​In China, the youngest patient with Alzheimer’s disease has just been identified ● In England, an almost meter-long footprint was found ● Modern marine biodiversity dates back to 15 million years ago

The youngest Alzheimer’s patient has just been identified in China

A team of neurologists from several research centers in China has confirmed the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in a 19-year-old patient, the youngest person ever diagnosed with the disease. The information was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and confirms that this terrible disease affects not only the elderly. Until these dates, the youngest patient with Alzheimer’s disease was only 21 years old, and the diagnosis was made in Madrid in 2021.

The Chinese teenager had memory problems since he was 17 years old, and they worsened over time. Scanned images of the patient’s brain showed a reduction in the hippocampus, the part of the brain involved in memory management. It is surprising that Chinese neuroscientists have not been able to identify either the mutations that cause memory loss at an early age, or the genes that lead to these problems.

This is all the more unusual because the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in young people is almost always hereditary. In this case, there is no family history of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. The Chinese teenager has no other illnesses or injuries that could lead to a decline in cognitive abilities.

He found himself struggling in school, where he had more and more trouble retaining what he was learning. Eventually, the deterioration was so rapid that the boy could no longer finish school, and his short-term and long-term memory were seriously affected.

Even if the mentioned disease is rare in young people (less than 10% of all cases), it still poses a great danger, especially since it is not yet fully understood. The case in China only confirms the fact that the appearance of the disease can have several causes, some of which are currently completely unknown.

A footprint almost one meter long, discovered in England

Do not endure, it did not leave any man! Where have you seen a person with an almost meter-long sole? In fact, it’s a footprint about 80 centimeters long, the largest of its kind ever found in England, which has been identified in Yorkshire. Its age is estimated at about 166 million years, and it undoubtedly belongs to the carnivorous dinosaurs of considerable size.

The largest track ever discovered, recorded in Australia in 2017, was about 1.8 meters long and came from a sauropod whose species could not be identified. In this case, one from England, taking into account the age of the footprint and its shape, experts were able to conclude that it belonged to an individual of the Megalosaurus species, the first dinosaur species ever identified (No. 1824).

According to calculations by British paleontologists, the animal was massive and almost three meters high at the hip level. Although not uncommon (about 25 different sets of dinosaur tracks have been found in England, six of them in Yorkshire alone), the tracks are the largest ever found in the area.

At the moment, it has been excavated and is undergoing conservation work. When these works are completed, she will be on display at the Rotunda Museum in Scarborough, where, if you happen to be there, you will be able to see her live in all her glory.

Modern marine biodiversity arose 15 million years ago

For about 200 years, scientists have tried to explain the origin of the current marine biodiversity and, above all, why the number of species is higher at the equator and then gradually decreases towards the polar regions. After all this time, he finally succeeded, and the result was published in the journal Nature.

The study, coordinated by specialists from the universities of Oxford, Leeds and Bristol, consisted of an extremely detailed analysis of 434,113 fossil records of the evolution of foraminifera over the past 40 million years, their geographical distribution in time, as well as climatic fluctuations, the ocean. level or their salinity.

The conclusion was that when global temperatures began to fall, modern biodiversity began to make itself felt around 34 million years ago. However, a significant increase in the number of species in the equatorial zone was not noted until the levels of 15 million years ago, with a sharp cooling of temperatures. According to the mentioned researchers, the speciation of foraminifera also experienced a peak in the same period.

The fact that tropical zones could provide more ecological niches with different water temperatures contributed to the evolution of many other species. This aspect contrasts with the situation in the warmer periods of the Eocene or Miocene, when water temperatures in tropical regions did not register significant differences. It was these differences that led to the appearance of new species.

On the other hand, the gradual decrease in the temperature of the ocean waters towards the polar regions caused the extinction of many species, a fact that translates into the situation we have today. It’s not a result that hasn’t been intuited before, but it’s how science works, thanks to this study we also have tangible evidence. SR!

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