Occasional misplaced keys or forgotten names don't mark the beginning of dementia. All dementia isn't Alzheimer's disease. Some dementia symptoms can be reversed. Those facts and many more are covered in Deciphering Dementia, a supplemental Special Report to the July issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource.
The report provides in-depth coverage of the causes, risk factors, diagnoses and treatment options for dementia. Some highlights from the report include:
Types and causes of dementia: While Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia in people 65 and older, there are many other causes. For example, vascular dementia results from stroke. Lewy body dementia occurs when abnormal round structures called Lewy bodies develop in regions of the brain involved with thinking, movement and sleep. Visual hallucinations can be the first sign of this type of dementia.
Infections such as meningitis and encephalitis can cause dementia symptoms, and so can leukemia and multiple sclerosis. Depression can cause people to appear slow, confused or forgetful. In these situations, symptoms of dementia may improve with treatment for the underlying disease.
Ways to protect the brain: Lowering cholesterol or blood pressure levels can help thwart the buildup of plaques in arteries and can help prevent stroke, one of the major causes of vascular dementia. Some research has indicated that statin drugs, which help lower cholesterol, may help lower dementia risk.
Other protective strategies include keeping the mind active, being physically and socially active and eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and omega-3 fatty acids found in certain fish and nuts.
What's normal memory loss and what isn't: Occasional lapses in memory are different from the type of memory loss associated with dementia. Needing directions when driving to a place visited only occasionally is normal. Losing one's way driving home from a familiar location, such as the grocery store, is not.
When dementia-like symptoms start to become a concern, it's time to see a physician. Memory loss and other dementia symptoms have many causes, so diagnosis can be a challenge. Nevertheless, early and accurate diagnosis allows for treatment that might help reverse, lessen or delay the progression of symptoms.
Source:
Mayo Clinic
четверг, 5 мая 2011 г.
среда, 4 мая 2011 г.
Statins Do Not Help Prevent Alzheimer's Disease, Review Finds
An increasing number of studies show that elevated serum cholesterol levels might be part of the cause of Alzheimer disease, but a new review of studies says that, even so, the most successful class of cholesterol-lowering medicines will not stave off the condition.
Statins includes medications such as atorvastatin (Lipitor) and pravastatin (Pravachol), which are some of the best-selling drugs in the world.
The drugs lower cholesterol by inhibiting a key enzyme used by the body to make it, which decreases cholesterol formation and helps reduce the amount of low-density lipoprotein (LDL or "bad" cholesterol).
Biomedical and epidemiological studies showing the relationship between elevated cholesterol and Alzheimer disease have caused scientists to wonder if these medications could lower the risk of developing the disease, which is the most common cause of dementia. For example, in studies using animals, the expression of Alzheimer symptoms slowed with lowered cholesterol, giving hope that the same might be true for humans.
The new review appears in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews like this one draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.
"From these trials, which contained very large numbers and were the gold standard ??¦ it appears that statins given in late life to individuals at risk of vascular disease do not prevent against dementia," said lead study author Bernadette McGuinness, a senior clinical research fellow in geriatric medicine at Queen's University in Belfast, Ireland. "I feel the follow-up time was sufficient to allow for an effect to appear," she added.
The review, an update to an earlier review completed in 2001, comprised 26,340 participants in two major studies. One study, the Medical Research Council/British Heart Foundation Heart Protection Study (HPS), looked at simvastatin (Zocor) use in 20,536 patients and followed them for five years. The other study, the PROSPER trial, looked at pravastatin use in 5,804 patients, with an average follow-up of 3.2 years.
Both studies were double-blind randomized, placebo-controlled studies of statin medications in individuals at risk for dementia and Alzheimer disease. Taken together, the studies comprised adults between the ages of 40 and 82.
While the review showed no evidence that statin medications were harmful to cognition, the review authors found no difference between patients receiving the medications and patients receiving placebo medications when it came to incidence of dementia, cognitive function or performance on specific neuropsychological tests, such as a picture word learning test.
"Statins have a range of mechanisms that could help or hurt cognition," said Beatrice Golomb, M.D., of the department of family and preventive medicine at the University of California, San Diego. "Regarding statins as preventive medicines, there are a number of individual cases in case reports and case series where cognition is clearly and reproducibly adversely affected by statins."
