From CBS News:A 2006 study questioned the acceptability of minor episodic memory loss in older adults as normal. Episodic memory loss includes things such as forgetting the name of a new acquaintance, a recent conversation, or an upcoming appointment.People commonly undergo an age-related slowing of the ability to retrieve information. They might forget where they put their keys, but they usually remember eventually. But when Alzheimer's is involved, new information is never properly stored, meaning the affected person never learned it well enough to be able to retrieve it.Related:Senior Moments: Signs Of Alzheimer's? CBS News. Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, follow us on Twitter and connect on Facebook. (Source: Clinical Cases and Images)MedWorm Message: Register for MedMatcha, MedWorm's medical advertising network, and receive $5 free advertising.

by Douwe Draaisma is a book regarding various illnesses ranging from Bonnet Syndrome to Alzheimer’s, with an entire range of brain diseases in between.  It provides an interesting narrative about how each disease came to be identified, by whom, the disease’s symptoms, and how it came to be named.  This book provides a historical background on these diseases and would be particularly useful for persons interested in the medical field.  It may also provide some insights on the disease for people with family members or friends who may unfortunately be afflicted.  This book, while interesting, is not deemed a page-turner initially.  However, it continues to pique the reader’s interest and even becomes quite fascinating in the latter chapters.  While each disease is covered in ...

New research projects are being funded as part of an exciting new partnership between Alzheimer's Society and the Bupa Foundation. (Source: Alzheimers Society)

Keeping an active mind helps stave off the development of dementia. But being mentally active might speed up Alzheimer's once it hits, according to new research from Chicago's Rush University Medical Center.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us (Source: NPR Health and Science)

Inflammation of the central nervous system (CNS) (neuroinflammation) is now recognized to be a feature of all neurological disorders. In multiple sclerosis, there is prominent infiltration of various leukocyte subsets into the CNS. Even when there is no significant inflammatory infiltrates, such as in Parkinson or Alzheimer disease, there is intense activation of microglia with resultant elevation of many inflammatory mediators within the CNS. An extensive dataset describes neuroinflammation to have detrimental consequences, but results emerging largely over the past decade have indicated that aspects of the inflammatory response are beneficial for CNS outcomes. Benefits of neuroinflammation now include neuroprotection, the mobilization of neural precursors for repair, remyelination, and e...

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule that is widely used in the nervous system. With recognition of its roles in synaptic plasticity (long-term potentiation, LTP; long-term depression, LTD) and elucidation of calcium-dependent, NMDAR-mediated activation of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), numerous molecular and pharmacological tools have been used to explore the physiology and pathological consequences for nitrergic signaling. In this review, the authors summarize the current understanding of this subtle signaling pathway, discuss the evidence for nitrergic modulation of ion channels and homeostatic modulation of intrinsic excitability, and speculate about the pathological consequences of spillover between different nitrergic compartments in contributing to aberrant s...MedWorm Message: Register for MedMatcha, MedWorm's medical advertising network, and receive $5 free advertising.

In dementia research evidence is mounting that therapeutic strategies that target moderate and even mild Alzheimer's disease may be missing the ‘therapeutic window’. Given that the neuropathology that leads to Alzheimer's disease probably begins somewhere between 10 and 15 years before symptoms manifest, many believe that the optimal therapeutic strategy would target persons in the earliest phases of disease development or even earlier. This would include, for example, persons with prodromal Alzheimer's and even persons who are deemed at risk. Given the nature of research involving the central nervous system, it is conceivable that some therapeutic investigations may involve an increase over minimal risk. This paper examines how, in dementia research, at-risk persons, alth...

Dyshomeostasis of transition metals iron and copper as well as accumulation of oxidative DNA damage have been implicated in multitude of human neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer disease and Parkinson disease. These metals oxidize DNA bases by generating reactive oxygen species. Most oxidized bases in mammalian genomes are repaired via the base excision repair pathway, initiated with one of four major DNA glycosylases: NTH1 or OGG1 (of the Nth family) or NEIL1 or NEIL2 (of the Nei family). Here we show that Fe(II/III) and Cu(II) at physiological levels bind to NEIL1 and NEIL2 to alter their secondary structure and strongly inhibit repair of mutagenic 5-hydroxyuracil, a common cytosine oxidation product, both in vitro and in neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) cell extract by affecting the ...

Alzheimer disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease with no cure. The pathogenesis of AD is believed to be driven primarily by amyloid-β (Aβ), the principal component of senile plaques. Aβ is an ~4-kDa peptide generated via cleavage of the amyloid-β precursor protein (APP). Curcumin is a compound in the widely used culinary spice, turmeric, which possesses potent and broad biological activities, including anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities, chemopreventative effects, and effects on protein trafficking. Recent in vivo studies indicate that curcumin is able to reduce Aβ-related pathology in transgenic AD mouse models via unknown molecular mechanisms. Here, we investigated the effects of curcumin on Aβ levels and APP processing in various ...

