AFFiRiS AG: Interim Analysis Of Clinical Phase I Data Triggered Decision To Move Alzheimer's Vaccine Candidate AD02 Into Clinical Phase II Testing
AFFiRiS AG will focus its Alzheimer's vaccine program on one product candidate at an unexpectedly early stage of development: the vaccine candidate AD02 is planned to enter into Phase II clinical trial early in 2010. This decision by the company immediately follows the completion of two Phase I trials with the candidates AD01 and AD02. The company based its fast decision on the first interim analysis of the secondary endpoints at the six month time point. ...more
20 Nov 2009
Surgery Not Linked To Memory Problems In Older Patients
For years, it has been widely assumed that older adults may experience memory loss and other cognitive problems following surgery. But a new study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis questions those assumptions. In fact, the researchers were not able to detect any long-term cognitive declines attributable to surgery in a group of 575 patients they studied. ...more
20 Nov 2009
Collaboration With University Of Washington Aims To Prevent Dementia, Including Alzheimer's
Every two years, 2,000 senior Group Health patients check in with the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study. The joint project between Group Health Research Institute and the University of Washington (UW) focuses on finding ways to delay or prevent dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, and declines in memory and thinking. It aims to deepen understanding of how the body - especially the brain - ages. ...more
19 Nov 2009
Free Personal Care For Older People In Their Own Home, UK
Alzheimer's Society has today welcomed the recognition of people with dementia in the Queen's speech and called for dementia to be a priority for all political parties. Responding to proposals to give people with the highest needs free personal care, Alzheimer's Society called for more detail and warned that both money and improved quality of home care was needed to make proposals a success. ...more
19 Nov 2009
New Nursing Education Standards Address The Care Of People With Dementia
The NMC has been addressing many of the issues raised in the Alzheimer's society report Counting the Cost: caring for people with dementia on hospital wards as part of our review of pre-registration nursing education. Our review, which recently highlighted the need for future nurses to be educated to degree level, will help to prepare them for the challenges of caring for people with dementia. ...more
19 Nov 2009
NC State Researchers Advance Understanding Of Stem Cells
Researchers from North Carolina State University have identified a gene that tells embryonic stem cells in the brain when to stop producing nerve cells called neurons. The research is a significant advance in understanding the development of the nervous system, which is essential to addressing conditions such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders. ...more
19 Nov 2009
New Neuroimaging Analysis Technique Identifies Impact Of Alzheimer's Disease Gene In Healthy Brains
Brain imaging can offer a window into risk for diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). A study conducted at the University of Kansas School of Medicine demonstrated that genetic risk is expressed in the brains of even those who are healthy, but carry some risk for AD. The results of this study are published in the November 2009 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. ...more
Analyzing Structural Brain Changes In Alzheimer's Disease
In a study that promises to improve diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease, scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a fast and accurate method for quantifying subtle, sub-regional brain volume loss using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The study is published the week of November 16 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). ...more
18 Nov 2009
Researchers To Test First Gene Therapy For Alzheimer's Patients
Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of 12 sites nationwide participating in the first Phase 2 clinical trial to test gene therapy treatment for Alzheimer's disease. The study is the first multicenter neurosurgical intervention in Alzheimer's research in the U.S. The experimental treatment utilizes a viral-based gene transfer system, CERE-110, that makes Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), a naturally occurring protein that helps maintain nerve cell survival in the brain. ...more
17 Nov 2009
Poor Dementia Care In Hospitals Costing Lives And Hundreds Of Millions, UK
People with dementia - who occupy a quarter of all hospital beds - are staying far longer in hospital than people without the condition who go in for the same treatment at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds to the NHS, an Alzheimer's Society report found today (Tuesday, 17 November 2009). Based on research involving 2,400 people, Counting the Cost: caring for people with dementia on hospital wards reveals large, costly variations in the quality of care for people with dementia. ...more
