Feature Channels: Alzheimer's and Dementia

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Patients suffering from early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease who were diagnosed sooner than usual using a brain imaging test received Alzheimer-specific medications earlier than those who did not have the brain imaging results available to their doctors or themselves. These patients also had significantly better clinical outcomes during the subsequent years they were clinically monitored, UCLA researchers have found for the first time.

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The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease for those over the age of 65 years in Japan rose from 1% in 1985 to 7% in 2007. The increases lagged the change to a more Western diet high in animal products such as meat and milk, by 15-25 years.

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A genetic mutation, known as GBA, that leads to early onset of Parkinson’s disease and severe cognitive impairment (in about 4 to 7 percent of all patients with the disease) also alters how specific lipids, ceramides and glucosylceramides are metabolized. Mayo Clinic researchers have found that Parkinson’s patients who do not carry the genetic mutation also have higher levels of these lipids in the blood. Further, those who had Parkinson’s and high blood levels were also more likely to have cognitive impairment and dementia. The research was recently published online in the journal PLOS ONE.

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Cornell University researchers have developed a reliable method to distinguish memory declines associated with healthy aging from the more-serious memory disorders years before obvious symptoms emerge. The method also allows research to accurately predict who is more likely to develop cognitive impairment without expensive tests or invasive procedures.

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A Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine study suggests that omega-3 fish oil might help protect against alcohol-related dementia.

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Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 26 million people worldwide. It is predicted to skyrocket as boomers age—nearly 106 million people are projected to have the disease by 2050. Fortunately, scientists are making progress towards therapies. A collaboration among several research entities, including the Salk Institute and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, has defined a key mechanism behind the disease’s progress, giving hope that a newly modified Alzheimer’s drug will be effective.

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Despite the NFL’s $765 million settlement with retired players, there still is no credible scientific evidence that playing football causes Alzheimer’s disease or other neurological disorders, according to a neuropsychologist who has published multiple studies on the issue.

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A team of Columbia University Medical Center researchers, led by Nobel laureate Eric R. Kandel, MD, has found that deficiency of a protein called RbAp48 in the hippocampus is a significant contributor to age-related memory loss and that this form of memory loss is reversible. The findings were published today in the online edition of Science Translational Medicine.

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An ingredient in a medicinal tea brewed from tree bark by tribal healers on the South Pacific island of Samoa — studied by scientists over the last 25 years — is showing significant promise as a drug lead in the long-sought goal of eliminating the AIDS virus from its sanctuaries in the body and thus eradicating the disease, a scientist said here today.

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Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a way that corrupted, disease-causing proteins spread in the brain, potentially contributing to Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other brain-damaging disorders.

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A leading group of Alzheimer's researchers contends that, as biomarkers to detect signals of the disease improve at providing clinically meaningful information, researchers will need guidance on how to constructively disclose test results and track how disclosure impacts both patients and the data collected in research studies.

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Both Aß and tau pathology appear to be associated with default mode network integrity before clinical onset of Alzheimer disease (AD), according to a study by Liang Wang, M.D., and colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis.

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In patients with early Alzheimer’s disease, disruptions in brain networks emerge about the same time as chemical markers of the disease appear in the spinal fluid, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown.

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The Lewy Body Dementia Association announced today that together with Leaders Engaged on Alzheimer’s Disease (LEAD) they are signing on to support and call for Congressional co-sponsorship of the Health Outcomes, Planning and Education (HOPE) for Alzheimer’s Act (S.709/H.R. 1507).

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Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has launched a Phase I clinical trial to study the safety and tolerability of an experimental immunization to treat Alzheimer’s disease. The treatment is based on Copaxone® (glatiramer acetate), a drug often prescribed to reduce the frequency of multiple sclerosis relapses.

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A new study suggests that simple tests that measure the ability to recognize and name famous people such as Albert Einstein, Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey may help doctors identify early dementia in those 40 to 65 years of age. The research appears in the August 13, 2013, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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A team of neuroscientists has identified a modification to a protein in laboratory mice linked to conditions associated with Alzheimer’s Disease. Their findings also point to a potential therapeutic intervention for alleviating memory-related disorders.

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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine offer an explanation for why we all don't get Alzheimer's disease (AD) - a trick of nature that in most people maintains critical separation between a protein and an enzyme that, when combined, trigger the progressive cell degeneration and death characteristic of AD.

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A study by Valentina Moskvina, Ph.D., of the Cardiff University School of Medicine, Wales, United Kingdom, and colleagues, examined the genetic overlap between Parkinson disease (PD) and Alzheimer disease (AD).

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Anemia, or low levels of red blood cells, may increase the risk of dementia, according to a study published in the July 31, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Glucose intolerance or insulin resistance do not appear to be associated with pathological features of Alzheimer disease (AD) or detection of the accumulation of the brain protein β-amyloid (Αβ), according to a report published by JAMA Neurology, a JAMA Network publication.

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Key molecular pathways that lead to late-onset Alzheimer's disease have been identified by neuroscientists at Columbia University Medical Center. Published in Nature, findings present a new approach to Alzheimer’s research and highlight several new potential drug targets.

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The trajectory of amyloid plaque buildup—clumps of abnormal proteins in the brain linked to Alzheimer’s disease—may serve as a more powerful biomarker for early detection of cognitive decline rather than using the total amount to gauge risk, researchers from Penn Medicine’s Department of Radiology suggest in a new study published online July 15 in Neurobiology of Aging.

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Older people with Alzheimer’s disease are less likely to also have cancer, and older people with cancer are less likely to also have Alzheimer’s disease, according to the largest study to date on the topic, which appears in the July 10, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that, across a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, cerebrovascular disease affecting circulation of blood in the brain was significantly associated with dementia.

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The rates of regional brain loss and cognitive decline caused by aging and the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are higher for women and for people with a key genetic risk factor for AD, say researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in a study published online July 4 in the American Journal of Neuroradiology.

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New research reveals that the likely culprit behind Alzheimer's has a different molecular structure than current drugs' target -- perhaps explaining why current medications produce little improvement in patients.

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UCLA researchers have found that older adults who regularly used a brain-fitness program on a computer demonstrated significantly improved memory and language skills.

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Researchers have demonstrated that a protein called caspase-2 is a key regulator of a signaling pathway that leads to cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease. The findings, made in a mouse model of Alzheimer's, suggest that inhibiting this protein could prevent the neuronal damage and subsequent cognitive decline associated with the disease. The study was published this month in the online journal Nature Communications.

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A chemical hormone released in the body as a reaction to stress could be a key trigger of the mechanism for the late onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

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NitroMemantine is the first drug to halt the progression of synaptic loss and to even restore these connections between nerve cells. The combination drug is now headed for clinical trials.

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Scientists have measured a significant and potentially pivotal difference between the brains of patients with an inherited form of Alzheimer’s disease and healthy family members who do not carry a mutation for the disease.

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Multiple drug classes commonly prescribed for common medical conditions are capable of influencing the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

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People afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia have a profound need for harmony and often exhibit behavioral issues when they are experiencing internal chaos. To assist caregivers—both family and professional—with creating an atmosphere of harmony, the staff at the Comprehensive Services on Aging (COPSA) Institute for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey has produced a series of free educational videos, available on the COPSAEducation YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/13YCWUD)

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$1.7M NIH collaborative grant backs researchers' work on web-based WeCare, which will help caregivers better understand, assess, and treat behavioral changes in those with dementia.

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People who develop a type of irregular heartbeat common in old age called atrial fibrillation may also be more likely to develop problems with memory and thinking, according to new research published in the June 5, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Research has shown that healthy behaviors are associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia, but less is known about the potential link between positive lifestyle choices and milder memory complaints, especially those that occur earlier in life and could be the first indicators of later problems.

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Blood offers promise as a way to detect Alzheimer’s disease at its earliest onset, Mayo Clinic researchers say. They envision a test that would detect distinct metabolic signatures in blood plasma that are synonymous with the disease -- years before patients begin showing cognitive decline. Their study was recently published online in the journal PLOS ONE.

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An Alzheimer’s disease protein controls the speed at which materials move through brain cells, and defects could lead to deadly pileups of the kind seen in neurodegenerative disease, a new publication finds.

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Teams of highly respected Alzheimer’s researchers failed to replicate what appeared to be breakthrough results for the treatment of this brain disease when they were published last year in the journal Science.

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A new study looking at sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and markers for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and neuroimaging adds to the growing body of research linking the two.

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People who have skin cancer may be less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, according to new research published in the May 15, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The link does not apply to melanoma, a less common but more aggressive type of skin cancer.

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Using long-term patient data, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that many of the biomarkers for Alzheimer’s identified in recent years can help accurately predict the start of full-blown disease years in advance.

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A drug developed by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, known as J147, reverses memory deficits and slows Alzheimer's disease in aged mice following short-term treatment. The findings, published May 14 in the journal Alzheimer's Research and Therapy, may pave the way to a new treatment for Alzheimer's disease in humans.

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Mutations in genes that regulate cellular metabolism found in families with ataxia, dementia and reproductive failure.

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Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists discover that cholinesterase inhibitors allow signals to enter the brain with less background noise. And the drugs work in the sensory cortices, not the more sophisticated processing regions.

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Scientists’ picture of how a gene strongly linked to Alzheimer’s disease harms the brain may have to be revised, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.

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A University of Iowa study shows that older people can put off the aging of their minds by playing a simple game that primes their processing speed skills. The research showed participants' cognitive skills improved in a range of functions, from improving peripheral vision to problem solving. Results published in the journal PLOS One.

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Elderly patients who receive anesthesia are no more likely to develop long-term dementia or Alzheimer’s disease than other seniors, according to new Mayo Clinic research. The study analyzed thousands of patients using the Rochester Epidemiology Project -- which allows researchers access to medical records of nearly all residents of Olmsted County, Minn. -- and found that receiving general anesthesia for procedures after age 45 is not a risk factor for developing dementia. The findings were published Wednesday, May 1, online in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

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A UAB study suggests that the Mediterranean diet, which urges consuming foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, chicken and salad dressing, and avoiding saturated fats, meat and dairy foods, may be linked to preserving memory and thinking abilities.