Sunday, July 31, 2016

What if Alzheimer's is caused by an infectious agent?

Dr. Roberta Ness

About 18 months ago, my father died from complications of Alzheimer's disease. At age 12 he fled the Nazis with not a nickel in his pocket; at age 55, he was second in command at the Internal Revenue Service. By the end, his life had narrowed to a day-long plea to brush his teeth and go to bed.
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Saturday, July 30, 2016

A Sniff Test For Alzheimer's Checks For The Ability To Identify Odors

Parkinson's disease, smoking, certain head injuries and even normal aging can influence our sense of smell. But certain patterns of loss in the ability to identify odors seem pronounced in Alzheimer's, researchers say.
CSA Images/Color Printstock Collection/Getty Images

Two studies released at an international Alzheimer's meeting Tuesday suggest doctors may eventually be able to screen people for this form of dementia by testing the ability to identify familiar odors, like smoke, coffee and raspberry.
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Friday, July 29, 2016

Very Disappointing Results In a Promising Alzheimer’s Study

A study of a new drug for Alzheimer’s disease shows discouraging results. But experts aren't ready to give up yet

At the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, experts eagerly awaited the results of the first advanced-stage trial involving a drug that targets tau, something that builds up in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. The drug, called LMTM, works by preventing the aggregation of tau. Alzheimer’s researchers believe that tau starts to accumulate later in the course of the disease, after amyloid has triggered nerve cells to die the tau in these neurons starts to fall apart. What results are tangles of tau that begin to interfere with the brain’s normal functions. LMTM works to prevent the tau from clumping into disorganized masses.
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Labels: study

Thursday, July 28, 2016

'Monster in the Mind’ — Brilliantly Crafted Alzheimer’s Film Overturns Doomsday Predictions

Image Source: MONSTERINTHEMIND

On July 26, a different kind of happening interrupted the usual bustle of activity at this year’s Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC 2016) in Canada. Attending scientists became first viewers at the North American premiere of a new kind of full length documentary film — one that reveals untold truths about Alzheimer’s disease and emphasizes that the disease can largely be prevented by the individual actions of each and all of us.
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Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Could Trashing Junk Proteins Quash Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS and Huntington’s?

Credit: MaryLB/Getty Images
Although clutter can be a nuisance, it does not typically pose a health threat—unless you’re an aging neuron. As brain cells get older, some proteins within and around the cell misfold. They twist into the wrong shape, unable to do their routine job. Then they glom together to form menacing clumps. If left to accumulate, this “junk” can overwhelm nerve cells’ quality control systems, triggering incurable brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s.
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Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Alzheimer's disease prevention tips

Image Source: ADAPTIVEDEALER

A healthy brain and a healthy heart may go hand-in-hand, research indicates.

There is as yet no treatment available (outside of studies and trials) that does more than address the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. A cure remains out of reach.
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Monday, July 25, 2016

Brain Games Might Cut Alzheimer's Risk by REUTERS: VIDEO

A computerized brain training program cut the risk of dementia among healthy people by 48 percent, U.S. researchers said Sunday in reporting an analysis of the results of a 10-year study.
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Labels: Video

Sunday, July 24, 2016

For World Brain Day 2016, a Call to Action for Our Aging Brains and All That Ails Them

Each year on World Brain Day, July 22 the year, the World Federation of Neurology (WFN) dedicates a brain awareness campaign to a different topic. Tomorrow’s will draw our attention to the aging brain — and the diseases that damage it.
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Saturday, July 23, 2016

Alzheimer's May Hamper Ability to Perceive Pain

Image Source: CANADIANINSTITUTEFORTHERELIEFOFPAINANDDISABILITY

Alzheimer's disease may affect people's ability to recognize when they are in pain, a new study shows.
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Labels: study

Friday, July 22, 2016

Could antibiotics reduce levels of Alzheimer's-causing plaques?

