Free Republic

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disease that is characterized by a progressive loss of memory associated with other cognitive sphere deficits interfering with social and occupational functioning. The global prevalence of AD was estimated at 26.55 million in 2006. During several years preceding the diagnosis of dementia, there is a gradual cognitive decline with a continuum from the predementia stage to the other stages of the disease. Current treatment strategies address impairments of cholinergic and glutamatergic systems. The cholinergic hypothesis was initially presented over 25 years ago and suggests that a dysfunction of acetylcholine containing neurons in the...

Donald Trump can't keep his Midwesterners straight. At a campaign stop in South Carolina on Tuesday, Trump repeatedly referred to retired neuosurgeon Ben Carson as "Obama." "What Ted Cruz did to Obama, where he said that Obama had quit the race and take our votes," Trump began to say before being corrected by his audience. In fact, he was referring to an incident in which members of Cruz's campaign spread reports suggesting that Carson was dropping out of the race on the day of the Iowa caucuses. People in the crowd started yelling that it was Carson. "Right? Is that...

to bolster his claim, misattributing a quote about Cruz to a former Senator. First, Trump retweeted his social media director's link to a blog post about former Republican Senator Tom Coburn on Texas Sen. Cruz. "Unreal! Highly respected Senator Tom Coburn- said this about Cruz," the business mogul tweeted, attributing the quote "He is, without a doubt, one of the most dishonest people in DC," to Coburn. Trump then repeated the quote during a rally in North Augusta, South Carolina. "Did you see the Senator from Oklahoma just came out with a statement? One of the most incredible statements ......

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Tuesday announced a slate of proposals to battle Alzheimer's disease and seek a cure by 2025, including an increase in funding for research on the disease and related disorders.

There is no question that Donna Lou Rayhons had severe Alzheimer’s. In the days before being placed in a nursing home in Garner, Iowa, last year, Mrs. Rayhons, 78, could not recall her daughters’ names or how to eat a hamburger. One day, she tried to wash her hands in the toilet of a restaurant bathroom. But another question has become the crux of an extraordinary criminal case unfolding this week in an Iowa courtroom: Was Mrs. Rayhons able to consent to sex with her husband? Henry Rayhons, 78, has been charged with third-degree felony sexual abuse, accused of having...

Scientists have discovered the key to stopping Alzheimer’s disease in its earliest stages. The breakthrough paves the way for a ‘statin-like’ drug that could be taken by millions to prevent dementia. Cambridge University researchers have found a naturally occurring molecule that can slow the formation of plaques in the brain. Amyloid plaques are closely associated with declining memory and other Alzheimer’s symptoms. The discovery raises the prospect of a treatment which could be routinely taken in middle age to stop dementia. It could even result in a pill that could be used to treat dementia in the same way that...

Scientists at Oxford University and Kings College London develop blood test which can predict the onset of Alzheimer's so that drugs could target the disease before symptoms appear A blood test has been developed to predict if someone will develop Alzheimer’s within a year, raising hopes that the disease could become preventable. After a decade of research, scientists at Oxford University and King’s College London are confident they have found 10 proteins which show the disease is imminent. Clinical trials will start on people who have not yet developed Alzheimer’s to find out which drugs halt its onset. The blood...

An antidepressant drug appears to deter the formation of amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published today (May 14) in Science Translational Medicine. A team led by Yvette Sheline of the University of Pennsylvania studied the effects of citalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), on mice and a small group of people.Amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles can be found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, but it’s not clear if the plaques are precursors to neurodegenerative problems or an effect of them. Citalopram, which is marketed as Celexa and Cipramil, is typically used to treat...

Windsor on Monday joined the growing number of municipalities which have voted to end the decades-old practice of adding fluoride to the water supply in the fight against tooth decay. “A lot has changed in the last 60 years … fluoride is not the be-all and end-all to prevent tooth decay,” said Mayor Eddie Francis, who voted with the majority.… “I want to be shown that when we ingest this, we are safe,” said Kimberley DeYong of Fluoride Free Windsor. She and others said not a single study among those cited by fluoridation proponents looked specifically at the industry-sourced chemical...

A biological medication already widely used to treat plaque psoriasis may be able to slow the accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain that are the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, a new study has found. The same study found that in older mice with established Alzheimer's, this treatment approach, which suppresses the brain's immune reaction to beta amyloid, brought a marked improvement in cognitive function and may even halt or reverse early signs of Alzheimer's. The new study was published this week in the journal Nature Medicine. Conducted by researchers in Switzerland and Germany, the study offers a glimmer of...

