Lifestyle can affect risk of Alzheimer’s
New elite strike force will spearhead combat missions with the latest tech
ALZHEIMER’S disease may be preventable by managing key factors such as weight, stress and blood pressure, scientists found.
A team led by Professor Jin-Tai Yu at Fudan University in China reviewed 395 studies to find depression, head trauma and diabetes were other risk factors.
They found that good education, keeping the brain active and staying slim in later life all helped lower risk of the illness.
A separate study found a loss of sense of smell often preceded dementia.
Dr Willa Brenowitz, of the University of California San Francisco, added: “Sensory impairments may accelerate decline.”
Raids from the sea
TECH COVER Top tactical gadgets
A CRACK Special Forces-style unit is being launched to spearhead assaults on Britain’s enemies.
The Royal Marines’ Vanguard Strike Company will feature 150 troops using cutting-edge weapons and tactical kit, and could be in action next year.
Specialising in littoral strikes – attacks along the coastline – the unit will perform raiding party-style missions to “soften up” enemy forces before the regular army begins a main attack.
The VSC will work to destroy enemy defence lines, lookout posts, airfields and headquarters, working closely with units from the elite SAS and SBS.
The initial trial unit will grow into a far larger fighting force once training has been completed and tactics nailed
Advance unit setting up communications down. Many VSC members will be sent abroad and stay on high alert, ready to be deployed at a few hours’ notice.
Potential targets include Russian forces making incursions against the West’s Baltic allies or nations like Norway, where UK commandos train every year on arctic warfare.
And the VSC will tackle the threat of terror groups like Islamic State globally.
Defence bosses agreed the new strike force could be set up as part of the Royal Marines’ biggest overhaul since the Second World War.
Their kit includes lightweight but hardwearing uniforms that dry quickly and Diemaco C-7 assault rifles, proven in battle in Afghanistan.
Major General Matt Holmes said: “The Vanguard Strike Company will lead and inform how the Royal Marines and
Army Commandos will operate and fight in a dynamic, technological era of warfare. We envisage several of these networked sub-units persistently forward deployed around the globe with an array of sophisticated enabling capabilities, to present dilemmas to adversaries whilst supporting partners.”
A source said: “This will give the UK a more agile and lethal capability, ready for missions anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice – whether that’s for war-fighting, specific combat missions such as commando raids, or providing humanitarian assistance.
“This is about returning commando forces to their roots: to operate at reach and in all theatres as the spearhead of operations.”