment.
Developing a new Alzheimer’s drug based on the study’s results would be expensive and require a significant amount of time, the team said, urging international pharmaceutical companies to get involved so that preclinical and clinical trials of a Zfra-based drug could begin as soon as possible.
The results of the study were published online in March in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions, an open-access journal of the US-based Alzheimer’s Association.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
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The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift