Feature Channels: Alzheimer's and Dementia

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Husbands or wives who care for spouses with dementia are six times more likely to develop the memory-impairing condition than those whose spouses don’t have it, according to results of a 12-year study led by Johns Hopkins, Utah State University, and Duke University. The increased risk that the researchers saw among caregivers was on par with the power of a gene variant known to increase susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease, they report in the May Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

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Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) is a neurological condition which typically affects adults ages 55 and older. An estimated 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Research analyzes the connection between NPH and AD, studying tau-protein abnormalities of the brain and the efficacy of shunt placement in these patients.

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As researchers learn more about how we age, they’re finding that genetics are only half of the story when it comes to developing Alzheimer’s disease.

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Using a new mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that Alzheimer’s pathology originates in Amyloid-Beta (Abeta) oligomers in the brain, rather than the amyloid plaques previously thought by many researchers to cause the disease.

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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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Researchers have identified a gene that appears to increase a person’s risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of Alzheimer’s disease. The research will be presented as part of the late-breaking science program at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto, April 10 – 17, 2010. The gene, abbreviated MTHFD1L, is located on chromosome six.