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Since the approval of four cholinesterase inhibitors in the 1990s and memantine in 2003, there have been no new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. Against this backdrop, Paul Aisen of the University of California, San Diego, opened the 4th International Conference on Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's Disease (CTAD) on 3 November 2011 in San Diego, California. Aisen’s keynote address, now available on Alzforum tracks the evolution of Alzheimer's trials over the past two decades. He plots a new phase forward, with researchers having a better handle on how to tackle the disease.

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A rigorous evaluation of the scientific literature reveals that the jury is still out when it comes to hormone replacement therapy and a woman’s risk for Alzheimer’s disease. The results are reported in the AlzRisk database.

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An in-depth report on Alzforum provides a 360-degree tour of all aspects of Alzheimer’s disease research—from the current state of knowledge about the disease process, to the questions and challenges facing researchers at this point, to prospects for future advances, particularly in the wake of recent treatment failures.

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A news feature in Alzforum explains the impact of new guidelines from the European Medicines Agency for selecting volunteers in clinical trials of Alzheimer’s disease drugs.

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It seems that there is no shortage of bad news when it comes to possible treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. A Webinar discussion and a news article in Alzforum now provide a unique perspective from the trenches and, contrary to what’s portrayed in the general media, researchers’ views are cautious but upbeat.

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New guidelines call for pathologists to look for possible signs of Alzheimer’s disease in the brains of deceased patients, regardless of whether those patients had had symptoms of dementia in their lives. This means that when a parent or loved one dies, family members may find out for the first time that a relative had telltale signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

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Is this the modus operandi for a self-described "leading not-for-profit research and development institution" that is suing 10 AD research entities, from pharma and biotech companies to not-for-profit institutions, over use of mice, cells, and other tools derived from the Swedish APP mutation? The discovery of this mutation 18 years ago helped open up the molecular biology of Alzheimer's research, but advances in this area have become ensnared in litigation again and again. Esther Landhuis and Gabrielle Strobel investigated: Buckle your seatbelt for a ride through the maze that is U.S. patent law, and sit in wonder at the multitude of obstacles that stand in the way of finding treatments for loved ones.

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On the 9 June 2010, 119 participants from industry, academia, and related stakeholder communities in the U.S. and Europe joined Alzforum for a Webinar with Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) director Paul Aisen, who explained what kinds of project ideas the ADCS leaders welcome from the worldwide Alzheimer Disease research community as they prepare for a new round of federal ADCS funding next year. The ADCS runs trials with public-private collaborations, and has developed a clinical trial infrastructure and a tool kit well suited to push drug trials into the pre-symptomatic phase of the disease.

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A surgical treatment that stimulates distressed neural networks through electrodes threaded directly into a person's brain has quietly made a difference in the lives of tens of thousands of people with Parkinson disease, essential tremor, and dystonia over the course of the past decade. What about the mind? Could DBS eventually help other brain diseases such as Alzheimer's? Alzforum reporter Amber Dance investigates in a new four-part series.

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Writing the latest pages of an anthropological mystery, scientists propose in this month’s Archives of Neurology that it is highly possible that Auguste Deter, the first identified Alzheimer disease patient, carried the N141I presenilin-2 mutation—the same one as in present-day U.S. families descended from German emigrants who settled near the river Volga in Russia.

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Forget sun, sand, and surf—it was biomarker pools and a sea change in neurocognitive testing that rejuvenated attendees at the 8th Annual Symposium on Early Alzheimer's, held 12-13 March 2010, in Miami Beach, Florida. Our intrepid reporter Pat McCaffrey brings you a full meeting summary, complete with a slide deck that covers the majority of presentations.

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The Alzheimer Research Forum, an authoritative news source for neurodegenerative disease research, has reported extensively on the story of Dimebon, which was just reported to have failed in a clinical trial.

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The field is abuzz with the word “prevention,” but how to pull off this vaunted goal? It's been held back by a strange Catch-22 of cost, time, and biomarker validation. That might change with a bold initiative led by Eric Reiman, Pierre Tariot, and others at the Banner Alzheimer's Institute. Read Gabrielle Strobel's five-part series.

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The field of Alzheimer disease research is abuzz with the word “prevention,” but how to pull off this vaunted goal? It's been held back by a strange Catch-22 of cost, time, and biomarker validation. That might change with a bold initiative led by Eric Reiman, Pierre Tariot, and others at the Banner Alzheimer's Institute. Read Gabrielle Strobel's 5-part series.

