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Better quality relationships associated with reduced dementia risk

Conversely, negative social support is linked with increased risk, according to the 10-year follow-up study carried out by a team of researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA), University College London (UCL), London Metropolitan University and the University of Nottingham. The study was based on data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and conducted by Dr Mizanur Khondoker at UEA, Professors Andrew Steptoe and Stephen Morris at UCL, Dr Snorri Rafnsson at London Metropolitan and Prof Martin Orrell at Nottingham. The research was part of the Promoting Independence in Dementia (PRIDE) programme and is published today in the  Journal of Alzheimer's Disease . The researchers analysed a decade of data that followed 10,055 core participants from ELSA who were dementia-free at the start of the study in 2002-2003. Participants were interviewed every two years during 2004-2012 and incidence of dementia was identified from self-reports by participants or inf...
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One step closer to finding out how wine may protect your neurons

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Purple wine. Credit score: © natashaphoto / Fotolia Let or not it's no misunderstanding: heavy alcohol consumption has extreme dangerous results. However already for a number of years, researchers have been discovering that average wine consumption could be useful in delaying the onset of cognitive impairments in growing older and neurodegenerative illnesses like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's illness. Dr. Esteban-Fernández from the Institute of Meals Science Analysis in Madrid and her colleagues have been investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective actions of wine, just lately printed in  Frontiers in Vitamin . As a substitute of investigating wine immediately, they studied the compounds which can be left after the wine has handed via the intestine: the so-called wine-derived human intestine metabolites. They chose a few of these metabolites based mostly on their ...
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Antibiotic doxycycline may offer hope for treatment of Parkinson's disease

According to the authors, the substance reduces the toxicity of α-synuclein, a protein that, under certain conditions, forms abnormal accumulations of aggregates in central nervous system cells, which are damaged as a result. The death of dopaminergic neurons (which produce the neurotransmitter dopamine ) is the main event relating to the development of such symptoms as tremor, slow voluntary movements and stiffness, among others. There are currently no drugs capable of halting the progress of this degenerative process. Three Brazilian scientists participated in the study, which was supported by FAPESP: Elaine Del-Bel, affiliated with the University of São Paulo's Ribeirão Preto Dental School (FORP-USP), and Leandro R. S. Barbosa and Rosangela Itri, at the same university's Physics Institute (IF-USP) in the city of São Paulo. "We have exciting data from experiments with mice and great expectations that the neuroprotective effect will also be observed in human patient...
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Exercise study offers hope in fight against Alzheimer's

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The mind's posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)/precuneus area is a hub of neuronal networks which integrates and disperses alerts. A lack of connectivity to this hub is related to reminiscence loss and amyloid accumulation, each indicators of MCI and Alzheimer's . Credit score: J. Carson Smith May the initiation of a easy strolling train program assist older adults to reverse declines in key mind areas? A brand new examine led by College of Maryland Faculty of Public Well being researchers provides extra details about how bodily exercise impacts mind physiology and affords hope that it might be attainable to reestablish  some protecting neuronal connections. Dr. J. Carson Smith, affiliate professor of kinesiology, and colleagues explored how a 12-week strolling intervention with older adults, ages 60-88, affected performance of a mind area recognized to point out declines in folks affected by gentle...
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Gene mutation may speed up memory loss in Alzheimer's disease

Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a protein produced by the gene of the same name. It is one of a group of proteins called neurotrophins that help nerve cells grow, specialize and survive. Alleles are parts of genes that work in pairs on the chromosomes to determine a person's traits. "We found that people with Alzheimer's risk who have this BDNF gene mutation called the Met allele may have a more rapid decline of memory and thinking skills," said study author Ozioma Okonkwo, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in Madison, Wisc. "Because this gene can be detected before the symptoms of Alzheimer's start, and because this presymptomatic phase is thought to be a critical period for treatments that could delay or prevent the disease, it could be a great target for early treatments." For the study, researchers followed 1,023 people with an average age of 55 for up to 13 years who were at risk for Alzheimer's disease bu...
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New hope for patients with primary progressive aphasia

Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) is a unique language disorder that involves struggles with incorrect word substitutions, mispronounced words and/or difficulty understanding simple words and forgetting names of familiar objects and people. With PPA, language function declines before the memory systems, which is the opposite of Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Regina Jokel, a speech-language pathologist at Baycrest's Sam and Ida Ross Memory Clinic and a clinician-scientist with the Rotman Research Institute (RRI), has developed the first structured group intervention for PPA patients and their caregivers. This intervention could also help treat patients with other communication problems, such as mild cognitive impairment (a condition that is likely to develop into Alzheimer's ). The results of her pilot program were published in the  Journal of Communication Disorders  on April 14, 2017. "This research aims to address the needs of one of the most underserviced populatio...
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In Huntington's disease, traffic jams in the cell's control center kill brain cells

⇃Moreover, they suggest, laboratory experiments with drugs designed to clear up these cellular "traffic jams" restored normal transport in and out of the nucleus and saved the cells. In the featured article published online on April 5 in  Neuron , the researchers also conclude that potential treatments targeting the transport disruptions they identified in Huntington's disease neurons may also work for other neurodegenerative diseases, such as ALS and forms of dementia. Huntington's disease is a relatively rare fatal inherited condition that gradually kills off healthy nerve cells in the brain, leading to loss of language, thinking and reasoning abilities, memory, coordination and movement. Its course and effects are often described as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and ALS rolled into one, making Huntington's disease a rich focus of scientific investigation. "We're trying to get at the heart of the mechanism behind neurodegenera...
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