Dementia News and Research

Latest Dementia News and Research

How can electronic ink help patients? An interview with Giovanni Mancini

Electronic ink is basically what the name says. It's made of ink, the same ink particles that you see on a printed paper that comes out of an inkjet printer. We use black and white pigments that we add certain properties to that allow us to move the pigments around.

2 Mar 2016

Are we ageing healthily? An interview with Professor Carol Jagger

This is the million dollar question but it is hard to give a definite answer. Most data on trends in life and healthy life expectancy use surveys that do not include people in care homes which can skew results at older ages.

29 Feb 2016

Novel therapeutic approach to target monomeric Tau protein

Dementia and other tauopathies, most notably Alzheimer's disease, embody a class of neurodegenerative diseases associated with the aggregation of the Tau protein in the human brain. These diseases represent one of the leading causes of death and disability in the elderly population in the western world, with no current effective therapy.

27 Feb 2016

Researchers find way to inhibit enzyme responsible for Alzheimer's disease

For decades, intensive research has been conducted on drugs all over the world to treat Alzheimer's patients. Although major progress has been made in diagnostics (the disease can be detected increasingly early and accurately), the therapeutic options remain limited.

27 Feb 2016

MOOCs: the future of healthcare training? An interview with David Robertshaw

MOOCs are short, free courses run by major learning providers to share their knowledge of a particular academic topic or to help students develop a specific skill.

From University of Derby Online Learning 25 Feb 2016

Frontotemporal dementia often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease in many patients

Many patients showing signs of dementia are quickly diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease when they might actually suffer from frontotemporal dementia, delaying the appropriate treatment for them.

25 Feb 2016

Active mind may delay symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, but not underlying brain changes

Keeping the mind active may delay symptoms of Alzheimer's disease; however, the activity does not change the underlying disease in the brain for most people, according to a study published today in the online edition of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

25 Feb 2016

Immune cells may play greater role in Alzheimer's disease than originally thought

Immune cells that normally help us fight off bacterial and viral infections may play a far greater role in Alzheimer's disease than originally thought, according to University of California, Irvine neurobiologists with the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center and the Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders.

24 Feb 2016

UCL researchers create first massive open online course on four less-common forms of dementia

Researchers at University College London have created the first massive open online course on four of the less-common forms of dementia. Developed by Timothy Shakespeare, with Sebastian Crutch and Nick Fox, "The Many Faces of Dementia" will kick off on March 14.

22 Feb 2016

Antibody can give more precise information about Alzheimer's disease than regular radioactive tracers

For the first time, researchers have succeeded in passing an antibody through the blood-brain barrier to act as a tracer for PET imaging of the brain. This resulted in more precise information being obtained than with regular radioactive tracers. The study provides hope for more effective diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's disease and improvements in monitoring the effects of medication.

22 Feb 2016

Stem cell research reveals how Parkinson’s spreads from cell to cell

Stem cell research published today offers up new clues as to how Parkinson’s spreads from cell to cell, a process which has evaded researchers for decades.

19 Feb 2016

Experimental drug candidate may aid traumatic brain injury patients

A new report by University of Kentucky researcher Linda Van Eldik, PhD, describes an experimental drug candidate that may aid patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

18 Feb 2016

Study explores link between CSF biomarkers and cognition in Parkinson's disease

Many patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) develop mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia. Identifying biomarkers for cognitive impairment could be instrumental in facilitating both early diagnosis of MCI and developing new cognitive-enhancing treatments. New research published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease indicates that lower concentrations of α-synuclein in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is associated with reduced performance on several cognitive tests.

18 Feb 2016

Eating one portion of fish a week helps reduce dementia risk

Eating at least one portion of fish per week helps to reduce a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and dementia-related illnesses. This was evidenced by international research conducted at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA).

18 Feb 2016