Feature Channels: Alzheimer's and Dementia

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Working with their colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, researchers at the University of Kentucky have found that they can differentiate between subtypes of dementia inducing brain disease. “For the first time we created criteria that could differentiate between frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and a common Alzheimer’s ‘mimic’ called LATE disease,” explained Dr. Peter Nelson of the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky.

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School-based dementia education could deliver much needed empathy and understanding for older generations as new research from the University of South Australia shows it can significantly improve dementia knowledge and awareness among younger generations.

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Disturbed sleep patterns do not cause Alzheimer’s disease but people who are at high genetic risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease may be more likely to be a “morning person,” have shorter sleep duration and other measures of sleep disturbance and are less likely to have insomnia. The study is published in the August 19, 2020, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Detailed predictive analyses and functional studies show that the VGF protein protects against onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease, paving the way for future drug discovery efforts

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Nearly three-quarters of older adults with dementia have filled prescriptions for medicines that act on their brain and nervous system, but aren’t designed for dementia, a new study shows. That’s despite the special risks that such drugs carry for older adults -- and the lack of evidence that they actually ease dementia-related behavior problems.

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Reducing neuroinflammation by disrupting a protein involved in recycling cellular components may provide a potential therapeutic approach for treating neurodegeneration and memory loss.

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New research suggests that education provides little to no protection against the onset of cognitive declines later in life. It can, however, boost the cognitive skills people develop earlier in life, pushing back the point at which age-related dementia begins to impact a person’s ability to care for themselves.

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Some people who feel dizzy or lightheaded when they stand up may have an increased risk of developing dementia years later, according to a new study published in the August 12, 2020, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The condition, called orthostatic hypotension, occurs when people experience a sudden drop in blood pressure when they stand up.

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As a person's weight goes up, all regions of the brain go down in activity and blood flow, according to a new brain imaging study in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

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A notable characteristic of several neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, is the formation of harmful plaques that contain aggregates--also known as fibrils--of amyloid proteins.

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The COVID-19 pandemic brought many things to a screeching halt and continues to impact our daily lives. However, important research at the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (SBCoA) is continuing under extreme caution and deep dedication. A monumental study in the field of dementia research is set to get underway in the coming weeks at UK.

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In a reversal of trends, American baby boomers scored lower on a test of cognitive functioning than did members of previous generations, according to a new nationwide study.

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Even for people who carry the gene for early onset Alzheimer’s disease, more years of education may slow the development of beta-amyloid plaques in the brain that are associated with the disease, according to a new study published in the August 5, 2020, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Latest research from Affirmativ Health succeeds in treating cognitive decline using personalized, precision medicine.

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Neuroscientist at the University at Albany will research how different types of memories are formed and stored at different times of the day, and how they are modified by different types of cells

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The July 2020 Edition of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s (BIDMC) Research & Health News Digest.

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Twenty-eight world-leading dementia experts added three new risk factors in the new report — excessive alcohol intake and head injury in mid-life and air pollution in later life. These are in addition to nine factors previously identified by the commission in 2017.

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Gum disease, especially the kind that is irreversible and causes tooth loss, may be associated with mild cognitive impairment and dementia 20 years later, according to a study published in the July 29, 2020, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Alzheimer’s Blood Test: An expert panel with WUSTL, RUPress: July 28, 3PM EDT

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A new blood test demonstrated remarkable promise in discriminating between persons with and without Alzheimer's disease and in persons at known genetic risk may be able to detect the disease as early as 20 years before the onset of cognitive impairment, according to a large international study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and simultaneously presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference.