Alzheimer's & Dementia News and Research

Latest Alzheimer's & Dementia News and Research

Modafinil in combination with antidepressants reduces severity of depression more effectively

A new study has concluded that taking the drug modafinil, typically used to treat sleep disorders, in combination with antidepressants reduces the severity of depression more effectively than taking antidepressants alone.

28 Nov 2013

Accumulation of small protein in brain’s blood vessels can drive early cognitive impairment

A team of Stony Brook University researchers led by William Van Nostrand, PhD, Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery, has discovered in a model of Alzheimer's disease that early accumulation of a small protein, known as amyloid β, in the blood vessels of the brain can drive early cognitive impairment.

28 Nov 2013

Longer looks: Providing dental care in rural Alaska; the after-effects of the ICU; cure for allergies

Aniak, Alaska, is a Yu'pik village of 500 people on the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta, about 400 miles northwest of Anchorage. It is in this special and isolated community where I practice as a dental therapist, trained and certified to deliver some, but not all, types of dental care. Dental therapists have been practicing in Alaska for nine years and now provide routine dental care to 40,000 Native Alaskans. In the United States about forty-seven million people live in areas where there is a shortage of dentists, and millions more can't afford to see them. For so many Americans, even the most basic dental care is out of reach. Yet right here in Alaska, I think we've found part of the solution (Conan Murat, November, 2013).

28 Nov 2013

Scientists find possible new treatment for people with spinal cord injuries

Scientists may have found a new treatment that can help people with spinal cord injuries walk better. The research is published in the November 27, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

27 Nov 2013

Brain research provides new clues to Pavlovian conditioning

Do fruit flies hold the key to treating dementia? Researchers at the University of Houston have taken a significant step forward in unraveling the mechanisms of Pavlovian conditioning. Their work will help them understand how memories form and, ultimately, provide better treatments to improve memory in all ages.

27 Nov 2013

Caregivers selected to receive the 2013 Shire BRAVE Awards

Selflessness, determination, courage and hope. These are among the qualities that describe the eighteen caregivers from around the world who have been selected as recipients of the 2013 Shire BRAVE Awards, an international program that honors the bravery and devotion of non-professional carers.

27 Nov 2013

International researchers report significant findings on vascular abnormality outside the brain

Studies on Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia have long focused on what's happening inside the brain. Now an international research team studying Alzheimer's and mild cognitive impairment is reporting potentially significant findings on a vascular abnormality outside the brain.

27 Nov 2013

Risk factors for Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease has joined cancer at the top of the list of feared diagnoses, and although Alzheimer's does have the potential to devastate millions of patients and families, there are reasons for hope - and possibly opportunities to reduce risk or alter the course of disease progression, according to Keith Black, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai.

26 Nov 2013

Study investigates connections between sleep problems and neurodegenerative conditions

A new discovery may help explain the surprisingly strong connections between sleep problems and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.

26 Nov 2013

Researchers identify new mechanism that causes neurodegeneration

As we age, our body rhythms lose time before they finally stop. Breaking the body clock by genetically disrupting a core clock gene, Bmal1, in mice has long been known to accelerate aging , causing arthritis, hair loss, cataracts, and premature death.

26 Nov 2013

New diabetes has little impact on outcomes in elderly hypertensives

Established, but not newly diagnosed, diabetes is associated with reduced survival among elderly patients with hypertension, shows an analysis of the ANBP2 study.

25 Nov 2013

Research roundup: Meeting the needs of assisted living residents; Medicaid expansion and community health centers; money follows the person

Assisted living facilities provide housing and care to persons unable to live independently, and who often have increasing medical needs. Disease outbreaks illustrate challenges of maintaining adequate resident protections in these facilities. ... Of the 50 states, 84% specify health-based admissions criteria to assisted living facilities; 60% require licensed health care professionals to oversee medical care; ... There is wide variation in how assisted living facilities are regulated in the United States.

25 Nov 2013

Scientists hope to find new treatments for traumatic brain injury

In the most wide-reaching project of its kind, scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch are expanding their research on traumatic brain injury, examining its progressive, chronic effects on the body in hopes of treating its immediate and long-term consequences. The project is funded by a three-year, $9 million grant from The Moody Foundation of Galveston.

22 Nov 2013

Study identifies possible link between orthostatic hypotension and atrial fibrillation

Results of a Johns Hopkins-led study have identified a possible link between a history of sudden drops in blood pressure and the most common form of irregular heartbeat.