Treatments modelled on the cancer drug Gleevec could potentially prevent the formation of amyloid plaques - one of the major hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease according to a study. Treatments modelled on the cancer drug Gleevec could potentially prevent the formation of amyloid plaques - one of the major hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease according to a study published in the journal Nature. Researchers at the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience in the U.S. tested the drug on mice and found that Gleevec has the ability to attach itself to a protein (GSAP)... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)

KPMG has reached its fundraising target of £1 million for its staff selected people charity, Alzheimer's Society over one month ahead of schedule with further events still to be held. In 2008, KPMG staff voted for Alzheimer's Society to be the firm's main charitable focus. Over the past two years, KPMG staff have been involved in a variety of activities to raise funds to help people with dementia, their families and carers. Offices across the UK have championed the cause through fundraising events, awareness campaigns and volunteering... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)MedWorm Message: Register for MedMatcha, MedWorm's medical advertising network, and receive $5 free advertising.

The onset of Alzheimer's could be masked, not delayed, by doing mentally stimulating activities, new research suggests (Source: Nursing in Practice)

Title: Vets With Stress Disorder More Likely to Develop DementiaCategory: Health NewsCreated: 9/2/2010 10:10:00 AMLast Editorial Review: 9/3/2010 (Source: MedicineNet Alzheimer)

(Source: CNS Drugs)

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy, a vasculopathy characterised by the deposition of amyloid fibrils in the arteries and arterioles in the cerebral cortex and meninges, has been reported to be associated with intracerebral haemorrhage and cognitive impairment in the elderly. Advances in neuroimaging and validation of the clinical diagnostic criteria aid in making a correct clinical diagnosis. Associations with Alzheimer's disease, asymptomatic microbleeds and white matter changes on neuroimaging have an influence on the clinical treatment for patients with probable cerebral amyloid angiopathy. Reviewing the reports from Asian countries, we found that patients with cerebral amyloid angiopathy have a strong age‐related prevalence and a consistent association with dementia, but a weaker correlati...

Fiona Phillips, TV presenter and Alzheimer's Society Ambassador, has written a book, Before I Forget, about her complex relationship with her parents. (Source: Alzheimers Society)MedWorm Message: Register for MedMatcha, MedWorm's medical advertising network, and receive $5 free advertising.

James A. Duce, Andrew Tsatsanis, Michael A. Cater, Simon A. James, Elysia Robb, Krutika Wikhe, Su Ling Leong, Keyla Perez, Timothy Johanssen, Mark A. Greenough, Hyun-Hee Cho, Denise Galatis, Robert D. Moir, Colin L. Masters, Catriona McLean, Rudolph E. Tanzi, Roberto Cappai, Kevin J. Barnham, Giuseppe D. Ciccotosto, Jack T. Rogers, Ashley I. Bush. Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is complicated by pro-oxidant intraneuronal Fe2+ elevation as well as extracellular Zn2+ accumulation within amyloid plaque. We found that the AD β-a.... (Source: Cell)

Neurotoxicity of Alzheimer's disease Aβ peptides is induced by small changes in the Aβ42 to Aβ40 ratio The EMBO Journal. doi:10.1038/emboj.2010.211 Authors: Inna Kuperstein, Kerensa Broersen, Iryna Benilova, Jef Rozenski, Wim Jonckheere, Maja Debulpaep, Annelies Vandersteen, Ine Segers-Nolten, Kees Van Der Werf, Vinod Subramaniam, Dries Braeken, Geert Callewaert, Carmen Bartic, Rudi D'Hooge, Ivo Cristiano Martins, Frederic Rousseau, Joost Schymkowitz & Bart De Strooper (Source: The EMBO Journal AOP)

Crossword puzzles and other mentally stimulating pursuits may hide but not prevent the progress of Alzheimer's disease, research has shown. (Source: the Mail online | Health)

Conclusion This study has some strengths, including the large number of patients followed and the long follow-up period. Furthermore, its clinical evaluations and assessments of cognitive function were based on validated measures. The participants also represent a broad spectrum of cognitive function, ranging from no impairment to dementia. However, the study also has limitations. It did not make adjustments for other factors (called confounders) which might contribute to the development of Alzheiner’s. For example, certain educational, social and genetic factors may have differed between the groups, which were not accounted for in the researchers’ analyses. Importantly, the assessment of cognitive activity was based on a composite measure. Since only seven cognitive activities we...