Protein aggregates are the hallmark of a number of neurodegenerative diseases. New research, published in the journal PLOS Biology, examines a human enzyme that unravels these disruptive plaques. Neurodegenerative diseases already affect millions of people in the United States. They tend to strike in middle to later life, and, because the population is starting to live...
Tag: <span>Alzheimer’s disease</span>
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Anti-epilepsy drug restores normal brain activity in mild Alzheimer’s disease
In the last decade, mounting evidence has linked seizure-like activity in the brain to some of the cognitive decline seen in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease have an increased risk of epilepsy and nearly half may experience subclinical epileptic activity—disrupted electrical activity in the brain that doesn’t result in a seizure but...
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Computer-designed antibodies target toxins associated with Alzheimer’s disease
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have designed antibodies that target the protein deposits in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease, and stop their production. The researchers used computer-based methods to develop antibodies—the star players of the body’s natural defence system—to target the deposits of misfolded proteins which are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. Early...
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Gene variant protecting against Alzheimer’s disease decreases plasma beta-amyloid levels
New research from the University of Eastern Finland shows that the APP gene variant protecting against Alzheimer’s disease significantly decreases plasma beta-amyloid levels in a population cohort. This is a very significant discovery, as many on-going drug trials in the field of Alzheimer’s disease focus on decreasing beta-amyloid levels in the brain tissue. According to...
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Culprit hidden in plain sight in Alzheimer’s disease development
Exposure chamber in Mexico. A new study by researchers at the University of Montana, Universidad del Valle de México, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, Boise State, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, heightens concerns over the detrimental short- and long-term impact of airborne iron-rich strongly magnetic combustion-derived nanoparticles (CDNPs) present in young urbanites’ brains. Using...
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Brain scans reveal for the first time that eating plenty of salmon, mackerel and sardines protects against Alzheimer’s by boosting blood flow and memory
Omega-3 makes people better at acquiring and understanding new information Eating oily fish boosts our overall mental and emotional health, study reveals Simple dietary changes could prevent our risk of developing the condition Past research suggests dementia could even be treated via high omega-3 intake Brain scans reveal for the first time that eating plenty...
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Low levels of ‘memory protein’ linked to cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease
Diagram of the brain of a person with Alzheimer’s Disease. Working with human brain tissue samples and genetically engineered mice, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers together with colleagues at the National Institutes of Health, the University of California San Diego Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Columbia University, and the Institute for Basic Research in Staten...
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‘Silent seizures’ discovered in patients with Alzheimer’s disease
On the left is Dr. Alica Goldman and on the right is Dr. Jeffrey Noebels. Deep in the brains of two patients with Alzheimer’s disease, the main memory structure, the hippocampus, displays episodic seizure-like electrical activity. These non-convulsive hippocampal seizures are the first signs of ‘silent’ brain electrical network dysfunction described in patients with...
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Detecting Alzheimer’s disease earlier using … Greebles?
Which Greeble is different? Unique graphic characters called Greebles may prove to be valuable tools in detecting signs of Alzheimer’s disease decades before symptoms become apparent. In an article published online last week in Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, Emily Mason, Ph.D., a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Louisville,...
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Ultrasound and drug research holds promise for Alzheimer’s disease
Three dimensional imaging of the blood-brain barrier. Non-invasive ultrasound improves the delivery to the brain of a therapeutic antibody targeting Alzheimer’s disease, University of Queensland researchers have found. Scientists from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), previously showed non-pharmacological scanning ultrasound reversed Alzheimer’s symptoms and restored memory in mice. The new research found that ultrasound alone cleared...