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A new type of analysis allowed researchers to use a blood test to help to identify patients with Alzheimer’s in a group of people with neurodegenerative diseases, a study published in the journal PNAS reports. The test showed far better accuracy than earlier attempts at sampling blood to detect…

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Anavex Life Sciences a patent covering nerve protection treatments that combine Anavex 2-73 and donepezil. The patent is titled “ANAVEX 2-73 and certain anticholinesterase inhibitors composition and method for neuroprotection.” It offers Anavex exclusive rights to the approach through 2033, the…

Canadian researchers are working on the creation of a virtual assistant that could help people with Alzheimer’s disease do a better job of managing their daily lives. A key feature of the assistant, which scientists call ACT@Home, will be its ability to align its directions with a person’s emotional condition.

The first participant in a Phase 1 clinical trial of HTL0016878 as a treatment for cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease is receiving the therapy, according to its developer, Heptares Therapeutics. Heptares, a subsidiary of Japan’s Sosei Group Corporation, and Ireland-based Allergan are partnering in the trial under a treatment development and…

Researchers of two independent studies have discovered how a specific mutation on the TREM2 gene contributes to the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease, findings that shed light on the role of TREM2 in the brain, and can lead to new ways of treating this neurological disease. Their work was reported in studies titled…

Alzheimer’s disease leaves traces in the white blood cells of its patients that could be used to diagnose the disease. So says a study by researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) who used a blood test to correctly distinguish between patients with early Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease and healthy people. More importantly, the…

New artificial intelligence (AI) research conducted at McGill University in Canada suggests that doctors may soon have the tools to predict an individual’s likelihood of developing dementia several years before the onset of symptoms. Such extended prognostic capability would give future dementia patients and their families more time to plan strategies…

Aducanumab reduced deposits of the amyloid plaque associated with Alzheimer’s disease in the brains of early-stage patients who took part in a three-year extension trial, Biogen reports. After the study ended, deposits of the protein were lower in many patients’ brains than the level that a scan would identify as…

The link between brain inflammation, cell growth and division, and neuronal death could provide a target to treat Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disease, research suggests. The study, “LPS-induced inflammatory response triggers cell cycle reactivation in murine neuronal cells through retinoblastoma proteins induction,” appeared in the journal Cell Cycle. The…

Increasing the intake of trace amounts of lithium over a long period may prevent Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia, recent findings suggest. But the link between lithium and dementia is nonlinear, and the wrong amount appeared to increase dementia risk, according to…