Dementia News and Research

Latest Dementia News and Research

Brain size and IQ secret may lie in genes: Study

The study, conducted by a team of more than 200 scientists from 100 institutions worldwide, measured the size of the brain and its memory centers in thousands of MRI images from 21,151 healthy people while simultaneously screening their DNA. According to the researchers, a variant in a gene called HMGA2 affected the brain size, as well as a person's intelligence.

18 Apr 2012

PDAD patients have much denser accumulations of striatal plaques in the brain

Dementia is a frequent complication of Parkinson's disease (PD), but it is clinically impossible to distinguish PD dementia (PDD), which develops from the progression of the Lewy body pathology that underlies PD, from PD with coexistent Alzheimer's disease.

17 Apr 2012

Paper points out decision-making capacity of patients with dementia

Luis Carlos álvaro, a clinical neurologist at the Hospital of Basurto (Bilbao) and lecturer at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), has had an article published on the capacity of patients with dementia to make decisions. It is entitled Competencia: conceptos generales y aplicación en la demencia (Competence: general concepts and application in dementia), and has been published in the journal Neurología.

17 Apr 2012

Metformin associated with reduced risk of Parkinson's in patients with diabetes

A major 12-year study based on a Taiwanese population cohort has demonstrated that not only does diabetes increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease more than 2-fold, the use of sulfonylureas, commonly used as treatment for diabetes, increases the risk further by about 57%. This study also found that by including metformin in the therapy, no increased risk in developing Parkinson's disease was recorded.

17 Apr 2012

Genes linked to major brain functions and disorders

An international team of researchers have found the genes that increase or reduce the risk of certain mental illnesses and Alzheimer's disease. They claim that some genes that may explain individual differences in brain size and intelligence as well. The team of more than 200 scientists at 100 institutions said this was the largest-ever brain study to date.

16 Apr 2012

HHS report finds nursing homes not prepared for natural disasters

The authors suggest that the federal government mandate better planning. At the same time, many nursing home officials are arguing that as the economy improves, states should increase their funding of Medicaid.

16 Apr 2012

New drug to detect beta-amyloid plaques may help diagnose AD earlier

Use of a new drug to detect the beta-amyloid plaques in the brain that are hallmark signs of Alzheimer's disease may help doctors diagnose the disease earlier, according to research that will be presented as part of the Emerging Science program (formerly known as Late-Breaking Science) at the American Academy of Neurology's 64th Annual Meeting in New Orleans April 21 to April 28, 2012.

16 Apr 2012

Florbetaben PET scan reliably identifies beta-Amyloid in the brain

Piramal Imaging SA, a newly formed subsidiary of Piramal Healthcare Limited, announced positive first results from a Phase III study that showed that PET imaging with florbetaben reliably detects beta-Amyloid in the brain during life with great accuracy and thus shows value as a potential tool to aid in the diagnosis and assessment of Alzheimer's disease.

16 Apr 2012

Two research studies on genetic components of Alzheimer's

Two research studies, co-led by UC Davis neurologist Charles DeCarli and conducted by an international team that included more than 80 scientists at 71 institutions in eight countries, has advanced understanding of the genetic components of Alzheimer's disease and of brain development. Both studies appear in the April 15 edition of the journal Nature Genetics.

16 Apr 2012

New genes may explain individual differences in brain size and intelligence

In the world's largest brain study to date, a team of more than 200 scientists from 100 institutions worldwide collaborated to map the human genes that boost or sabotage the brain's resistance to a variety of mental illnesses and Alzheimer's disease.

16 Apr 2012

Four loci appear to decrease hippocampal volume

An international team of researchers led by Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has identified four loci that appear to be associated with decreasing the volume of the hippocampus.

16 Apr 2012

Number of people worldwide with dementia expected to triple by 2050; Caregivers need support, report says

The number of people living with dementia is expected to double to 65.7 million by 2030 and more than triple by 2050, with "the current estimated cost of treating and caring for those with the condition at $604 billion a year," according to a report released Wednesday by the WHO and Alzheimer's Disease International, Agence France-Presse reports.

12 Apr 2012

Preliminary results from GE Healthcare’s flutemetamol Phase 3 studies on AD

GE Healthcare today announced the preliminary results of two Phase 3 studies of its investigational PET amyloid imaging agent, [18F]flutemetamol, where both studies met their primary endpoints. One study, in terminally ill patients who agreed to undergo brain autopsy, showed strong concordance between flutemetamol PET images and Alzheimer's disease-associated beta amyloid brain pathology.

12 Apr 2012

Dementia burden on the Australian economy raises concerns

The report by the World Health Organization and Alzheimer's Disease International added that policy priorities should include raising awareness of the disease ensuring timely diagnosis. It estimates the global cost of dementia is more than $600 billion per year.

11 Apr 2012

Computer modeling supports theory that many dementias spread like prion diseases

A new technique for analyzing brain images offers the possibility of using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to predict the rate of progression and physical path of many degenerative brain diseases, report scientists at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

11 Apr 2012

New 4th Edition of Practical Neurology for clinicians, residents and fellows

The new 4th Edition of Practical Neurology, the respected "real-life" guide to diagnosing and managing neurologic disorders, has been completely rewritten to known neurologist and chair of the Department of Neurology of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

11 Apr 2012

Siemens announces integrated imaging solution for detection of amyloid plaques

Siemens Healthcare is the first company worldwide to announce a complete integrated diagnostic imaging solution proposed for the detection of amyloid plaques — one of the necessary pathological features of Alzheimer's disease— in the living brain.

From Siemens Healthineers 11 Apr 2012

New report calls on nations to recognise dementia as a public health crisis

A report released today by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI) calls for governments and policymakers to make dementia a global public health priority.

11 Apr 2012

Avid Radiopharmaceuticals receives FDA approval for Amyvid to treat AD

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Amyvid (Florbetapir F 18 Injection) a drug for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging of the brain in adults who are being evaluated for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and other causes of cognitive decline.

11 Apr 2012

Dementia sufferers and caregivers unhappy with quality of care

Dementia patients and their families have been asked to assess the quality of care available to them. Their reports are far from satisfactory. Alzheimer's Australia says dementia patients and their carers are being let down right across the health system. The Federal Government has promised to use the report to help decide how to improve the system.

9 Apr 2012