Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Critical protein shows promise for the treatment of Alzheimer's

Image Source:BIOTECNIKA

The tidal wave approaches. In the coming decades, Alzheimer's disease is projected to exact a devastating economic and emotional toll on society, with patient numbers in the US alone expected to reach 13.5 million by mid-century at a projected cost of over a trillion dollars.
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Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Gene Wilder died of Alzheimer’s. His family explains why they didn’t disclose his diagnosis

Cinematic comedy legend Gene Wilder died Sunday night of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 83.
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Monday, August 29, 2016

Dementia risk increased with calcium supplements in certain women

Image Source: DIETNEWS360

Calcium supplements may increase the risk of developing dementia in senior women with cerebrovascular disease, finds a study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Sunday, August 28, 2016

Exercise, Healthy Diet May Delay Onset of Alzheimer’s Disease, UCLA Study Finds

Regular physical activity, normal body mass index (BMI), and a healthy diet may prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease by reducing the incidence of protein aggregates in the brain, according to a study that will appear in the September issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
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Saturday, August 27, 2016

Western diet increases Alzheimer's risk

Image Source: CAPITALOTC

Globally, about 42 million people now have dementia, with Alzheimer's disease as the most common type of dementia. Rates of Alzheimer's disease are rising worldwide. The most important risk factors seem to be linked to diet, especially the consumption of meat, sweets, and high-fat dairy products that characterize a Western Diet. For example, when Japan made the nutrition transition from the traditional Japanese diet to the Western diet, Alzheimer's disease rates rose from 1% in 1985 to 7% in 2008, with rates lagging the nutrition transition by 20-25 years. The evidence of these risk factors, which come from ecological and observational studies, also shows that fruits, vegetables, grains, low-fat dairy products, legumes, and fish are associated with reduced risk. "Using Multicountry Ecological and Observational Studies to Determine Dietary Risk Factors for Alzheimer's Disease," a review article from the Journal of the American College of Nutrition presents the data.
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Friday, August 26, 2016

Alzheimer’s: There’s no cure, but is there hope: VIDEO

Clinical neuropsychologist Dr. David Loewenstein, here at his office in the Mental Health building, just wrapped up UHealth’s part in a recent national study on Alzheimer’s prevention through mind games. PEDRO PORTAL pportal@miamiherald.com

The battle against Alzheimer’s and dementia is a long way from over. The news sounds bleak: Progress of the disease can occasionally be slowed, but there is no cure. Drugs and treatments are limited. There are no new medical breakthroughs to offer hope to the more than five million Americans with the disease — or their families.
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Labels: Video

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Mutated Gene Found to Play Key Role in Neurodegeneration

Recent research has shed new light on genetic mechanisms involved in the process of neurodegenerative disease development.
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Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Why Eye Exams Are the Future of Alzheimer’s Screening

Getting screened for Alzheimer’s disease could soon mean taking a trip to the eye doctor. Decreased retinal thickness, the presence of abnormal proteins, and changes in how the retinal blood vessels respond to light all appear to be signs of neurodegenerative disease, according to researchers who spoke at the recent Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC 2016) in Toronto.
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Tuesday, August 23, 2016

A tiny ball of gold could help fight Alzheimer’s

A new nanoparticle is so precise, it reduces side effects of a common drug

A tiny ball of gold carrying medicine could help doctors fight Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists have created a nanoparticle that is just the right size to target the overactive brain receptors that cause neurological disease, while leaving the rest of the receptors we need alone. This super-precise method could reduce the side effects of a common Alzheimer’s drug so doctors can prescribe it to help people during earlier stages of the condition.

