Study boosts confidence in potential screening tool for Alzheimers disease
A major study has confirmed the value of potential markers for identifying people with Alzheimer's disease. Scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) found that levels of two key indicators in spinal fluid distinguished clinically diagnosed Alzheimer's patients from controls with 89-92 percent efficiency. This matches or exceeds current clinical diagnostic methods, such as doc...New theory of cell death proposed in UCSB Alzheimers research
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, currently affects four million Americans a number expected to increase to 14 million by the year 2050. Not surprisingly, researchers are racing to understand the disease so that effective therapies can be developed. ...To develop a drug that could arrest or prevent Alzheimer's disease, scientists must first understa...Lithium shows promise against Alzheimers in mouse model
An enzyme crucial to formation of ...lithium stems the accumulation of beta amyloid, which forms Alzheimer's plaques, scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) report in the May 22, 2003 Nature. Inhibiting the enzyme, glycogen synthase kinase 3 alpha (GSK-3 alpha), also blocks formation of neurofibrilar...Scientists at UCSB link brain plaques in Alzheimers disease to eye disease
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) Scientists at the Center for the Study of Macular Degeneration at the Neuroscience Research Institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara have found a link between the brain plaques that form in Alzheimers disease and the deposits in the retina that are associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is a disease that leads to loss of central vision...Insulin-degrading enzyme may affect risk of Alzheimers disease
DALLAS May 5, 2003 Low levels of an enzyme that degrades insulin could increase the risk for Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study in mice by doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.... ...The study, to be published online this week and in a future issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is among the first to show a relationship between the enzyme insulysin...Life expectancy following diagnosis of Alzheimers disease depends on age at diagnosis
The life span of people with Alzheimer's disease depends greatly on the age of the person when Alzheimer's disease is diagnosed, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Determining the survival following a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is important information for helping patients, families, and their caregivers, deal with the illness. The fi...Spinal cord injury and Alzheimers risk among topics at American Chemical Society meeting
EACH PAPER EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL DATE AND TIME OF PRESENTATION, UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE... ... ... ... Orlando, Fla. More than 6,500 cutting-edge research findings will be presented at the 223rd national meeting of the American Chemical Society, April 7-11, in Orlando. Nearly 11,000 scientists are expected to attend the mee...Researchers develop blood test to diagnose Alzheimers-type changes in mice
St. Louis, March 22, 2002 Researchers have for the first time used a blood test to identify Alzheimers-type changes in living mice. The test, developed by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Eli Lilly and Company, predicts the amount of amyloid plaque in an animals brain, a hallmark of Alzheimers disease. To date, the only way to definitively diagnose this di...Enzyme once thought harmful to Alzheimers patients now appears key to future treatment
March 12, 2002 -- Bethesda, MD -- The four million Americans who have been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease (AD) experience symptoms which include progressive mental deterioration, confusion, a loss of memory and an inability to calculate the simplest of numbers. This may be due to the fact that people with Alzheimer's have fewer brain cells and less of some important neurotransmitters than peo...E. coli bacteria make Alzheimers-linked fibers
Fibers known to be important in Alzheimers disease also are produced by bacteria that cause ailments such as urinary tract infections, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The finding is described in the February 1 issue of the journal Science.... Scott J. Hultgren, Ph.D., the Helen Lehbrink Stoever Professor of Molecular Microbiology, led the study...Adding vitamin C to certain drugs may help treat Alzheimers, other brain disorders
Drugs used to treat Alzheimers and other brain disorders appear to enter the brain more easily when a vitamin C molecule is attached, according to researchers in Italy. The discovery could lead to safer and more effective drugs that target the brain, they say.... ...The study is tentatively scheduled to appear in the Jan. 31 print issue of the a peer-reviewed publication of the American Chemica...Protein tied to Alzheimers also plays key role in honeybees
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. A protein targeted by drug treatments in some patients with Alzheimers disease also appears to play an important role in honeybees (Apis melifera), researchers say.... ...U.S. and Israeli scientists led by Gene E. Robinson of the University of Illinois report that forager bees, which work outside the hive collecting nectar and pollen, have lower activity levels of the acetylcho.....Stanford researchers have found an answer to a long-standing mystery surrounding Huntingtons, Alzheimers, Parkinsons and other neurodegenerative diseases. . .Their discovery, published in the May 25 issue of the journal Science, focuses on one of the telltale signs of neurodegenerative illness: the mysterious buildup of defective proteins in and around nerve cells. . .Healthy cells have the ab...Researchers identify genetic risk for Alzheimers disease
. . Investigators at Washington University in St. Louis led an international research team that has identified a new genetic risk factor for Alzheimers disease. The researchers still are working to isolate the specific gene, but they have isolated the region of DNA that contains it.. In this weeks Science, the researchers report that a region on chromosome 10 likely contains a gene that incr...Strikingly Similar protein may be in Alzheimers and Mad Cow Disease
.ATTENTION ALL REPORTERS: The research findings cited in this release .were.not presented at the American Chemical Society national meeting because .the.researcher was not available to make the presentation. . . Washington D.C., August 23 -- A "striking similarity" between .proteins involved in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and mad .cow disease was described here today at the 220th...A Common Microbe Could Help To Trigger Alzheimers
. . .A COMMON microbe could help to trigger Alzheimer's disease, say researchers in.the US. If true, their controversial claim could turn the multimillion-dollar.field of Alzheimer's research on its head and force a rethink on how to prevent.the disease. . The microbe in question is Chlamydia pneumoniae, which is spread by.coughs and sneezes. By the age of 20, half the population have be...New Medication Means New Choices For Families Dealing With Alzheimers Disease
.Hershey, Pa. -- A new study from Penn State's College of Medicine finds that.when medication for Alzheimer's disease is offered to all patients, family.members of patients in the early stages of Alzheimer's are the most likely to.accept available treatment. . "When dealing with this terrible disease, families are faced with many.extremely difficult decisions. One of those decisions is w...