Feature Channels: Alzheimer's and Dementia

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Electrocranial stimulation offers hope for Alzheimer's patients

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Commenting on a Financial Times feature on drug trials of the "plaque" theory of Alzheimer's---all of which have failed so far---Chris Norwood, in a lead letter, underscores that targeted diabetes prevention is really the major documented path to Alzheimer's prevention

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According to renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks, “music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion, but the power of music goes much further.” To hear and experience music’s potential, members of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus and local community are invited to a multimedia concert and lecture focused on the links between music and health, sponsored by the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) and the Department of the Arts. The event will be held on Dec. 8, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) Concert Hall.

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Measuring the brain activity of healthy, older adults while they walk and talk at the same time may help predict their risk of falls later, according to a study published in the December 7, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have made an important discovery toward the development of drugs to treat age-related memory loss in diseases like Alzheimer’s.

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Jagdish Singh, chair and professor of pharmaceutical sciences at North Dakota State University, is receiving a $1.89 million grant award for his research to develop a nanotechnology-based system that effectively delivers Nerve Growth Factor across the blood brain barrier to treat Alzheimer's disease.

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More than 15 million family members and other unpaid caregivers provide care to persons living with dementia in the United States. Yet the current healthcare environment and reimbursement models emphasize obligations toward individual patients, preventing clinicians from reaching out to these caregivers to assess their needs and provide care.

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Eli Lilly’s Phase III drug trial attempting to slow the advancement of Alzheimer’s disease disappointed many when it recently was announced that the study did not meet its primary endpoints.

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Mayo Clinic Monthly News Tips — November 2016

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December 1, 2016 — (BRONX, NY) —The National Institutes of Health has awarded researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Pennsylvania State University a five-year, $12.2 million grant to continue studies on the aging brain, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. More than five million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease—a number that is expected to double by 2040 as baby boomers age.

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For the first time, researchers have found higher levels of Gram-negative bacteria antigens in brain samples from late-onset Alzheimer’s disease patients. Compared to controls, patients with Alzheimer's had much higher levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and E coli K99 pili protein. In addition, The UC Davis team also found LPS molecules congregated with amyloid plaques, which have been linked to Alzheimer’s pathology and progression. The research was published today in the print edition of the journal Neurology.

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Walking is a milestone in development for toddlers, but it’s actually only one part of the complex cognitive task known as gait that includes everything from a person’s stride length to the accompanying swing of each arm. A Mayo Clinic study recently published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that problems associated with gait can predict a significant decline in memory and thinking.

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A defect in a gene that produces dopamine in the brain appears to accelerate the onset of Parkinson’s disease, according to new research from Iowa State University. The effect is particularly dramatic for young-to-middle-age adults.

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Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) has announced that Huaxi Xu, Ph.D., has been named the Jeanne and Gary Herberger Leadership Chair in Neuroscience at the institute.

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Nucleation processes are a first step in the structural rearrangement involved in the phase transition of matter: a liquid morphing into a gas, a gas becoming a liquid and so on. Understanding this process is critical for preventing, halting or treating cases of nucleation processes gone wrong -- such as in human disease. Now, a team of researchers have made headway toward understanding this problem from a molecular point of view in a new study, which they discuss in this week’s The Journal of Chemical Physics.

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Dealing with Alzheimer’s disease can be difficult any time of year, but the holidays present unique challenges for patients and their families.

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A team of neuroscience and biochemistry researchers at Stony Brook University have made a novel discovery that illustrates for the first time the difference between amyloid buildup in brain blood vessels and amyloid buildup around brain neurons.

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In a hopeful sign for the health of the nation’s brains, the percentage of American seniors with dementia is dropping, a new study finds. The downward trend has emerged despite something else the study shows: a rising tide of three factors that are thought to raise dementia risk by interfering with brain blood flow, namely diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.

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New Northwestern Medicine research on the brains of individuals 90 years and older who had superior memories until their deaths revealed widespread and dense Alzheimer’s plaques and tangles in some cases, considered full-blown Alzheimer’s pathology.

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A new animal model developed at Penn Medicine using tau tangles isolated from the brains of Alzheimer’s patients rather than synthetic tau tangles paints a closer picture of the tau pathology in the AD brain

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The holidays are a time when families get together -- sometimes after long periods apart. But sometimes seldom-seen elderly family members show signs of worrisome mental decline. When should family members be concerned about the possibility of Alzheimer's?

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Atrial fibrillation patients who use the drug, warfarin, to prevent harmful blood clots from forming in their hearts to lower risk of stroke are at higher risk of developing dementia than patients who use warfarin for non-atrial fibrillation conditions, according to a new study from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute.

