Researchers at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) at the University Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich have found that a protein called TREM2 could positively influence the course of Alzheimer’s disease. When TREM2 is present in the cerebrospinal fluid at higher concentrations, patients […]
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Monkey malaria breakthrough offers possible cure for relapsing malaria
A breakthrough in monkey malaria research by two University of Otago scientists could help scientists diagnose and treat a relapsing form of human malaria. Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals with more than 200 million cases annually, particularly in Asia, the Pacific and South America. Symptoms include fever, tiredness, […]
Estrogen improves Parkinson’s disease symptoms: Insight into sex-based differences could lead to new treatments
Brain-selective estrogen treatment improves the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in male mice, according to new research published in JNeurosci. These findings may help explain the sex differences in Parkinson’s disease and could lead to estrogen-based treatments. Parkinson’s disease is characterized by the death of neurons involved in movement, which may be partially caused by gene […]
Amyloid is a less accurate marker for measuring severity, progression of Alzheimer’s
While the presence of beta-amyloid plaques in the brain may be a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, giving patients an amyloid PET scan is not an effective method for measuring their cognitive function, according to a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Thomas Jefferson University. The […]
Larger drug trials that intervene earlier needed for Alzheimer’s disease
There are currently no drugs that stop or inhibit Alzheimer’s disease. Despite drug trials showing plaque reduction in the brain, the patients’ cognitive function did not improve. Would the results be different if it were possible to design studies that intervene much earlier on in the disease, before cognition is affected? This is what an […]
Stopping Parkinson’s disease before it starts
An Osaka University-led research team has recently published findings that provide a ray of hope for the millions of Parkinson’s disease (PD) sufferers worldwide. Although more common in those aged over sixty, PD can strike at any age, with an estimated prevalence of 41 per 100,000 people in their forties. And while not fatal in […]
Experts propose revising the criteria for diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease
In the past 25 years it has become clear that some symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) occur decades before the development of motor symptoms and clinical diagnosis, and that monitoring these emerging symptoms may provide important insights into the origin and development of the disease. Understanding this “prodromal” phase, along with the development of new […]
Never-before-seen DNA recombination in the brain linked to Alzheimer’s disease
Scientists from Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified gene recombination in neurons that produces thousands of new gene variants within Alzheimer’s disease brains. The study, published today in Nature, reveals for the first time how the Alzheimer’s-linked gene, APP, is recombined by using the same type of enzyme found in HIV. Using […]
Eyes of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease patients show evidence of prions
By the time symptoms of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) are typically discovered, death is looming and inevitable. But, in a new study, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine with colleagues at the National Institutes of Health and UC San Francisco, report finding tell-tale evidence of the condition’s infectious agent in the […]
Losing control of gene activity in Alzheimer’s disease
Pioneering research into the mechanisms controlling gene activity in the brain could hold the key to understanding Alzheimer’s disease and might help identify effective treatments in the future. An international research team led by scientists at the University of Exeter and the University of Essex have uncovered a link between indicators of gene activity and […]