Israeli researchers recently published a study that highlights a molecular mechanism that leads to the deterioration of cognitive acceleration in women with Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease is a serious degenerative disease that is the leading cause of dementia. It disproportionately affects women, characterized by faster progression and more pronounced cognitive deterioration than in men. Current treatment protocols only aim to delay the progression of symptoms, but they have been known to cause more serious side effects in women. 

As a result, cognitive decline in women with Alzheimer's disease continues despite treatment, further compounding the difficulties they face.

The study – led by brain gene specialists Professor Hermona Soreq and Professor Yonatan Loewenstein from the Safra Center for Neuroscience and the Institute for Life Sciences at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem – found a direct link between a family of RNA fragments of mitochondrial origin and the rate of progression of dementia in the women.