Dement

Scavenger cells could be key to treating HIV-related dementia

Understanding macrophages could lead to ways to prevent HIV-associated dementia Macrophages, long-living white blood cells often considered the scavengers of the immune system, actually may damage a part...

Fruit fly reveals a potential connection between dementia and cancer

By expressing a protein associated with Alzheimer's disease in the brain of the fruit fly, researchers have demonstrated an intriguing link between neuronal death and proteins previously associated with cancer. Neurons in the brai...

Hopkins study suggests commercially available antibiotic may help fight dementia in HIV patients

An antibiotic commonly used to treat a variety of serious infections may also help prevent dementia in HIV patients, according to a test-tube study of human brain cells by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine neurologist Jeffrey Rumbaugh, M.D., Ph.D. Results of the lab study with ceftriaxone are expected to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 58th annual meeting on A...

In-home sensors spot dementia signs in elderly

An Oregon Health & Science University study shows motion and door sensors placed in elders' homes can help track activity patterns thought to relate to memory changes that are early signs of dementia. The study results, presented last week at the 10th International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders in Madrid, show that continuous, unobtrusive monitoring of in-hom...

Viral genetic differences are possible key to HIV dementia

The study of 18 HIV-positive subjects shows that HIV in the brain and central nervous system is genetically different from HIV that lives in the blood and peripheral tissues. The study appears in the July 2006 issue of Brain. It was...

High estrogen levels associated with dementia in older men

A prospective population-based study has found that higher estrogen levels in older men are associated with an increased risk of dementia. By contrast, levels of testosterone were not associated with cognitive decline. The study is in the August issue of Annals of Neurology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons. ( http://www.interscie...

Researchers find cause of frontotemporal dementia

Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) is the second major form of dementia. Under the direction of Christine Van Broeckhoven, researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) affiliated to the University of Antwerp have recently discovered that the progranulin growth factor plays an important biological role in the development of this form of dementia. Because progranulin i...

HIV dementia alarmingly high in Africa

An international study led by Johns Hopkins suggests that the rate of HIV-associated dementia is so high in sub-Saharan Africa that HIV dementia along with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia from strokes may be among the most common forms of dementia in the world. In the first study of HIV dementia on the African continent using rigorous neurological and neuropsychological tests, 31 percent...

Canadian study shows bilingualism has protective effect in delaying onset of dementia by four years

Canadian scientists have found astonishing evidence that the lifelong use of two languages can help delay the onset of dementia symptoms by four years compared to people who are monolingual. There has been much interest and growing scientific literature examining how lifestyle factors such as physical activity, education and social engagement may help build "cognitive reserve" in later yea...

Vasectomy may put men at risk for type of dementia

Northwestern University researchers have discovered men with an unusual form of dementia have a higher rate of vasectomy than men the same age who are cognitively normal. The dementia is Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA), a neurological disease in which people have trouble recalling and understanding words. In PPA, people lose the ability to express themselves and understand speech. It dif...

Gene tests and brain imaging reveal early dementia

Dementia diseases develop insidiously and are generally discovered when the memory has already started to deteriorate. New research form Karolinska Institutet shows, however, that approaching Alzheimer's can be detected several years before the symptoms manifest themselves. Dementia involves a serious deterioration of mental function caused by some kind of dementia disease of the brain, o...

Study finds mix of disease processes at work in brains of most people with dementia

Few older people die with brains untouched by a pathological process, however, an individual’s likelihood of having clinical signs of dementia increases with the number of different disease processes present in the brain, according to a new study. The research was funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, and conducted at the Rush Alzheimer’s D...