Dementia News and Research

Latest Dementia News and Research

Research: Higher levels of social activity linked to less disability in old age

Afraid of becoming disabled in old age, not being able to dress yourself or walk up and down the stairs? Staying physically active before symptoms set in could help. But so could going out to eat, playing bingo and taking overnight trips.

17 Feb 2011

AAN honors three researchers with 2011 Potamkin Prize for dementia study

The American Academy of Neurology is awarding its 2011 Potamkin Prize to three researchers for their work in dementia. Dennis Dickson, MD, with the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, Eva Maria Mandelkow, MD, PhD, and Eckhard Mandelkow, PhD, both of the Max-Planck-Unit for Structural Molecular Biology in Hamburg, Germany, will receive the Award during the AAN's 63rd Annual Meeting in Hawaii, April 9 - 16, 2011.

17 Feb 2011

Patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease need physicians guidance on financial planning

Patients newly diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias, and their families, need better guidance from their physicians on how to plan for the patient's progressive loss of ability to handle finances, according to a study led by a physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

17 Feb 2011

Brain enzyme blocks accumulation of tau proteins, slows down progression of neural degeneration

Increasing puromycin-sensitive aminopeptidase, the most abundant brain peptidase in mammals, slowed the damaging accumulation of tau proteins that are toxic to nerve cells and eventually lead to the neurofibrillary tangles, a major pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, according to a study published online in the journal, Human Molecular Genetics.

17 Feb 2011

Arrests made in major Medicare fraud case

But CQ HealthBeat reports that the administration's top Medicare and Medicaid fraud buster told a Senate panel that the current-year spending plan being advanced by House Republicans could undermine the fed's efforts to reduce waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system.

16 Feb 2011

Decline in financial capacity linked to progression of MCI and Alzheimer's disease

Many Americans have struggled with the thorny issue of taking the car keys from an aging parent or grandparent. But how do you know when to take away the checkbook?

16 Feb 2011

Deactivation of tau gene may help reverse memory loss in Alzheimer disease

Amyloid-beta and tau protein deposits in the brain are characteristic features of Alzheimer disease. The effect on the hippocampus, the area of the brain that plays a central role in learning and memory, is particularly severe. However, it appears that the toxic effect of tau protein is largely eliminated when the corresponding tau gene is switched off.

16 Feb 2011

Hearing loss linked to dementia & Alzheimer’s: Study

New research suggests that adults with hearing loss may face a higher risk of dementia and perhaps Alzheimer’s disease than those who do not suffer hearing loss. The risk of dementia rises with greater loss of hearing say researchers. The study appears in the February issue of the journal Archives of Neurology.

15 Feb 2011

Seniors with hearing loss more likely to develop dementia: Study

Seniors with hearing loss are significantly more likely to develop dementia over time than those who retain their hearing, a study by Johns Hopkins and National Institute on Aging researchers suggests. The findings, the researchers say, could lead to new ways to combat dementia, a condition that affects millions of people worldwide and carries heavy societal burdens.

14 Feb 2011

New tool helps doctors assess likelihood of death from stroke

Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Toronto have developed a new tool that will help doctors predict the probability of death in patients after an ischemic stroke.

11 Feb 2011

New model of dementia care reduces emergency department visits, hospitalizations

An innovative model of dementia care developed by researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute significantly reduces emergency department visits and hospitalizations, and encourages use of medications that are not harmful to older brains. The result is improved health for older adults and their family caregivers and lower healthcare costs, according to a paper evaluating the model in real world use.

10 Feb 2011

Study finds high prevalence of HS-AGING in individuals older than 95

The population of aged persons worldwide is expanding rapidly, and it is becoming increasingly clear that there are many different diseases that affect the minds of these individuals. Researchers at the University of Kentucky are breaking new ground in the ongoing project of identifying and defining those diseases most likely to affect an aged population.

10 Feb 2011

FDA warning leads to decrease in use of atypical antipsychotics for treatment of dementia

A warning issued by the Food and Drug Administration regarding the use of atypical antipsychotics for the treatment of dementia was associated with a significant decline in the use of these medications for treating dementia symptoms in elderly patients, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

8 Feb 2011

Study reports significant decline in second-generation medication use for dementia

As loved ones with dementia disappear into symptoms of aggression, agitation or delusions, families are left with few good medical solutions. A new generation of antipsychotic medications gained popularly in the 1990s because they avoided side effects such as Parkinson's syndrome associated with conventional antipsychotic medications used to treat dementia.

