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I just read of yet other research in a Northwestern University alumni publication which is in progress and has potentially great significance for degenerative nerve cell disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's work. Researchers in the lab of William Klein, professor of neurobiology and physiology, have been tracing the path of the "A Beta" peptide, a fragment of protein that becomes toxic in diseased nerve cells. Evidence has been growing that that it may be an agent (rather than a by-product) of nerve cell destruction. In October 1994 "Journal of Biological Chemistry" Klein et al suggest that it corrupts "signal transduction pathways implicated in diverse cell functions...Specifying the toxic effects of the peptide makes it likely that a drug target for nerve degeneration can be found." Additional research since '94 has further expanded and supported this thesis. Another sign of hope, Barbara Blake-Krebs [log in to unmask]