Feature Channels: Alzheimer's and Dementia

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An approved drug that blocks an integrated stress response shows promise in preliminary tests against ALS and frontotemporal dementia.

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A simple blood test reliably detects signs of brain damage in people on the path to developing Alzheimer’s disease – even before they show signs of confusion and memory loss, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases.

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Older adults who move more, either with daily exercise or even simple routine physical activity like housework, may preserve more of their memory and thinking skills, even if they have brain lesions or biomarkers linked to dementia, according to a study published in the January 16, 2019, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Older adults who move more than average, either in the form of daily exercise or just routine physical activity such as housework, may maintain more of their memory and thinking skills than people who are less active than average, even if they have brain lesions or biomarkers linked to dementia, according to a study by Rush University Medical Center published in the January 16, 2019, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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A Michigan State University study is the first to show an association between unusually high pesticide exposure and poor sense of smell among aging farmers.

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Irvine, Calif., Jan. 15, 2019 — With a little help from HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” University of California, Irvine neurobiologists have uncovered a key component of how the human brain marks time. Using high-powered functional MRI on college students watching the popular TV show, they were able to capture the processes by which the brain stores information related to when events happen, or what is known as temporal memory.

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The Alzheimer's Foundation of America is announcing the tour dates for its 2019 National Educating America Tour, a multi-year program which brings information about Alzheimer’s disease, brain health and dementia caregiving directly into communities. The tour visits states across the country to raise Alzheimer’s awareness, promote early detection and provide information about Alzheimer’s-related programs, support services and research.

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Herpes viral infections use the ancient genetic material found in the human genome to proliferate, mimicking the same process tumors have been found to manipulate, Mount Sinai researchers have shown for the first time. These observations provide further insight about how herpes viruses can manipulate the immune system in ways that may drive neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, according to the study, published in Nature Communications in January.

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In a pioneering clinical trial that will attack Alzheimer’s disease by targeting inflammation in the brain’s blood vessels, researchers at the George & Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience have received regulatory approval to initiate the BEACON Study.

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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. Results of their study, published in the Jan. 11, 2019, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, shows 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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Poor sleep is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, and now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis think they know why. They found that older people who have less slow-wave sleep – the deep sleep you need to consolidate memories and wake up feeling refreshed – have higher levels of the brain protein tau. Elevated tau is a sign of Alzheimer’s disease and has been linked to brain damage and cognitive decline.

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Researchers from the University of Southern California have discovered that a drug currently being developed to treat stroke patients could also prevent Alzheimer’s disease. The study, which will be published January 15 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, shows that the genetically engineered protein 3K3A-APC protects the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s-like symptoms, reducing the buildup of toxic peptides and preventing memory loss.

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A new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis finds disparities between African-Americans and Caucasians in a key biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease – suggesting that tools to diagnose the disease in Caucasian populations may not work as well in African-Americans.

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The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation's (ADDF) Diagnostics Accelerator initiative has announced a new $5 million commitment to projects targeting the development of biomarkers for frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), the most common dementia for people under 60.

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For the fourth consecutive year, a diet created, studied and reported on by researchers at Rush University Medical Center has been ranked among the top five diets in multiple categories by U.S. News & World Report in its annual “Best Diets” list. The MIND diet was ranked fourth for easiest diet to follow and tied for fourth for best overall, best for healthy eating and best heart-healthy diets.

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Upon the signing of the Building Our Largest Dementia Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act (BOLD) into law, the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA), a national nonprofit organization that provides support, services and education to individuals, families and caregivers affected by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, released the following statement

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Alzheimer's Foundation of America Urges People to Take Care of Their Brain as Part of Their New Year's Resolutions. Here are 10 Steps for Healthy Aging.

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Experts and research on important topics in the healthcare system

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Physician-researchers at Cedars-Sinai are available to discuss neuroscience findings from 2018. Several are detailed in this news release, including a study that found prolonged exposure to particulate matter in air pollution can cause changes in the brain. These changes could make people more susceptible to cancer, Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders.

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Florida is No. 1 in per capita cases of Alzheimer’s disease in the U.S. Research fellows in the FAU Brain Institute have received grants totaling more than $1.1 million from the Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program.

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Researchers found that excitatory neurons – those that are more likely to trigger an action (as opposed to inhibitory neurons, which are less likely to prompt neural activity) – are more vulnerable to accumulations of abnormal tau protein, which is increasingly being implicated in Alzheimer’s disease.

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A new study finds that some brain cells protect themselves from Alzheimer’s with a cellular cleaning system that sweeps away toxic proteins associated with the disease.

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A new study from biomedical engineer Qi Wang, who is developing innovative ways of selectively activating neural circuitry to enhance perception and cognition, demonstrates a major advance in understanding how the locus coeruleus (LC) modulates information processing in the thalamus. Wang found that activating the LC improves the transmission of information about different features of sensory stimuli from the thalamus to the cerebral cortex, and subsequently perceptual performance in perceptual tasks.

