TUESDAY, May 15 (HealthDay News) — Researchers are preparing to test an experimental drug in people genetically primed to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
The best-scenario hope is that the drug will lead to a way of preventing the progressive brain-wasting disease, and to a better understanding of its destructive processes, U.S. officials announced Tuesday.
MONDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) — Feeding tubes increase the risk of bed sores in bedridden dementia patients, according to a new study.
The finding challenges the long-held belief that providing nutrition through feeding tubes helps prevent bed sores or helps promote their healing in this group of patients, the authors of the Brown University-led study said.
MONDAY, May 7, 2012 (Health.com) — People who have symptoms of depression in middle age may be at increased risk of dementia decades later, a new study suggests.
Using medical records, researchers tracked more than 13,000 people in a large northern California health plan from roughly their 40s and 50s into their 80s. Compared to people who had never been depressed, those who experienced symptoms of depression in middle age—but not later in life—were about 20% more likely to go on to develop dementia. Read More
By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, May 7 (HealthDay News) — If you’re looking for a way to keep dementia at bay, a new study suggests you can do so by developing a firm purpose in life.
The findings don’t prove that having a purpose will make a difference, and it’s possible that the researchers missed another important factor that’s at play. Still, the study found that people who had more purpose — as defined by the researchers — seemed to be less affected by the brain-clogging gunk that’s considered to be a cause of Alzheimer’s disease.
MONDAY, May 7 (HealthDay News) — People who suffer depression when they’re middle-aged or elderly may also have an higher risk of dementia later, a new study suggests.
Researchers evaluated long-term data from more than 13,000 people in California. They found that depressive symptoms occurred in about 14 percent of participants in midlife only, while about 9.2 percent of cases of depression developed in late life only. Just over 4 percent of people in the study had depression that stretched over midlife and late life.
WEDNESDAY, April 18, 2012 (Health.com) — In recent years, several studies have found that older people are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia if they engage in vigorous exercise, such as jogging, swimming, or brisk walking.
People who are too frail or out of shape to hit the pool or treadmill shouldn’t despair, however. According to a new study, even mundane, low-key tasks like gardening, cooking, and washing dishes can lower the risk of Alzheimer’s if they’re performed often enough. Read More
By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, April 18 (HealthDay News) — New research suggests that elderly people who move around more — even gardening or puttering around the house — are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than more sedentary seniors.
The study doesn’t confirm that being active lowers the risk of Alzheimer’s, an age-related degenerative brain disease. It’s possible that another factor explains the link; perhaps the very early stages of Alzheimer’s cause people to slow down.
TUESDAY, April 17 (HealthDay News) — New research adds to the growing pile of scientific strategies aimed at revealing beta-amyloid (protein) plaques, the brain-clogging fragments that have been associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
In a study funded by Bayer Healthcare Berlin, researchers report that they were able to use a drug and PET scans to successfully detect plaques in the brains of patients whose Alzheimer’s was confirmed after death.
WEDNESDAY, March 21 (HealthDay News) — Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia appear to spread through linked nerve cells in the brain, new research indicates.
The findings from MRI brain scans of dementia patients suggest that it may be possible to use MRI to predict the progression of dementias and to monitor the impact of treatments, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) researchers said.
They found that Alzheimer’s disease and four other common types of dementia appear to move between connected neurons in similar ways, even though they affect different brain networks.
MONDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) — Scientists have pinpointed how vitamin D3 works with some of the body’s cells to help clear the brain of
amyloid beta, the main component of plaques that are seen in Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers took blood samples from Alzheimer’s patients and healthy people and then isolated immune cells called macrophages, which consume amyloid beta and other waste products in the brain and the body.
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