Sunday, April 30, 2017

Alzheimer's clinical research lacks leadership

Image Source: PULSEHEADLINES

Can a childhood cancer doctor like me have insights about that other end of medicine — older adults with dementia? A baby acutely ill with leukemia seems like the polar opposite of a woman with Alzheimer's disease (AD), with her slow, insidious deterioration. Yet each can be progressive and fatal. I've cared for both, in different ways.
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Saturday, April 29, 2017

4 Signs Of Alzheimer’s Disease That Have Nothing To Do With Memory Loss

Once mom or dad reaches a certain age, it's easy to get swept away by worries about memory loss. Every time she wonders where she put her keys or he forgets his glasses are right there on his head, you probably think, "This is it, the beginning of the end."
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Friday, April 28, 2017

We Know How To Curb Epidemics. Can Alzheimer’s Be Next?

GIOCALDE VIA GETTY IMAGES

I travel a lot, which means I spend much of my time in airports waiting to catch a flight. I use most of that time to work or catch up on email, but sometimes, when it’s really early in the morning or really late at night, I just sit at the gate and watch the people go by. And not too long ago I saw something that broke my heart.
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Thursday, April 27, 2017

This combo may trigger memory loss in Alzheimer’s

Low levels of a brain protein may combine with another long-suspected culprit to trigger the learning and memory losses in Alzheimer’s disease, a study shows.
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Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Biogen and Alzheimer’s: There’s a Fundamental Problem Here

Back in 2015, biotech juggernaut Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) made headlines on the news that its investigational Alzheimer's disease (AD) treatment aducanumab showed strong efficacy in an early-stage clinical trial. This devastating disease affects millions of Americans, and the scope of the issue has analysts estimating that a successful AD treatment could be worth as much as $20 billion by 2030. Unfortunately, however, the battleground of biotech is littered with the remains of previous "game-changing" therapies -- all of which ended in failure. Despite Biogen's best intentions, I, for one, believe aducanumab will be no exception.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Is Alzheimer’s linked to vitamin deficiency?

As research into Alzheimer’s disease and dementia continues to be stymied in its quest to find a cure, many researchers and health experts are turning to potential links between diet and brain health as possible determining factors in the onset and progression of dementia.

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Monday, April 24, 2017

Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease: Seven ways to tell the conditions apart: VIDEO

GETTY
Brain health: Alzheimer's and dementia are different

Alzheimer’s disease and dementia - both brain conditions - are often confused, but there are a number of differences between the two.

Dementia is the gradual decline of the brain and its abilities, including memory, thinking speed, mental agility, language, understanding and judgement.
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Labels: Video

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Novartis Tests New Alzheimer's Drug on People Who Don't Have the Disease

Image Source: 2NDSPARK

Novartis AG thinks its best bet for testing two new Alzheimer's drugs is on people who don't actually have Alzheimer's.

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Saturday, April 22, 2017

Drinking Too Much Soda May Be Linked to Alzheimer’s

Image Source: LEARNINGENGLISH

Two new scientific studies raise questions about whether both regular and diet drinks cause brain disease.
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Friday, April 21, 2017

'Repurposed' drugs can reduce brain shrinkage linked to Alzheimer's disease

Image Source: WISEGEEK

Two "repurposed" drugs have been shown to reduce the kind of brain shrinkage caused by Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.
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Thursday, April 20, 2017

Antibody helps detect protein implicated in Alzheimer's, other diseases

Tangles of the brain protein tau are associated with neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's. A new study shows that antibodies can capture tau in the blood, facilitating efforts to measure levels of the damaging protein and paving the way toward a noninvasive test for tau. Credit: Sara Moser

Damaging tangles of the protein tau dot the brains of people with Alzheimer's and many other neurodegenerative diseases, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which plagues professional boxers and football players. Such tau-based diseases can lead to memory loss, confusion and, in some, aggressive behavior. But there is no easy way to determine whether people's symptoms are linked to tau tangles in their brains.
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Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Know the 10 warning signs of Alzheimer's: VIDEO

Bruce and Anne Hunt, both 80, have found ways to cope with Anne's Alzheimer's.

