(STAT News) – There was something odd about these Alzheimer’s cases. Part of it was the patients’ presentations: Some didn’t have the classic symptoms of the condition. But it was also that the patients were in their 40s and 50s, even their 30s, far younger than people who normally develop the disease. They didn’t even have the known genetic mutations that can set people on the course for such early-onset Alzheimer’s.

But this small handful of patients did share a particular history. As children, they had received growth hormone taken from the brains of human cadavers, which used to be a treatment for a number of conditions that caused short stature. (Read More)