Copyright 2009 Medical News Today Latest Alzheimer's / Dementia News From Medical News Today. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/alzheimers/ admin@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Admin) editors@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Editors) en-us Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171614.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171614.php AFFiRiS AG will focus its Alzheimer's vaccine program on one product candidate at an unexpectedly early stage of development: the vaccine candidate AD02 is planned to enter into Phase II clinical trial early in 2010. This decision by the company immediately follows the completion of two Phase I trials with the candidates AD01 and AD02. The company based its fast decision on the first interim analysis of the secondary endpoints at the six month time point. Alzheimer's / Dementia Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171577.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171577.php For years, it has been widely assumed that older adults may experience memory loss and other cognitive problems following surgery. But a new study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis questions those assumptions. In fact, the researchers were not able to detect any long-term cognitive declines attributable to surgery in a group of 575 patients they studied. Alzheimer's / Dementia Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171408.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171408.php Every two years, 2,000 senior Group Health patients check in with the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study. The joint project between Group Health Research Institute and the University of Washington (UW) focuses on finding ways to delay or prevent dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, and declines in memory and thinking. It aims to deepen understanding of how the body - especially the brain - ages. Alzheimer's / Dementia Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171424.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171424.php Alzheimer's Society has today welcomed the recognition of people with dementia in the Queen's speech and called for dementia to be a priority for all political parties. Responding to proposals to give people with the highest needs free personal care, Alzheimer's Society called for more detail and warned that both money and improved quality of home care was needed to make proposals a success. Alzheimer's / Dementia Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171426.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171426.php The NMC has been addressing many of the issues raised in the Alzheimer's society report Counting the Cost: caring for people with dementia on hospital wards as part of our review of pre-registration nursing education. Our review, which recently highlighted the need for future nurses to be educated to degree level, will help to prepare them for the challenges of caring for people with dementia. Alzheimer's / Dementia Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171379.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171379.php Researchers from North Carolina State University have identified a gene that tells embryonic stem cells in the brain when to stop producing nerve cells called neurons. The research is a significant advance in understanding the development of the nervous system, which is essential to addressing conditions such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders. Stem Cell Research Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171393.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171393.php Brain imaging can offer a window into risk for diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). A study conducted at the University of Kansas School of Medicine demonstrated that genetic risk is expressed in the brains of even those who are healthy, but carry some risk for AD. The results of this study are published in the November 2009 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Alzheimer's / Dementia Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171333.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171333.php Technology advances are making life better for the elderly and those with Alzheimer's disease by allowing the older to stay in their homes and giving the ill a way to interact with society again. Kaiser Health News, in collaboration with Alzheimer's / Dementia Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171260.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171260.php In a study that promises to improve diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease, scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a fast and accurate method for quantifying subtle, sub-regional brain volume loss using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The study is published the week of November 16 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Alzheimer's / Dementia Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171092.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171092.php Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of 12 sites nationwide participating in the first Phase 2 clinical trial to test gene therapy treatment for Alzheimer's disease. The study is the first multicenter neurosurgical intervention in Alzheimer's research in the U.S. The experimental treatment utilizes a viral-based gene transfer system, CERE-110, that makes Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), a naturally occurring protein that helps maintain nerve cell survival in the brain. Alzheimer's / Dementia Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171056.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171056.php People with dementia - who occupy a quarter of all hospital beds - are staying far longer in hospital than people without the condition who go in for the same treatment at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds to the NHS, an Alzheimer's Society report found today (Tuesday, 17 November 2009). Based on research involving 2,400 people, Counting the Cost: caring for people with dementia on hospital wards reveals large, costly variations in the quality of care for people with dementia. Alzheimer's / Dementia Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171035.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171035.php A team of U.S., Canadian and Italian scientists led by researchers at Johns Hopkins report evidence from studies in animals and humans supporting a link between Alzheimer's disease and chronic heart failure, two of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States. The international team of biochemists and cardiologists say they have identified three changes in the chemical make-up of a key structural protein, called desmin, in heart muscle cells in dogs. Alzheimer's / Dementia Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171017.