Biomarkers tagged posts

Blood test shows promise for early detection of dementia

Research findings focus on people with a sleep disorder, but could have broader implications. For people with a certain sleep disorder, a simple blood test could help predict the development of dementia years before symptoms appear, a new study indicates.

Idiopathic REM sleep behaviour disorder (iRBD) causes people to physically act out their dreams while sleeping.

The disorder is also associated with a very high risk of Parkinson’s disease and a related condition called Dementia with Lewy Bodies.

This is a form of dementia that often causes memory and cognitive loss, as well as vivid visual hallucinations and movement difficulties similar to Parkinson’s.

McGill University researchers have discovered that a blood test, originally developed to detect Alzheimer’s disease, co...

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COVID-19 linked to increase in biomarkers for abnormal brain proteins

COVID-19 linked to increase in biomarkers for abnormal brain proteins
Study overview. Credit: Nature Medicine (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-024-03426-4

Researchers have uncovered a link between COVID-19 and blood markers linked to faulty proteins in the brain. The analysis, led by researchers at Imperial College London and the UK Dementia Research Institute, found that people who had previously had COVID-19 were more likely to have increased levels of biomarkers linked to faulty amyloid proteins—a known hallmark for Alzheimer’s disease.

On average, the effects were comparable to four years of aging with the greatest effects seen in those hospitalized with severe COVID-19 or with underlying risk factors for dementia such as smoking or high blood pressure.

According to the researchers, the findings suggest that mild or moderate COVID-19 may acceler...

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Improving Access to Heart-Failure Screening with Saliva

Spit to save lives: 15-minute saliva test detects heart failure at home
A new saliva-based test for heart failure measures two biomarkers from a drop of saliva in about 15 minutes and can be administered at home.

Heart failure is a leading cause of death worldwide and is especially deadly for people who don’t have access to medical facilities. A team of researchers aims to bring heart failure screening from the lab to the home with a point-of-care electrochemical biosensor prototype that measures levels of two biomarkers for heart failure in as little as 15 minutes from just a drop of saliva.

Trey Pittman, a graduate student at Colorado State University, will present his team’s research at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

“Our device would be ideal for people who are at high risk for heart failure but have limited access to a ...

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New Alzheimer’s Disease Pathways identified

New Alzheimer's disease pathways identified
Path model of main findings. This path model summarizes the main-effect mediation model. Circles indicate principal components or latent variables, rectangles represent observed variables. Arrows either indicate PC loadings or structural regression paths. Thicker lines correspond to stronger loadings, solid structural paths are genome-wide significant (p < 5 × 10−8), and dashed lines are suggestive (p < 0.008). Coefficients indicate either the effect of one effect allele on a biomarker PC in SD, or the effect of one SD higher biomarker PC score on latent AD in SD. Note: all paths are adjusted for assessment age, sex, genetic ancestry, and study but are omitted from figure. Credit: Genome Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1186/s13073-023-01233-z

Dementia, which includes Alzheimer’...

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