The Brain: Alzheimer's and dementia news and discussions

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weatheriscool
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Ken_J wrote: Sat Apr 02, 2022 9:23 pm https://neurosciencenews.com/aging-deme ... ath-20290/

Half of Older Adults Now Die With a Dementia Diagnosis, up Sharply From Two Decades Ago
Summary: Almost 50% of older adults now die with a recorded diagnosis of dementia, up 36% from two decades ago.
This is some really bad news. Must be something in the environment is my guess that is causing this effect on the population.
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Ken_J
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Re: Alzheimer's and dementia news and discussions

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weatheriscool wrote: Mon Apr 04, 2022 4:35 pm
Ken_J wrote: Sat Apr 02, 2022 9:23 pm https://neurosciencenews.com/aging-deme ... ath-20290/

Half of Older Adults Now Die With a Dementia Diagnosis, up Sharply From Two Decades Ago
Summary: Almost 50% of older adults now die with a recorded diagnosis of dementia, up 36% from two decades ago.
This is some really bad news. Must be something in the environment is my guess that is causing this effect on the population.
from what I've seen posted by doctors on the topic, it's probably more to do with better diagnostics and people living longer. Which suggests that this may be something that eventually comes for us all, and we've either missed many of the signs in the past or died before enough evidence was present to find it in many people.
which is one of my fears. as we talk a lot about increases of life span and longevity, I've expressed concern that the brains that make us up may not be up to the task of longer term running, and it's not clear to me that we can replace brain matter like we could a heart or living with a rejection proof version of those.

Things wear out. some you can repair or replace, but eventually the question of the part that is you, can wear out.
weatheriscool
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Re: Alzheimer's and dementia news and discussions

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Study identifies chromatin alterations in the brains of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04- ... polar.html
by Ingrid Fadelli , Medical Xpress

The complete set of nucleic acid sequences composing chromosomes in humans, encoded as DNA, is known as the "human genome sequence." Neuroscientists predict that approximately 25% of this sequence has a regulatory function, while only 1.5% encodes protein.

In recent years, many epigenetics studies have tried to identify the mechanisms through which regulatory sequences in the human genome activate or inhibit the expression of genes in response to environmental factors. This could in turn help to modify these sequences using genetic techniques, to reduce the prevalence of genetically inherited diseases or conditions.

Researchers at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York have recently carried out a study specifically examining chromosomal organizations that are associated with the heritability of two major psychiatric conditions, namely schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Their paper, published in Nature Neuroscience, unveiled a series of alterations liked to the organization of the genome in three-dimensional (3D) space in brains of patients with these two psychiatric disorders, which are known to have a similar genetic risk architecture.
weatheriscool
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Certain personality traits associated with cognitive functioning late in life

by American Psychological Association
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04- ... -late.html
People who are organized, with high levels of self-discipline, may be less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment as they age, while people who are moody or emotionally unstable are more likely to experience cognitive decline late in life, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

The research, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, focused on the role three of the so-called "Big Five" personality traits (conscientiousness, neuroticism and extraversion) play in cognitive functioning later in life.

"Personality traits reflect relatively enduring patterns of thinking and behaving, which may cumulatively affect engagement in healthy and unhealthy behaviors and thought patterns across the lifespan," said lead author Tomiko Yoneda, Ph.D., of the University of Victoria. "The accumulation of lifelong experiences may then contribute to susceptibility of particular diseases or disorders, such as mild cognitive impairment, or contribute to individual differences in the ability to withstand age-related neurological changes."
weatheriscool
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Team discovers novel root cause of tau-induced neurodegeneration
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04- ... ation.html
by University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) today reported the discovery of a novel mechanism by which pathological forms of tau protein cause neurons to die. Alzheimer's disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) are among more than 20 disorders that include tau protein pathology.

The newly found mechanism of tau-induced damage can be altered pharmacologically, the scientists noted, making it a novel target for drug development.

The study, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia, "provides a framework for future studies in vertebrate models of tauopathy and eventually clinical trials in people," first author Gabrielle Zuniga said. Zuniga is an MD/Ph.D. student in the South Texas Medical Scientist Training Program offered jointly by the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences of UT Health San Antonio.
weatheriscool
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New hope to help advanced Parkinson's patients walk, sleep again
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04- ... ients.html
by Julien Dury
In its later stages, Parkinson's disease often confines sufferers to a bed or a wheelchair.

