Alzheimer's & Dementia News and Research

Latest Alzheimer's & Dementia News and Research

Scientists to develop new MR imaging techniques for brain study

A Norwegian research centre is developing new magnetic resonance imaging techniques to study the brain. This could have impact for victims of brain damage as well as Alzheimer patients.

19 Mar 2011

Researchers discover process that regulates DNA maintenance

DNA contains all of the genetic instructions that make us who we are, and maintaining the integrity of our DNA over the course of a lifetime is a critical, yet complex part of the aging process.

19 Mar 2011

Scant high-quality research on hospice care in nursing homes

A new evidence review finds that there's scant high-quality research on the best comprehensive strategies for nursing homes hoping to ease the suffering of older patients through hospice care.

18 Mar 2011

Avid, Eli Lilly receive FDA complete response letter for Amyvid NDA

Eli Lilly and Company and its wholly owned subsidiary, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc., have received a complete response letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for their New Drug Application for Amyvid, a Positron Emission Tomography imaging agent under investigation for the detection of beta-amyloid plaque in the brains of living patients.

18 Mar 2011

Cortex reports net loss of $0.01 per share for quarter ended December 31, 2010

Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. reported a net loss applicable to common stock of $984,000, or $0.01 per share for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 compared with a net loss of $1,599,000, or $0.02 per share for the corresponding prior year period.

18 Mar 2011

Study reveals new mechanism underlying reproduction in plants

A team of researchers at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ci-ncia (IGC), Portugal, discovered that pollen, the organ that contains the plant male gametes, communicate with the pistil, their female counterpart, using a mechanism commonly observed in the nervous system of animals.

18 Mar 2011

UCLA researchers identify new biomarker that can help track amyloid beta in Alzheimer's

UCLA researchers have identified a new biomarker that could help them track how effectively the immune system is able to clear the brain of amyloid beta, which forms the plaques considered one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease.

18 Mar 2011

NAA expresses strong support of diagnostic code for seniors with ASD

The National Autism Association today expressed its strong support of a diagnostic code for disabled minors that have a serious history of wandering and elopement from safe environments.

18 Mar 2011

Gene therapy for Parkinson’s: It works!

A latest study has shown that gene therapy may be successful in treating the dreaded brain degenerative disease – Parkinson’s disease. Neurologists are hopeful that it could be useful in other neurologic disorders too.

17 Mar 2011

Low calorie diet may delay or prevent aging and neurodegenerative diseases

Cells, which employ a process called autophagy to clean up and reuse protein debris leftover from biological processes, were the original recyclers. A team of scientists from Paul Greengard's Rockefeller University laboratory have linked a molecule that stimulates autophagy with the reduction of one of Alzheimer's disease's major hallmarks, amyloid peptide.

17 Mar 2011

How brain processes facial identity

It is no surprise to scientists that the largest social network on the web is called Facebook. Identifying people by their face is fundamental to our social interactions, one of the primary reasons vision researchers are trying to find out how our brain processes facial identity.

17 Mar 2011

Laser light can kill cancer cells by pumping drugs into them

Shining a laser light on cells and then clicking off the light makes the cells "breathe in" surrounding water, providing a potentially powerful delivery system for chemotherapy drugs, as well as a non-invasive way to target anti-Alzheimer's medicines to the brain. That's the conclusion of a report in ACS's The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.

17 Mar 2011

Viewpoints: Wis. Medicaid dilemma; an army doc's Rx for cutting costs; Rep. Boren on repeal

These slipshod exercises in governance were choreographed by House Republicans, who knew that neither the Senate nor President Obama would ever accept their original proposal to gut nonsecurity discretionary spending with $61 billion in cuts through September, including riders to end financing for Planned Parenthood and the health care law.

17 Mar 2011

New study: Positive outcomes from gene therapy trial in patients with Parkinson's

A multi-center gene therapy trial for patients with advanced Parkinson's disease demonstrated reduced symptoms of the progressive movement disorder, according to a new study published in Lancet Neurology.

17 Mar 2011

Gene therapy holds promise for Parkinson's treatment

A first-of-its-kind study of gene therapy in the treatment of Parkinson's disease determined that half of all patients who received the treatment had "clinically meaningful improvements" of their symptoms within six months of surgery.

17 Mar 2011

Cortex enters agreement with Biovail to regain AMPAKINE assets and rights

Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that it has entered into an agreement with Biovail Laboratories International SRL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., to regain the AMPAKINE® assets and rights related to respiratory depression.

16 Mar 2011

Hospitals with higher diagnosis frequency for chronic conditions have lower case-fatality rate

An examination of data for more than 5 million Medicare beneficiaries finds that hospital regions that have a greater frequency of diagnoses have a lower case-fatality rate for chronic conditions such as coronary artery disease and kidney failure, according to a study in the March 16 issue of JAMA.

16 Mar 2011

Protein folding may aid in developing new therapies for brain diseases

Misfold an origami swan and the worst that happens is you wind up with an ugly paper duckling. Misfold one of the vital proteins in your body - each of which must be folded in a particular way to perform its function - and the result can be a debilitating neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer's or Huntington's.

16 Mar 2011

Study investigates physiological changes within brain due to Prozac treatment

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) such as Prozac are regularly used to treat severe anxiety and depression. They work by immediately increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain and by causing long term changes in brain function. However it can take weeks of treatment before a patient feels any effect and both beneficial effects and side effects can persist after treatment is stopped.

16 Mar 2011

15 million people caring for 5 million Alzheimer’s sufferers: U.S. report card

According to a report released on Tuesday by the Alzheimer's Association, nearly 15 million Americans are now caring for a family member or friend with Alzheimer's disease or related dementias. The Association warns that these figures may rise if new therapies for Alzheimer’s are not found.

15 Mar 2011