Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, a neurologic disease characterized by loss of mental ability severe enough to interfere with normal activities of daily living, lasting at least six months, and not present from birth. AD usually occurs in old age, and is marked by a decline in cognitive functions such as remembering, reasoning, and planning.
People with early Alzheimer’s disease may be more likely to have lower BMI – People in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease are more likely to have a lower body mass index (BMI). A new study examined 506 people with advanced brain imaging techniques and analyses of cerebrospinal fluid to look for biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease, which can be present years before the first symptoms begin.
Tuning out: How brains benefit from meditation — Meditation may help brain to recover from diseases – Brain imaging study reveals that experienced meditators seem to be able switch off areas of the brain associated with daydreaming as well as psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.
Blood Tests May Hold Clues to Pace of Alzheimer?s Disease Progression – Researchers found a way to predict how quickly patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) will lose cognitive function by looking at ratios of two fatty compounds in their blood.
Diabetes may significantly increase your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease – People with diabetes appear to be at a significantly increased risk of developing dementia, revealed by researchers in a recent study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Even mild cognitive impairment appears to substantially increase risk for death – Cognitive impairment, especially at the moderate to severe stages has an impact on life expectancy similar to chronic conditions such as diabetes or chronic heart failure, revealed by Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University researchers in a study “Cognitive Impairment: An Independent Predictor of Excess Mortality. A Cohort Study” published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
ASCB applauds the decision of Judge Royce Lamberth of the US District Court for the District of Columbia to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the US National Institutes of Health guidelines on funding human embryonic stem cell research – The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) applauds the decision of Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (DC) to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the U.S. National Institutes of Health guidelines on funding human embryonic stem cell research (hESC).
International survey highlights great public desire to seek early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s — Results from Europe and US highlight interest in early diagnosis despite wide fear of and familiarity with the condition – Results of an international survey reveal that over 85% of respondents in the five countries surveyed say that if they were exhibiting confusion and memory loss, they would want to see a doctor to determine if the cause of the symptoms was Alzheimer’s disease. Over 94% would want the same if a family member were exhibiting the symptoms.
Lithium profoundly prevents brain damage associated with Parkinson’s disease — Buck Institute research in mice moves into preclinical stage; working toward human trials – Researcher are focusing on lithium as a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease — PD — as well as its efficacy in combination with drugs currently used to control the symptoms of the disease. Lithium profoundly prevents the aggregation of toxic proteins and cell loss associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD) in a mouse model of the condition.
Study: Memory problems often not present in middle-aged people with Alzheimer’s disease – A new study suggests more than half of people who develop Alzheimer’s disease before the age of 60 are initially misdiagnosed as having other kinds of brain disease when they do not have memory problems.
Anti-inflammatory drugs reduce effectiveness of SSRI antidepressants – Anti-inflammatory drugs, which include ibuprofen, aspirin and naproxen, reduce the effectiveness of the most widely used class of antidepressant medications, the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, taken for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety disorders.
