Lewy Bodies News and Research

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Penn's ADCC receives $8.8 million grant to continue research on treatment for AD and related dementias

The University of Pennsylvania's Alzheimer's Disease Core Center has been awarded an estimated $8.8 million over five years from the National Institute on Aging to continue its mission of investigating mechanisms, diagnostics, treatments and strategies for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and related dementias including Parkinson's disease (PD), Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), Lewy Body dementia (LBD) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD).

3 Aug 2016

Researchers discover novel neuroprotection strategies to slow progression of Parkinson's disease

Using a robust model for Parkinson's disease, University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers and colleagues have discovered an interaction in neurons that contributes to Parkinson's disease, and they have shown that drugs now under development may block the process.

20 Jul 2016

Leukemia drug increases brain dopamine, lowers toxic proteins linked to Parkinson's or dementia

A small phase I study provides molecular evidence that an FDA-approved drug for leukemia significantly increased brain dopamine and reduced toxic proteins linked to disease progression in patients with Parkinson's disease or dementia with Lewy bodies.

12 Jul 2016

TBI with LOC linked to late-life neurodegeneration but not Alzheimer's disease

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) with a loss of consciousness (LOC) may be associated with later development of Parkinson's disease but not Alzheimer's disease or incident dementia, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the University of Washington School of Medicine.

11 Jul 2016

FAU's clinical trial to evaluate efficacy of RVT-101 tablet for Lewy body dementia

Florida Atlantic University's Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine is spearheading the South Florida site for the first U.S. clinical trial for Lewy body dementia (LBD), the second-most common dementia after Alzheimer's disease. The HEADWAY-DLB is a phase 2b multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to evaluate an investigational medicine, RVT-101, for dementia with Lewy bodies.

22 Apr 2016

Biopsy of submandibular gland can help identify pathology of Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies

Accurate diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, and the related disease "dementia with Lewy bodies," can be difficult in the early stages of both conditions. While brain biopsies can be more accurate, the risk of complications has been considered too high. New research published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease indicates that a biopsy of the submandibular gland can help identify the same pathology that is seen in the brain, providing some of the increased accuracy of brain biopsy, but not the increased risk.

12 Apr 2016

Novel mechanism identified to protect the brain from many neurodegenerative conditions

Scientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have identified a novel mechanism that could be used to protect the brain from damage due to stroke and a variety of neurodegenerative conditions, including sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease.

8 Mar 2016

UCL researchers create first massive open online course on four less-common forms of dementia

Researchers at University College London have created the first massive open online course on four of the less-common forms of dementia. Developed by Timothy Shakespeare, with Sebastian Crutch and Nick Fox, "The Many Faces of Dementia" will kick off on March 14.

22 Feb 2016

Mercury may not thwart seafood brain benefits

Accumulation of mercury in the brain from eating seafood does not appear to lead to Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology, shows research published in JAMA.

4 Feb 2016

Researchers reveal secondary structure of Lewy bodies in the brain of Parkinson's disease patients

Lewy bodies had been considered to be a key element of pathogenesis for Parkinson's disease. Although structural analysis for Lewy bodies with an electron microscope had been performed, it had no secondary structural information of proteins, which is important for the development of drugs.

13 Jan 2016

Researchers describe three cleaning procedures that effectively remove, disassemble α-Syn fibrils

Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites are found in the brains of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. They consist primarily of fibrils of the protein alpha-synuclein (α-Syn), which self-assembles into fibrils in vitro. If introduced into the human body, these seeds can act as prions and trigger the formation of toxic protein deposits. Because α-Syn fibrils are often used in research, it is important that they are not accidentally transferred to humans or cell cultures.

11 Jan 2016

Alpha-synuclein protein involved in Parkinson's disease pathology does not behave like a 'prion'

In Parkinson's disease, the protein "alpha-synuclein" aggregates within neurons of patients and appears to propagate across interconnected areas of the brain. How this happens remains largely unknown.

6 Jan 2016

Researchers, patients trade new insights at International Dementia with Lewy Bodies Conference

You thought Alzheimer's was complicated? Or Parkinson's? Try dementia with Lewy bodies, the disease occupying the awkward territory between those two poles.

23 Dec 2015

Anemia associated with increased risk of mild cognitive impairment

In a large population-based study of randomly selected participants in Germany, researchers found that participants with anemia, defined as haemoglobin <13 g/dl in men and <12 g/dl in women, showed lower performances in verbal memory and executive functions.

17 Dec 2015

Support for enteric nervous system pathology in prodromal PD

Researchers have found positive immunostaining of α-synuclein in the enteric nervous system of patients with idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder, suggesting it may have a possible role as a biomarker for prodromal Parkinson’s disease.

22 Oct 2015

Breakthrough advancements on new molecular mechanism may lead to Parkinson's treatments

More than one million people in the United States are afflicted with Parkinson's disease, a progressive disorder of the brain that affects movement and coordination. The cause is typically unknown, and presently there is no cure for the disease.

19 Oct 2015

Researchers find that stem cell treatment may reduce cognitive impairment related to dementia with Lewy bodies

Neural stem cells transplanted into damaged brain sites in mice dramatically improved both motor and cognitive impairments associated with dementia with Lewy bodies, according to University of California, Irvine neurobiologists with the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center and the Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders.

19 Oct 2015

Gene therapy prevents neuronal death, disease effects in experimental model of PD

An estimated seven to ten million people worldwide are living with Parkinson's disease (PD), which is an incurable and progressive disease of the nervous system affecting movement and cognitive function. More than half of PD patients develop progressive disease showing signs of dementia similar to Alzheimer's disease.

9 Oct 2015

Feeling dizzy after standing up may signal serious conditions, increased risk of death

People who get dizzy several minutes after standing up may be at risk of more serious conditions and even an increased risk of death, according to new research published in the September 23, 2015, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

24 Sep 2015

Two proteins that help cells eliminate trash may contribute to development of Parkinson's disease

Two proteins that share the ability to help cells deal with their trash appear to need each other to do their jobs and when they don't connect, it appears to contribute to development of Parkinson's disease, scientists report.

21 Aug 2015