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Known for their cutting-edge coverage of Alzheimer research news, the editors of Alzforum have compiled a list of the most important trends from the past year.

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The Web's leading source for research news on Alzheimer's and related neurodegenerative diseases reports from the world's largest annual gathering of neuroscientists.

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Alzheimer's researchers from around the world spent a day at Washington University in St. Louis with caregivers and patients of families with dominantly inherited Alzheimer disease. They exchanged not only scientific news but also harrowing perspectives about a form of AD that strikes in generation after generation.

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While the occasional all-nighter to cram for exams or finish a grant proposal may seem like no big deal, losing sleep night after night could take its toll on brain health in later life, two new studies suggest. Read the full report on Alzforum.

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The Alzheimer Research Forum provides a definitive round-up of the latest research findings presented at the recent International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease.

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In the past decade, the concept of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has provided a way of identifying people at elevated risk of developing Alzheimer disease. MCI has been difficult to put in practice at times, but all the same has opened a window of opportunity for early detection, intervention, and some clinical trials. At the 7th Annual MCI Symposium, held 27-28 March in downtown Miami, Florida, 24 speakers covered the waterfront on this topic.

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Many cases of age-related neurodegenerative disease fall into the gray zone between big, defined diseases such as Alzheimer or Parkinson disease. They are often misdiagnosed, which is a problem because mixed disease is not only common, but also quite different in its course from pathologically 'pure' disease. But there's also excitement and opportunity.

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The Alzforum reports on the analyses of one-year data (preliminary and mostly unpublished) from the $64-million Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Scientists reported, and debated, these much-anticipated findings at recent ADNI internal meeting and a few days later in an ADNI session at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), both in Seattle.

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The web's foremost website on Alzheimer disease reports on the highlights from the 3rd annual Human Amyloid Imaging (HAI) conference held recently in Seattle, WA. Amyloid beta, a peptide that builds up abnormally in the brains of Alzheimer patients, can be studied by brain imaging. This landmark advance promises to yield new insights into how brain changes with aging and Alzheimer disease.

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Three recent papers highlight new promise, and expose nagging pitfalls, of one of the Alzheimer field's most widely used surrogate measures of disease progression. Developing validated biomarkers is critical for developing better diagnostics and treatments.

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Alzheimer disease researchers everywhere are familiar with the founding story of their field, concerning the German doctor, Alois Alzheimer, who reported on abnormal pathology in the brain of a woman who suffered from dementia. But scientists digging through historical archives in Prague have brought to light the existence of another investigator who made arguably even greater contributions to describing the disease, but whose contributions were tragically forgotten.

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The Alzheimer Research Forum (www.alzforum.org), a dynamic, biomedical Web community that is heavily used by Alzheimer researchers around the world, is preparing to migrate to a new platform that will enable it to more fully exploit social networking ("Web 2.0") and the Semantic Web ("Web 3.0").

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Can we"”and should we"”develop drugs to stem memory loss that accompanies normal aging? The Alzheimer Research Forum invite a legal ethicist, FDA representative, several clinician-researchers, and other thought leaders to debate this topic in a Live Web Discussion on February 26, 2009, 12 "“ 1pm (U.S. EST).

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Individuals who have Early-onset Familial Alzheimer Disease (eFAD) can in theory be studied and targeted for preventive treatments, but because they are few and far between, researchers doubted such studies were feasible. Now, the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN,) is set to tackle this challenge. The web's leading resource on AD research explains the premise and promise of DIAN.

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The Alzheimer Research Forum releases a six-part series on the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, a massive effort to identify biomarkers to predict individuals' risk of AD. The Alzforum reports on the first, much-awaited data from the study, and takes readers behind the scenes for a look at the challenges that had to be overcome.

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What life style factors are associated with the risk of getting Alzheimer disease? For an anxious public scanning the headlines, the answer seems to depend on the latest study. One week readers may be exhorted to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, while the next week they are warned about metabolic disorder. But what does the research really show over dozens of studies comprising tens of thousands of people?

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The Alzheimer Research Forum, the Web's foremost community of AD researchers, has assembled a panel of thought leaders to address the challenges and solutions to early-diagnosis of AD in a "virtual town hall meeting." The event is scheduled for Wednesday, July 9, from 2:00-3:30 p.m. (U.S. East Coast Time) and will be conducted using Webinar technology and teleconferencing.