Golomb also said that some randomized trials have shown that the net effect of statin medications was significantly adverse and others that have shown it was neutral, but that none has shown statin use to be favorable for cognition.
McGuinness said that while the two large trials showed that statins given later in life do not protect against dementia, "it is unclear, however, if statins given in middle age for many years can protect against dementia in later life, as the studies did not address this."
She noted that neither study aimed to assess the prevention of dementia primarily; in fact, dementia was at most a secondary outcome in the studies. As a result, "some people with dementia may not have been picked up by the screening, especially in HPS, but it is difficult to know."
Patients taking statins might not take them reliably if they've developed cognitive problems or side effects, Golomb said. "That is, the very patients who develop cognitive problems or adverse effects as a result of statins will be less compliant on statins, the literature says, and then may be selectively excluded from the study." As a result, the study could portray unrepresentatively favorable results where cognitive function is concerned, she said. "However, the conclusion, an important one, remains largely correct."
The Cochrane Collaboration is an international nonprofit, independent organization that produces and disseminates systematic reviews of health care interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions.
McGuinness B, et al. Statins for the prevention of dementia. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 2.
Source: Health Behavior News Service
View drug information on Pravachol; Zocor.
Statins includes medications such as atorvastatin (Lipitor) and pravastatin (Pravachol), which are some of the best-selling drugs in the world.
The drugs lower cholesterol by inhibiting a key enzyme used by the body to make it, which decreases cholesterol formation and helps reduce the amount of low-density lipoprotein (LDL or "bad" cholesterol).
Biomedical and epidemiological studies showing the relationship between elevated cholesterol and Alzheimer disease have caused scientists to wonder if these medications could lower the risk of developing the disease, which is the most common cause of dementia. For example, in studies using animals, the expression of Alzheimer symptoms slowed with lowered cholesterol, giving hope that the same might be true for humans.
The new review appears in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews like this one draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.
"From these trials, which contained very large numbers and were the gold standard ??¦ it appears that statins given in late life to individuals at risk of vascular disease do not prevent against dementia," said lead study author Bernadette McGuinness, a senior clinical research fellow in geriatric medicine at Queen's University in Belfast, Ireland. "I feel the follow-up time was sufficient to allow for an effect to appear," she added.
The review, an update to an earlier review completed in 2001, comprised 26,340 participants in two major studies. One study, the Medical Research Council/British Heart Foundation Heart Protection Study (HPS), looked at simvastatin (Zocor) use in 20,536 patients and followed them for five years. The other study, the PROSPER trial, looked at pravastatin use in 5,804 patients, with an average follow-up of 3.2 years.
Both studies were double-blind randomized, placebo-controlled studies of statin medications in individuals at risk for dementia and Alzheimer disease. Taken together, the studies comprised adults between the ages of 40 and 82.
While the review showed no evidence that statin medications were harmful to cognition, the review authors found no difference between patients receiving the medications and patients receiving placebo medications when it came to incidence of dementia, cognitive function or performance on specific neuropsychological tests, such as a picture word learning test.
"Statins have a range of mechanisms that could help or hurt cognition," said Beatrice Golomb, M.D., of the department of family and preventive medicine at the University of California, San Diego. "Regarding statins as preventive medicines, there are a number of individual cases in case reports and case series where cognition is clearly and reproducibly adversely affected by statins."
Golomb also said that some randomized trials have shown that the net effect of statin medications was significantly adverse and others that have shown it was neutral, but that none has shown statin use to be favorable for cognition.
McGuinness said that while the two large trials showed that statins given later in life do not protect against dementia, "it is unclear, however, if statins given in middle age for many years can protect against dementia in later life, as the studies did not address this."
She noted that neither study aimed to assess the prevention of dementia primarily; in fact, dementia was at most a secondary outcome in the studies. As a result, "some people with dementia may not have been picked up by the screening, especially in HPS, but it is difficult to know."