GUMC neuroscientists say their novel gene therapy shows that clearing toxic proteins inside brain cells prevents plaque formation outside neuronsWashington, D.C. – Gene therapy that boosts the ability of brain cells to gobble up toxic proteins prevents development of Alzheimer's disease in mice that are predestined to develop it, report researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center. They say the treatment – which is given just once - could potentially do the same in people at the beginning stages of the disease. The study, published online in Human Molecular Genetics, demonstrates that giving brain cells extra parkin genes promotes efficient and...

Study: Scientists Revive Old, Fading Memories By Maia Szalavitz Thursday, March 3, 2011 What would it be like if you never forgot — if your brain were able to access your haziest long-term memories as though they had just been freshly made? For the first time, working in rats, researchers have enhanced weak, old memories by tweaking an enzyme in the brain. The findings not only deepen understanding of how memory works, but offer new hope for the development of treatments for Alzheimer's and other memory-destroying diseases. The study, led by researchers at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science, involved using...

There are apparently no limits regarding the left's unhinged hatred toward Sarah Palin. Joan Rivers joined the ranks of those afflicted with what is now called "Palin Derangement Syndrome" when she called Sarah Palin a Nazi while speaking with Joy Behar. Rivers was mad because her appearance on a Fox News program was canceled, and claimed it was because she said, “I don’t think Sarah Palin is very smart.” Continue reading on Examiner.com: Joan Rivers: Sarah Palin is a Nazi - Spokane Conservative | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-spokane/joan-rivers-sarah-palin-is-a-nazi#ixzz1DK0JfAko

Bacterial Product Isolated in Soil from Easter Island Rescues Learning, Memory in Alzheimer's Mouse Model Rapamycin, a drug that keeps the immune system from attacking transplanted organs, may have another exciting use: fighting Alzheimer's disease. The drug -- a bacterial product first isolated in soil from Easter Island -- rescued learning and memory deficits in a mouse model of Alzheimer's, a team from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio reported on Feb. 23. The study, in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, offers the first evidence that the drug is able to reverse Alzheimer's-like deficits in an...

Enlarge Caffeine treatment removed the beta amyloid plaques from the brains of the Alzheimer's mice. Credit: Photo courtesy of Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Coffee drinkers may have another reason to pour that extra cup. When aged mice bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer's disease were given caffeine - the equivalent of five cups of coffee a day - their memory impairment was reversed, report University of South Florida researchers at the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Back-to-back studies published online today in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, show caffeine significantly decreased abnormal levels of the protein linked to...

In experiments with lab mice especially bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, University of South Florida (USF) researchers at the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center ADRC gave the aged animals the equivalent of the caffeine in five cups of coffee a day. The results? Their severe memory impairment was reversed. This study, along with other AD research by the same group of scientists, was just published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Both studies show that caffeine significantly decreased abnormal levels of beta amyloid (the protein linked to AD) in both the brains and blood of lab rodents who...

How about this one? Its a camera that's worn around your neck. It captures your whole day. Originally it was invented to help patients with Alzheimer's disease. The camera takes pictures automatically ...

New research in the FASEB Journal suggests that manipulation of the brain's own immune cells with IL-6 could lead to reversal of Alzheimer's disease pathologyA breakthrough discovery by scientists from the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, may lead to a new treatment for Alzheimer's Disease that actually removes amyloid plaques—considered a hallmark of the disease—from patients' brains. This discovery, published online in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), is based on the unexpected finding that when the brain's immune cells (microglia) are activated by the interleukin-6 protein (IL-6), they actually remove plaques instead of causing them or making them worse. The research...

A new test can accurately detect Alzheimer's disease in its earliest stages, before dementia symptoms surface and widespread damage occurs, U.S. researchers said on Monday. The test, which measures proteins in spinal fluid that can point to Alzheimer's, was 87 percent accurate at predicting which patients with early memory problems and other symptoms of cognitive impairment would eventually be diagnosed with Alzheimer's, they said. "With this test, we can reliably detect and track the progression of Alzheimer's disease," said Leslie Shaw of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, whose study appears in the Annals of Neurology. Such tests, which...

STOCKHOLM — Middle-aged people who drink moderate amounts of coffee significantly reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, a study by Finnish and Swedish researchers showed Thursday. "Middle-aged people who drank between three and five cups of coffee a day lowered their risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease by between 60 and 65 percent later in life," said lead researcher on the project, Miia Kivipelto, a professor at the University of Kuopio in Finland and at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. The study, which was also conducted in cooperation with the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki and which...