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UT Southwestern researchers have succeeded in neutralizing what they believe is a primary factor in late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, opening the door to development of a drug that could be administered before age 40, and taken for life, to potentially prevent the disease in 50 to 80 percent of at-risk adults.

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In a study published in the journal BRAIN, neuroscientists led by Michael D. Fox, MD, PhD, of BIDMC used data from the human brain connectome – a publicly available “wiring diagram” of the human brain based on data from thousands of healthy human volunteers – to reassess the findings from neuroimaging studies of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

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In an effort to better understand frontotemporal dementia, an international team of researchers, led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has found that a lone mutation in a single gene that causes an inherited form of the disorder makes it harder for neurons in the brain to communicate with one another, leading to neurodegeneration.

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Female military veterans who have traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder or depression long after their service may be more likely to later develop dementia than female veterans without those conditions, according to a study published in the December 12, 2018, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Scientists who recently identified the molecular start of Alzheimer’s disease have used that finding to determine that it should be possible to forecast which type of dementia will develop over time – a form of personalized medicine for neurodegenerative diseases.

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A scientific strategy that explores therapeutic targets based on the biology of aging is gaining ground as an effective approach to prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease, according to research published in the December 7, 2018 online issue of Neurology®.

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Rutgers scientists have found a compound in coffee that may team up with caffeine to fight Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia – two progressive and currently incurable diseases associated with brain degeneration.

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Researchers have discovered what might be an effective strategy to prevent and combat cognitive dysfunction in obese individuals. They are the first to examine the modulatory role of an exercise-induced protein in the brain that promotes neuron survival using high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) in obese and normal-weight subjects. Obesity reduces the expression of this protein and lower levels are associated with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and obesity. HIIE upregulated this protein in the obese subjects compared to normal-weight subjects.

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Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have identified in live human brains new radioactive “tracer” molecules that bind to and “light up” tau tangles, a protein associated with a number of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementias.

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Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Funding Brings Together Interdisciplinary Experts to Accelerate Understanding

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The non-pregnant uterus is commonly assumed to be an unimportant organ. One third of American women have a hysterectomy by age 60, often before natural menopause. Arizona State University researchers have found an animal model of hysterectomy resulted in decreased memory capacity and an altered hormonal profile within two months after surgery. The study suggests an important role for the uterus that could impact cognitive aging.

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Older adults who take up drawing could enhance their memory, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Waterloo found that even if people weren't good at it, drawing, as a method to help retain new information, was better than re-writing notes, visualization exercises or passively looking at images.

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Jonathan Haines, PhD, with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine will lead a national collaboration to expand big data genetic research into Alzheimer’s disease to include stronger representation from African-American and Hispanic communities. Funding for the research – $14.6 million to be awarded over multiple years – is from the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health.

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A UCLA-led research team has identified genetic processes involved in the neurodegeneration that occurs in dementia — an important step on the path toward developing therapies that could slow or halt the course of the disease. The findings appear Dec. 3 in the journal Nature Medicine.

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The PhRMA Foundation awarded more than $6 million over the last two years to more than 100 leaders in scientific research in the United States. The Foundation is proud to announce another successful year supporting innovative research efforts in areas of great importance: Alzheimer’s Disease, Melanoma, Parkinson’s Disease, Schizophrenia, Breast Cancer, Lung Cancer, Leukemia, Ulcerative Colitis, Vascular Disease, and Colorectal Cancer. This year the Foundation also funded two Centers of Excellence in Value Assessment.

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Quick tests used in primary care settings to identify whether people are likely to have dementia may often be wrong, according to a study published in the November 28, 2018, online issue of Neurology® Clinical Practice, an official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Clinical Studies in Patients using IB1000s with Lewy Body Dementia and Fronto-Temporal Dementia Showed Marked Improvement in Quality of Life, Cognition, Mobility, Speech, and a Disease-Modifying Effect

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Though Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy have long been considered separate conditions, research is suggesting they could be related in certain ways. ILAE talks with Dr. Andrew Cole, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Epilepsy Service and professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School.

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Middle-aged adults with lung disease may be at greater risk of developing dementia or cognitive impairment later in life, according to new research published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Eating leafy greens, dark orange and red vegetables and berry fruits, and drinking orange juice may be associated with a lower risk of memory loss over time in men, according to a study published in the November 21, 2018, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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With the growing popularity of at-home genetic testing kits as holiday gifts, the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) is advising consumers about what to know before taking a genetic test to learn health information.

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Scientists from Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified gene recombination in neurons that produces thousands of new gene variants within Alzheimer’s disease brains. The study, published today in Nature, reveals for the first time how the Alzheimer’s-linked gene, APP, is recombined by using the same type of enzyme found in HIV.

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There are 5.7 million people living with Alzheimer’s disease, according to Alzheimers.org, and the dreaded disease has caused more deaths than both breast and prostate cancer combined. Finding a cure is paramount.

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A DNA vaccine tested in mice reduces accumulation of both types of toxic proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease, according to research that scientists say may pave the way to a clinical trial.