Dementia News and Research

Latest Dementia News and Research

Neurological assessment of older adults: A crystal ball to the future

Standard neurological exams of older adults are good predictors of future brain health and quality of life. These tests should become part of the physician's routine examination of older adults say faculty from the Indiana University Center for Aging Research in an editorial in the June 23, 2008 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

24 Jun 2008

Alzheimer's and Parkinson's under the microscope

A detailed discussion by top researches in the field into current Alzheimer's and Parkinson's research features as article of the month in the prestigious journal, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

24 Jun 2008

Neurological assessment of older adults should become routine examinations

24 Jun 2008

Top scientists say 'NHS won't survive next 20 years'

In an open letter to the Health Secretary Alan Johnson, a coalition of leading scientists, including Professor Seth Love at Bristol University, slammed the government's underinvestment in dementia research amid warnings of "catastrophic" economic consequences.

19 Jun 2008

Early detection of Alzheimer's in the pipeline

A boost of $1.6 million for new research into Alzheimer's Disease for Australian scientists means that the early detection of the disease could well be in the pipeline.

19 Jun 2008

Experts say spend more on dementia or expect a crisis

Scientists in both Australia and Britain are calling for more funding for dementia in order to avert a health care crisis in the future.

18 Jun 2008

Warning about use of psychiatric drugs with the elderly

Health officials in the U.S. are warning doctors that prescribing certain psychiatric drugs to elderly people suffering from dementia can increase their risk of death.

17 Jun 2008

Molecular imaging helps follow the progression of Alzheimer's disease

In the past, physicians were able only to follow the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) through careful clinical histories, noting the often subtle changes associated with cognitive decline over a number of years.

16 Jun 2008

University of California, San Francisco embraces web 2.0 for health information

YouTube and The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) today launched a comprehensive Internet video channel dedicated to the improved understanding of incurable neurodegenerative brain diseases.

16 Jun 2008

Antipsychotic drugs get FDA label changes

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today exercised its new authority under the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA) to require manufacturers of "conventional" antipsychotic drugs to make safety-related changes to prescribing information, or labeling, to warn about an increased risk of death associated with the off-label use of these drugs to treat behavioral problems in older people with dementia.

16 Jun 2008

Unique brain maps to assist surgery and research

Researchers from the Howard Florey Institute in Melbourne are developing new technology to create individualised brain maps that will revolutionise diagnosis of disease and enhance the accuracy of brain surgery.

16 Jun 2008

Australian researchers find important piece of Alzheimer's puzzle

Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) neuroscientists at UQ have discovered a new way to reduce neuronal loss in the brain of a person with Alzheimer's disease.

11 Jun 2008

Turn up the lights and slow down dementia!

A team of Dutch scientists are suggesting that the progression of dementia can be significantly slowed down by treatments which reset the body's natural clock.

11 Jun 2008

Middle age smokers run the risk of memory loss and early dementia

The latest research adds to the long list of reasons why smokers should quit and is particularly bad news for middle-age smokers.

10 Jun 2008

European research project to explore Alzheimer's diagnosis

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, GE Healthcare, a division of the General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) and a Consortium of leading research institutions across Europe announced the PredictAD project, a research collaboration aimed at developing new diagnostic procedures for patients with Alzheimer's disease.

10 Jun 2008

Genetic variation linked to earlier onset of Alzheimer's symptoms

Investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a genetic variation associated with an earlier age of onset in Alzheimer's disease.

9 Jun 2008

World's oldest woman had normal brain

A 115-year-old woman who remained mentally alert throughout her life had an essentially normal brain, with little or no evidence of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study in the August issue of Neurobiology of Aging.

9 Jun 2008

Human stem cells show promise against fatal children's diseases

Scientists have used human stem cells to dramatically improve the condition of mice with a neurological condition similar to a set of diseases in children that are invariably fatal, according to an article in the June issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.

4 Jun 2008

Socializing can help elderly women stay sharp

Socializing with friends and family can do more than lift the spirits of elderly women - it can improve cognition and might help prevent dementia, according to a new study.

3 Jun 2008