Alzheimer’s disease (AD) could be the next frontier for deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy. A small phase 1 pilot study showed that some patients with AD who received constant stimulation to the fornix — the principle outflow tract from the hippocampus — had increased hippocampal volume after 1 year. There was also some evidence that…
Two novel, noninvasive, and relatively simple eye tests show promise as potential screening tools for early Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Preliminary results from 2 studies presented here at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) 2014 show that beta-amyloid detected in the eyes significantly correlated with the burden of beta-amyloid in the brain, allowing investigators to accurately…
Infants and toddlers with the Alzheimer’s disease-associated APOE4 genotype already showed distinctive patterns of brain structure relative to other young children, researchers said. MRI scans carried out in 60 normally developing children, age 2 to 25 months, who carried the APOE epsilon-4 allele, showed smaller volumes of gray matter and and lower white matter myelin…
“Could a scoop of peanut butter and a ruler become that elusive test?” If you treat the elderly, or any member of the growing number of families devastated by Alzheimer’s disease, you may be asked some version of that question, as posed by CBS News, in the coming weeks. You can thank media coverage of…
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved an expanded indication for the rivastigmine transdermal system (Exelon Patch, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation) to include patients with severe disease. Approval of this new indication for the 13.3 mg/24h dose rivastigmine patch means it can be used across all stages of disease, making it the only transdermal therapy…
A new study adds to a growing body of evidence pointing to small-vessel cerebrovascular disease as an important contributor to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The study shows that increased total white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) as seen on MRI independently predicted AD diagnosis, as did the brain amyloid tracer Pittsburgh compound B (PIB) measured by positron emission…
Regular exercise reduces the development of painful diabetic neuropathy in animals—apparently related to increased expression of a protective substance called “heat shock protein” 72 (Hsp72), reports an experimental study in the February issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS). The observations add to previous studies suggesting that “progressive…
The number of people with Alzheimer’s disease is expected to triple in the next 40 years, according to a new study published in the February 6, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “This increase is due to an aging baby boom generation. It will place a huge…
‘Brain pacemakers’ trialled as way of staving off memory loss from Alzheimer’s disease IT HAS the makings of a science fiction movie: Zap someone’s brain with mild jolts of electricity to try to stave off the creeping memory loss of Alzheimer’s disease. And it’s not easy. Holes are drilled into the patient’s skull so tiny…
In the next several decades the number of Alzheimer’s patients will continue to dramatically increase. Various teams of researchers worldwide are feverishly investigating precisely how the illness develops. Inflammation as a New Therapeutic Approach For Alzheimer’s Disease A team of scientists under the guidance of the University of Bonn and University of Massachusetts (USA) and…
Three-fourths of patients with Alzheimer’s disease or frontal-lobe degeneration had MRI-detected biomarker levels that correlated with the diagnoses, suggesting MRI has potential as a screening tool for the conditions, investigators reported. MRI-predicted values for total tau and β-amyloid ratio (tt/Aβ) in gray matter correctly pinpointed the diagnosis in 75% of patients with genetically or neuropathologically…
For the very first times, surgeons at Johns Hopkins have used a brain-implanted pacemaker device to try to slow memory loss in a patient suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s. So far there’s only one patient with a memory-saving zapper, but a second is on the way along with about 40 others over the…