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Policy

From Green Tea to NSF

by Rudy M. Baum
February 21, 2005 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 83, Issue 8

After reading this week's cover story, I brewed myself a cup of green tea. I also resolved to suggest to my wife that we start eating curry dishes more regularly.

As Senior Editor Sophie Rovner notes in her fascinating story on research into Alzheimer's disease, yet-to-be identified ingredients in green tea inhibit acetylcholinesterase and β-secretase. Acetylcholinesterase breaks down acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter involved in memory and cognition that is depleted in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. β-Secretase is involved in the cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP); if a particular pattern of cleavage occurs, it results in the formation of insoluble toxic aggregates of amyloid-β42 that are associated with the disease. Thus, green tea may help prevent the onset of Alzheimer's through two different mechanisms.

Curcumin, the yellow pigment in curry spice, may also fight Alzheimer's, Rovner writes. Researchers have shown that curcumin inhibits the formation of amyloid-β fibrils in vitro. They have also shown that "adding curcumin to the diet of an aged mouse appears to break up the amyloid-β plaques in the animal's brain," Rovner writes.

These are just two of several common products that appear to have a beneficial effect on Alzheimer's disease. Others include some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen, cholesterol-lowering statins, and antidepressants. In addition to offering some hope for treatments for Alzheimer's, Rovner points out, research on these compounds is shedding light on the mechanisms behind the disease.

NSAIDs, for example, appear to affect the structure of the APP cleavage site in γ-secretase such that it favors production of nontoxic amyloid-β over amyloid-β42. Statins also appear to influence the cleavage of APP, but by a different mechanism.

Rovner has been covering Alzheimer's research for C&EN for several years. She keeps copious files on that work. This week's story grew out of her realization that many of the compounds being studied for their ability to affect Alzheimer's disease were very common compounds or were drugs developed to treat something apparently unrelated to Alzheimer's.

That is one way C&EN stories develop. Other stories in the magazine are annual features, as is the case with another major story in this week's issue, our review of the President's proposed R&D budget. The entire C&EN Government & Policy Department staff--Assistant Managing Editor David J. Hanson; Senior Correspondent Lois R. Ember; Senior Editors Bette Hileman, Cheryl Hogue, and Jeff Johnson; and Associate Editor Susan R. Morrissey--contributed to the review.

It makes for depressing reading. "In a repeat of last year," the Government & Policy team writes, "President George W. Bush has proposed a research and development budget that rewards homeland security and national defense, while slightly cutting the rest of the federal science and technology portfolio."

The National Science Foundation, which had its budget cut in fiscal 2005, would receive a scant 2% increase in 2006, basically holding the agency's budget flat in dollar terms over a three-year period. That's hardly a prescription for doubling NSF's budget, a goal of the 2002 NSF Authorization Act. NSF's Mathematical & Physical Sciences (MPS) Directorate gets a paltry 1.5% increase. Within MPS, chemistry funding grows 1% to $181.4 million, an increase that lags behind increases for astronomy, physics, and materials research.

The President's proposed R&D budget is rife with skewed priorities. The Department of Energy's Office of Science, which is a major source of basic and applied research funding, takes a 3.8% cut. Within DOE, coal-related R&D programs are slated to receive $350 million, while renewable energy R&D--hydrogen fuel, solar, biomass, wind, and geothermal--receives $300 million. Elsewhere, no funds are included to service the Hubble Space Telescope to extend its scientific life; the bulk of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration's $16.5 billion budget is focused on the Administration's commitment to landing humans back on the moon and eventually on Mars.

The President's budget shortchanges many important areas of R&D needed for the U.S. to maintain its leadership in science and technology. Scientists and engineers should urge their representatives in Congress to make prudent adjustments to the R&D budget to restore a better balance to the nation's R&D portfolio.

Thanks for reading.

 

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