17 Nov 2009
'Scaffolding' Protein Changes In Heart Strengthen Link Between Alzheimer's Disease And Chronic Heart Failure
A team of U.S., Canadian and Italian scientists led by researchers at Johns Hopkins report evidence from studies in animals and humans supporting a link between Alzheimer's disease and chronic heart failure, two of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States. The international team of biochemists and cardiologists say they have identified three changes in the chemical make-up of a key structural protein, called desmin, in heart muscle cells in dogs. ...more
16 Nov 2009
Hypothermia Research May Benefit Brain Injured Athletes
NFL players and other athletes who suffer serious or multiple concussions may benefit from ground-breaking research being conducted by scientists at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. The scientists are developing a surgical technique that involves hypothermia in specific regions of the brain. Therapeutic hypothermia is a medical treatment that lowers a patient's temperature in order to help reduce the risk of injury to tissue. ...more
16 Nov 2009
Nurses Welcome Government Action On Overuse Of Anti-psychotics, UK
Commenting on the announcement of a Government action plan to tackle the over prescribing of antipsychotic drugs to people with dementia, Dr Peter Carter, RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary said: "It is welcome news that the Government has made a commitment to deal with the overuse of anti-psychotic drugs. We look forward to working with the new National Clinical Director for Dementia on these ambitious proposals which offer hope for patients with dementia and their families. ...more
15 Nov 2009
Discovery Of Potential Drug Target For Neurological Diseases
A team of scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) report their success in solving the molecular structure of a key portion of a cellular receptor implicated in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other serious illnesses. Assistant Professor Hiro Furukawa, Ph.D., and colleagues at CSHL, in cooperation with the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory, obtained crystal structures for one of several "subunits" of the NMDA receptor. ...more
14 Nov 2009
Barrow Scientists Partner With Hispanic 'El Grupo' In Alzheimer's Research
Researchers from the Barrow Neurological Institute and aging Hispanic alumni from Phoenix Union High School are partnering in a major research trial to study Alzheimer's disease in the ethnic community. More than 20 graduates from the high school, who belong to a social club called "El Grupo," have joined neuroscientists at Barrow to study memory loss and Alzheimer's disease among the Hispanic community. ...more
13 Nov 2009
Review Calls For Action On Dangerous Use Of Antipsychotic Drugs For Dementia
An independent review has today (Thursday, 12 November 2009) found that an estimated 150, 000 people with dementia in the UK are being inappropriately prescribed antipsychotic drugs. These are contributing to 1,800 deaths a year. Antipsychotics have a serious number of side-effects for people with dementia and a profound effect on people's quality of life, leaving them heavily sedated. ...more
12 Nov 2009
Mouse Gene Suppresses Alzheimer's Plaques And Tangles
Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and colleagues have identified a novel mouse gene (Rps23r1) that reduces the accumulation of two toxic proteins that are major players in Alzheimer's disease: amyloid beta and tau. The amyloid and tau lowering functions of this gene were demonstrated in both human and mouse cells. Amyloid beta is responsible for the plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Tau causes the tangles found within patients' brain cells. ...more
12 Nov 2009
Major Pathologies Associated With Alzheimer's Disease Reduced In Mice With Novel Gene
A new study reveals that a previously undiscovered mouse gene reduces the two major pathological perturbations commonly associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The research, published by Cell Press in the November 12 issue of the journal Neuron, finds that the novel gene interacts with a key cellular enzyme previously linked with AD pathology, thereby uncovering a new strategy for treating this devastating disorder. ...more
12 Nov 2009
Scientists Decipher The Formation Of Lasting Memories
Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have discovered a mechanism that controls the brain's ability to create lasting memories. In experiments on genetically manipulated mice, they were able to switch on and off the animals' ability to form lasting memories by adding a substance to their drinking water. The findings, which are published in the scientific journal PNAS, are of potential significance to the future treatment of Alzheimer's and stroke. ...more