For Anne Hunt, clues that something wasn't quite right started to mount. She was repeating herself. And forgetting things.
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Labels: Video

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Resources Caregivers Should Know About

The following organizations, groups and agencies offer caregivers a variety of resources, ranging from support services and webinars to tip sheets, care guides and how-to videos.
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Monday, April 17, 2017

‘Everybody knows somebody’: This state is a laboratory for the future of Alzheimer’s in America

Alan Ormiston stays close to wife, Jo, at the couple’s rural home near Nekoma, N.D., on Friday, April 7, 2017. The couple married in September 1959 and raised four children together. Alan has turned to the Alzheimer’s Association of Minnesota-North Dakota to help guide him in caring for Jo. Photo by Ann Arbor Miller/STAT

North Dakota’s sparse geography has long made it a natural frontier: Pioneers here pushed the boundaries of westward expansion, then agriculture, and recently domestic oil drilling. Now the state finds itself on the leading edge of a new boom that it never would have chosen: Alzheimer’s disease.
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Sunday, April 16, 2017

Medicine: New cure for Alzheimer’s

Image Source: BRAINPAGES

The technique beams sound waves into the brain tissue that gently open up the blood-brain barrier and stimulate the cells.
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Saturday, April 15, 2017

Alzheimer’s Red Flag or False Alarm?

Memory or language problems alone don't equal dementia. "It has to be a memory loss that also interferes with function," one expert says. (GETTY IMAGES)

Routine memory lapses are often benign, while dementia shows up in more subtle ways.
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Friday, April 14, 2017

Detecting Alzheimer's disease earlier using ... Greebles?

Which Greeble is different?

Credit: Greeble images courtesy of Michael J. Tarr, Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition and Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, http://www.tarrlab.org/

Difficulty distinguishing novel objects is associated with family history of Alzheimer's disease

Unique graphic characters called Greebles may prove to be valuable tools in detecting signs of Alzheimer's disease decades before symptoms become apparent.
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Thursday, April 13, 2017

Heart Risks in Midlife Tied to Brain Plaques of Alzheimer’s

Being obese, smoking or having high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes in midlife is associated with an increased risk of dementia later in life. Now researchers have found these five risk factors correlate with the development, years later, of amyloid brain plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.

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Wednesday, April 12, 2017

TAKING ACTION: Families impacted by Alzheimer’s, dementia should prepare for wandering beforehand: VIDEO

One in six people with dementia or Alzheimer's will wander at least once during his or her lifetime. It's important to put safe practices in place before something scary happens.
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Labels: Video

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Sedatives May Raise Pneumonia Risk in Alzheimer's

Image Source: NBNNEWS

Alzheimer's patients given sedatives such as Valium or Xanax may have an increased risk for pneumonia, a new study warns.

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Monday, April 10, 2017

Plotting the demise of Alzheimer's: New study is major test for power of early action

Credit: Harvard University

Catch it early. Those are watchwords in the battle against a host of illnesses, from heart disease to cancer to Type 2 diabetes. Early detection gives physicians a chance to minimize damage, to insert a stent and keep blood flowing to the heart, to remove a tumor before one becomes many, to urge crucial lifestyle changes: lose weight, eat better, exercise.
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Sunday, April 9, 2017

FDA Approves At Home Genetic Testing For Alzheimer’s Risk

New test for amyloid plaque could help with Alzheimer's research. (credit: CBSDFW.COM)

Genetic testing. At home.

The FDA has given the green light to an at-home test that can detect a genetic risk for a number of diseases including Alzheimer Disease. There is no specific cause for the disease and there is no cure. So would you want to know?
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Saturday, April 8, 2017

To Help Ward Off Alzheimer’s, Think Before You Eat

Diets designed to boost brain health, targeted largely at older adults, are a new, noteworthy development in the field of nutrition.
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Friday, April 7, 2017

FDA approves sale of genetic tests for risk of Alzheimer’s and other diseases

Consumers will soon be able to mail a saliva sample to genetic testing company and get back data on their risk for developing diseases such as Parkinson’s, late-onset Alzheimer’s, and celiac disease.

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Thursday, April 6, 2017

Study on Slower Brain Volume Loss in SuperAgers May Shed Light on Alzheimer’s, Other Dementias

So-called “SuperAgers” lose brain volume more slowly than their normally aging peers, protecting them from dementia, according to a new study that proves yet again that Alzheimer’s disease — like other dementias — is not an inevitable fate in predestined individuals.
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Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Alzheimer’s: ultrasound safely delivers drugs to damaged brains of mice

A brain with probable Alzheimer’s disease (right, compared to normal brain on left) can safely reached with ultrasound. Photograph: BSIP/UIG via Getty Images

Scientists at Queensland Brain Institute find noninvasive technique slows progression of Alzheimer’s disease in mice

Australian researchers say they have made a promising step in the future treatment of Alzheimer’s disease after discovering ultrasound can effectively and safely deliver drugs to the damaged brain.

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