Dementia News and Research

Latest Dementia News and Research

Heavy drinking leads to early senile dementia

Constant alcohol consumption results not only in cognitive disorders but can elicit symptoms of senile dementia in people as young as in their forties.

20 Jun 2007

Indiana University researchers seek people with memory loss, sleep problems

Indiana University School of Medicine researchers are looking for adults above the age of 55 who have difficulty sleeping and have memory loss associated with dementia or Alzheimer's disease for a clinical study of a sleep medication.

20 Jun 2007

Costs of disorders of the brain in Europe

In 2004 there were about 46 million cases of neurological diseases such as epilepsy, migraines, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and stroke among the 466 million inhabitants of the EU (excluding the two new members Romania and Bulgaria, but including the non-members Iceland, Norway and Switzerland).

20 Jun 2007

50 million Europeans suffer from neurological diseases

About 50 million people in the EU suffer from neurological diseases such as epilepsy, migraines, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, strokes and dementia.

18 Jun 2007

Synaptic dysfunction in Huntington's disease

Huntington's disease is a hereditary disorder that primarily affects the brain, leading to death within just over a decade.

17 Jun 2007

Unexplained late-life weight loss may be early predictor of Alzheimer's disease

New findings show unexplained weight loss that precedes dementia by more than 10 years is associated with the severity of Alzheimer changes in the brain.

16 Jun 2007

Breakdown of myelin may be the cause of Huntington's disease

Last month, Dr. George Bartzokis, director of the UCLA Memory Disorders and Alzheimer's Disease Clinic, suggested in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia that the breakdown of a type of myelin that develops late in life promotes the buildup of toxic amyloid plaques long associated with Alzheimer's disease.

16 Jun 2007

Simple test predicts a person's risk for developing dementia within six years with 87 percent accuracy

The test, developed in the study by the researchers, is a 14-point index combining medical history, cognitive testing, and physical examination. It requires no special equipment and can be given in a clinical setting such as a doctor's office or at a patient's bedside.

16 Jun 2007

Newly found antibodies may be body's natural defense against Alzheimer's

In an important advance in the battle against Alzheimer's disease, physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center have identified naturally occurring antibodies in human blood that may help to defend against this form of dementia as well as other neurodegenerative diseases.

14 Jun 2007

Mild cognitive disorder often an early symptom of Alzheimer's disease

Using new MRI techniques to analyze tissue composition and structure in the brain, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the National Institute on Aging successfully detected mild cognitive disorder (MCI), a condition in which patients suffer mild memory problems and is often an early symptom of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

14 Jun 2007

Myelin and Huntington's disease

14 Jun 2007

Predictors of cognitive decline in memory clinic patients

Memory problems have many causes, such as stress or depression, but they can also be an early sign of dementia.

14 Jun 2007

Early results from Alzheimer's neuroimaging studies could speed research

Disease researchers may be able to reduce the time and expense associated with clinical trials, according to early results from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), a public-private research partnership organized by the National Institutes of Health.

14 Jun 2007

Easily distressed people more likely to develop memory problems

People who are easily distressed and have more negative emotions are more likely to develop memory problems than more easygoing people, according to a study published in the June 12, 2007, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

14 Jun 2007

Global prevalence of Alzheimer's disease will grow to 106 million by 2050

More than 26 million people worldwide were estimated to be living with Alzheimer's disease in 2006, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

14 Jun 2007

Distress and negative emotions lead to memory problems

According to the latest research people who are easily distressed and have more negative emotions are more likely to develop memory problems than more easygoing types.

12 Jun 2007

Alzheimer's predicted to affect 106 million by 2050

Researchers in the United States say by the year 2050, globally more than 100 million people will be suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

11 Jun 2007

Researchers discover how strokes trigger biochemical events that increase amyloid-beta production in the brain

Researchers from the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders (MGH-MIND) have discovered how the death of brain cells caused by a stroke or head injury may cause generation of amyloid-beta protein ? the key component of senile plaques seen in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

8 Jun 2007

Congress urged to cover home infusion therapy for Medicare beneficiaries

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) is urging Congress to support the Medicare Home Infusion Therapy Coverage Act of 2007 (H.R. 2567), bipartisan legislation introduced yesterday by Reps.

8 Jun 2007

Antipsychotic drugs used to treat dementia shorten life

A new Canadian study by a geriatric medicine specialist has found that the antipsychotic drugs used to treat some of the disruptive behaviours of older adults with dementia may shorten the patient's life.

5 Jun 2007