Patients taking statins might not take them reliably if they've developed cognitive problems or side effects, Golomb said. "That is, the very patients who develop cognitive problems or adverse effects as a result of statins will be less compliant on statins, the literature says, and then may be selectively excluded from the study." As a result, the study could portray unrepresentatively favorable results where cognitive function is concerned, she said. "However, the conclusion, an important one, remains largely correct."
The Cochrane Collaboration is an international nonprofit, independent organization that produces and disseminates systematic reviews of health care interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions.
McGuinness B, et al. Statins for the prevention of dementia. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 2.
Source: Health Behavior News Service
View drug information on Pravachol; Zocor.
вторник, 3 мая 2011 г.
Dementia Screening In Primary Care: Is It Time? USA
Primary care physicians should focus on "dementia red flags" rather than routinely screen individuals with no dementia symptoms just because they've reached a certain age, according to Malaz Boustani, M.D., MPH, of the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. and colleagues from the University of Kent and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom in a commentary published in the Nov. 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"To screen without symptoms, unless there is a suspicion of a problem, either by the individual, caregivers, or a physician, may led to negative consequences for the person and for society" says Dr. Boustani, who is a geriatrician.
"There currently is no accurate screening test and we would be faced with an unacceptable number of false positives and false negatives. If we focus on dementia red flags we will be identifying individuals who will have a very high probability of having dementia and be able to focus our resources, including diagnostic testing, on these people," Dr. Boustani says.
Dementia red flags include medication adherence problems, more than 7 prescribed medications, agitation, multiple falls, and more than 2 hospitalizations or emergency department visits in the past year. Dr. Boustani, who says the healthcare system in the United States misses between 60% and 80% of individuals with dementia, is currently testing ways to help physicians identify dementia red flags in their patients so these missed individuals can be helped.
Someone in the United States develops Alzheimer disease every 72 seconds, according to the Alzheimer's Association. The average primary care physician sees 2,000 patients per year of whom 300 are aged 65 or older. Of these 24 will develop dementia.
Despite this burden of disease, the benefit-harm ratio of conducting general population-based screening has not yet reached the point where the benefit outweighs the harm, the commentary maintains. Harms include possible stigma, loss of long term care insurance, emotional dislocation for both the individual and family, and resources' shifting from other health problems.
Dr. Boustani is the author of a 2003 report evaluating the wisdom of routine screening for dementia in primary care settings prepared for the U.S Preventative Services Task Force. The report found that while two-thirds of dementia cases are undetected by the patient's primary care physician, insufficient data exists to indicate whether or not it is a good idea to administer dementia screening tests to patients who do not have symptoms of memory loss or confusion.
"Pressures to institute screening of unproven benefit could divert much needed resources from the health and social care systems and have an overall negative impact on care for patients with dementia and other illnesses, ultimately delaying the point when dementia screening becomes indicated. The goal should continue to be the best possible care for the most patients, which currently does not include screening for dementia," the commentary concludes.
Indiana University School of Medicine
"To screen without symptoms, unless there is a suspicion of a problem, either by the individual, caregivers, or a physician, may led to negative consequences for the person and for society" says Dr. Boustani, who is a geriatrician.
"There currently is no accurate screening test and we would be faced with an unacceptable number of false positives and false negatives. If we focus on dementia red flags we will be identifying individuals who will have a very high probability of having dementia and be able to focus our resources, including diagnostic testing, on these people," Dr. Boustani says.
Dementia red flags include medication adherence problems, more than 7 prescribed medications, agitation, multiple falls, and more than 2 hospitalizations or emergency department visits in the past year. Dr. Boustani, who says the healthcare system in the United States misses between 60% and 80% of individuals with dementia, is currently testing ways to help physicians identify dementia red flags in their patients so these missed individuals can be helped.
Someone in the United States develops Alzheimer disease every 72 seconds, according to the Alzheimer's Association. The average primary care physician sees 2,000 patients per year of whom 300 are aged 65 or older. Of these 24 will develop dementia.
Despite this burden of disease, the benefit-harm ratio of conducting general population-based screening has not yet reached the point where the benefit outweighs the harm, the commentary maintains. Harms include possible stigma, loss of long term care insurance, emotional dislocation for both the individual and family, and resources' shifting from other health problems.