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Monday, August 22, 2016

Alzheimer's researchers see first promising therapies in decades

David Johnson during a round of golf at Cordova Golf Course July 21, 2016 in Rancho Cordova, Calif. Alzheimer's patient David Johnson is still golfing and driving four years after his debilitating diagnosis. The disease killed his father, uncles and a cousin but Johnson attributes his longevity to an experimental treatment by the Sutter Neuroscience Institute, which is involved in Alzheimer's research studies. (Randall Benton/Sacramento Bee/TNS)

For decades, Alzheimer's disease has been silently ravaging brains, stealing memories and shortening the lives of millions of Americans. Now researchers say they might be on the brink of tantalizing treatment breakthroughs that could for the first time at least slow the disease's deadly progression.
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Sunday, August 21, 2016

Quest Diagnostics Launches Digital Tool, CogniSense, to Assess Dementia

Quest Diagnostics has announced the release of CogniSense, its digital cognitive assessment tool to assist physicians in diagnosing, assessing, and managing the care of people with cognitive dysfunction.
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Saturday, August 20, 2016

Our Short-Sighted Approach To Alzheimer’s Funding

Image Source: USMEDICALFUNDING

The New York Times recently reported on the disappointing result of yet another Alzheimer’s drug trial. According to The Times, the drug, LMTX, “failed to slow the rate of decline in mental ability and daily functioning in its first large clinical trial ... The initial reaction to the outcome was disappointment, with perhaps a glimmer of hopefulness.”
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Friday, August 19, 2016

How Alzheimer’s Begins And Why Some People Face Higher Risk: VIDEO

Gary Reiswig holds a portrait of his parents Fred and Della from 1934 at his apartment in New York July 13, 2011. Reisweig's family has a rare form of Alzheimer's disease that has stricken 10 of his 14 aunts and uncles, his father and his only brother and sister in the prime of their lives.
Photo courtesy of Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

Researchers from Salk Institute for Biological Studies, California, have identified a link between a risk gene — that increases the likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease — and plaques formed when protein pieces called beta-amyloid and tau tangles bundle together in the brain. This, according to the researchers, provides possible explanation as to how the presence of that extra gene causes the chronic neurodegenerative disease.

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Thursday, August 18, 2016

Is an Alzheimer’s vaccine on the horizon?

An Alzheimer's patient walks with his daughter at their house in Yarumal, Colombia, which has one of the highest rates of Alzheimer's “Paisa variation,” a hereditary genetic disorder on chromosome 14.
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Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Diet and exercise can reduce protein build-ups linked to Alzheimer’s, UCLA study shows

A study by researchers at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior has found that a healthy diet, regular physical activity and a normal body mass index  can reduce the incidence of protein build-ups that are associated with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
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Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Pill for Menstrual Pain Restores Memory in Mice with Alzheimer's

A researcher holds a human brain in a laboratory in Chicago, July 29, 2013. Brain-imaging shows a lot of harmful inflammation in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

A surprising discovery has been made in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. An anti-inflammatory drug used to treat menstrual pain completely reversed memory symptoms in mice with Alzheimer's.
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Monday, August 15, 2016

Music therapy program helps residents with Alzheimer’s disease focus on tasks

Pauline Coker, 80, works on a puzzle while listening to her favorite music. She is one of 20 in a music therapy program. Photo: Marvin Pfeiffer /San Antonio 

In a wing at Franklin Park TCP Parkway, Pauline Coker, 80, hummed “Amazing Grace” as it flowed from her iPod mini to black headphones.
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Sunday, August 14, 2016

Alzheimer’s Disease: Period Pain Drug Cures Symptoms In Mice, New Research Shows: VIDEO

A woman, suffering from Alzheimer's desease, looks at an old picture in a retirement house in Angervilliers, eastern France, March 18, 2011.
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES/SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP

The incurable Alzheimer’s disease may now have a cure. A new research by the University of Manchester shows that the most common form of dementia can be fully cured with an anti-inflammatory drug, commonly used for period pain.
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Labels: Video

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Anti-inflammatory drug shows promise for Alzheimer's disease treatment: VIDEO

Mefenamic acid reversed memory problems in mice, suggesting the NSAID could do the same for humans, say researchers.
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Friday, August 12, 2016

A Mediterranean Diet May Prevent Alzheimer's

Another reason to splurge on good olive oil.

If it seems like everyone's been obsessing over the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet lately, you're not wrong. And now there's another reason to stock up on olive oil: A group of researchers from the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, released findings this week that showed that adhering to a Mediterranean eating plan could keep you smarter longer.
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Labels: study

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Scientists Find Promise Treating Alzheimer's with a Mix of Wine Compounds

Scientists hope that combining resveratrol with other ingredients in wine may produce new therapies

Resveratrol has shown potential, but carries side effects. What if it was combined with other polyphenols?
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Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Rheumatoid arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease, what’s the connection?

