Feature Channels: Alzheimer's and Dementia

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Many Americans in their 50s and early 60s are worried about declining brain health, especially if they have loved ones with memory loss and dementia, a new national poll finds. But while the majority of those polled say they take supplements or do puzzles in an effort to stave off brain decline, very few of them have talked with their doctors about evidence-based ways to prevent memory loss. So they may miss out on proven strategies to keep their brains sharp into their later years.

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Researchers at UC Davis and UC San Francisco have found a way to teach a computer to precisely detect one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease in human brain tissue, delivering a proof of concept for a machine-learning approach to distinguishing critical markers of the disease.

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Scientists might have found an early detection method for some forms of dementia

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A new clinical trial at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and two other sites is testing an innovative procedure that may provide hope in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. The non-invasive procedure uses low-intensity focused ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier.

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**Note to journalists: Michael Miller, Ph.D., will discuss this research at the Johns Hopkins Science Writers’ Boot Camp on June 10 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Learn more and register for the free, daylong immersion in topics about mental health and addiction.

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Researchers at The University of Chicago have demonstrated that the type of bacteria living in the gut can influence the development of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms in mice. The study, which will be published May 16 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, shows that, by altering the gut microbiome, long-term antibiotic treatment reduces inflammation and slows the growth of amyloid plaques in the brains of male mice, though the same treatment has no effect on female animals.

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Em colaboração com a Universidade de Kentucky, Centro Médico da Universidade de Texas Southwest, o Centro Médico da Universidade Rush e a Universidade de Cambridge no Reino Unido, entre outras instituições, os pesquisadores da Mayo Clinic ajudaram a estabelecer um nome para uma doença cerebral degenerativa que aflige os idosos e imita características da doença de Alzheimer.

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Virtual reality (VR) technology could vastly improve the quality of life for people with dementia by helping to recall past memories

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Los investigadores de Mayo Clinic, en colaboración con la Universidad de Kentucky, el Centro Médico Suroccidental de la Universidad de Texas, el Centro Médico de la Universidad de Rush, la Universidad de Cambridge en el Reino Unido y otras instituciones, ayudaron a establecer el nombre de una enfermedad cerebral degenerativa que afecta a los ancianos e imita las características de la enfermedad de Alzheimer.

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Luke Montrose, assistant professor in the Department of Community and Environmental Health, has been awarded a grant from the IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (Idaho INBRE) to fund a two-year pilot study related to Alzheimer’s disease.

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“魔法漱口水”是一种含有苯海拉明、利多卡因和抗酸剂的漱口水，在为治疗头颈部癌症而接受放射治疗的患者中，其相比安慰剂可显著减轻口腔粘膜炎和口腔溃疡引起的疼痛。该发现来源于一项多机构参与、随机双盲、安慰剂对照的III期临床试验，该试验由Mayo Clinic的名誉放射肿瘤学家Robert Miller医学博士领导。

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A study in mice shows that selectively removing cells that are no longer dividing from the brains of mice with a form of Alzheimer’s disease can reduce brain damage and inflammation, and slow the pace of cognitive decline. These findings, say researchers, add to evidence that such senescent cells contribute to the damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease in people.

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The Dementia Friendly Hospital Initiative will reach a total of 3,900 employees in four hospitals across North Carolina to raise awareness of how patients with dementia experience care, and to meet their unique needs with strategic and compassionate treatment.

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In collaboration with the University of Kentucky, the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, Rush University Medical Center, the University of Cambridge in the U.K., and other institutions, Mayo Clinic researchers helped to establish a name for a degenerative brain disease that afflicts the elderly and mimics features of Alzheimer’s disease. This working group describes "limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy," or LATE, as an underrecognized risk for public health and calls for an urgent focus on research to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The report appears in the journal, Brain.