Dr. Boustani is the author of a 2003 report evaluating the wisdom of routine screening for dementia in primary care settings prepared for the U.S Preventative Services Task Force. The report found that while two-thirds of dementia cases are undetected by the patient's primary care physician, insufficient data exists to indicate whether or not it is a good idea to administer dementia screening tests to patients who do not have symptoms of memory loss or confusion.
"Pressures to institute screening of unproven benefit could divert much needed resources from the health and social care systems and have an overall negative impact on care for patients with dementia and other illnesses, ultimately delaying the point when dementia screening becomes indicated. The goal should continue to be the best possible care for the most patients, which currently does not include screening for dementia," the commentary concludes.
Indiana University School of Medicine
воскресенье, 1 мая 2011 г.
Potential Blood Test For Alzheimer's
Researchers have revealed a direct relationship between two specific antibodies and the severity of Alzheimer's disease symptoms, raising hopes that a diagnostic blood test for the devastating disorder is within reach.
Researchers from the University of Georgia, the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta and the Medical College of Georgia compared antibody levels in blood samples from 118 older adults with the participant's level of dementia. The team, whose results appear in the current edition of Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, found that the concentration of two specific proteins that are involved in the immune response increases as the severity of dementia increases.
"We found a strong and consistent relationship between two particular antibodies and the level of impairment," said study co-author L. Stephen Miller, professor and director of clinical psychology training in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "The finding brings us closer to our ultimate goal of developing a blood test that can diagnose Alzheimer's disease or potentially identify if someone is at higher risk for the disease."
Miller's co-authors include Jennifer S. Wilson, a former undergraduate student in the UGA Honors program who is now pursing graduate studies at Emory University; Shyamala Mruthinti, research pharmacologist at the VA Medical Center and adjunct professor at MCG; and Jerry Buccafusco, director of the MCG Alzheimer's Research Center. The team focused on antibodies that the body creates in response to two proteins that are associated with Alzheimer's disease. One protein, known as amyloid-beta, forms the plaques that are evident in the brains of people with Alzheimer's upon autopsy. The other protein, known as RAGE, is involved in the normal aging process but is expressed at higher levels in the brains of people with Alzheimer's.
In a previous study that compared a group of people with Alzheimer's disease to a healthy control group, Mruthinti and her colleagues found that anti-amyloid beta and anti-RAGE antibodies are significantly higher in the group with Alzheimer's. The team's latest study expands on that finding to reveal a direct relationship between severity of Alzheimer's disease and levels of the two antibodies in the blood.
"Alzheimer's is an inflammatory disease of the brain, and these two antibodies give us a way to measure that inflammation," Mruthinti said. "Using them as an early diagnostic marker may allow us to start drug treatment early, when it's most effective, to increase the patient's quality of life."
While optimistic about their findings, the researchers caution that it could still be years before a diagnostic test based on their work is clinically available. The study found that the relationship between the two antibodies and Alzheimer's severity persists even after controlling for patient age and total antibody levels. To further test the strength of the relationship, the researchers are now working with a sample that controls for other factors that have the potential to influence levels of the two antibodies, such as diabetes and heart disease. Buccafusco and his colleagues are also working to decrease the cost and time involved in the test.
"We're in the process of trying to reduce the test to a one-day procedure, whereas right now it takes three to four days," Buccafusco said. "But even now, our test is orders of magnitude cheaper than having people come in every few months to get a functional MRI or PET scan to try to discern brain plaques."
The team is targeting the two proteins themselves as a possible treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Mruthinti explains that, individually, amyloid-beta and RAGE proteins don't provoke an immune response. The trouble begins when the two bind and the immune system attacks, resulting in constant state of inflammation that damages the brain. The researchers recently developed a way to measure levels of amyloid beta-RAGE complex, and preliminary data using transgenic mice that express Alzheimer's symptoms suggest that an antigen they created to boost the body's natural immune response to the complex can reduce the formation of the brain plaques.
"The amyloid beta-RAGE complex cuts off the connections between neurons," Mruthinti explained, "but our hope is that we can protect those connections by preventing those plaques from forming."
Notes:
The research was funded by a Merit Review Award from the Veterans Administration to principal investigator Mruthinti and by the Medical College of Georgia Alzheimer's Research Center.
