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Swedish researchers demonstrated that a heart medication can reduce the build-up of plaque in brain blood vessels in mice. If findings in this animal study hold true for humans, scientists may be closer to developing a drug against Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The study, “Platelets contribute to amyloid-β aggregation in cerebral…

Recent hopeful statements that blood levels of progranulin might be a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia came to an abrupt stop when a recent study demonstrated that there is no link between the blood and cerebrospinal fluid levels of the substance, disrupting the idea of a progranulin…

Researchers at the Maastricht University Medical Center have investigated how the permeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is involved in early forms of Alzheimer disease. The findings suggest that a faulty BBB may be involved in the initial pathologic process that eventually results in neurodegeneration and dementia in these patients. Researchers…

The Alzheimer’s Association will use Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month to debunk myths related to  the disease, while raising awareness about some truths – including being open about how fatal the disease really is: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S. and the only one among…

A new study led by biomedical scientists at Indiana University has revealed evidence that the NMNAT2 enzyme may be protective against the debilitating effects of certain degenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s Disease. The study, “NMNAT2:HSP90 Complex Mediates Proteostasis in Proteinopathies,” was published in the journal…

Alzheimer’s disease research and drug development has for the last several decades focused feircly on the elimination of amyloid-β — the protein that aggregates forming plaques in brain neurons of patients. Now, a new study suggests that the protein is part of the immune system, having an evolutionary important antimicrobial role…

Professor Gunhild Waldemar, director of the Danish Dementia Research Center (DDRC), was a guest speaker at the recent Second Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) in Copenhagen, and she encouraged researchers to work together to develop standardized guidelines for early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). She reinforced the notion that…

A somewhat hectic schedule might protect a person from cognitive decline, a study from the University of Texas at Dallas reported. Busy people had better processing speed, working memory, episodic memory, and reasoning and language skills independent of age and education, indicating that a busy lifestyle might boost neuronal connections. Busy lifestyles — a…

Brazilian researchers have developed a nanoscale biosensor that can detect molecules linked to Alzheimer’s, as well as other neurodegenerative diseases, and certain cancers. The system marks a new era where highly sensitive, inexpensive, and portable devices might become accessible by healthcare professionals, and in settings without access to traditional resources. The sensor,…

Loss of the Y chromosome in blood cells puts men at the same risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease as individuals carrying familial high-risk mutations, offering a new marker for assessing disease risk, also including other age-related diseases, such as cancer. Partial loss of the Y chromosome over time, present in…