21 Nov 2013

Study shows cognitively impaired older adults released from hospital less likely to be rehospitalized

Cognitively impaired older adults released from the hospital are less likely to be rehospitalized within 30 days if they go to a nursing home than if they return to their own home or the home of a family member, according to an Indiana University and Regenstrief Institute study.

20 Nov 2013

Study finds resveratrol in colored vegetables, fruits may block effects of methamphetamine

Studies have shown that resveratrol, a natural compound found in colored vegetables, fruits and especially grapes, may minimize the impact of Parkinson's disease, stroke and Alzheimer's disease in those who maintain healthy diets or who regularly take resveratrol supplements.

20 Nov 2013

Non-specialist health workers provide treatment for people with MNS problems in developing countries

Non-specialist health workers are beneficial in providing treatment for people with mental, neurological and substance-abuse (MNS) problems in developing countries - where there is often a lack of mental health professionals - according to a new Cochrane review.

20 Nov 2013

UCP1 protein helps fight against obesity

The uncoupling Protein 1 (UCP1) is found exclusively in brown adipose tissue. Until some years ago it was thought that only babies and hibernating animals had brown adipose tissue, but since then it also has been found in adults, so UCP1 could be useful in the fight against obesity.

20 Nov 2013

Researchers discover new genetic risk factor for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder

Investigators at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have discovered a new genetic risk factor for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder called NDST3. The findings are published online in Nature Communications.

20 Nov 2013

Viewpoints: Obamacare has resisted death throes before; website success stories from 3 governors; health law taking a toll on choice of doctors in Medicare Advantage

The first time Obamacare seemed finished, doomed, doornail-dead, the voters of Massachusetts played the would-be executioner. In January 2010, they sent a pickup-driving Republican to the Senate to fill Ted Kennedy's seat, apparently depriving the health care bill of its crucial 60th vote and sending Democrats scrambling for a Plan B. ... the deeper force at work, the reason that these near-death experiences keep happening, isn't a website or a broken presidential promise. It's a problem inherent to contemporary liberalism, which is that liberals' proudest achievement, the modern welfare state, tends to resist, corrupt and baffle their efforts at comprehensive reform (Ross Douthat, 11/16).

19 Nov 2013

Alzheimer's & Dementia News and Research

Latest Alzheimer's & Dementia News and Research

Modafinil in combination with antidepressants reduces severity of depression more effectively

Accumulation of small protein in brain’s blood vessels can drive early cognitive impairment

Longer looks: Providing dental care in rural Alaska; the after-effects of the ICU; cure for allergies

Scientists find possible new treatment for people with spinal cord injuries

Brain research provides new clues to Pavlovian conditioning

Caregivers selected to receive the 2013 Shire BRAVE Awards

International researchers report significant findings on vascular abnormality outside the brain

Risk factors for Alzheimer's disease

Study investigates connections between sleep problems and neurodegenerative conditions

Researchers identify new mechanism that causes neurodegeneration

New diabetes has little impact on outcomes in elderly hypertensives

Research roundup: Meeting the needs of assisted living residents; Medicaid expansion and community health centers; money follows the person

Scientists hope to find new treatments for traumatic brain injury

Study identifies possible link between orthostatic hypotension and atrial fibrillation

Study shows cognitively impaired older adults released from hospital less likely to be rehospitalized

Study finds resveratrol in colored vegetables, fruits may block effects of methamphetamine

Non-specialist health workers provide treatment for people with MNS problems in developing countries

UCP1 protein helps fight against obesity

Researchers discover new genetic risk factor for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder

Viewpoints: Obamacare has resisted death throes before; website success stories from 3 governors; health law taking a toll on choice of doctors in Medicare Advantage

eBook: Advancing neurodegenerative research with iPSC-derived microglia models eBook

Advancing brain microphysiological systems (bMPS)

PhD researcher at LifeArc

Unveiling Hidden Potential: Organoids for Disease Modeling in Neuroscience Research

Alzheimer's & Dementia News and Research

Latest Alzheimer's & Dementia News and Research

eBook: Advancing neurodegenerative research with iPSC-derived microglia models eBook

Advancing brain microphysiological systems (bMPS)

PhD researcher at LifeArc

Unveiling Hidden Potential: Organoids for Disease Modeling in Neuroscience Research

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