8 Feb 2011

Research roundup: Comparing profit and nonprofit hospice care; Hospital mortality and spending; High-deductible insurance plans

Association Of Hospice Agency Profit Status With Patient Diagnosis, Location of Care, and Length of Stay - "The current Medicare Hospice Benefit reimburses hospices at a fixed per diem rate that does not consider the patient's diagnosis, location of care, or hospice LOS [length-of-stay]," and as such, "profit can be maximized by caring for patients with certain diagnoses that require fewer skilled services, patients residing in nursing homes, or patients with longer hospice stays."

4 Feb 2011

New findings: For-profit hospices may choose cheaper-to-treat patients

Study results released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association report that for-profit hospice services may be selecting patients who are less expensive to treat — leaving the pricier patients to nonprofit agencies (Brown, 2/1).

3 Feb 2011

Malarial drugs may help treat specific form of frontotemporal dementia

Frontotemporal dementia is caused by a breakdown of nerve cells in the frontal and temporal region of the brain, which leads to, among other symptoms, a change in personality and behavior. The cause of some forms of frontotemporal dementia is a genetically determined reduction of a hormone-like growth factor, progranulin.

3 Feb 2011

Older people with metabolic syndrome may face high risk of developing memory loss

Older people with larger waistlines, high blood pressure and other risk factors that make up metabolic syndrome may be at a higher risk for memory loss, according to a study published in the February 2, 2011, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

3 Feb 2011

Multi-national group of researchers announce launch of International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project

The launch of the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project (IGAP) - a collaboration formed to discover and map the genes that contribute to Alzheimer's disease - was announced today by a multi-national group of researchers including Drs. Lindsay Farrer and Sudha Seshadri at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM). The collaborative effort, spanning universities from both sides of the Atlantic, will combine the knowledge, staff and resources of four consortia that work on Alzheimer's disease genetics.

2 Feb 2011

Higher intake of monounsaturated, polyunsaturated fatty acids reduce risk of mild cognitive impairment

Mayo Clinic researchers found that the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment decreased with an increase in the consumption of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Monounsaturated fatty acids are commonly found in olive oil and canola oils, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as Omega 3 or Omega 6 fatty acids, are commonly found in most varieties of nuts, seeds and fish.

2 Feb 2011

Dementia News and Research

Latest Dementia News and Research

Research: Higher levels of social activity linked to less disability in old age

AAN honors three researchers with 2011 Potamkin Prize for dementia study

Patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease need physicians guidance on financial planning

Brain enzyme blocks accumulation of tau proteins, slows down progression of neural degeneration

Arrests made in major Medicare fraud case

Decline in financial capacity linked to progression of MCI and Alzheimer's disease

Deactivation of tau gene may help reverse memory loss in Alzheimer disease

Hearing loss linked to dementia & Alzheimer’s: Study

Seniors with hearing loss more likely to develop dementia: Study

New tool helps doctors assess likelihood of death from stroke

New model of dementia care reduces emergency department visits, hospitalizations

Study finds high prevalence of HS-AGING in individuals older than 95

FDA warning leads to decrease in use of atypical antipsychotics for treatment of dementia

Study reports significant decline in second-generation medication use for dementia

Research roundup: Comparing profit and nonprofit hospice care; Hospital mortality and spending; High-deductible insurance plans

New findings: For-profit hospices may choose cheaper-to-treat patients

Malarial drugs may help treat specific form of frontotemporal dementia

Older people with metabolic syndrome may face high risk of developing memory loss

Multi-national group of researchers announce launch of International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project

Higher intake of monounsaturated, polyunsaturated fatty acids reduce risk of mild cognitive impairment

Leveraging the Radian ASAP in standard casework

A journey through science, software, and innovation: Insights from the Bruker software team

CellVoyant's AI-Powered Vision for the Future of Cell Therapy

Dementia News and Research

Latest Dementia News and Research

Leveraging the Radian ASAP in standard casework

A journey through science, software, and innovation: Insights from the Bruker software team

CellVoyant's AI-Powered Vision for the Future of Cell Therapy

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