People with advanced Parkinson's disease often struggle to walk more than a few steps or sleep through the night, but new research offers hope of relief from these two debilitating symptoms.

Suffered by millions worldwide, the degenerative disease erodes motor functions and in its later stages often confines patients to a bed or wheelchair.

This is due to a condition called orthostatic hypotension, which occurs when a person stands up and their blood pressure drops, causing dizziness and even fainting after a couple of steps.

For Parkinson's sufferers, it happens because a regulator in the brain—which normally ensures sufficient blood flows to the brain when we stand up—has been disrupted.

But new French research published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week found that a spinal cord implant could help advanced Parkinson's patients get back on their feet.
weatheriscool
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Newly discovered mechanism points to cause of drug-induced parkinsonism
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04- ... onism.html
by Chinese Academy of Sciences
Drug-induced parkinsonism is not well understood. Chronic use of flunarizine (FNZ), a drug often used for treating dizziness, migraine, epilepsy, and peripheral vascular diseases, may induce parkinsonism. Previous investigations point out that the disruption of mitochondrial quality control, essential for mitochondrial homeostasis and function, degrades brain functions, and is causally related to parkinsonism disease. Still, there is limited knowledge about the exact mechanism of drug-induced parkinsonism, which hinders the development of prevention and treatment.

Recently, researchers from Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health (GIBH) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine have revealed the mechanisms of FNZ-inducing parkinsonism by provoking the integration of mitochondria and lysosomes, named as mitolysosome, and causing mitochondrial reduction in brains. This study was published in Science Advances.

The researchers noticed that mice treated with FNZ showed parkinsonism-like symptoms in the rotarod test, the open-field test and Morris water maze test, including decreased coordination and balance and decreased ability to learn and to memorize.

The team detected an increase in glucose uptake in the brains of FNZ-treated mice by [18F]-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scanning, and significant reductions of mitochondrial proteins specifically in brains, but not in other tissues.
weatheriscool
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Researchers find link between Parkinson's gene and vocal issues that could lead to earlier diagnosis
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05- ... ssues.html
by University of Arizona
Parkinson's disease is perhaps best known for its movement-related symptoms, particularly tremors and stiffness.
But the disease is also known to hinder vocal production, giving those with Parkinson's a soft monotonous voice. Those symptoms, research has suggested, often appear much earlier in the disease's development—sometimes decades before movement-related symptoms.

New research by University of Arizona neuroscientists suggests that a specific gene commonly associated with Parkinson's may be behind those vocal-related issues—a finding that could help lead to earlier diagnoses and treatments for Parkinson's patients.
weatheriscool
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Neuroscientists find brain mechanism tied to age-related memory loss
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05- ... lated.html
by Johns Hopkins University
Working with rats, neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins University have pinpointed a mechanism in the brain responsible for a common type of age-related memory loss. The work, published today in Current Biology, sheds light on the workings of aging brains and may deepen our understanding of Alzheimer's disease and similar disorders in humans.

"We're trying to understand normal memory and why a part of the brain called the hippocampus is so critical for normal memory," said senior author James Knierim, a professor at the university's Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute. "But also with many memory disorders, something is going wrong with this area."
weatheriscool
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Researchers link sugar-studded protein to Alzheimer's disease
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05- ... sease.html
by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
In a bit of "reverse engineering" research using brain tissues from five people who died with Alzheimer's disease, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they discovered that a special sugar molecule could play a key role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. If further research confirms the finding, the molecule, known as a glycan, could serve as a new target for early diagnostic tests, treatments and perhaps prevention of Alzheimer's disease, say the researchers.

The study was published online April 20 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia in the United States. Affecting an estimated 5.8 million Americans, the progressive disorder occurs when nerve cells in the brain die due to the buildup of harmful forms of proteins called amyloid and tau.

Cleaning up the disease-causing forms of amyloid and tau is the job of the brain's immune cells, called microglia. Earlier studies found that when cleanup is impaired, Alzheimer's disease is more likely to occur. In some people, this is caused by an overabundance of a receptor on the microglia cells, called CD33.
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