dementia tagged posts

A blood test, combined with an ultrathin material derived from graphite, could significantly advance efforts to detect Alzheimer’s disease at its very earliest stage, even before symptoms appear.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. For millions of Europeans—and the health services that care for them—it is a ticking time bomb, with still no cure. But EU researchers are developing a simple tool to enable much earlier detection, potentially decades before symptoms appear.

Early detection matters because treatment is most effective when started as soon as possible. This gives people a better chance to slow the progression of the disease and plan for the future...

A new study reveals that fragmented sleep causes cellular damage to the brain’s blood vessels, providing further evidence to suggest that sleep disruption predisposes the brain to dementia.

The research, published in the journal Brain, is the first to offer cellular and molecular evidence that sleep disruption directly causes damage to brain blood vessels and blood flow.

“We found that individuals who had more fragmented sleep, such as sleeping restlessly and waking up a lot at night, had a change in their balance of pericytes—a brain blood vessel cell that plays an important role in regulating brain blood flow and the entry and exit of substances between the blood and the brain,” said Andrew Lim, principal investigator of the study and a sleep neurologist and scientist at Sunny...

Get on your bike and ride, a new study recommends.
Biking regularly for transportation appears to lower risk of dementia by 19% and Alzheimer’s by 22%, according to results published June 9 in JAMA Network Open.

The results also suggest that cycling might even help increase the size of a brain region important for memory, researchers noted.

“Cycling is a moderate- to high-intensity workout, and also requires balance,” said Dr. Liron Sinvani, director of geriatric services at Northwell Health in Manhasset, N.Y., who reviewed the findings. “It requires more complex brain functions than walking, which is why maybe it was a better reducer of dementia risk.”

“It’s not about just doing exercise and making that part of your...

Could help determine which patients are likely to benefit from new Alzheimer’s drugs. A newly developed blood test for Alzheimer’s disease not only aids in the diagnosis of the neurodegenerative condition but also indicates how far it has progressed, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Lund University in Sweden.

Several blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease are already clinically available, incl...