Alzheimer's disease
LA JOLLA, CA -- August 17, 2009 Using advanced brain imaging and genomics technologies, an international team of researchers co-led by Scripps Research Institute scientists has shown for the first time that natural variations in a specific gene influence brain structure.
An international group of researchers is the first to show that common variations in a gene -- previously shown to be associated with Retts Syndrome, autism, and mental retardation -- are associated with differences in brain structure in both healthy individuals and patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders.
When we absorb new information, the human brain reshapes itself to store this newfound knowledge. But where exactly is the new knowledge kept, and how does that capacity to adapt reflect our risk for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of senile dementia later in our lives?
A combination of proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid can reliably identify which patients with early symptoms of dementia will subsequently develop full-blown Alzheimer's disease, a research team at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has found in a major international study.
Tampa, FL (Aug. 11, 2009) -- A 65-year-old women goes into the hospital for routine hip surgery. Six months later, she develops memory loss and is later diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. Just a coincidence? Researchers at the University of South Florida and Vanderbilt University don't think so.
NEW YORK -- Both being more physically active and adhering to a Mediterranean-type diet appears to be associated with reduced Alzheimer's risk, according to a new report in the August 12, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Munich, Germany, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 11, 2009 -- Researchers at the Department of Psychiatry, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, investigated the effects of formal education on the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.
Scientists have long suspected that Alzheimer's disease (AD) is caused by a small protein called the amyloid β-protein (Aβ). This protein clumps or binds to itself, eventually changing chemically to create brain protein deposits (plaques) that are characteristic of AD.
Areas of brain damage seen on brain scans and originally thought to be related to stroke may help doctors predict a person's risk of memory problems in old age, according to research published in the August 11, 2009, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
PHILADELPHIA -- A new class of molecules capable of blocking the formation of specific protein clumps that are believed to contribute to Alzheimer's disease pathology has been discovered by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Irvine, Calif. -- A UC Irvine study has found that a gene called TOMM40 appears twice as often in people with Alzheimer's disease than in those without it. Alzheimer's, for which there is no cure, is the leading cause of elderly dementia.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The weak tendons and fragile bones characteristic of osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, stem from a genetic mutation that causes the incorrect substitution of a single amino acid in the chain of thousands of amino acids making up a collagen molecule, the basic building block of bone and tendon.
Elevated cholesterol levels in midlife -- even levels considered only borderline elevated -- significantly increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia later in life, according to a new study by researchers at Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research and the University of Kuopio in Finland. The study appears in the journal Dementia & Geriatric Cognitive Disorders.
ST. PAUL, Minn. ?Cognitive testing may help people with inactive or benign multiple sclerosis (MS) better predict their future with the disease, according to a study published in the July 29, 2009, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Gender and brain lesions may also determine the risk of progression of MS years after diagnosis.
New research has uncovered an early disruption in the process of memory formation in older humans who exhibit some early brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) but show little or no memory impairment.