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A brain disorder that mimics symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease has been defined with recommended diagnostic criteria and guidelines for advancing future research on the condition. Researchers at Rush University Medical Center and scientists from several National Institutes of Health-funded institutions, in collaboration with international peers, described the newly-named pathway to dementia, Limbic-predominant Age-related TDP-43 Encephalopathy, or LATE, in a report published today in the journal Brain.

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Alzheimer's is dementia, but not all dementias are Alzheimer's (which may explain why so many Alzheimer's drugs have failed in clinical trials). A study published in Brain provides a framework for a newly characterized form of dementia called LATE.

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A new Michigan State University study suggests that older adults with poor sense of smell may see an almost 50% increase in their risk of dying within 10 years – surprisingly in healthier individuals.

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As May is the national awareness month for both Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Huntington’s disease, the American Neurological Association is highlighting recent research on these conditions that has appeared in its publications, the Annals of Neurology and the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology.

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A new chemical synthesis strategy to harvest rich information found in natural products has led to identifying simpler derivatives with potential to selectively protect neurons -- important for such diseases as Alzheimer’s -- or to prevent the immune system from rejecting organ transplants.

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Michigan Medicine (University of Michigan) researchers identify a potential therapeutic target for neurodegenerative conditions ALS and frontotemporal dementia, using animal models.

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“Is amyloid precursor protein the mastermind behind Alzheimer’s or is it just an accomplice?” Researchers devised a multi-functional reporter for amyloid precursor protein and tracked its localization and mobility, noticing a strange association between the protein and cholesterol that resides in the cell membrane of synapses. With cholesterol’s broad involvement in almost all aspects of neurons’ life, they propose a new theory on the amyloid precursor protein connection in AD, especially in the surface of those tiny synapses, which triggers neurodegeneration.

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In a small, pilot study, a non-invasive device that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain was associated with temporary improvements in age-related memory loss in older people, according to a study published in the April 17, 2019, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has developed synthetic peptides that target and inhibit the small, toxic protein aggregates that are thought to trigger Alzheimer's disease.

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Learning how to tie a shoe or shoot a basketball isn’t easy, but the brain somehow integrates sensory signals that are critical to coordinating movements so you can get it right. Now, Rutgers scientists have discovered that sensory signals in the brain’s cerebral cortex, which plays a key role in controlling movement and other functions, have a different pattern of connections between nerve cells and different effects on behavior than motor signals. The motor area of the cortex sends signals to stimulate muscles.

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For decades, articles in research journals and the popular press alike have reported that being a family caregiver takes a toll on a person’s health, boosting levels of inflammation and weakening the function of the immune system. Now, after analyzing 30 papers on the levels of immune and inflammatory molecules in caregivers, Johns Hopkins researchers say the link has been overstated and the association is extremely small. Caregiver stress explains less than 1 percent of the variability in immune and inflammation biomarkers, they report. Their new meta-analysis was published March 10 in The Gerontologist.

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Julius C. Hedden, III, PhD, recruited to Mount Sinai to apply innovative imaging techniques to research Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias

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Harnessing a probe used to image the brain in diagnosing Alzheimer's disease and related forms of dementia, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have successfully cleared patient-derived brain cells of an abnormal protein associated with dementia and other neurogenerative disorders.

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Researchers have provided a crucial first step towards understanding how computing technology could be used to help people with depression remember happy memories.

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Stony Brook University's Liliana Dávalos, PhD, is studying the phenomenal capabilities of the shrew, which shrinks up to 20 percent during winter months without hibernating. The research may shed light on the processes of neurological degeneration and regeneration in mammals.

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Nursing researchers have developed a novel tool called the “Basic Knowledge of Alzheimer’s Disease,” to measure and assess Alzheimer’s knowledge in rural and underserved communities, in a way that matches their socioeconomic, educational and cultural needs. They put the survey to a test at senior centers in the Florida Glades and Appalachian Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama and North Carolina.

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Consuming garlic helps counteract age-related changes in gut bacteria associated with memory problems, according to a new study conducted with mice. The benefit comes from allyl sulfide, a compound in garlic known for its health benefits.

