Feature Channels: Alzheimer's and Dementia

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The antidepressant drug citalopram, sold under the brand names Celexa and Cipramil and also available as a generic medication, significantly relieved agitation in a group of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. In lower doses than those tested, the drug might be safer than antipsychotic drugs currently used to treat the condition, according to results of a clinical trial led by Johns Hopkins researchers that included seven other academic medical centers in the United States and Canada.

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Researchers studying peptides using the Gordon supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have found new ways to elucidate the creation of the toxic oligomers associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

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Sadly, Alzheimer's disease has been the least prone to progress in the one area where we'd like to find change the most -- in our ability to fight it. Many research groups are working to change that, and at the 58th Annual Biophysical Society Meeting, researchers will describe their progress making at unraveling the mystery of the amyloid beta ("Abeta") peptide, a tangling molecule found in the brain plaques associated with the disease.

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People who are dementia-free but have two parents with Alzheimer’s disease may show signs of the disease on brain scans decades before symptoms appear, according to a new study published in the February 12, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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An 18-month pilot program that brought resources and counselors to elderly Baltimore residents with dementia and other memory disorders significantly increased the length of time they lived successfully at home, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. Staying at home was a clear preference for most of those who participated in the study.

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EMBARGOED ALZHEIMERS RESEARCH - Many people with high blood pressure are familiar with ACE inhibitors, drugs that widen blood vessels by limiting activity of ACE – angiotensin-converting enzyme – a naturally occurring protein found in tissues throughout the body. But high activity of the enzyme – in the right context, place and time – may be a good thing. A study conducted by Cedars-Sinai scientists found that genetically targeting certain immune blood cells to overproduce the enzyme broke down defective proteins in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease and prevented cognitive decline in laboratory mice bred to model the disease.

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A UT Southwestern study published online in JAMA Neurology, found elevated levels of the DDT metabolite, DDE, that were 3.8 times higher in patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in comparison to control subjects.

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Scientists have known for more than 40 years that the synthetic pesticide DDT is harmful to bird habitats and a threat to the environment. Now researchers at Rutgers University, writing in JAMA Neurology, say exposure to DDT – banned in the United States since 1972 but still used as a pesticide in other countries – may also increase the risk and severity of Alzheimer’s disease in some people, particularly those over the age of 60.

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A chemical that's found in fruits and vegetables from strawberries to cucumbers appears to stop memory loss that accompanies Alzheimer's disease in mice, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have discovered. In experiments on mice that normally develop Alzheimer's symptoms less than a year after birth, a daily dose of the compound----a flavonol called fisetin----prevented the progressive memory and learning impairments. The drug, however, did not alter the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain, accumulations of proteins which are commonly blamed for Alzheimer's disease. The new finding suggests a way to treat Alzheimer's symptoms independently of targeting amyloid plaques.

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Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have identified a critical regulator of a molecule deeply involved in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

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Although the brain becomes smaller with age, the shrinkage seems to be fast-tracked in older adults with hearing loss, according to the results of a study by researchers from Johns Hopkins and the National Institute on Aging. The findings add to a growing list of health consequences associated with hearing loss, including increased risk of dementia, falls, hospitalizations, and diminished physical and mental health overall.

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"Gold standard" science shows that Magnesium-L-threonate, not regular magnesium, may restore brain health a top 2014 health concern for baby boomers

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At the heart of brain diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease is protein misfolding. At present, there is no known way to reverse protein misfolding. But researchers have found a possible way to unravel misfolded proteins by "reprogramming" a common yeast protein.

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New research, led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researcher Chunyu Wang, has solved one mystery in the development of Familial Alzheimer’s Disease (FAD), a genetic variant of the disease that affects a small fraction of the Alzheimer’s population. In a paper published online January 6 in the journal Nature Communications, Wang and his team follow the trail of two genetic mutations – V44M and V44A – known to cause FAD, and show how the mutations lead to biochemical changes long linked to the disease.

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Today the scientific journal Neuron published results on the Roche-designed Brain Shuttle technology that efficiently transfers investigational antibodies from the blood through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) into the brain in preclinical models. Roche Pharma Early Research and Development (pRED) scientists found that such enhanced transfer of antibodies through the BBB was associated with a marked improvement in amyloid reduction in the brain of a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.

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In this VA Cooperative Studies Group trial, vitamin E was shown to slow functional decline and reduce burdens on caregivers.

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A new study suggests that a history of concussion involving at least a momentary loss of consciousness may be related to the buildup of Alzheimer’s-associated plaques in the brain. The research is published in the Dec. 26, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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A new study suggests that a history of concussion involving at least a momentary loss of consciousness may be related to the buildup of Alzheimer’s-associated plaques in the brain. The research is published in the December 26, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Using high-resolution fMRI imaging in patients with Alzheimer's disease and in mouse models of the disease, researchers have clarified three fundamental issues about Alzheimer's: where it starts, why it starts there, and how it spreads. In addition to advancing understanding of Alzheimer's, the findings could improve early detection of the disease, when drugs may be most effective. The study was published today in the online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

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Most people with dementia who live at home have multiple unmet health and welfare needs, any number of which could jeopardize their ability to remain home for as long as they desire, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

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A team of researchers led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has identified variations in a gene that double a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life. The newly identified variations occur rarely in the population, making them hard for researchers to identify. But they’re important because individuals who carry them are at substantially increased risk.

