Alzheimer disease and diabetes mellitus: do they have anything in common?

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) continues to increase because of sedentary life style and inappropriate diet. DM is one of the most common metabolic diseases, affecting more than 240 million people worldwide. It is projected that the number of people with DM will continue to increase in the next decade. Alzheimer disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, and affects over 24 million people globally, mostly senior citizens. The worldwide prevalence of AD is estimated to double in the next 20 years. How are these two chronic and debilitating diseases similar? Do they have common denominators? AD is similar to DM in many ways, in that both are associated with defective insulin release and/or signalling, impaired glucose uptake, amyloidosis, increased oxidative stress, stimulation of the apoptotic pathway, angiopathy, abnormal lipid peroxidation, ageing (in type 2 DM), brain atrophy, increased formation of advanced glycation end products and tau phosphorylation, impaired lipid metabolism and mitochondrial pathology. The pathogenesis of both AD and DM has genetic as well as environmental components. Both can also cause impaired cognition and dementia. All of these common denominators indicate that AD and DM share a lot of factors in terms of pathophysiology, histopathology and clinical outcome. These similarities can be used in the search for and design of effective pharmacotherapy for AD, since potent therapeutic agents such as insulin, incretins, oral hypoglycaemic agents and antioxidants used in the management of DM may play a key role in the treatment of patients with AD.

[Tibor Péterfi, the founder of micromanipulation]. / Péterfi Tibor, a mikrurgia megalapítója.

Tibor Péterfi (1883-1953) was an eminent and internationally renowned biologist. He made great advances in the field of experimental physiology focusing his cytological research on microscopic examination of living cells. For this task, he created a tool named micromanipulator basing the development of microsurgery and that of cell surgery as well. His histological and cytological researches took their beginning first in Kolozsvár/Cluj (then Hungary, now Romania), where he worked as an assistant of professor István Apáthy then in Budapest where he spent fruitful years under the tutorship of professor Mihály Lenhossék. His scientific career however was broken by the political persecution which followed the fall of the communist revolution in 1919. He emigrated and spent the following decades in Prague, in Jena, in Berlin and in Cambridge. The apogee however of his scientific career proved to be the period he spent in Istanbul as a guest professor of the local university. He returned home only after the war already mortally ill. His illness did not allow him to continue his activity any more. Present article evaluates Tibor Péterfi's scientific achievements based mostly on recent archival researches.

[Effects of environmental noises and sounds on the quality of life controlled by the central nervous system]. / A környezeti zajok, hangok hatása a központi idegrendszerre és azon keresztül az életminoésgre.

From the environment surrounding us, there are different sounds, noises as physical waves, which are arriving to the living organism. These dissonant and consonant inputs have a negative or a positive effect on the quality of life, respectively. The noise, as a dissonant sound has always a negative effect, while music, in the majority of cases, a positive effect. Both the professional and the non-professional noise as a pollution by its stress-provoking effect seriously damages the health. Therefore there is an important endeavour fighting against noise pollution to improve the quality of life. Well-selected music, by means of neurochemical transmissions, strengthens the immune system of the brain in all periods, from the intrauterine period to the end of life--it has a positive effect on the quality of life.