Source: Sam Fahmy
University of Georgia
Researchers from the University of Georgia, the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta and the Medical College of Georgia compared antibody levels in blood samples from 118 older adults with the participant's level of dementia. The team, whose results appear in the current edition of Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, found that the concentration of two specific proteins that are involved in the immune response increases as the severity of dementia increases.
"We found a strong and consistent relationship between two particular antibodies and the level of impairment," said study co-author L. Stephen Miller, professor and director of clinical psychology training in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "The finding brings us closer to our ultimate goal of developing a blood test that can diagnose Alzheimer's disease or potentially identify if someone is at higher risk for the disease."
Miller's co-authors include Jennifer S. Wilson, a former undergraduate student in the UGA Honors program who is now pursing graduate studies at Emory University; Shyamala Mruthinti, research pharmacologist at the VA Medical Center and adjunct professor at MCG; and Jerry Buccafusco, director of the MCG Alzheimer's Research Center. The team focused on antibodies that the body creates in response to two proteins that are associated with Alzheimer's disease. One protein, known as amyloid-beta, forms the plaques that are evident in the brains of people with Alzheimer's upon autopsy. The other protein, known as RAGE, is involved in the normal aging process but is expressed at higher levels in the brains of people with Alzheimer's.
In a previous study that compared a group of people with Alzheimer's disease to a healthy control group, Mruthinti and her colleagues found that anti-amyloid beta and anti-RAGE antibodies are significantly higher in the group with Alzheimer's. The team's latest study expands on that finding to reveal a direct relationship between severity of Alzheimer's disease and levels of the two antibodies in the blood.
"Alzheimer's is an inflammatory disease of the brain, and these two antibodies give us a way to measure that inflammation," Mruthinti said. "Using them as an early diagnostic marker may allow us to start drug treatment early, when it's most effective, to increase the patient's quality of life."
While optimistic about their findings, the researchers caution that it could still be years before a diagnostic test based on their work is clinically available. The study found that the relationship between the two antibodies and Alzheimer's severity persists even after controlling for patient age and total antibody levels. To further test the strength of the relationship, the researchers are now working with a sample that controls for other factors that have the potential to influence levels of the two antibodies, such as diabetes and heart disease. Buccafusco and his colleagues are also working to decrease the cost and time involved in the test.
"We're in the process of trying to reduce the test to a one-day procedure, whereas right now it takes three to four days," Buccafusco said. "But even now, our test is orders of magnitude cheaper than having people come in every few months to get a functional MRI or PET scan to try to discern brain plaques."
The team is targeting the two proteins themselves as a possible treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Mruthinti explains that, individually, amyloid-beta and RAGE proteins don't provoke an immune response. The trouble begins when the two bind and the immune system attacks, resulting in constant state of inflammation that damages the brain. The researchers recently developed a way to measure levels of amyloid beta-RAGE complex, and preliminary data using transgenic mice that express Alzheimer's symptoms suggest that an antigen they created to boost the body's natural immune response to the complex can reduce the formation of the brain plaques.
"The amyloid beta-RAGE complex cuts off the connections between neurons," Mruthinti explained, "but our hope is that we can protect those connections by preventing those plaques from forming."
Notes:
The research was funded by a Merit Review Award from the Veterans Administration to principal investigator Mruthinti and by the Medical College of Georgia Alzheimer's Research Center.
Source: Sam Fahmy
University of Georgia
суббота, 30 апреля 2011 г.
Santander Banks On Raising ??450,000 For Alzheimer's Society In 2011
Santander staff across the UK have joined forces with Alzheimer's Society to raise a national target of ??450,000 to help people with dementia and their carers.
The partnership will see Santander employees across its UK branch network carrying out national and regional fundraising initiatives in 2011 for the charity, which supports people living with dementia today and funds research to find a cure for tomorrow. The funds raised by the bank will go towards Alzheimer's Society's online forum, 'Talking Point', which provides advice, information and support for anyone affected by dementia.
Santander will mark the launch of this partnership in the New Year with a 'Go Retro' day, where staff will be able to dust off their flares or platforms and dress up for a donation. Alzheimer's Society pin badges will also be available in all Santander branches for customers to buy from February.
