Feature Channels: Autoimmune Diseases

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A novel psychological therapy that encourages addressing emotional experiences related to trauma, conflict and relationship problems has been found helpful for people with the chronic pain condition fibromyalgia. A research team led by Mark A. Lumley, Ph.D., professor of psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University, in collaboration with a team from the University of Michigan Medical Center led by David A. Williams, Ph.D., professor of anesthesiology, has released the results of its research in the prestigious journal, PAIN.

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Multiple sclerosis can be inhibited or reversed using a novel gene therapy technique that stops the disease’s immune response in mouse models, University of Florida Health researchers have found.

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“Biosimilars: To Switch or Not to Switch?” will be the focus of this year’s Great Debate at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in San Diego. The debate is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 5 and will feature the perspectives of Dr. Jonathan Kay and Dr. Roy Fleischmann.

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A surprising discovery that immune cells possess an internal warehouse of glycogen used to activate immune responses could help to increase immune activity in vaccines or suppress immune reactions in autoimmune disease or hyper-inflammatory conditions.

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A study led by scientists at Harvard Medical School reveals that a gene that has a protective influence against diabetes is powerfully shaped by the trillions of intestinal bacteria collectively known as the gut microbiota.

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Heat therapy may be a promising treatment against cancer and autoimmune diseases. University of Kentucky researchers exposed colorectal cancer cells and T-cells to temperatures high and low temperatures to observe the effects on cellular energy production.They will present their findings at the Physiological Bioenergetics: Mitochondria from Bench to Bedside conference in San Diego.

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The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and its public awareness campaign, Simple Tasks™, are teaming up with former NFL quarterback Terry Bradshaw to raise awareness about this growing and costly healthcare crisis during September’s Rheumatic Disease Awareness Month.

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A study led by researchers at Cedars-Sinai and NeuroVision Imaging LLC provides the scientific basis for using noninvasive eye imaging to detect the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s. The experimental technology, developed by Cedars-Sinai and NeuroVision, scans the retina using techniques that can identify beta-amyloid protein deposits that mirror those in the brain.

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6th Annual New York Autoimmune Walk to feature speaker/author/journalist Nika Beamon on coping and family-friendly activities to engage and inspire

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Cedars-Sinai neuroscience investigators have found that Alzheimer’s disease affects the retina – the back of the eye – similarly to the way it affects the brain. The study also revealed that an investigational, noninvasive eye scan could detect the key signs of Alzheimer’s disease years before patients experience symptoms.

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Rutgers and Duke University professors explore how to improve care and reduce the use of antipsychotic medications in nursing homes

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In a study looking at brain scans of people with mild loss of thought and memory ability, Johns Hopkins researchers report evidence of lower levels of the serotonin transporter — a natural brain chemical that regulates mood, sleep and appetite.

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An international team of scientists, led by University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers, has created a human stem cell-based model of a rare, but devastating, inherited neurological autoimmune condition called Aicardi-Goutieres Syndrome (AGS). In doing so, the team was able to identify unusual and surprising underlying genetic mechanisms that drive AGS and test strategies to inhibit the condition using existing drugs.

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Mayo Clinic researchers, along with colleagues at the University of Iowa, report that a human gut microbe discovered at Mayo Clinic may help treat autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis. The findings appear in Cell Reports.

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As Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia continue to become more prevalent, it may not be long before there is a push for legalizing physician-assisted death (PAD) in dementia cases in the United States.American officials must thoroughly consider the moral and social consequences of such an action, says an expert on medical ethics at Washington University in St.

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The brains of aged chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, show pathology similar to the human Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain, according to a new, multi-institution research study.

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Researchers at Penn Medicine have discovered that a patient’s awareness of a diagnosis of cognitive impairment may diminish their self-assessment of quality of life.

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Rita Cowell, Ph.D., has joined the Southern Research as Chair of the Neuroscience Department as it expands research and drug discovery efforts focusing on diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

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Press can register here to livestream this special session through Newswise Live on Monday, July 31 at 7:30 PM EDT

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The push to develop treatments for Alzheimer’s disease has yielded a greater understanding of the disease, but has failed to generate successful new drugs. To blame are the many undefined subtypes of mild cognitive impairment, a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease. But if scientists grouped people with similar types of cognitive impairment, they could more precisely test the impact of investigational drugs, according to findings in a July 28 article in the journal Scientific Reports, a publication of Nature Research.

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A new method may help determine whether a person has Alzheimer’s disease or frontotemporal dementia, two different types of dementia that often have similar symptoms, according to a preliminary study published in the July 26, 2017, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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In a new study published today, Arizona State University-Banner Health neuroscientist Salvatore Oddo and his colleagues from Phoenix’s Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) — as well as the University of California, Irvine, and Mount Sinai in New York — have identified a new way for brain cells to become fated to die during Alzheimer’s diseases.