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St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have identified an enzyme that can halt or possibly even reverse the build-up of toxic protein fragments known as plaques in the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s disease. The research appeared in a recent edition of the scientific journal Nature Communications.

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It’s been widely reported that football and other contact sports increase the risk of a debilitating neurological condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). But a new study finds little evidence to support such a link.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a natural mechanism that cells use to protect mitochondria, the tiny but essential “power plants” that provide chemical energy for cells throughout the body.

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In their study, Sylvie Belleville and her team accurately predicted (at a rate of 90%) which of their research subjects with mild cognitive impairment would receive a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease within the following two years and which subjects would not develop this disease.

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Improvements in education levels, health care and lifestyle credited for decline in dementia risk.

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A team of Stony Brook University researchers has discovered in a model of Alzheimer’s disease that early accumulation of a small protein, known as amyloid β, in the blood vessels of the brain can drive early cognitive impairment.

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A new discovery may help explain the surprisingly strong connections between sleep problems and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

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Alzheimer’s disease has joined cancer at the top of the list of feared diagnoses, and although Alzheimer’s does have the potential to devastate millions of patients and families, there are reasons for hope – and possibly opportunities to reduce risk or alter the course of disease progression, according to Keith Black, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai.

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Cognitively impaired older adults released from the hospital are less likely to be rehospitalized within 30 days if they go to a nursing home than if they return to their own home.

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A new pilot study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center suggests that the brain changes associated with meditation and stress reduction may play an important role in slowing the progression of age-related cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have used genetic engineering of human induced pluripotent stem cells to specifically and precisely parse the roles of a key mutated protein in causing familial Alzheimer’s disease (AD), discovering that simple loss-of-function does not contribute to the inherited form of the neurodegenerative disorder.

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Saint Louis University researchers found that antioxidant extracts from spearmint and rosemary fight mild cognitive impairment in an animal model.

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The novel compound IRL-1620 may be useful in treating Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as it has been shown to prevent cognitive impairment and oxidative stress in animal models.

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Using scores obtained from cognitive tests, Johns Hopkins researchers think they have developed a model that could help determine whether memory loss in older adults is benign or a stop on the way to Alzheimer’s disease.

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A specialized type of brain cell that tamps down stem cell activity ironically, perhaps, encourages the survival of the stem cells’ progeny, Johns Hopkins researchers report. Understanding how these new brain cells “decide” whether to live or die and how to behave is of special interest because changes in their activity are linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, mental illness and aging.

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A Columbia-led research team has clinically validated a new method for predicting time to nursing home residence or death for patients with Alzheimer’s. The method uses data from a single patient visit, and is based on a complex model of Alzheimer’s progression developed by consecutively following two sets of Alzheimer’s patients for 10 years each.

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In the largest study on the topic to date, research shows that speaking a second language may delay the onset of three types of dementias. The research is published in the November 6, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Groundbreaking clinical study shows patented magnesium formula prevents synapse loss and reverses memory decline in mice with Alzheimer’s Disease.

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For families living with Alzheimer’s, finding joy during the holidays can be challenging. By managing expectations and planning early, holidays can still be happy and memorable for every family.

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On Nov. 6, 12:30-1 pm PST, Nobel Laureate Dr. Eric R. Kandel, and Drs. Elias Pavlopoulos and Scott A. Small, will answer questions about compelling new evidence that age-related memory loss is a syndrome in its own right, apart from Alzheimer’s.

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Imagine a 1950s horror movie monster—a creeping, gluey tangle of gunk that strangles everything around it. That’s what amyloid plaques are like when they form in body tissues. These gooey protein clumps are associated with many chronic and debilitating disorders, and scientists have made enormous strides in understanding how these structures play roles in disease.

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High blood-sugar levels, such as those linked with Type 2 diabetes, make beta amyloid protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease dramatically more toxic to cells lining blood vessels in the brain, according to a new Tulane University study published in latest issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

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Scientists have known for some time that a protein called presenilin plays a role in Alzheimer’s disease, and a new study reveals one intriguing way this happens. It has to do with how important materials travel up and down brain cells.

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The largest international Alzheimer's disease genetics collaboration to date has found 11 new genetic areas of interest that contribute to late onset Alzheimer's Disease (LOAD), doubling the number of potential genetics-based therapeutic targets to interrogate.

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Diabetes and dementia are rising dramatically in the United States and worldwide. In the last few years, epidemiological data has accrued showing that older people with diabetes are significantly more likely to develop cognitive deterioration and increased susceptibility to onset of dementia related to Alzheimer’s disease. Now, a research team led by Giulio Maria Pasinetti, MD, PhD, the Saunders Family Chair and Professor of Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, discovered a novel mechanism through which this may occur. The results are published online Oct. 23, in the journal Diabetes.

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New study finds, shorter sleep duration and poorer sleep quality were associated with a greater β-Amyloid burden.

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The major genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, present in about two-thirds of people who develop it, is ApoE4, the cholesterol-carrying protein that about a quarter of us are born with. But one of the unsolved mysteries of AD is how ApoE4 causes this risk. Researchers at the Buck Institute have found a link between ApoE4 and SirT1, an “anti-aging protein” that is targeted by resveratrol, present in red wine.

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Even for elderly people with no signs of dementia, those with hardening of the arteries are more likely to also have the beta-amyloid plaques in the brain that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published in the October 16, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Johns Hopkins researchers say that by measuring levels of certain proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), they can predict when people will develop the cognitive impairment associated with Alzheimer’s disease years before the first symptoms of memory loss appear.