Posts

Mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's diagnoses trigger lower self-ratings of quality of life

"These findings suggest that a patient's quality of life could be impacted by a diagnostic label and their expectations for the prognosis. So, when a clinician discloses the diagnosis and prognosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment or mild stage Alzheimer's disease, a patient may experience additional symptoms, like anxiety or depression," said the study's lead author, Shana Stites, PsyD, MA, MS, a clinical psychologist in the Penn Memory Center, senior research investigator for the Penn Project on Precision Medicine for the Brain (P3MB). For many years, a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease was often not made until a patient had substantial memory and cognitive problems -- by which time patients themselves were often unaware of their diagnosis. Advances in awareness, as well in diagnostic methods, mean doctors are diagnosing Alzheimer's disease earlier, and in the future, routine diagnosis may occur before symptoms even begin. According to Stites, early di...

Tracing the path of Parkinson's disease proteins

A team of researchers has now developed a set of tools to observe, monitor and quantify how misfolded proteins associated with Parkinson's disease enter neurons in laboratory cultures and what happens to them once they're inside. The results will be published in the Aug. 11 issue of the  Journal of Biological Chemistry . Alpha-synuclein is a protein found in all neurons , where it is thought to be involved in regulating neurotransmitter release. Incorrectly folded alpha-synuclein sticks together, forming fibrous deposits called amyloid fibrils. These are the main components of Lewy bodies, the masses seen in the neurons of Parkinson's patients. In 2011, Virginia Lee's group at the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research at the University of Pennsylvania showed that if lab-produced alpha-synuclein fibrils were added to neurons growing in a dish, the neurons would develop Lewy bodies and display other symptoms of neurodegeneration. This study and others hinted...

New, more sensitive sensor for evaluating drug safety

Image
Picture of cells expressing the AgHalo sensor earlier than (left) and after (proper) mobile stress. The AgHalo sensor is turned on when misfolded proteins start to mixture and offers a quantitative measure of mobile stress that can be utilized to judge drug security. Credit score: Yu Liu, Penn State College A brand new method for evaluating drug security can detect stress on cells at earlier levels than standard strategies, which largely depend on detecting cell loss of life. The brand new methodology makes use of a fluorescent sensor that's turned on in a cell when misfolded proteins start to mixture -- an early signal of mobile stress. The strategy may be tailored to detect protein aggregates attributable to different toxins, in addition to illnesses reminiscent of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. A paper describing the brand new methodology, by a group of researchers at Penn State College, seems within the journal  Angewandte Chemie Worldwide Version...

Antiulcer drugs do not increase risk of Alzheimer’s disease

The association between proton pump inhibitors and Alzheimer's disease was studied at the University of Eastern Finland, as two previous studies from Germany reported an increased risk of dementia. However, these findings were not confirmed by the extensive Finnish study, at least not for the risk of Alzheimer's disease, which is the most common form of dementia. The results were published in American Journal of Gastroenterology. According to the new study, proton pump inhibitor use was not associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease, not even in long-term use exceeding three years. Furthermore, a higher dose did not increase the risk. According to the researchers , people do not need to avoid proton pump inhibitors in fear of developing Alzheimer's disease. However, long-term use of proton pump inhibitors should be carefully considered among older persons, as it has been linked with decreased calcium and vitamin B12 absorption and with serious inte...

Role for lysosome transport in Alzheimer's disease progression revealed

Image
Within the brains of mice with Alzheimer's illness, decreased ranges of JIP3 (proper) induce the formation of bigger amyloid plaques (crimson) and elevated numbers of swollen axons crammed with lysosomes (inexperienced). Credit score: Gowrishankar et al., 2017 Researchers from Yale College Faculty of Medication have found that defects within the transport of lysosomes inside neurons promote the buildup of protein aggregates within the brains of mice with Alzheimer's illness. The examine, which will likely be printed August 7 in  The Journal of Cell Biology (JCB) , means that creating methods to revive lysosome transport might characterize a brand new therapeutic strategy to treating the neurodegenerative dysfunction. Alzheimer's illness is the sixth main reason behind loss of life in america, with over 5 million People presently estimated to be dwelling with the dysfunction. A attribute characteristic of the illness is the formation of amyloid plaq...

Women have more active brains than men

Image
Facet view of the mind summarizing blood move outcomes from tens of hundreds of research topics reveals elevated blood move in girls in comparison with males, highlighted within the crimson coloured areas of the mind: the cingulate gyrus and precuneus. Males on this picture have greater blood move in blue coloured areas -- the cerebellum. Credit score: Journal of Alzheimer's Illness Within the largest purposeful mind imaging research thus far, the Amen Clinics (Newport Seashore, CA) in contrast 46,034 mind SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) imaging research supplied by 9 clinics, quantifying variations between the brains of women and men. The research is revealed within the  Journal of Alzheimer's Illness . Lead creator, psychiatrist Daniel G. Amen, MD, founding father of Amen Clinics, Inc., commented, "This can be a crucial research to assist perceive gender-based mind variations. The quantifiable variations we recognized between w...

Midlife cardiovascular risk factors may increase chances of dementia

"With an aging population, dementia is becoming a greater health concern. This study supports the importance of controlling vascular risk factors like high blood pressure early in life in an effort to prevent dementia as we age," said Walter J. Koroshetz, M.D., director of NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), which partially funded the study and created the Mind Your Risks® public health campaign to make people more aware of the link between cardiovascular  and brain health. "What's good for the heart is good for the brain," he added. The study was led by Rebecca Gottesman, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Her team analyzed the data of 15,744 people who participated in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, funded by the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). From 1987-1989, the participants, who were black or white and 45-64 years of age, ...