Alzheimer's Disease News and Research RSS Feed - Alzheimer's Disease News and Research Twitter

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks of daily living. In most people with AD, symptoms first appear after age 60. AD is the most common cause of dementia among older people, but it is not a normal part of aging. Dementia refers to a decline in cognitive function that interferes with daily life and activities. AD starts in a region of the brain that affects recent memory, then gradually spreads to other parts of the brain. Although treatment can slow the progression of AD and help manage its symptoms in some people, currently there is no cure for this devastating disease.

Scientists identify Alzheimer's biomarkers that predict start of cognitive impairment

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have helped identify many of the biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease that could potentially predict which patients will develop the disorder later in life. [More]
Lifting weights, doing cardio can also keep the doctors away, say researchers

Lifting weights, doing cardio can also keep the doctors away, say researchers

Forget apples - lifting weights and doing cardio can also keep the doctors away, according a new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. [More]

Renaissance in drug development for rare diseases

Once famously described as "orphan diseases, too small to be noticed, too small to be funded" in the Hollywood drama Lorenzo's Oil, rare diseases are getting unprecedented attention today among drug manufacturers, who are ramping up research efforts and marketing new medicines that promise fuller lives for children and other patients with these heartbreaking conditions. [More]
Research findings may pave way to new treatment for Alzheimer's disease in humans

Research findings may pave way to new treatment for Alzheimer's disease in humans

A drug developed by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, known as J147, reverses memory deficits and slows Alzheimer's disease in aged mice following short-term treatment. [More]
Mouse study shows leukemia halts accumulation of toxic proteins linked to Parkinson's disease

Mouse study shows leukemia halts accumulation of toxic proteins linked to Parkinson's disease

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have used tiny doses of a leukemia drug to halt accumulation of toxic proteins linked to Parkinson's disease in the brains of mice. This finding provides the basis to plan a clinical trial in humans to study the effects. [More]
Longer looks: A wife's Alzheimer's, Obamacare and workers' hours, doctors and drug companies

Longer looks: A wife's Alzheimer's, Obamacare and workers' hours, doctors and drug companies

When his wife got Alzheimer's disease, lawyer Ken Chiate invested all his hopes in an unorthodox treatment. Nothing, it seems, could make him give up on it. ... Jeannette's difficulties seemed to emerge out of nowhere. She couldn't grasp the rules of a dice game. She kept asking questions her husband had just answered. ... in 2001, at age 58, she was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment. As months and years passed, she fell into an angry haze that was determined to be Alzheimer's disease. [More]
Missing link between over-stimulation and destruction of brain tissue identified

Missing link between over-stimulation and destruction of brain tissue identified

In many neurodegenerative diseases the neurons of the brain are over-stimulated and this leads to their destruction. After many failed attempts and much scepticism this process was finally shown last year to be a possible basis for treatment in some patients with stroke. But very few targets for drugs to block this process are known. [More]

Scientists reexamine gene strongly linked to Alzheimer's disease

Scientists' picture of how a gene strongly linked to Alzheimer's disease harms the brain may have to be revised, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found. People with harmful forms of the APOE gene have up to 12 times the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease compared with those who have other variations of the gene. [More]
Memory problems in older adults may stem from inability to process everyday events

Memory problems in older adults may stem from inability to process everyday events

Some memory problems common to older adults may stem from an inability to segment daily life into discrete experiences, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. [More]
Idera to present data from Phase 2 trial of IMO-3100 in patients with psoriasis at IID 2013

Idera to present data from Phase 2 trial of IMO-3100 in patients with psoriasis at IID 2013

Idera Pharmaceuticals today announced presentation of data from its randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 trial that showed improvements from baseline of up to 90% in Psoriasis Area Severity Index scores in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis following four weeks of treatment with the Toll-like Receptor antagonist IMO-3100. [More]
BioMed Central launches new journal Acta Neuropathologica Communications

BioMed Central launches new journal Acta Neuropathologica Communications

Open access publisher BioMed Central is proud to announce the launch of Acta Neuropathologica Communications (ANC). ANC will publish work on pathology and mechanisms of neurological disease using structural, molecular and cellular techniques. [More]
Taking strong anticholinergic doubles risk of developing cognitive impairment in older adults

Taking strong anticholinergic doubles risk of developing cognitive impairment in older adults

Research from the Regenstrief Institute, the Indiana University Center for Aging Research and Wishard-Eskenazi Health on medications commonly taken by older adults has found that drugs with strong anticholinergic effects cause cognitive impairment when taken continuously for as few as 60 days. [More]

Scientists discover how Alzheimer's pharmaceuticals sharpen the brain's performance

Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have discovered how the predominant class of Alzheimer's pharmaceuticals might sharpen the brain's performance. [More]

Immunoglobulin fails to meet co-primary endpoints in Phase III clinical study, Baxter reports

Baxter International Inc. today announced that its Phase III clinical study of immunoglobulin did not meet its co-primary endpoints of reducing cognitive decline and preserving functional abilities in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. [More]
New gene implicated in Parkinson can delay onset of aging, extend life span

New gene implicated in Parkinson can delay onset of aging, extend life span

UCLA life scientists have identified a gene previously implicated in Parkinson's disease that can delay the onset of aging and extend the healthy life span of fruit flies. The research, they say, could have important implications for aging and disease in humans. [More]

Anavex invited to submit funding application for Phase 2a trial of ANAVEX 2-73

Anavex Life Sciences Corp. ("Anavex") (OTCQB: AVXL) today announced that it has been invited to submit a full grant application to the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation ("ADDF") for a Phase 2a trial of ANAVEX 2-73. [More]

Targacept reports net loss of $8.1 million in first quarter 2013

Targacept, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel NNR Therapeutics™, today reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013. [More]
Kinase inhibitors: an interview with Jan Hoflack, CSO of Oncodesign

Kinase inhibitors: an interview with Jan Hoflack, CSO of Oncodesign

Kinase inhibitors are molecules that block the activity of kinases. Kinases are a specific class of enzymes. They are extremely important in signal transduction processes in the human body meaning that they actually regulate most of the physiological processes that take place in the body. [More]

Study examines link between families with exceptional longevity and cognitive impairment

A study by Stephanie Cosentino, Ph.D., of Columbia University, New York, and colleagues examines the relationship between families with exceptional longevity and cognitive impairment consistent with Alzheimer disease. [More]

NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals raises $6.4 million in private equity financing round

NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company developing breakthrough therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, today announced that it raised $6.4 million in a private equity financing round. [More]