Memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is attributed to pervasive weakening and loss of synapses. Here, we present findings supporting a special role for excitatory synapses connecting pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus and cortex with fast-spiking parvalbumin (PV) interneurons that control network excitability and rhythmicity.
The findings suggest that even moderate amounts of physical activity may help to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s.
Today the Senate Committee on Appropriations approved a bill that would boost U.S. government funding for Alzheimer’s disease to almost $1.4 billion in fiscal year 2017.
Concerns over the Zika virus have focused on pregnant women due to mounting evidence that is causes brain abnormalities in developing fetuses. However, new research in mice suggests that certain adult brain cells may be vulnerable to infection as well.
From WashPo for the layman, why we should be excited by the lymphatic system developments.
View the best moments of the 13th International Conference on Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s Diseases. Mechanisms, Clinical Strategies, and Promising Treatments of Neurodegenerative Diseases
Led by Mt Sinai Alzheimer’s researcher and thought leader Mary Sano, PhD, and coordinated by the ADCS, the HBA study compared feasibility and efficiency, and ability to capture change over time using in-home instruments, and ability to predict cognitive conversion using pre-defined triggers in a randomized clinical trial.
Held in the historic Austrian capital, the 13th AD/PD conference reflected a rapidly growing field. The meeting jammed science into five parallel sessions, with 545 talks running from early morning till late evening and some 1,200 posters vying for attention.
The International Genomic Alzheimer’s Project, a collaboration of two groups in the United States and two in Europe, scanned the DNA of 74,076 older volunteers from 15 countries — including people with and without the disease — to look for subtle gene variants involved in late-onset Alzheimer’s, the most common form.
In this article we explore recruitment issues, including those unique to Alzheimer’s studies, and we suggest concrete steps such as establishing a structured consortium linking all of the registries of Alzheimer’s trials and establishing new partnerships with community and local organizations that can build trust and understanding among patients, caregivers, and providers.
Alan Levey, MD, PhD, Director of Emory’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, commented on the findings making news: “We were amazed to see the accumulation of LSD1 in neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer’s, and in TDP-43 aggregates in FTD” (Published in Nature Communications this week)
As baby boomers age, an unprecedented number of people will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The economic and social impacts will be wide reaching from cost of treatment to the effect on caregivers.
Researchers at Mayo Clinic have demonstrated in a mouse model that their recently developed synthetic peptide carrier is a potential delivery vehicle for brain cancer chemotherapy drugs and other neurological medications.
Nancy Reagan, the influential and stylish wife of the 40th president of the United States who unabashedly put Ronald Reagan at the center of her life but became a political figure in her own right, died on Sunday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 94.
Identifying the genes involved in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias is of course no easy task. From among the thousands of gene candidates in the human genome, we need to determine which are involved in onset and progression, and which increase risk or offer protection.
Levels of neurogranin, a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker for synaptic loss, were elevated in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) compared with cognitively normal individuals. Neurogranin levels also predicted progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to AD dementia, researchers reported here on Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC).
Epidemiologic evidences support that habitual caffeine intake prevents memory decline during aging and reduces the risk to develop Alzheimer’s disease. So far, experimental studies addressed the impact of caffeine in models mimicking the amyloid pathology of AD. However, in vivo effects of caffeine in a model of AD-like tauopathy remain unknown.