Other fundraising initiatives in 2011 will include a sponsored abseil in Liverpool and Milton Keynes, the Pedometer Challenge in which staff will be sponsored to walk great distances, as well as an overseas challenge to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
Sheralee Morris, Santander Community Relations Manager said:
'We are delighted to be working with Alzheimer's Society in 2011 and have some exciting fundraising initiatives lined up in order to meet our target amount. This year more staff than ever voted for the charity they wanted to support in 2011 and Alzheimer's Society was a clear winner. It is such a worthwhile cause, one that is close to many people's hearts.'
Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive, Alzheimer's Society said:
'Alzheimer's Society is delighted to be Santander's Charity of the Year. As a charity, we rely on voluntary donations to continue our vital work. The support of companies like Santander allows us to champion the rights of people living with dementia and the millions of people who care for them. The money raised will make a real difference to the 750,000 people living with dementia in the UK.'
Source:
Alzheimer's Society
The partnership will see Santander employees across its UK branch network carrying out national and regional fundraising initiatives in 2011 for the charity, which supports people living with dementia today and funds research to find a cure for tomorrow. The funds raised by the bank will go towards Alzheimer's Society's online forum, 'Talking Point', which provides advice, information and support for anyone affected by dementia.
Santander will mark the launch of this partnership in the New Year with a 'Go Retro' day, where staff will be able to dust off their flares or platforms and dress up for a donation. Alzheimer's Society pin badges will also be available in all Santander branches for customers to buy from February.
Other fundraising initiatives in 2011 will include a sponsored abseil in Liverpool and Milton Keynes, the Pedometer Challenge in which staff will be sponsored to walk great distances, as well as an overseas challenge to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
Sheralee Morris, Santander Community Relations Manager said:
'We are delighted to be working with Alzheimer's Society in 2011 and have some exciting fundraising initiatives lined up in order to meet our target amount. This year more staff than ever voted for the charity they wanted to support in 2011 and Alzheimer's Society was a clear winner. It is such a worthwhile cause, one that is close to many people's hearts.'
Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive, Alzheimer's Society said:
'Alzheimer's Society is delighted to be Santander's Charity of the Year. As a charity, we rely on voluntary donations to continue our vital work. The support of companies like Santander allows us to champion the rights of people living with dementia and the millions of people who care for them. The money raised will make a real difference to the 750,000 people living with dementia in the UK.'
Source:
Alzheimer's Society
пятница, 29 апреля 2011 г.
Larger Head Size May Protect Against Alzheimer's Symptoms
New research shows that people with Alzheimer's disease who have large heads have better memory and thinking skills than those with the disease who have smaller heads, even when they have the same amount of brain cell death due to the disease. The research is published in the July 13, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
"These results add weight to the theory of brain reserve, or the individual capacity to withstand changes in the brain," said study author Robert Perneczky, MD, of the Technical University of Munich in Germany. "Our findings also underline the importance of optimal brain development early in life, since the brain reaches 93 percent of its final size at age six."
Head size is one way to measure brain reserve and brain growth. Perneczky said that while brain growth is determined in part by genetics, it is also influenced by nutrition, infections and inflammations of the central nervous system, and brain injuries.
"Improving prenatal and early life conditions could significantly increase brain reserve, which could have an impact on the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or the severity of symptoms of the disease," he said.
For the study, 270 people with Alzheimer's disease took tests of their memory and cognitive skills and had MRI scans of their brains to measure the amount of brain cell death. Head size was determined by the circumference measurement.
The study showed that larger head size was associated with a greater performance on memory and thinking tests, even when there was an equivalent degree of brain cell death. Specifically, for every one percent of brain cell death, an additional centimeter of head size was associated with a six percent greater performance on the memory tests.
The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging.
The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 22,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.
Source: American Academy of Neurology (AAN)
"These results add weight to the theory of brain reserve, or the individual capacity to withstand changes in the brain," said study author Robert Perneczky, MD, of the Technical University of Munich in Germany. "Our findings also underline the importance of optimal brain development early in life, since the brain reaches 93 percent of its final size at age six."
