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Researchers at the University of East Anglia, U.K., developed a clever way to study one of the main processes that breaks down in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients — spatial memory. Through people using Sea Hero Quest, a game that can be played on mobile devices worldwide, scientists can study how spatial navigation…

The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) have announced a partnership to find a drug to cure or slow the progression of neurodegenerative diseases caused by the degeneration of neurons. The Lauder Foundation and the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation will each invest $5 million for the development…

Researchers have found an association between fitness and blood flow to areas of the brain where the hallmark tangles and plaques of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are typically detected. The study, “Cardiorespiratory fitness modifies the relationship between myocardial function and cerebral blood flow in older adults,” was published in the journal…

Chronic activation of the innate immune system is the main cause of a range of symptoms common to different neurodegenerative diseases, namely dementia, which is often associated with Alzheimer’s disease, researchers at the University of Adelaide reported. Their study, titled “The Enemy within: Innate Surveillance-Mediated Cell Death, the Common Mechanism…

Researchers at Osaka University, Japan, have found a new way to speed up the accumulation of amyloid-beta protien in a laboratory setting to better study the aggregation mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease. Because amyloid-beta aggregation characteristics are thought to be a marker of disease, researchers suggest the new method might…

Increased activity of mutant forms of a specific enzyme, protein kinase Cα (PKCα), correlates with damage to neurons caused by the amyloid-beta protein in late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, researchers from the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School reported. The findings also suggest that drugs inhibiting the…

The major genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the apolipoprotein E4 gene, is responsible for the disruption of a particular type of brain activity required for memory consolidation, according to the study “Apolipoprotein E4 Causes Age-Dependent Disruption of Slow Gamma Oscillations during Hippocampal Sharp-Wave Ripples,” published…

A new study reveals how tau protein drives the formation of stress granules, intended to allow neurons to adapt to stressful conditions, like an injury, during brief periods of time. Findings in the journal Cell Reports show that if stress persists, the tau-stress granule complex does so as well,…

Riluzole, a drug approved for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), might reverse genetic changes often observed in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive decline. The findings support a clinical trial now exploring if riluzole is beneficial for Alzheimer’s patients. Researchers at Rockefeller University have previously shown that…

Studies suggesting that a cancer diagnosis reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), possibly through a biological mechanism that triggers cancer and prevents AD, may be somewhat irrelevant, researchers said, pointing to data showing that pancreatic cancer patients usually don’t live long enough to develop Alzheimer’s. The study, “Is…