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An Indiana University physicist and neuroscientist who studies how physical movement can be used to detect autism in children and adults has received support from the National Science Foundation. The $750,000 NSF grant to IU scientist Jorge V. José and collaborators will be used to apply analytical methods pioneered at IU and Rutgers University toward diagnosing, and possibly treating, a wider range of learning disabilities.

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UAB launches study to see if family caregivers for dementia patients can benefit and improve quality of life from learning strategies to alter care-resistant behavior, such as refusal to take a bath, take medicine, accept routine mouth care, abstain from alcohol or go to a medical appointment.

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Researchers provide unprecedented evidence that basal forebrain pathology precedes and predicts both entorhinal pathology and memory impairment in people with Alzheimer's disease.

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Mayo Clinic Monthly News Tips — October 2016

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Leading experts will convene at the Integrative Biology of Exercise 7 meeting (Nov. 2–4 in Phoenix) to discuss current research and new findings on how exercise affects us at all stages of life, from preconception to old age. Read more about today's highlighted research abstracts. Contact the APS Communications Office for full abstracts or to contact a member of the research team.

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To celebrate its revolutionary impact on eye care around the world, the Associatio n for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) has independently produced a series of short videos, educational tools and advocacy resources on the discovery and development of optical coherence tomography (OCT).

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Dementia with Lewy bodies is a progressive disease that causes hallucinations, decline in mental abilities, rigid muscles, slow movement and tremors. With symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, a correct diagnosis can be difficult.

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MINNEAPOLIS – A lack of shrinkage in the area of the brain responsible for memory may be a sign that people with thinking and memory problems may go on to develop dementia with Lewy bodies rather than Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study published in the November 2, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, a medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Shrinkage in this hippocampus area of the brain is an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease.

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Using war metaphors in reference to Alzheimer’s disease should be replaced with messages of resilience against a complex, age-associated condition that may not be fully defeatable, according to a team of researchers.

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Researchers have developed a chemical compound that detects the Alzheimer’s protein amyloid beta better than current FDA-approved agents. The compound potentially could be used in brain scans to identify the signs of Alzheimer’s early, or to monitor response to treatment.

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UCLA Health experts are available to discuss a wide variety of topics of interest for the month of November.

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It's tempting to dip into the leftover Halloween treats, but new research out of York University has found eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, combined with regular exercise, leads to better cognitive functioning for younger and older adults, and may delay the onset of dementia.

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During their first year, clinicians at the new Montefiore Einstein Center for the Aging Brain (CAB) saw significant improvements in their ability to identify patients with dementia symptoms and more quickly identify signs of depression and anxiety. This first year data has been published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The Center’s model, which follows a three-step evaluation and management plan from clinicians in Geriatrics, Neuropsychology and Neurology, examines referred patients for evaluation of cognitive complaints based on daily activities, demographic information, additional medical conditions, and medication review.

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The distinct structures of toxic protein aggregates that form in degenerating brains determine which type of dementia will occur, which regions of brain will be affected, and how quickly the disease will spread, according to a study from the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute.

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Dr. Mary DiBartolo of Salisbury University’s Nursing Department is helping to educate and prepare others about the crisis facing the nation’s health care system related to the care of older adults.

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The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) announced today the relaunch of CognitiveVitality.org, its brain health and dementia prevention website. The streamlined, easy-to-navigate site separates fact from fiction and empowers people to make smarter choices for their brain health.

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The Latest in Cell Biology News

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High blood pressure in middle age can lead to impaired cognition and is a potential risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.

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An experimental drug shows promise in treating Alzheimer’s disease by preventing inflammation and removing abnormal protein clumps in the brain that are associated with the disease, suggests a study in mice presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2016 annual meeting.

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Carol White can’t help but worry when she misplaces keys or can’t recall a name ever since relatives have been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s.

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MINNEAPOLIS – Exercise may be associated with a small benefit for elderly people who already have memory and thinking problems, according to new research published in the October 19, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, a medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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A key strategy missing from the ambitious Alzheimer’s disease plan signed into law by President Obama six years ago could send investigational drugs down a precarious pipeline, argue two physicians.

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University of Adelaide researchers have developed a world-first optical sensor that can detect vitamin B12 in diluted human blood – a first step towards a low-cost, portable, broadscale vitamin B12 deficiency test. Vitamin B12 deficiency is associated with an increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

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A rare variant in the TM2D3 gene linked to increased risk and earlier onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

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Androgen Deprivation Therapy, a common hormone therapy to treat prostate cancer, may double a man’s risk of dementia, regardless of his age, Penn Medicine researchers reported.

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Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have confirmed that mutation-caused dysfunction in a process cells use to transport molecules within the cell plays a previously suspected but underappreciated role in promoting the heritable form of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but also one that might be remedied with existing therapeutic enzyme inhibitors.