Neuroscientists from The University of Chicago find that treating mice with broad-spectrum antibiotics long term decreases plaques that cause Alzheimer's disease and elevate the inflammatory state of microglial cells in the brain.
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Thursday, July 21, 2016

Running Improves Memory Through Muscle Factor, Could Deter Dementia

That running can boost our memory to the same degree or more than brain training is an old observation that still puzzles scientists worldwide. But a new study by National Institute on Aging scientists is providing information about how that happens and emphasizing that to keep memory from fading, people should keep running.
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Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Could Playing Pokémon Go Be Giving You Alzheimer’s Disease?

Your brain may suffer if you stare at your phone too long while chasing Charzard. (Photo: Twitter)

Pokémon Go was released less than two weeks ago, and has already taken America by storm—eager gamers have taken over parks throughout the country, and Pokémon trainers are advertising their services on Craigslist.
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Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Alzheimer's vaccine steps closer with new study

A vaccine for Alzheimer's disease could be trialed in humans within the next 3-5 years, after researchers from the United States and Australia have uncovered a formulation that they say successfully targets brain proteins that play a role in development and progression of the disease.
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Monday, July 18, 2016

3-D imaging reveals unexpected arrangement of plaques in Alzheimer's-afflicted brains

This image shows a triple stain of vasculature, glia cells, and plaques in the brain.
Credit: Dr. Thomas Liebmann, The Rockefeller University

Rockefeller University researchers have used a recently-developed imaging technique that makes tissue transparent to visualize brain tissue from deceased patients with Alzheimer's disease, exposing nonrandom, higher-order structures of beta amyloid plaques--sticky clumps of a toxic protein typically found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's. The findings appear July 14 in Cell Reports.
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Sunday, July 17, 2016

Antibodies Targeting an Alzheimer’s Gene Effectively Treat Cognitive Impairments in Mice

A new immunotherapy targeting apolipoprotein E4 (apoE4), a genetic variant of apolipoprotein E that increases the risk of early onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD), may be a potential therapeutic approach for a good number of patients with the disease, according to researchers at Tel Aviv University, Israel.
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Saturday, July 16, 2016

Short-Term Memory Aided by Single Dose of Methylene Blue in Early Study JULY 12, 2016 Ines Martins, PhDBY INES MARTINS, PHD IN NEWS.

A single oral dose of methylene blue is able to increase the response of brain regions that control attention and short-term memory, according to University of Texas Health Science Center researchers. Methylene blue has proven useful as a surgical stain to guide procedures and in the treatment of methemoglobinemia, a blood disorder in which hemoglobin in red blood cells does not effectively release oxygen to the tissues.
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Friday, July 15, 2016

Alzheimer’s Disease: Vaccine Prevents Tau Protein Buildup To Stop The Disorder In Its Tracks: VIDEO

Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating, incurable illness affecting an estimated 5.4 million American adults. However, a new study suggests that a vaccine for the condition could become a reality in as little as five years, and may one day become as much of a fixture in the lives of our aging population as the common flu shot.
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Labels: Video

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Alzheimer’s Effects on the Brain Found in Young People

Researchers see changes linked to the disease in subjects ages 3 to 20 years old

Changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease can be seen as early as childhood in people with a heightened genetic risk, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Neurology.
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Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Health Buzz: A Simple Eye Test Could Help Diagnose Alzheimer's Disease

The simple, noninvasive test involves examining retinas, the light-sensitive tissue that coats the back of eyes, through a camera. (WESTEND61/GETTY STOCK IMAGES)

Alzheimer's disease, the debilitating neurological disorder, is evidently more than meets the eye.
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Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Is Alzheimer’s contagious?

By Matt Windsor

What if Alzheimer’s disease is caused, at least in part, by infections? An intriguing study in Science Translational Medicine, from researchers at Harvard University, led to provocative speculation in the New York Times and other major news outlets this summer. “I got asked more questions about this paper than probably anything in the last couple of years,” says Erik Roberson, M.D., Ph.D., co-director of the UAB Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics in the UAB School of Medicine, associate professor of neurology and neurobiology, and Virginia B. Spencer Scholar in Neuroscience at UAB. “It has gotten a lot of people thinking and talking and asking questions.”
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Monday, July 11, 2016

Alzheimer's Q&A: What are the genetic components of Alzheimer’s disease?

