Dementia News and Research

Latest Dementia News and Research

First bypass surgery to restore lost brain tissue performed at Krembil Neuroscience Centre

Neurosurgeons at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre, Toronto Western Hospital, have for the first time, initiated the restoration of lost brain tissue through brain bypass surgery in patients where blood flow to the brain is impaired by cerebrovascular disease. The study, which involved 29 patients, was published online in the journal Stroke.

19 Apr 2011

Novel lifestyle program may slow loss of brain cells due to aging and also grow new cells

In March, more than 80 residents at Emeritus at Ocoee, an assisted living and memory care community in Central Florida, began a new and highly promising research-based Brain Health Lifestyle Program which was designed to not only slow the loss of brain cells due to aging, but also grow new cells.

18 Apr 2011

Sarcasm and lie detection failure signals dementia: Study

Researchers have found that inability to recognize others' insincerity, lies and sarcasm could be a warning sign of a form of dementia. They found that people with frontotemporal dementia - a type of dementia that affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain - often lose the ability to detect sarcasm and lies, while people who grow older normally don't experience this.

17 Apr 2011

Person's inability to understand sarcasm and lies can be a warning sign of dementia

By asking a group of older adults to analyze videos of other people conversing -- some talking truthfully, some insincerely -- a group of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco has determined which areas of the brain govern a person's ability to detect sarcasm and lies.

16 Apr 2011

New insights into dynamics of amyloid fibrils

A research study, published yesterday in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, demonstrates that the aggregation of amyloid-beta proteins into amyloid fibrils characteristic of Alzheimer's disease is not irreversible, as previously thought.

15 Apr 2011

Treatment of vascular risk factors may lower risk of Alzheimer's disease

Treating high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and other vascular risk factors may help lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease in people who already show signs of declining thinking skills or memory problems. The research is published in the April 13, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

15 Apr 2011

NIST's new reference can aid in Huntington's disease diagnosis

A new Standard Reference Material from the National Institute of Standards and Technology will help clinical genetics labs accurately diagnose Huntington's disease, an inherited degenerative brain disorder that usually begins between ages 35 and 50 and progressively leads to physical impairment, dementia and death.

15 Apr 2011

Brain starts shrinking in Alzheimer’s disease a decade earlier: Study

According to American researchers, brain scans of healthy people showed signs that the brain was shrinking in Alzheimer's-affected areas nearly a decade before the disease was diagnosed. This comes in the latest issue of the journal Neurology and it may offer a new way to detect the disease early, an advance that could help in the development of effective treatments for Alzheimer's, a brain-wasting disease that affects up to 26 million people globally.

13 Apr 2011

Insight into neurodegenerative diseases

For years, researchers in genome stability have observed that several neurodegenerative diseases-including Huntington's disease-are associated with cell-killing proteins that are created during expansion of a CAG/CTG trinucleotide repeat.

12 Apr 2011

Reduction in alcohol prices increases alcohol-related mortality

Does a reduction in the price of alcohol result in an increase in deaths due to alcohol? This was the subject of a study following a significant reduction in taxes in Finland in 2004 (30% for spirits, 3% for wine).The abolition of import quotas by the EU in 2004 also made it possible to import from other member countries and this led to an increase of approximately 10% in alcohol consumption in Finland.

8 Apr 2011

SWHR roundtable to examine sex differences in Alzheimer's disease

At the Women's Health 2011: 19th Annual Conference plenary session, A Wake Up Call to Clinicians: Alzheimer's and Early Diagnosis, Geoffrey Beene Foundation President, Meryl Comer announced the Society for Women's Health Research's upcoming one-day Alzheimer's roundtable, exploring sex differences in this increasingly prevalent disease.

6 Apr 2011

High clusterin levels linked to Alzheimer's prevalence and severity

Higher levels in blood of the protein clusterin, also known as apolipoprotein J, are significantly associated with the prevalence and severity of Alzheimer's disease, but not with the risk of onset of new disease, according to a study in the April 6 issue of JAMA.

6 Apr 2011

MRIs can help predict MCI individuals at greatest risk for developing Alzheimer's disease

Using MRI, researchers may be able to predict which adults with mild cognitive impairment are more likely to progress to Alzheimer's disease, according to the results of a study published online and in the June issue of Radiology.

6 Apr 2011

Major depression linked to premature aging of immune cells: Study

Certain cases of major depression are associated with premature aging of immune cells, which may make people more susceptible to other serious illness, according to findings from a new UCSF-led study.

6 Apr 2011

Physical activity may moderate impact of stress on telomeres

UCSF scientists are reporting several studies showing that psychological stress leads to shorter telomeres - the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes that are a measure of cell age and, thus, health. The findings also suggest that exercise may prevent this damage.

5 Apr 2011

Researchers to develop future body sensor network

Modern man is surrounded by a multitude of sensors. Today's sensors are simple and made for specific purposes, like measuring temperature, balance, build-up of smoke, or tyre pressure. The common trait of the sensors is that they are all embedded in a closed system.

5 Apr 2011

Risperdal Consta can reduce risk of hospitalisation in patients with schizophrenia

New data from an independent prospective study presented last week at the 19th European Congress of Psychiatry shows treatment with Risperdal Consta is associated with a lower risk of hospitalisation in patients with schizophrenia compared to treatment with other antipsychotics over a 12-month period.

5 Apr 2011