The Libbi Thomas Foundation
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The Libbi Thomas Foundation Details
The purpose of the Libbi Thomas Foundation is to support scientific discovery and research associated with Down syndrome and its link to Alzheimer's disease and other linked diseases.Advances in function, well-being and life span for people with Down syndrome have revealed an additional health risk: As they age, individuals with Down syndrome have a greatly increased risk of developing a type of dementia that appears to be almost identical to Alzheimer disease in the general population except that it occurs much earlier. According to the Alzheimer's Association, autopsy studies show that by age 40, the brains of almost all individuals with Down syndrome have significant levels of beta-amyloid plaques and tau tangles, abnormal protein deposits considered hallmarks of Alzheimer's. Despite the presence of these brain changes, not everyone with Down syndrome develops dementia symptoms.One of the many questions researchers hope to answer about Down syndrome is why some develop dementia symptoms and others don't, and why some develop the disease in their early 40s and others not until their late 60s. Researchers are working to answer a similar key question about those who don't have Down syndrome: Why do some people with brain changes characteristic of Alzheimer's never show symptoms of the disease? The ultimate goal is to better understand these connections to foster treatments that will make Alzheimer's disease preventable or at most a rarity in those with Down syndrome as they age.The goal of the Libbi Thomas Foundation will be to grant funds to researchers who are making progress in answering these questions.
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