Newsline — Tuesday, January 14, 2014 13:00
Gene Found to be Crucial for Formation of Certain Brain Circuitry
Rare Gene Variant Doubles Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease
Tuesday, January 14, 2014 9:00
Newly-identified variations of a gene that doubles a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life have been discovered by a team of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine. Over the past 20 years, scientists have found a number of common genetic variants linked to early-onset (before the age of 65) and the more common late-onset forms of Alzheimer’s disease; however, those variants only account for a fraction of Alzheimer’s cases. The newly-identified variations occur rarely in the population — making them difficult for researchers to identify — but they’re significant because individuals who carry these variants are at a substantially higher risk of developing the disease. To read more about the results of this research, click here.
Damage from Childhood Prolonged Seizures Less than Previously Thought
Monday, January 13, 2014 17:00
Findings in a recent study reported at the American Epilepsy Society’s 67th Annual Meeting show that not all children who experience childhood convulsive status epilepticus (CSE) have impaired hippocampal growth years after a prolonged seizure, contrary to the long-standing hypothesis. Investigators used three-dimensional, MRI imaging to measure hippocampal volume in 144 children–with 70 healthy controls and four patient groups–and found that only one subgroup of children showed a significant reduction in hippocampal growth compared to all the other groups in the study. Results suggest that prolonged seizures many not have a lasting effect on hippocampal growth in children who were neurologically normal prior to convulsive status epilepticus. To read more about the results from this study, click here.
New Study Shows Where Alzheimer’s Disease Starts, How it Spreads
Monday, January 13, 2014 13:00
Columbia University Medical Center researchers, through the use of high-resolution functional MRI (fMRI) imaging in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and in mouse models of the disease, have clarified three fundamental issues about Alzheimer’s: where it starts, why it starts there and how it spreads. In addition to advancing understanding of Alzheimer’s, the findings could improve early detection of the disease, as well as when drugs may be most effective. The study was published in the online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience on Dec. 22, 2013. “…this study is the first to show in living patients that it begins specifically in the lateral entorhinal cortex, or LEC,” said co-senior author Scott A. Small, MD. “The LEC is considered to be a gateway to the hippocampus, which plays a key role in the consolidation of long-term memory, among other functions. If the LEC is affected, other aspects of the hippocampus will also be affected.” To read more about the findings from the researchers, please click here.
Study Results Suggest History of Concussion May Be Related to Alzheimer’s Disease
Friday, January 10, 2014 13:00
A new study suggests that a history of concussion involving at least a momentary loss of consciousness may be related to the buildup of Alzheimer’s-associated plaques in the brain. The research is published in the December 26, 2013, online issue of Neurology, the American Academy of Neurology’s medical journal. “Interestingly, in people with a history of concussion, a difference in the amount of brain plaques was found only in those with memory and thinking problems, not in those who were cognitively normal,” said study author Michelle Mielke, PhD, with Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. To read more about this study, click here.
Study Finds Vitamin E May Delay Decline in Mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s Disease
Friday, January 10, 2014 10:01
Faculty of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, working with Veterans Administration Medical Centers, have presented research that suggests alpha tocepherol, fat-soluble Vitamin E and antioxidant may slow functional decline (problems with daily activities such as shopping, preparing meals, planning, and traveling) in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease and decrease caregiver burden. This could be an important finding, since difficulty with activities of daily living often affect Alzheimer’s patients, which is estimated to affect as many as 5.1 million Americans. These issues are among the most taxing burdens of the disease for caregivers, which total about 5.4 million family members and friends. The finding also is valuable because vitamin E is inexpensive and easy to purchase at local drugstores. The clinical trial investigators believe it can be recommended as a treatment strategy, based on the double-blind randomized controlled trial. The study was published online first in the Jan. 1, 2014, Journal of the American Medical Association. To read more about this story, click here.
Parkinson’s Patients’ Utilization of Deep Brain Stimulation Treatment Reduced in Demographic Groups
Thursday, January 9, 2014 13:00
According to a new report by a Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania researcher, among Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, female, black, and Asian patients are substantially less likely to receive proven deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery to improve tremors and motor symptoms. The researcher identified considerable disparities among Medicare recipients receiving DBS for Parkinson’s disease. The study, published in Neurology, found that patients from neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic status were less likely to receive DBS, regardless of race or sex. And patients of minority-serving physician practices also were less likely to receive DBS, irrespective of race. The study demonstrates a need to adjust policy and incentives to provide state-of-the-art care for all Parkinson’s patients. To read the full article, please click here.
High Good, Low Bad Cholesterol Levels Healthy for the Brain
Thursday, January 9, 2014 9:00
In a pattern that mirrors the relationship between good and bad cholesterol in cardiovascular disease, University of California (UC) Davis researchers have found that high levels of “good” cholesterol and low levels of “bad” cholesterol correlate with lower levels of the amyloid plaque deposition in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. The study, recently published in JAMA Neurology, was conducted in 74 diverse male and female individuals 70 years and older who were recruited from California stroke clinics, support groups, senior facilities and the Alzheimer’s Disease Center. The participants’ amyloid levels were obtained using a tracer that binds with amyloid plaques and imaging their brains using PET scans. Higher fasting levels of LDL and lower levels of HDL both were associated with greater brain amyloid — a first-time finding linking cholesterol fractions in the blood and amyloid deposition in the brain. “This study provides a reason to certainly continue cholesterol treatment in people who are developing memory loss, regardless of concerns regarding their cardiovascular health,” said Bruce Reed, lead study author, a professor in…
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How Stories May Change the Brain
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 13:00
Researchers at Emory University have detected actual changes in the brain that linger, at least for a few days, after reading a novel. The study, conducted over 19 consecutive days, focused on the lingering neural effects of reading a narrative. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as a means of identifying the activated brain networks, the results showed heightened connectivity in the left temporal cortex on the mornings following the reading assignments, with heightened connectivity also seen in the central sulcus of the brain. Importantly, the neural changes were not just immediate reactions and persisted during the experimental period. “Stories shape our lives and in some cases help define a person,” says neuroscientist Gregory Berns, lead author of the study and the director of Emory’s Center for Neuropolicy. “We want to understand how stories get into your brain, and what they do to it.” Click here to read the full article.
Sleep to Protect Your Brain
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 9:00
Lose sleep and you may lose gray matter — that’s the takeaway from a new study out of Uppsala University, Sweden. In a study conducted on healthy young men, researchers found that one night of sleep deprivation increases morning blood concentrations of NSE and S-100B, molecules typically found in the brain, which may indicate that a lack of sleep might be conducive to a loss of brain tissue. “These brain molecules typically rise in blood under conditions of brain damage. Thus, our results indicate that a lack of sleep may promote neurodegenerative processes,” says Christian Benedict, who lead the study. Click here to read the full article.