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People who carry a genetic susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease appear to be at greater risk of diminished cognition from sleep-disordered breathing than those without the susceptibility, according to new research published online, ahead of print in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

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A report by the first Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention and Care identifies powerful tools to prevent dementia and touts the benefits of nonmedical interventions for people with dementia.

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A new study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that measures of amyloid beta in the blood have the potential to help identify people with altered levels of amyloid in their brains or cerebrospinal fluid. Currently, the only way to detect amyloid beta in the brain is via PET scanning or a spinal tap.

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Emergency and urgent hospitalizations are associated with an increased rate of cognitive decline in older adults, report researchers at Rush University Medical Center. The results of their study suggest that hospitalization may be a more of a major risk factor for long-term cognitive decline in older adults than previously recognized.

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Three new gene variants, found in a genome wide association study of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), point to the brain’s immune cells in the onset of the disorder. These genes encode three proteins that are found in microglia, cells that are part of the brain’s injury response system.

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Researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine have discovered that a process that protects the body from autoimmune disease also prevents the immune system from generating antibodies that can neutralize the HIV-1 virus. The findings, which will be published July 11 in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, might be considered by scientists trying to develop a vaccine that can stimulate the production of these neutralizing antibodies.

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Research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, and Stanford University shows that disrupting just one night of sleep in healthy, middle-aged adults causes an increase in a brain protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Further, a week of poor sleep leads to an increase in another brain protein that has been linked to brain damage in Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.

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On June 23-25 the Vasculitis Foundation held its 2017 Vasculitis Symposium in Chicago. More than 300 patients, doctors, and researchers came together to present and learn the latest information concerning autoimmune vasculitis.

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Poor sleep may be a sign that people who are otherwise healthy may be more at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life than people who do not have sleep problems, according to a study published in the July 5, 2017, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers have found a link between sleep disturbances and biological markers for Alzheimer’s disease found in the spinal fluid.

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New research by scientists at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in the United Kingdom and Indiana University School of Medicine gives the most detailed view yet of tau protein structures found in Alzheimer’s disease.

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While often used interchangeably, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are not the same.

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Faculty, staff and graduate students are taking on one of society’s most vexing health challenges: how to prevent or slow the onset of dementia through changes in diet and exercise. And what sets the Lifestyle Interventions Group apart is its inclusion of disciplines beyond the typical confines of brain science.

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First Autoimmune Awareness Walk in Bowling Green Kentucky includes 5K "Warriors" Fun Run, where participants dress up as their favorite "warrior" or superhero to join the fight to end autoimmune disease

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In a recent feasibility study, BIDMC tested an anti-epileptic drug for its potential impact on the brain activity of patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease. The team documented changes in patients’ EEGs that suggest the drug could have a beneficial effect.

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Going for a walk outside, reading, listening to music—these and other enjoyable activities can reduce blood pressure for elderly caregivers of spouses with Alzheimer’s disease, suggests a study in Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, the official journal of the American Psychosomatic Society. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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Study shows seniors with dementia are on the rise. Dr. Yves Joanette is available to speak about the disease.

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Is it possible to prevent dementia from happening in the first place? That’s what a leading FAU neuroscientist plans to prove using an innovative approach that defies the idea that “one-size-fits-all” when it comes to battling Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy Body Dementia, Parkinson’s disease and other related disorders. Using a personalized approach and precision medicine to reduce risk, this center is one of only a handful of centers in the world that focuses on dementia prevention.

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Researchers have found the first direct evidence that autoimmunity plays a role in Parkinson’s disease, suggesting that immunosuppressants might play a role in treatment.

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The Mediterranean diet, rich in plant-based foods, is associated with a variety of health benefits, including a lower incidence of dementia.

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An international US-Danish team of scientists, led by Damini Jawaheer, Ph.D. at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, has identified a possible link between type I interferons and a natural improvement of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) during pregnancy. These findings could have significant implications in the development of safer therapies for RA. This study entitled, “Pregnancy-induced gene expression changes in vivo among women with rheumatoid arthritis: a pilot study,” was published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

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The discovery hints that microglia, rather than neurons, may control much of a person’s genetic susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease.

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Professor Matthew Disney of the Department of Chemistry on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), together with scientists from Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, has been awarded $7.2 million from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of The National Institutes of Health to create new RNA-based treatments for the most common form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as well as a type of frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

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Brandon Hudgins, an elite runner and autoimmune vasculitis patient, will be attending the Vasculitis Foundation's 2017 International Vasculitis Symposium, June 23-25, 2017, in Chicago. Hudgins was a qualifier for the 2016 Olympic Trials, and has the distinction of being only the 449th American to run a sub four-minute mile. Hudgins will be signing autographs and talking with other young adult vasculitis patients at the event.