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171017.php NFL players and other athletes who suffer serious or multiple concussions may benefit from ground-breaking research being conducted by scientists at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. The scientists are developing a surgical technique that involves hypothermia in specific regions of the brain. Therapeutic hypothermia is a medical treatment that lowers a patient's temperature in order to help reduce the risk of injury to tissue. Neurology / Neuroscience Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170937.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170937.php Commenting on the announcement of a Government action plan to tackle the over prescribing of antipsychotic drugs to people with dementia, Dr Peter Carter, RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary said: "It is welcome news that the Government has made a commitment to deal with the overuse of anti-psychotic drugs. We look forward to working with the new National Clinical Director for Dementia on these ambitious proposals which offer hope for patients with dementia and their families. Alzheimer's / Dementia Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170877.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170877.php A team of scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) report their success in solving the molecular structure of a key portion of a cellular receptor implicated in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other serious illnesses. Assistant Professor Hiro Furukawa, Ph.D., and colleagues at CSHL, in cooperation with the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory, obtained crystal structures for one of several "subunits" of the NMDA receptor. Alzheimer's / Dementia Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170768.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170768.php Researchers from the Barrow Neurological Institute and aging Hispanic alumni from Phoenix Union High School are partnering in a major research trial to study Alzheimer's disease in the ethnic community. More than 20 graduates from the high school, who belong to a social club called "El Grupo," have joined neuroscientists at Barrow to study memory loss and Alzheimer's disease among the Hispanic community. Alzheimer's / Dementia Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170755.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170755.php An independent review has today (Thursday, 12 November 2009) found that an estimated 150, 000 people with dementia in the UK are being inappropriately prescribed antipsychotic drugs. These are contributing to 1,800 deaths a year. Antipsychotics have a serious number of side-effects for people with dementia and a profound effect on people's quality of life, leaving them heavily sedated. Alzheimer's / Dementia Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170748.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170748.php Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and colleagues have identified a novel mouse gene (Rps23r1) that reduces the accumulation of two toxic proteins that are major players in Alzheimer's disease: amyloid beta and tau. The amyloid and tau lowering functions of this gene were demonstrated in both human and mouse cells. Amyloid beta is responsible for the plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Tau causes the tangles found within patients' brain cells. Alzheimer's / Dementia Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170734.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170734.php A new study reveals that a previously undiscovered mouse gene reduces the two major pathological perturbations commonly associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The research, published by Cell Press in the November 12 issue of the journal Neuron, finds that the novel gene interacts with a key cellular enzyme previously linked with AD pathology, thereby uncovering a new strategy for treating this devastating disorder. Alzheimer's / Dementia Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170678.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170678.php Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and colleagues have identified a novel mouse gene (Rps23r1) that reduces the accumulation of two toxic proteins that are major players in Alzheimer's disease: amyloid beta and tau. The amyloid and tau lowering functions of this gene were demonstrated in both human and mouse cells. Amyloid beta is responsible for the plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Tau causes the tangles found within patients' brain cells. Alzheimer's / Dementia Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170683.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170683.php Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have discovered a mechanism that controls the brain's ability to create lasting memories. In experiments on genetically manipulated mice, they were able to switch on and off the animals' ability to form lasting memories by adding a substance to their drinking water. The findings, which are published in the scientific journal PNAS, are of potential significance to the future treatment of Alzheimer's and stroke. Alzheimer's / Dementia Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170637.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170637.php Academic Health Center scientists, physicians, and research centers have attracted 128 grants totaling nearly $35 million in federal stimulus money (as of Nov. 10) since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was approved in February 2009. This will result in a total economic impact of more than $105 million; according to the National Institutes of Health, $1 of research funding multiplies to more than $2 of goods and services in the economy. Alzheimer's / Dementia Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170598.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170598.php With about 35 million people around the world suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD) by the year 2010 and an expectation that these numbers will double every twenty years with approximately 115 million cases by 2050, pressure on healthcare systems worldwide will be intense. Alzheimer's / Dementia Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170599.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170599.php Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered a mechanism that controls the brain's ability to create lasting memories. In experiments on genetically manipulated mice, they were able to switch on and off the animals' ability to form lasting memories by adding a substance to their drinking water. The findings, which are published in the scientific journal PNAS, are of potential significance to the future treatment of Alzheimer's and stroke. Alzheimer's / Dementia Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170512.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170512.php Lack of muscle strength could be one of the early signs of dementia according to a study published in Archives of Neurology. Researchers at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago discussed whether muscle weakness may be an independent risk factor for Alzheimer's or whether it may be directly caused by some of the changes in the brain that start many years before the dementia symptoms become apparent. Alzheimer's / Dementia