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Researchers are reporting new findings on how bacteria involved in gum disease can travel throughout the body, exuding toxins connected with Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and aspiration pneumonia.

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A new study provides critical insight into a little-known, yet relatively common, inherited neurological condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. The findings point to a pathway to possible treatments for this disease and better understanding of other neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, that affect millions.

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The eyes may be the window to the soul, but to scientists, they are also the window to the brain. In particular, the retina, a delicate light-sensing neural network with specialized cells at the back of the eyeball, is linked directly to the brain via the optic nerve and is considered by some to be part of the brain itself. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago are developing imaging techniques that will allow them to study minute changes in the retina that indicate the early stages of brain diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

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As part of its Diagnostics Accelerator research program, the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) announced today a new initiative that aims to fast-track the development of digital tools for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

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Researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed a unique 3D-printed transparent skull implant for mice that provides an opportunity to watch activity of the entire brain surface in real time. The device allows fundamental brain research that could provide new insight for human brain conditions such as concussions, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

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Alzheimer's disease wreaks emotional havoc on patients, who are robbed of their memories, their dignity, and their lives. To date, there have been very few successes in the pursuit of a treatment. But one drug that looks at AD from a different angle is now ready for its first round of testing in humans.

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Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues elsewhere, report on a novel four-year, randomized clinical trial evaluating different home-based methods to assess cognitive function and decline in participants over the age of 75.

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Women who start their period later, go through menopause earlier or have a hysterectomy may have a greater risk of developing dementia, according to a new study published in the March 27, 2019, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study found a link between increased risk of dementia and fewer total reproductive years when women are exposed to higher levels of estrogen hormones.

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To function properly, proteins must morph into specific 3D shapes through a biophysical phenomenon called protein folding. Researchers at ORNL are using various deep-learning techniques to study the intermediate protein stages between the initial unfolded state and the final folded state, which are notoriously difficult to characterize. These methods could also help identify factors that cause proteins to “misfold” into dysfunctional shapes, a phenomenon often attributed as a leading factor in the development of diseases including Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disorders, and diabetes.

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Working with mice, a team of Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers has developed a relatively inexpensive, portable mini microscope that could improve scientists’ ability to image the effects of cancer, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions in the brains of living and active mice over time. The device, which measures less than 5 cubic centimeters, is docked onto animals’ heads and gathers real-time images from the active brains of mice moving naturally around their environments.

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Researchers funded by NIBIB have designed neuron-like probes that can be implanted and remain viable for long-term use to study and treat the brain.

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A recent study has demonstrated that smoking is not associated with a higher risk of dementia.

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A new review article explores the pathophysiological factors that link sleep disturbances and Alzheimer’s disease. Better understanding of this connection may lead to potential diagnostic and therapeutics for Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases and dementia. The article is published ahead of print in the Journal of Neurophysiology (JNP).

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Seemingly harmless fluid-filled spaces around the cerebral small vessels, commonly seen on brain MRIs in older adults, are now thought to be associated with more compromised cognitive skills, according to a Vanderbilt University Medical Centerstudy published in Neurology.

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Using strong and targeted but noninvasive magnets at specific sites in the brains of people with and without mild learning and memory problems, Johns Hopkins researchers report they were able to detect differences in the concentrations of brain chemicals that transmit messages between neurons. The strength of these magnetic fields allows the researchers to measure tiny amounts and compare multiple brain metabolite levels at the same time. These studies may ultimately help to reveal what initiates memory decline and may, perhaps, even predict dementia risk. The researchers believe that measuring such data over time will allow them to more accurately detect and describe changes in metabolism in the brain as a person progresses from healthy to mild cognitive impairment and to dementia.

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Long-term, high nut consumption could be the key to better cognitive health in older people according to new research from the University of South Australia.

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The game isn’t about talking robots or colorful books. It’s about getting seniors in the early stages of dementia out of their rooms, moving their bodies and, most importantly, working together.