Image Source: UNIVERSALDOMAINEXCHANGE

It has recently been reported that a drug currently used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may also pack a punch in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This discovery may be hailed by the media as a big step forward for AD research but what does it really mean?
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Tuesday, August 9, 2016

New hope for Alzheimer’s? Researchers see first promising therapies in decades: VIDEO

The Music & Memory program is the subject of a documentary “Alive Inside,” which shows how music therapy can ease the suffering of people with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The excerpt seen here features Henry Drea, who has an astonishing reaction to hearing music on an iPod. Music & Memory

For decades, Alzheimer’s has been silently ravaging brains, stealing memories and shortening the lives of millions of Americans. Now, researchers say they may be on the brink of tantalizing treatment breakthroughs that could for the first time at least slow the disease’s deadly progression.

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Labels: Video

Monday, August 8, 2016

How important is touch in the care of an Alzheimer's patient?

Image Source: SVMASAGETHERAPY

The very first sense we acquire is the sense of touch. We rarely consider how much or how little time we spend providing touch that is not part of the daily routine care for individuals with Alzheimer's or dementia.
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Sunday, August 7, 2016

Can you fend off Alzheimer’s?

Anne and Bill Uhler have been married 49 years. Bill was diagnosed with Parkinson’s-related dementia in 2012 and Anne has been his primary caretaker since that time. Travis Heying The Wichita Eagle

Can a person can delay or reduce their chances of getting Alzheimer’s? The answer is not straight forward.
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Saturday, August 6, 2016

Behavioral Changes Could Signal Early Alzheimer’s

Image Source: LIVESCIENCE

Changes in mood or behavior could be early warning signs of Alzheimer’s, a form of dementia that affects cognition, memory, and daily functioning. At the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto, a team of researchers proposed a 34-point checklist assessing for behavioral changes that often signal Alzheimer’s.
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Friday, August 5, 2016

‘Far Better’ Map of Human Brain, Open to Researchers, Identifies 97 New Regions

In mid-July, scientists at the Washington University Medical School, Saint Louis, published a study that inspired awe in fellow researchers — an updated map of the cerebral cortex of the human brain, identifying nearly 100 new areas.
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Thursday, August 4, 2016

Alzheimer's: Biochip blood test detects disease risk

Biochip blood testing for Alzheimer's disease risk provides a faster alternative to standard testing

Researchers have developed a faster, more affordable method of identifying patients more susceptible to Alzheimer's disease using a biochip-based blood test, with the same accuracy as a standard DNA test.

Standard molecular tests that analyze DNA can be both expensive and time-consuming. However, the biochip test, produced by Randox Laboratories, can conduct multiple tests on a single blood sample, which has both time- and cost-saving benefits, as well as a rapid diagnosis.
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Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Early drug tests show success treating Alzheimer's as 'diabetes of the brain': VIDEO

Half of patients taking T3D-959 show significant memory improvement

Are researchers close to redefining how Alzheimer's disease causes brain cells to fail?
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Labels: Video

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Alzheimer's Disease Patients Are The Last Casualties Of The Cold War

A pen used by former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign Medicare into law is seen with another during a press preview at the National Archives on March 18, 2014 in Washington, D.C. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

This past week, Alzheimer’s disease researchers from all over the world have gathered in Toronto. Much of the talk at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference is about how Alzheimer’s disease is a big problem and it’s only getting bigger. In the U.S. alone, my colleagues and I struggle to care for 5.3 million patients. By 2025, there will be 13.8 million.
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Monday, August 1, 2016

Alzheimer's / Dementia Neurology / Neuroscience Clinical Trials / Drug Trials Alzheimer's drug shows promise for patients in phase III trial

Researchers say LMTX reduces the formation of tau tangles - one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's.

In what has been hailed "a significant event in the history of Alzheimer's and dementia research," scientists have completed the first ever phase III clinical trial of a drug that targets one of the drivers of Alzheimer's disease - a protein known as tau.
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