Image Source: NATIONALSOCIETYOFGENETICCOUNSELORS

Currently, over 5 million people in the United States have a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive degenerative brain disorder that robs the individual of memory and critical thinking skills, among many other things. There are two types of Alzheimer’s disease: early (or younger) onset and late onset. Both these types have a genetic component.
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Sunday, July 10, 2016

Long-term Moderate Chocolate Consumption Appears to Lower Risk of Cognitive Decline in Older People, Study Reports

Chocolate consumption may protect older people from cognitive decline, possibly preventing the development of Alzheimer’s disease, according to Portuguese researchers at the Institute of Molecular Medicine. However, researchers cautioned this is only true for people who drink an average of less than one espresso per day.
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Saturday, July 9, 2016

Living with Alzheimer's: Fading memories: VIDEO

Ray is two years into his diagnosis.

We first introduced you to Ray Dedrick this spring, as he began to to deal with his diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's disease. It will be the most difficult and personal journey of his life, but he has agreed to share it with us.
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Labels: Video

Friday, July 8, 2016

Cannabinoids, Like Those in Marijuana, May Protect Alzheimer’s Patients from Plaque Buildup

Alzheimer’s disease has been described in medical literature for more than a century, but still has no effective treatments. Now, scientists at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, report finding evidence that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), one of several physiologically active chemical compounds in marijuana, can promote cellular removal of amyloid beta, a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
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Labels: study

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Researchers develop genetic test that can predict your risk of Alzheimer's disease

A woman with Alzheimer's disease walks with a companion in a nursing home.

New research into the genetic underpinnings of Alzheimer’s disease offers fresh evidence that the devastating brain disorder may gain a foothold years before dementia sets in, and takes a key step toward earlier detection of the disease
In a study that scoured the genes of healthy young people for the presence of variants linked to Alzheimer’s disease, researchers have found that those who carried many of the telltale gene variations had a smaller hippocampus -- a brain structure that is crucial to memory-formation – than did their peers with few of the genetic variations.
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Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Simulation mimics Alzheimer’s symptoms

Jessica Loch tries to match socks in a bedroom at Oak Pointe Assisted Living & Memory Care while wearing goggles, earphones, and other appliances designed to simulate physical deficits associated with Alzheimer's Disease. Monitoring the exercise is Oak Pointe Activity Director Mary Tapps.

For the families and individuals who must pay its devastating price, Alzheimer’s Disease is among the most heartbreaking illnesses imaginable.
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Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Legislation to expand training for Alzheimer’s Disease care: VIDEO

Alzheimer’s disease impacts millions of families across the U.S leaving many with concerns about their care.

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Labels: Video

Monday, July 4, 2016

Alzheimer’s Disease First Steps Revealed by Mouse Brain in a Dish

Using slices of mouse brain tissue kept alive in a lab dish, scientists have identified the earliest molecular changes leading to Alzheimer’s disease.
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Sunday, July 3, 2016

Top 4 Questions about Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease

On June 28, Pat Summitt, the legendary Tennessee women’s basketball coach, passed away at age 59 after living for five years with early-onset dementia. In a statement, Pat’s son Tyler said, “Since 2011, my mother has battled her toughest opponent, early-onset dementia, ‘Alzheimer’s Type,’ and she did so with bravely fierce determination just as she did with every opponent she’s faced.”

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Saturday, July 2, 2016

Memory: Caring for Someone with Alzheimer’s: VIDEO

A diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease raises many questions and concerns, especially for those who are caregivers for the Alzheimer’s patient.  The most important and helpful thing a caregiver can do is become educated about the illness.  By gaining knowledge of the disease, it can help caregivers learn what to expect, how they can help and also understand that each person and case is different.
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Friday, July 1, 2016

4 Tips For Alzheimer’s Prevention

Officially, Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth most common cause of death among Americans. But a 2014 study in the journal Neurology re-examined “cause of death” entries on death certificates and medical records, and researchers estimated that the true numbers of Alzheimer’s-related deaths are much closer to the first- and second-ranked causes: heart disease and cancer. If the numbers play out, the true impact of Alzheimer’s could be five or six times the current estimate.
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