Alzheimer's & Dementia News and Research

Latest Alzheimer's & Dementia News and Research

Vitamins E and C confirmed safe at high doses

Fourteen leading safety and antioxidant experts reviewed the available scientific literature on vitamins E and C and concluded vitamin E is safe for the general population at intakes up to 1600 IU daily and vitamin C is safe at up to 2000 mg daily, according to a new article published in the April issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN).

2 May 2005

FDA to change regulations regarding side-effect information in drug ads

The Food and Drug Administration is about to make it easier for you to understand both the benefits and risks of a prescription medication, it was revealed at the Second Annual Medical Liaison Seminar sponsored here by Scientific Advantage LLC.

2 May 2005

Antibiotic minocycline might help alleviate HIV's negative effects on the brain and central nervous system

By studying animals, Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that the antibiotic minocycline might help alleviate HIV's negative effects on the brain and central nervous system, problems that can develop even though antiretroviral therapy controls the virus elsewhere in the body.

1 May 2005

Obese people - add yet another worry to the list

Dementia is now the latest scare factor to be added to an ever growing list of threats which so far includes diabetes, heart disease and stroke, which obese people are apparently more prone to.

1 May 2005

Obesity in middle age increases risk of dementia in later life

The population based, 27 year longitudinal study, led by Dr Rachel Whitmer, Gerontological Epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Oakland California, involved 10,276 members of Kaiser Permanente medical care programme in California who underwent detailed health checks from 1964 to 1973 when they were aged 40-45 and who were still members of the health plan in 1994.

1 May 2005

Ginkgo beneficial for multiple sclerosis symptoms

When it comes to her health, Janice Winfield of Portland, Ore., does her research. That's why the stay-at-home mom, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in July 2000, was willing to turn to popular, over-the-counter herbal supplements like ginkgo biloba to deal with memory problems, fatigue and occasional muscle pain.

27 Apr 2005

Clues about the causes of dementia in Huntington's disease

Scientists at Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute have uncovered a clue about the causes of dementia in Huntington's disease, one of the disease's symptoms, by showing that mice susceptible to Huntington's disease have problems with learning and memory before the diseases' typical movement problems appear.

27 Apr 2005

Research offers hope for treatment of age-related blindness

Rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with anti-inflammatory drugs are 10 times less likely to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common form of blindness in people over 55, researchers at the University of British Columbia and University of Saskatchewan have found.

27 Apr 2005

Portable device to check for concussions

A player just took a hard knock to the head and is lying on the field. A coach rushes to his side, but the player sits up and seems fine.

27 Apr 2005

Physical activity appears to inhibit Alzheimer's

Physical activity appears to inhibit Alzheimer's-like brain changes in mice, slowing the development of a key feature of the disease, according to a new study.

26 Apr 2005

Use of positron emission tomography may eliminate more strenuous drug development trials with animals

A number of articles explore the use of positron emission tomography (PET) and small animal imaging—nonsurgical techniques that open the door to understanding and treating human diseases—in the April issue of the Society of Nuclear Medicine’s Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

26 Apr 2005

Gene therapy for Alzheimer's disease shows promise

In the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Alzheimer's disease researchers have produced preliminary evidence that gene therapy may slow the decline in mental functioning associated with Alzheimer's disease.

25 Apr 2005

Substantially more effective therapy than current treatments for Alzheimer's disease

PET scans and cognitive tests have suggested that Alzheimer's disease patients with genetically modified tissue inserted directly into their brains show a reduction in the rate of cognitive decline and increased metabolic activity in the brain, according to a study published in the April 24, 2005 online issue of the journal Nature Medicine by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine.

25 Apr 2005

New training course launched to help improve dementia care

The Alzheimer’s Society has launched the first nationally accredited training course aimed at improving the quality of care given to people with dementia.

23 Apr 2005

Aging population correlates with a switch from acute infectious diseases to chronic diseases as the major cause of morbidity and mortality

Some diseases like ulcers and certain types of cancer, once thought to be primarily related to lifestyle factors, are now known to be caused by microorganisms, and many more syndromes, including some psychiatric conditions, may have a connection to infection, according to a report released today by the American Academy of Microbiology.

22 Apr 2005

Brain-injury rehabilitation depends on acetylcholine circuitry

The ability of the brain to recover from such injury as stroke or trauma depends on a particular circuitry of neurons that "talk" to one another using the brain chemical acetylcholine, researchers led by James Conner and Mark Tuszynski in the Neural repair Group at UCSD have discovered.

20 Apr 2005

No strong evidence linking blood mercury levels with worse neurobehavioral performance in older adults

In a study of older adults, researchers did not find a definitive association between blood mercury levels, which can become elevated with fish consumption, and adverse neurobehavioral effects, according to a study in the April 20 issue of JAMA.

19 Apr 2005

Some Alzheimer’s patients can benefit from drug Memantine

The drug memantine can reduce cognitive deterioration and loss of everyday functions in patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new review of studies.

19 Apr 2005

New method for the study of ion channel gating kinetics

An ion channel is a protein pore that lets ions (charged atoms such as calcium) pass through a cell's membrane. The method fits data to a new class of models, called manifest interconductance rank (MIR) models, which will give researchers a better understanding of the mechanisms by which ion channels open and close.

19 Apr 2005

Short segments of sugar chains useful in search for new drugs for Alzheimer's

Heparansulfate, which is needed for normal fetal development among other things, is also important for the build-up of amyloid, morbid protein deposits that appear in several serious diseases. This is shown by Uppsala scientists in an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

19 Apr 2005