Alzheimer's Disease
Research and Statistics

New Clues On How ApoE4 Affects Alzheimer's Risk Common variants of the ApoE gene are strongly associated with the risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease, but the gene's role in the disease has been unclear. Now, researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found that in mice, having the most risky variant of ApoE damages the blood vessels that feed the brain...

Obama's Grand Plan To Cure Alzheimer's Obama's healthcare goals have been controversial at best, and although anti-smoking campaigns and other public health and safety awareness drives have been successful, it's always somewhat dubious when government starts creating grand plans and lofty goals...

Dementia Sufferers More Likely To Die At Home Than In Nursing Homes A new study from the Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University has found that, at time of death, individuals with dementia are more likely to be living at home than in a nursing home. This contradicts the commonly held view that most individuals with dementia in the United States eventually move to nursing homes and die there...

Changes In Flies Parallel Sundown Syndrome Which May Be Due To High Dopamine Levels Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania researchers have discovered a mechanism involving the neurotransmitter dopamine that switches fruit fly behavior from being active during the day (diurnal) to nocturnal...

Could A Compound Found In Red Wine And Red Grapes Change The Course Of Alzheimer's Disease? A national, phase II clinical trial examining the effects of resveratrol on individuals with mild to moderate dementia due to Alzheimer's disease has begun as more than two dozen academic institutions recruit volunteers in the coming months. R. Scott Turner, M.D., Ph.D., director of Georgetown University Medical Center's Memory Disorders Program, is the lead investigator for the national study...

Genes And Vascular Risk Modify Effects Of Aging On Brain And Cognition Efforts to understand how the aging process affects the brain and cognition have expanded beyond simply comparing younger and older adults. "Everybody ages differently...

Memory Improved In Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment By Reducing Excess Brain Activity Research published by Cell Press in the journal Neuron, describes a potential new therapeutic approach for improving memory and modifying disease progression in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment. The study finds that excess brain activity may be doing more harm than good in some conditions that cause mild cognitive decline and memory impairment...

Patients With Mild Alzheimer's Disease May Respond To Deep Brain Stimulation A study on a handful of people with suspected mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) suggests that a device that sends continuous electrical impulses to specific "memory" regions of the brain appears to increase neuronal activity...

Purpose In Life May Protect Against Harmful Changes In The Brain Associated With Alzheimer's Disease Greater purpose in life may help stave off the harmful effects of plaques and tangles associated with Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center. The study, published in the May issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, is available online...

Late-Life Depression May Signal Alzheimer's Disease; Lifelong Depression May Increase Risk Of Vascular Dementia Depressive symptoms that occur in both midlife and late life are associated with an increased risk of developing vascular dementia, while symptoms that occur in late life only are more likely to be early signs of Alzheimer's disease, according to University of California at San Francisco and Kaiser Permanente researchers...

Middle Aged And Elderly With Depression Have Higher Risk Of Dementia A report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry draws a link between people in mid-life and late-life, suffering from depression and the possibility of them developing dementia. More than five million people in the US alone suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and the health care costs run at a staggering $172 Billion. Deborah E. Barnes, Ph.D., M.P.H...

Memantine Improves Some Alzheimer's Symptoms But Has No Effect On Agitation A drug prescribed for Alzheimer's disease does not ease clinically significant agitation in patients, according to a new study conducted by researchers from the U.K., U.S. and Norway. This is the first randomized controlled trial designed to assess the effectiveness of the drug (generic name memantine) for significant agitation in Alzheimer's patients...

Advanced Brain Imaging Technology Reveals Early Diagnostic Clues For Alzheimer's Disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a major neurodegenerative disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. New and accurate techniques for early diagnosis are critical. Pravat K. Mandal, PhD, and his colleagues have developed a completely non-invasive brain imaging technique to measure specific brain chemical changes...

Progression Of Alzheimer's Disease In Mice Prevented By Biosynthetic Grape-Derived Compound Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have succeeded in developing a biosynthetic polyphenol that improves cognitive function in mice with Alzheimer's disease (AD)...

Older Adults With Diabetes Live Long Enough To Benefit From Interventions And Research Middle-aged and older adults with diabetes showed substantial survival rates in a new University of Michigan Health System study of retirees. Survival rates were strong even for adults living in nursing homes or who have multiple health issues like dementia and disabilities that make self-managed care for diabetes difficult...

Discovery Of Potential Trigger For Alzheimer's Disease A highly toxic beta-amyloid - a protein that exists in the brains of Alzheimer's disease victims - has been found to greatly increase the toxicity of other more common and less toxic beta-amyloids, serving as a possible "trigger" for the advent and development of Alzheimer's, researchers at the University of Virginia and German biotech company Probiodrug have discovered...

Alzheimer's Disease And The Mechanism Behind Tau Spreading In The Brain Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have gained insight into the mechanism by which a pathological brain protein called tau contributes to the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders...

Too Early To Promote Smell Test For Alzheimer's A study published online in The Laryngoscope reveals that current studies do not support the use of olfactory identification tests (smell tests) for predicting Alzheimer's dementia. Alzheimer's is a progressive disease that causes loss of brain function and is the most common cause of dementia. The disease is expected to double every 20 years through the year 2040...

Researchers Create Molecule That Blocks Pathway Leading To Alzheimer's Disease UC Davis researchers have found novel compounds that disrupt the formation of amyloid, the clumps of protein in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease believed to be important in causing the disease's characteristic mental decline...

Scientists Demonstrate The Promise Of Synchrotron Infrared Spectroscopy Of Living Cells For Medical Applications Knowing how a living cell works means knowing how the chemistry inside the cell changes as the functions of the cell change. Protein phosphorylation, for example, controls everything from cell proliferation to differentiation to metabolism to signaling, and even programmed cell death (apoptosis), in cells from bacteria to humans...

Helping Patients With Dementia Live Well Care Services Minister Paul Burstow unveiled a range of new design prototypes at the Design Council that can help people with dementia to live well, which included a fragrance-release system designed to stimulate appetite, specially-trained 'guide dogs for the mind' and an intelligent wristband that supports people with dementia to stay active safely...

Mechanism May Aid Treatment For Alzheimer's And Neurological Disorders Associated With Gamma-Wave Alterations And Cognitive Impairments Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have unraveled a process by which depletion of a specific protein in the brain contributes to the memory problems associated with Alzheimer's disease...

Strong Support Uncovered For Once-Marginalized Theory On Parkinson's Disease University of California, San Diego scientists have used powerful computational tools and laboratory tests to discover new support for a once-marginalized theory about the underlying cause of Parkinson's disease. The new results conflict with an older theory that insoluble intracellular fibrils called amyloids cause Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases...

'Use It Or Lose It' - Protecting Your Brain The findings of a new study suggest that the protective effects of an active cognitive lifestyle arise through multiple biological pathways. For some time researchers have been aware of a link between what we do with our brains and the long term risk for dementia. In general, those who are more mentally active or maintain an active cognitive lifestyle throughout their lives are at lower risk...