Saturday, October 27, 2012

Hormone therapy may cut Alzheimer's risk in menopausal women

Hormone therapy may cut Alzheimer's risk in menopausal women - Chicago Tribune: The latest data from a long-running study of hormone therapy suggests women who started taking hormone replacements within five years of menopause were 30 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than women who started years later.
The findings, reported on Wednesday in the journal Neurology, add to evidence suggesting that taking hormone treatments around the time of menopause may be doing more than just helping women cope with hot flashes and night sweats.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Diet Rich in Carbohydrates and Sugar Could Increase Alzheimer's Risk

Diet Rich in Carbohydrates and Sugar Could Increase Alzheimer's Risk : Health : Counsel & Heal: A new research from Mayo Clinic in America suggests that older people who eat a diet rich in carbohydrates and sugar, could increase their risk of developing mild cognitive impairment by 4 times.
The research also suggests that plenty of consumption of proteins and fats could reduce the risk of cognitive decline.
Cognitive decline is a precursor to Alzheimer's disease. However, not everyone with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) develops Alzheimer's disease, lead author Rosebud Roberts, a professor in the department of epidemiology at the Mayo Clinic was quoted as saying by Mail Online.

Israeli medical device offers new Alzheimer's treatment

Israeli medical device offers new Alzheimer's treatment - chicagotribune.com: Israel-based Neuronix, which has developed a non-invasive medical device to help to treat Alzheimer's disease, expects the system to be approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in late 2014.

The device, which combines electromagnetic stimulation with computer-based cognitive training, is already approved for use in Europe, Israel and several Asian countries such as Singapore.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Vitamin D helps reduces risk of serious diseases to include alzheimers

Vitamin D helps reduces risk of serious diseases: From October to March, the sun isn’t strong enough north of Los Angeles and Atlanta to prod your body into making much vitamin D-3. That endangers your immune system, makes you vulnerable to depression and overeating, weakens your bones and increases your risk for certain cancers. And then there’s the newest D-3 alert: Lack of vitamin D-3 in older adults is associated with cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease.

Physical exercise bulks up aging brains; experts repeat HRT cautions

Health roundup: Physical exercise bulks up aging brains; experts repeat HRT cautions: Exercise and aging brains: Physical exercise may be even more important than mental exercise when it comes to keeping mentally sharp in old age, a new study suggests. The study of people in their early 70s found that those who engaged in regular physical exercise, such as walking, retained bigger brains than those who were inactive. Mental exercise, such as doing crossword puzzles, did not seem to effect the brain shrinkage associated with aging, researchers say

Friday, October 19, 2012

Alzheimer’s Drugs Seek Prevention as Cures Fail

Alzheimer’s Drugs Seek Prevention as Cures Fail: Health - Businessweek: Three studies set to explore the use of experimental drugs that may become the first to change the course of Alzheimer’s disease aren’t looking to cure the illness. Their goal is to prevent it altogether.
The independent trials will begin in 2013 and run for three to five years, testing as many as five drugs in almost 1,500 volunteers who haven’t shown any of Alzheimer’s mind-altering symptoms, yet carry a strong genetic risk for the disease or display early physical evidence in the brain. A decision on the final study drug is expected in December.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Alzheimer's: Amyloid Eclipses Genetic Risk

Alzheimer's: Amyloid Eclipses Genetic Risk: Memory may fade faster in brains clogged by amyloid plaques than those at genetic risk of Alzheimer's disease, researchers found.
High levels of beta-amyloid protein in the brain were associated with greater decline in working memory and verbal and visual episodic memory over 18 months among cognitively normal individuals, Yen Ying Lim, MPsych, of the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and colleagues reported in the Oct. 16 issue of Neurology.

Silicon-rich mineral water backed for Alzheimer’s benefits

Silicon-rich mineral water backed for Alzheimer’s benefits: The study – published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease – investigated the suggested links between exposure to aluminium and Alzheimer's disease by testing whether reduction in aluminium levels had beneficial effects on the disease.
Led by Professor Christopher Exley, from Keele University, UK, the research team’s findings suggest regular consumption of up to 1 litre a day of a silicon-rich mineral water works to remove aluminium from the bodies of people with Alzheimer’s disease, and in some individuals offers ‘clinically-significant’ protection against cognitive decline.

Alzheimer's tech spray being developed

Sky News: Alzheimer's tech spray being developed: A nanotechnology nasal spray is being developed that could transform the early detection and treatment of Alzheimer's.
The device shoots tiny magnetic particles into the nose which enter the bloodstream and are carried to the brain.
Each particle is fused to an antibody that targets and binds to rogue molecules believed to play an early role in the disease.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can detect both the particles and the molecules.
To date scientists have only tested the technique in the laboratory on human brain tissue cultures.
But if it can be shown to work in human patients it could lead to a major leap forward in managing Alzheimer's.