Head size is one way to measure brain reserve and brain growth. Perneczky said that while brain growth is determined in part by genetics, it is also influenced by nutrition, infections and inflammations of the central nervous system, and brain injuries.
"Improving prenatal and early life conditions could significantly increase brain reserve, which could have an impact on the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or the severity of symptoms of the disease," he said.
For the study, 270 people with Alzheimer's disease took tests of their memory and cognitive skills and had MRI scans of their brains to measure the amount of brain cell death. Head size was determined by the circumference measurement.
The study showed that larger head size was associated with a greater performance on memory and thinking tests, even when there was an equivalent degree of brain cell death. Specifically, for every one percent of brain cell death, an additional centimeter of head size was associated with a six percent greater performance on the memory tests.
The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging.
The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 22,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.
Source: American Academy of Neurology (AAN)
четверг, 28 апреля 2011 г.
Antihypertensive Drugs May Protect Against Alzheimer's Disease Independent From Reduction Of Blood Pressure Lowering Activities
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that the drug carvedilol, currently prescribed for the treatment of hypertension, may lessen the degenerative impact of Alzheimer's disease and promote healthy memory functions. The new findings are published in two studies in the current issues of Neurobiology of Aging and the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
"These studies are certainly very exciting, and suggest for the first time that certain antihypertensive drugs already available to the public may independently influence memory functions while reducing degenerative pathological features of the Alzheimer's disease brain," said study author Giulio Maria Pasinetti, MD, PhD, Saunders Family Professor of Neurology and Director of the Center of Excellence for Novel Approaches to Neurotherapeutics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
Dr. Pasinetti's team found for the first time that carvedilol, a blood pressure lowering agent, is capable of exerting activities that significantly reduce Alzheimer's disease-type brain and memory degeneration. This benefit was achieved without blood pressure lowering activity in mice genetically modified to develop Alzheimer's disease brain degeneration and memory impairment. These data were published in Neurobiology of Aging.
In a second study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, the research team led by Dr. Pasinetti assessed how mice learned new tasks and information and recall of past information chemically stored in the brain. They found that carvedilol treatment was capable of promoting memory function, based on assessments of learning new tasks and information and recall of past information, which is already chemically stored in the brain.
In the study, one group of mice received carvedilol treatment and the other group did not. The scientists conducted behavioral and learning tests with each group of mice, and determined that it took the mice in the carvedilol significantly less time to remember tasks than the other group.
"Ongoing clinical research is in progress to test the benefits of carvedilol, which may prove to be an effective agent in the treatment of symptoms of Alzheimer's disease," said Dr. Pasinetti. "We look forward to further studying this drug in the human population."
Source:
Mount Sinai Medical Center
"These studies are certainly very exciting, and suggest for the first time that certain antihypertensive drugs already available to the public may independently influence memory functions while reducing degenerative pathological features of the Alzheimer's disease brain," said study author Giulio Maria Pasinetti, MD, PhD, Saunders Family Professor of Neurology and Director of the Center of Excellence for Novel Approaches to Neurotherapeutics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
Dr. Pasinetti's team found for the first time that carvedilol, a blood pressure lowering agent, is capable of exerting activities that significantly reduce Alzheimer's disease-type brain and memory degeneration. This benefit was achieved without blood pressure lowering activity in mice genetically modified to develop Alzheimer's disease brain degeneration and memory impairment. These data were published in Neurobiology of Aging.
In a second study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, the research team led by Dr. Pasinetti assessed how mice learned new tasks and information and recall of past information chemically stored in the brain. They found that carvedilol treatment was capable of promoting memory function, based on assessments of learning new tasks and information and recall of past information, which is already chemically stored in the brain.
In the study, one group of mice received carvedilol treatment and the other group did not. The scientists conducted behavioral and learning tests with each group of mice, and determined that it took the mice in the carvedilol significantly less time to remember tasks than the other group.
"Ongoing clinical research is in progress to test the benefits of carvedilol, which may prove to be an effective agent in the treatment of symptoms of Alzheimer's disease," said Dr. Pasinetti. "We look forward to further studying this drug in the human population."
Source:
Mount Sinai Medical Center
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