Alzheimer's
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have linked a potential indicator of Alzheimer's disease to brain damage in humans with no signs of mental impairment.
60 Minutes ran a segment about the health benefits of red wine, specifically the apparent powers of resveratrol, a polyphenol that is found in the skin of grapes and is thought to prevent illness and promote longevity (the Brain Fitness Blog reported on this a few months ago).
Frontal lobe dementia (Frontotemporal Dementia, FTD) strikes people at an earlier age. After Alzheimer's disease, FTD is the form of dementia that occurs most frequently in patients younger than 65. In FTD, the disease process starts in the frontal lobe where large numbers of brain cells begin to die off.
Results of a recent study conducted by researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues show that cognitive functioning abilities drop as average blood sugar levels rise in people with type 2 diabetes.
A new study from Lifespan evaluated the research to date on the impact of cognitive training on the healthy elderly population.
Memory loss, cognitive impairment, brain cell degeneration and cell death were prevented or reversed in several animal models after treatment with a naturally occurring protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).
Insulin, by shielding memory-forming synapses from harm, may slow or prevent the damage and memory loss caused by toxic proteins in Alzheimer's disease.
Diabetics have a significantly greater risk of dementia, both Alzheimer's disease -- the most common form of dementia -- and other dementia, reveals important new data from an ongoing study of twins.
A growing body of evidence demonstrates that we can take steps to delay age-related cognitive decline, including in some cases that which accompanies Alzheimer's disease.
You know that watching your weight, quitting smoking, cutting back on fatty foods and exercising regularly will help your heart. But did you know that these steps might also help your brain, and protect your memory? In fact, doctors are beginning to realize just how connected the heart and brain really are. And that connection may help explain many of the severe memory and thinking problems that millions of people experience as they grow older.
A new use of an ultra-sensitive method that employs bionanotechnology might lead to a clinical test capable of diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease in its earliest stages -- instead of during an autopsy. Scientists at Northwestern University have become the first to detect in living humans a biomarker associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a development that promises early intervention when therapeutics may be most effective -- long before plaques and tangles develop in the brain and dementia sets in.
Carrying the higher-risk genotype for Alzheimer's disease appears to render even healthy older people subject to major problems with prospective memory, the ability to remember what to do in the future. For the group studied, this could affect important behaviors such as remembering to take medicine at a certain time or getting to a doctor's appointment. The research appears in the January issue of Neuropsychology, which is published by the American Psychological Association.
A dietary staple of India, where Alzheimer's disease rates are reportedly among the world's lowest, holds potential as a weapon in the fight against the disease. The new UCLA-Veterans Affairs study involving genetically altered mice suggests that curcumin, the yellow pigment in curry spice, inhibits the accumulation of destructive beta amyloids in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and also breaks up existing plaques.
Biochemists at Ohio State University and their colleagues have overcome one of the major obstacles to drug design, by trimming some of the fat from a molecular sponge that scientists use to study proteins. In the December issue of the journal Structure, the biochemists report using their method successfully in experiments with two common cellular proteins. The results suggest that scientists could one day use the method as a step in designing drugs for diseases such as cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer's, and tuberculosis.
Restricting the diets of mice reduces the build-up of plaques in the brain that are linked to Alzheimer's disease, according to a USC study. With obese people generally considered to be at a higher risk for developing Alzheimer's, the research raises questions about whether the findings are potentially applicable to humans. ''This is the first indication that modest changes in the normal diet can slow some aspects of Alzheimer's disease,'' said Caleb Finch, co-author of the study published in the online version of the journal Neurobiology of Aging.
