Current Studies | Alzheimer's Association

Recent Developments in Amyloid Imaging

Alzheimer's & the Brain, Current Studies, Diagnosing Alzheimer's 1 Response »

Jul 152011

The use of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease (AD) appears to be closer to becoming a clinical tool, based on results from two articles published online in the Archives of Neurology. In one study, Adam S. Fleisher, M.D., from Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, and colleagues, evaluated PET imaging using the tracer florbetapir F 18. The study population included 68 individuals with probable Alzheimer’s disease, 60 individuals with mild cognitive impairment, […]

MR Study Shows That Amyloid Deposits Occur Years Before Diagnosis

Alzheimer's & the Brain, Current Studies 2 Responses »

Apr 212011

High-resolution magnetic resonance (MR) imaging studies have identified characteristic changes in brain structure — thinning of key cortical regions and reduced volume of structures such as the hippocampus — in persons with mild cognitive impairment, in individuals known to carry gene mutations that directly cause Alzheimer’s disease, and in diagnosed Alzheimer’s patients. The current study, published in the Annals of Neurology, involved 87 cognitively normal older individuals and 32 patients diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s (matched […]

Studies Reveal Very Early Cognitive Declines with Familial Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer's & the Brain, Current Studies, Diagnosing Alzheimer's 4 Responses »

Mar 182011

Studies Reveal Very Early Cognitive Declines with Familial Alzheimer's Disease

Last month, researchers Francisco Lopera and colleagues reported in the journal Lancet Neurology that they were able to capture a clear decline in cognition starting in people’s early 30s in the largest-known population with autosomal-dominant (inherited) Alzheimer’s disease. They define an earlier disease stage prior to what is called pre-MCI, in effect pushing the line of detectability back toward younger ages by some four years. Two other papers go in the same direction. Last year […]

The Liver and Alzheimer’s

Current Studies 2 Responses »

Mar 112011

Readers, Two recent papers* have shed light on the role of the liver in modulating beta-amyloid levels in the brain, and potentially the course of Alzheimer’s disease. First, researchers at the University of California, Irvine discovered that markedly depleted amounts of an omega-3 fatty acid in brain tissue samples from Alzheimer’s patients may be due to the liver’s inability to produce the complex fat. Low levels of docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, have been associated with […]

Depressive Symptoms in Women Aged 65 Years and Older Associated with MCI and Dementia

Current Studies, Women & Minorities 1 Response »

Mar 012011

Depressive Symptoms in Women Aged 65 Years and Older Associated with MCI and Dementia

Dear Readers, As I discussed in an earlier blog post this month, the association between behavior and/or personality traits to developing dementia is a growing topic of interest that I am asked to discuss frequently. Depression, in particular, arouses a lot of interest, as many studies have shown an association between depression and poor physical, social and cognitive functioning. The latest study from the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS) examined whether depressive symptoms in post […]

Behavioral Symptoms and Mild Cognitive Impairment in Older Chinese Persons

Current Studies, Women & Minorities 1 Response »

Feb 102011

Dear Readers, I often am asked about whether behavioral or personality “traits” are related to cognitive functioning. Specifically, can they “predict” if someone will transition from mild memory trouble ( i.e. Mild Cognitive impairment-MCI) to dementia? Part of this question was addressed in a recent article by Chan and colleagues in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Participants in this study came from an ongoing epidemiological survey on MCI and dementia conducted in Hong Kong. In […]

Updates in the World of Alzheimer’s Disease Research

Current Studies 1 Response »

Jan 312011

Updates in the World of Alzheimer’s Disease Research

Dear Readers, There are two notable updates in this week’s blog. First, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Advisory Committee decided that it could not recommend approval of Amyvid™ (florbetapir) at this time based on the currently available data (13-3); but, voted unanimously (16-0) to recommend approval of Amyvid conditional on specialized training being instituted for the medical professionals who would administer it. They must train readers in a consistent technique, and then re-evaluate […]

A New Method to Test for Alzheimer’s Disease?

Current Studies, Diagnosing Alzheimer's 7 Responses »

Jan 252011

A New Method to Test for Alzheimer's Disease?

Using a new technology that relies on thousands of synthetic molecules to fish for disease-specific antibodies, researchers have developed a potential method for detecting Alzheimer’s disease with a simple blood test. The same methodology might lead to blood tests for many important diseases, according to the report published by Thomas Kodadek’s group at the Scripps Research Institute in the January 7th issue of the journal Cell. The new method relies on the notion that many […]

The Amyloid Plateau

Current Studies 2 Responses »

Jan 142011

Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, report in last month’s issue of the journal Brain, on the postmortem examination of the first-ever person with Alzheimer’s to be followed prospectively by positron emission tomography using Pittsburgh Compound B (PIB-PET), which allows visualization of amyloid plaques. They analyzed the brain of a woman with Alzheimer’s who had volunteered for the first PET-PIB scan ever performed. She received an additional PIB scan two years later, and […]

HDL Cholesterol and Alzheimer’s Disease

Current Studies, Risk Factors/ Prevention 7 Responses »

Dec 152010

According to researchers at Columbia University, people with high levels of HDL cholesterol (the “good” form) are 60 percent less likely to develop AD. The researchers followed 1,130 seniors with no history of memory loss or dementia and measured their cholesterol levels every 18 months for four years. When the researchers compared the cholesterol levels of study participants with and without Alzheimer’s, they found that those with the highest HDL counts, greater than 55 mg/dL, […]

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