Can Lilly capitalize on Alzheimer's breakthrough?

Can Lilly capitalize on Alzheimer's breakthrough? | 2012-10-15 | Indianapolis Business Journal | IBJ.com: Eli Lilly and Co. has apparently made major medical history by being the first to develop a drug that alters the course of Alzheimer’s disease. But whether Lilly can be the first to make major money from a disease-altering Alzheimer’s drug is still in doubt.

Bilingualism delays Alzheimer's, says study

Bilingualism delays Alzheimer's, says study - PakTribune: For the first time, Toronto scientists have physical evidence that people who speak more than one language could delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease than their monolingual counterparts.
The researchers at St. Michael's Hospital found that bilingual people have twice as much brain damage as unilingual people before they exhibit symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.
"This is unheard of – no medicine comes close to delaying the onset of symptoms and now we have the evidence to prove this at the neuroanatomical level," said lead researcher Dr. Tom Schweizer, a neuroscientist at St. Michael's Hospital.
To conduct the study, the researchers studied the CT scans of 40 patients whose cognitive skills — including attention, memory, planning and organizational abilities — were found on testing to be similar.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Alzheimer's Drug Slows Memory Decline

Alzheimer's Drug Slows Memory Decline: An experimental Alzheimer’s treatment slowed memory loss by about one-third in people with mild Alzheimer's, offering hope that the drug can alter the course of the progressive disease.
Called solanezumab, the drug attaches to a protein called beta-amyloid that builds up and clumps together to form sticky plaques that riddle Alzheimer's patients' brains. The drug is designed to prevent those clumps from forming.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Food With Melatonin | LIVESTRONG.COM

Food With Melatonin | LIVESTRONG.COM: Tart cherries are a natural dietary source of melatonin. Scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio found Montmorency and Balaton tart cherries contain high levels of melatonin compared to melatonin concentrations in the blood of mammals, according to research published in the "Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry" in October 2001.

Food Containing Melatonin | eHow.com

Food Containing Melatonin | eHow.com: Oats, sweet corn and rice are the best foods to eat for melatonin. These foods contain between 1,000 and 1,800 picograms (1,000,000 picograms = 1 milligram) of melatonin per gram.
In the oats family, eat oatmeal, cereals containing oats, nature bars, oatmeal cookies and oat bread. Sweet corn is available in can or frozen form or fresh from your local grocery store or farmer's market. Rice, both white and brown, is available at local grocery store.

Melatonin and exercise work against Alzheimer's in mice | Science Codex

Melatonin and exercise work against Alzheimer's in mice | Science Codex: The combination of two neuroprotective therapies, voluntary physical exercise, and the daily intake of melatonin has been shown to have a synergistic effect against brain deterioration in rodents with three different mutations of Alzheimer's disease.A study carried out by a group of researchers from the Barcelona Biomedical Research Institute (IIBB), in collaboration with the University of Granada and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, shows the combined effect of neuroprotective therapies against Alzheimer's in mice.

Cancer Drugs Reverse Memory Loss in Alzheimer’s Disease

GEN | News Highlights:Cancer Drugs Reverse Memory Loss in Alzheimer’s Disease: Scientists have made the unexpected discovery that two marketed anticancer drugs can dramatically restore memory in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and may feasibly help hold back or even reverse memory loss in human AD patients.
The discovery, by researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and Tsinghua University in Beijing (China), was based on studies in a fruit fly model of AD that expresses Aβ42. Yi Zhong, Ph.D., and colleagues found that Aβ42 directly activates EGFR in the brain, and that treating the AD model fruit flies with either of the EGFR inhibitors gefitinib or erlotinib reversed the memory loss that is characteristic of their AD phenotype.

Alzheimer's May be Caused by Poor Diet

foodconsumer.org - Alzheimer's May be Caused by Poor Diet: Can You Eat Your Way to Alzheimer's?
In a recent animal study, researchers from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island were able to induce many of the characteristic brain changes seen with Alzheimer's disease (disorientation, confusion, inability to learn and remember) by interfering with insulin signaling in their brains.1
Faulty insulin (and leptin, another hormone) signaling is an underlying cause of insulin resistance, which, of course, typically leads to type 2 diabetes. However, while insulin is usually associated with its role in keeping your blood sugar levels in a healthy range, it also plays a role in brain signaling. When researchers disrupted the proper signaling of insulin in the brain, it resulted in dementia.