Alzheimer's Disease News and Research

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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.

Hospital readmission rates reflect problem in addressing hospital failures

If you're a Medicare patient admitted to the hospital, the odds are about one in six that you'll end up back in the hospital within a month. And there was very little progress made in reducing that rate between 2004-09.

30 Sep 2011

GSA, NAM select 16 reporters for MetLife Foundation Journalists in Aging Fellows Program

The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and New America Media (NAM) have selected 16 reporters for the MetLife Foundation Journalists in Aging Fellows Program, now in its second year.

30 Sep 2011

Researchers discover kibra protein controls sculpting of brain circuitry

Researchers working with adult mice have discovered that learning and memory were profoundly affected when they altered the amounts of a certain protein in specific parts of the mammals' brains.

29 Sep 2011

Prehypertension may increase risk of stroke

Even people with blood pressure that is slightly above normal may be at an increased risk of stroke, according to a review of studies published in the September 28, 2011, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

29 Sep 2011

Older women destined to develop AD have high blood levels of pregnancy protein

In an advance toward a much-needed early diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease (AD), scientists have discovered that older women destined to develop AD have high blood levels of a protein linked to pregnancy years before showing symptoms.

29 Sep 2011

Congress must not make cuts to crucial government-funded aging research

America's experts on aging are headed for meetings with their senators and representatives to underscore the needs of the country's senior population, spurred by the first-ever Take Action Week organized by The Gerontological Society of America - the nation's largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging.

28 Sep 2011

Low vitamin B12 raises risk of dementia in the elderly: Study

According to a latest study the elderly with low levels of vitamin B12 in their blood may be more likely to develop problems with their thinking skills and have more brain shrinkage. The study points to a link between low B12 and early cognitive decline, a condition that often leads to dementia. Previous research has found that those people with high levels of vitamin B12 in their blood have lower levels of an amino acid called homocysteine, which some studies have linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease, memory loss, and stroke.

27 Sep 2011

Prenatal exercise improves brain plasticity and prevents Alzheimer's in offspring

If you are pregnant, here's another reason to work out: you will reduce the chances of your new baby developing neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's, later in life.

27 Sep 2011

Vitamin B12 deficiency linked to cognitive problems or loss in brain volume among older people

Older people with low levels of vitamin B12 in their blood may be more likely to lose brain cells and develop problems with their thinking skills, according to a study published in the September 27, 2011, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

27 Sep 2011

NINDS award to fund studies of Arizonans with Parkinson's disease

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) announced this week an $8 million, five-year grant to support a "National Brain and Tissue Resource for Parkinson's Disease and Related Disorders", awarded to Banner Sun Health Research Institute (BSHRI) and Mayo Clinic Arizona.

26 Sep 2011

Researchers identify micro-RNA that regulates learning processes, Alzheimer's

Proteins are the molecular machines of the cell. They transport materials, cleave products or transmit signals - and for a long time, they have been a main focus of attention in molecular biology research. In the last two decades, however, another class of critically important molecules has emerged: small RNA molecules, including micro-RNAs. It is now well established that micro-RNAs play a key role in the regulation of cell function."A micro-RNA regulates the production of an estimated 300-400 proteins.

26 Sep 2011

Two TGen students receive SRP grants for antibiotic resistance and Alzheimer's research

Two Arizona university graduate students working at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) have each received $50,000 grants from the Salt River Project.

23 Sep 2011

CoPlex, Hawthorn sign license agreement for hawAD14 Alzheimer's drug

CoPlex Therapeutics has signed an exclusive global license agreement with Hawthorn Pharmaceuticals to develop and commercialize hawAD14, a preclinical oral small molecule candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

23 Sep 2011

Cyclin E plays a crucial role in the formation of nerve connections

Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School have found that a common cancer protein leads a second, totally different life in normal adult brain cells: It helps regulates memory formation and may be implicated in Alzheimer's disease.

23 Sep 2011

Dementia patients have poor outcomes in hospital

If you have dementia and need to be admitted to hospital to be treated for other illnesses or injuries, your prospects for recovery are substantially worse than for other patients, research has found.

22 Sep 2011

Researchers identify common genetic mutation for ALS, frontotemporal dementia

Frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease -- two fatal neurodegenerative disease with distinct but sometimes overlapping symptoms -- are triggered by a common mutation in many cases, according to researchers who say they have identified the mutated gene.

22 Sep 2011

First epidemiological study on the prevention of Alzheimer's disease

Researchers at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, in Montreal, Quebec, are about to launch the first epidemiological study on the prevention of Alzheimer's disease.

22 Sep 2011

Researchers show how the body rids itself of damage when needed to reproduce and create new life

Although the body is constantly replacing cells and cell constituents, damage and imperfections accumulate over time. Cleanup efforts are saved for when it really matters. Researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, are able to show how the body rids itself of damage when it is time to reproduce and create new life.

21 Sep 2011

Saladax, Bristol-Myers Squibb expand Alzheimer's diagnostic assays agreement

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Saladax Biomedical, Inc., announced today they have expanded their multi-year agreement covering the development and commercialization of diagnostic assays for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease to include Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc.

21 Sep 2011