Alzheimer's & Dementia News From Medical News Today

Treatments modelled on the cancer drug Gleevec could potentially prevent the formation of amyloid plaques - one of the major hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease according to a study. Treatments modelled on the cancer drug Gleevec could potentially prevent the formation of amyloid plaques - one of the major hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease according to a study published in the journal Nature...

KPMG has reached its fundraising target of £1 million for its staff selected people charity, Alzheimer's Society over one month ahead of schedule with further events still to be held. In 2008, KPMG staff voted for Alzheimer's Society to be the firm's main charitable focus...

Results of a study reported in the September issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggest that Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have a greater risk for dementia than Veterans without PTSD, even those who suffered traumatic injuries during combat. Exposure to life threatening events, like war, can cause PTSD, and there are high rates among veterans...

Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan, President & CEO: Haruo Naito, "Eisai") announced today the start of the first patient enrolled clinical study with BAN2401, a novel monoclonal antibody that is being developed as a potential next-generation therapeutic treatment for Alzheimer's disease...

In Alzheimer's disease, the problem is beta-amyloid, a protein that accumulates in the brain and causes nerve cells to weaken and die. Drugs designed to eliminate plaques made of beta-amyloid have a fatal problem: they need to enter the brain and remove the plaques without attacking healthy brain cells...

Older adults with diabetes who have high blood pressure, walk slowly or lose their balance, or believe they're in bad health, are significantly more likely to have weaker memory and slower, more rigid cognitive processing than those without these problems, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association...

Researchers at the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research laboratory published "Gamma-secretase Activating Protein is a Therapeutic Target for Alzheimer's Disease" in Nature online. Drs. Gen He (lead author) and Paul Greengard have discovered a protein that stimulates the production of beta-amyloid, and therefore represents a major new advance in Alzheimer's disease research...

New research shows that mentally stimulating activities such as crossword puzzles, reading and listening to the radio may, at first, slow the decline of thinking skills but speed up dementia later in old age. The research is published in the September 1, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology...

Mentally stimulating activities that challenge and engage the brain, such as crossword puzzles, reading, or listening to the radio may help slow down cognitive decline - the gradual deterioration of thinking skills - but may encourage the acceleration of dementia later on during old age, says a report in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Study author, Robert S...

As part of its ongoing program to help caregivers and provide families with the information they need to make informed decisions, Homewatch CareGivers has released its latest resource, entitled "Guide to Living with Dementia. " This new guide is available for free download from the company's website...

90 per cent of people do not think people with dementia in Northern Ireland are getting enough help and support, new research by Alzheimer's Society found. The survey, carried out to coincide with the end of the consultation for Northern Ireland's first dementia strategy, also found that only 13 per cent of people with dementia and their carers said they always receive high quality care...

A group of "professional couch potatoes," as one researcher described them, has proven that even moderate exercise - in this case walking at one's own pace for 40 minutes three times a week - can enhance the connectivity of important brain circuits, combat declines in brain function associated with aging and increase performance on cognitive tasks...

Traumatic brain injury, currently considered a singular event by the insurance industry and many health care providers, is instead the beginning of an ongoing process that impacts multiple organ systems and may cause or accelerate other diseases and disorders that can reduce life expectancy, according to research from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston...

An editorial in the journal Lancet debates the problems of drug development for Alzheimer's disease. The feature questions why so many trials are failing at the phase 3 clinical trial stage and asks whether the animal models used prior to this are the most effective way to test the drugs...

Neuroscientists in the Down Syndrome Research Group at the University of Arizona have created a battery of tests that quickly aid in the assessment of the cognitive abilities of persons with Down syndrome. The UA collaborated on the development of the tests with colleagues at Johns Hopkins University and Emory University...

Although a new surge of scientific research has uncovered telltale signs of Alzheimer's disease that show up in brain scans and spinal taps, many questions remain unanswered about the clinical value of early testing and the overall direction of patient care, according to Dr. Kenneth S...

Most recent studies show that elderly people over the age of 80 often have mixed pathologies in their brains that account for their memory loss and confusion. Very few senior citizens have "pure Alzheimer disease"; therefore, this terminology should be used with caution...

Rising numbers of people who are resistant to insulin or who have type 2 diabetes may also have an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease according to a new study published in Neurology. The study of 135 people from Hisayma in Fukuoka found that protein that clumps in the brain of people with Alzheimer's disease was present in higher amounts in people who were insulin resistant...

The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) announced that it has awarded a grant of $240,000 to AgeneBio Inc. to develop a new class of small-molecules that have promise in treating amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), a neurological condition that often progresses to Alzheimer's disease and affects more than 3 million aging Americans...

Individuals with Type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease because they are more likely to develop plaques in the brain associated with Azheimer's, says a new report published in the medical journal Neurology, issued August 25th, 2010...