Lewy body dementias are the second most common form of degenerative dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, but are markedly less well known in comparison. read more
Publishing in The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology scientists report the development of a ‘brain-training app’ that could help improve mild cognitive impairment. read more
Publishing in Nature Medicine researchers report low-dose administration of the cannabinoid delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can improve age-related learning and memory deficits in mice. read more
A new prospective cohort study publishing in Stroke investigates if there is an increased risk of stroke and dementia after sugar and artificially sweetened beverage consumption. read more
Boxing and American football are under scrutiny because of head injuries causing long-term damage to the brain, but the situation is much less clear for football where heading is extremely common, but head injuries are less so. read more
Scientists publishing in Acta Neuropathologica report that in retired footballers with a past history of repetitive head impacts, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a potential neurodegenerative cause of dementia and motor impairments. read more
A new population-based cohort study published in The Lancet reports living close to heavy traffic was associated with a small, yet significant, increase in the incidence of dementia, but not Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis.
It has been announced that Solanezumab, an experimental Alzheimer’s treatment from Eli Lilly & Co, failed to slow the progression of the neurodegenerative disease. read more
Based on a review of previous studies a group of researchers have shortlisted a number of environmental risk factors for dementia in a paper published in the journal BMC Geriatrics. read more
A group of scientists have described their use of a specific gene therapy to treat Alzheimer’s disease in a mouse model. Publishing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the scientists report that the upregulation of the PGC-1α gene brought about reduced biological markers of the disease and improved function in the mice. read more
A paper published in the journal PNAS has reported the identification of the mineral magnetite in human brains. The mineral has been implicated in negative health consequences and the authors suggest that the samples originate from air pollution. read more
An antibody therapy for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease has been described in a paper published in the journal Nature in which the authors report its use in animals and a small number of patients where the treatment was able to reduce amyloid plaques which are thought to contribute to the disease. read more
Researchers publishing in the journal Acupuncture in Medicine have conducted a meta-analysis of five trials and report that acupuncture appears to be effective for the treatment of a pre-dementia condition (amnestic mild cognitive impairment) though they caution that the studies in question had low methodological quality. read more
In a new study, published in Nature Communications, researchers compared the actual number of dementia cases in the UK to earlier decades and previous predictions. They report a 20% drop in incidence of dementia between their two samples (1989-1994, 2008-2011) which they attribute mainly to a reduction in men. read more
As ageing populations increase, fears of a dementia ‘tsunami’ have grown, with some suggesting that dementia will be the main threat to future health and leading the Prime Minister to announce his dementia 2020 challenge. However, recent research has suggested that the number of cases may be more complicated than we initially thought. read more
Finding the causes of, and treatments for, Alzheimer’s disease is important to reduce the burden of ageing, and the authors of a paper published in the journal PNAS report the use as a therapy of a particular protein which is involved in inflammation. read more
A study published in the journal Nature has investigated mechanisms which control memory in mouse models of the disease. read more
A study published in JAMA Neurology has reported that patients who used a specific type of drug (proton pump inhibitors) for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases had an increased risk of dementia. read more
The aggregation of certain proteins is linked to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and a group of scientist publishing in the journal Science Advances have reported their use of an anticancer drug to prevent this build up in a worm model organism. read more
Publishing in the journal Nature Medicine a group of scientists has used a cancer drug to treat a model of Alzheimer’s disease in mice, and report that the therapy produced an immune response which cleared markers of the disease and improved cognitive performance in the mice. read more
