The Tangled Neuron

MCI Symposium: Memory Loss and Exercise

2010-01-26T12:23:59-05:00

Nicola Lautenschlager, MD, FRANZCP I recently started running again, five years after a knee injury slowed me down. It isn't pretty, but it might be good for my brain. At last year’s MCI Symposium, Nicola Lautenschlager, Professor of Psychiatry of...

Johnson & Johnson Risperdal Kickback Allegations

2010-01-20T09:18:25-05:00

Last week, the New York Times published an article about a U.S. government complaint that Johnson & Johnson paid kickbacks to the biggest nursing home pharmacy in the U.S. to increase prescriptions of the antipsychotic Risperdal and other drugs. On...

From AA to AD, A Wistful Travelogue: Book Review

2010-01-17T18:46:17-05:00

Does memory loss bring wisdom? It’s really a lifetime of many losses, not just memory loss, that Mike Donohue describes in his new book, From AA to AD, A Wistful Travelogue . And those losses seem to have brought him...

Alzheimer's Research: Starting Over?

2010-01-09T11:01:21-05:00

This past Thursday, the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute on Aging presented “A Conversation on Breaking the Treatment Barrier: Moving from Disease Modification to Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease.” Russell Katz, MD (Director, Division of Neurology Products, Food and Drug Administration) and...

Mobile Phones, Alzheimer's and Brain Health

2010-01-07T12:07:44-05:00

University of South Florida researchers have completed a unique study of the effect of electromagnetic waves on the memory and thinking of mice. In their study, half the mice were “normal,” and half were genetically engineered to develop the plaques...

Professional Rememberers?

2010-01-05T15:03:18-05:00

Anne Tyler’s new book Noah's Compass is out today. It reportedly has a character who is a “professional rememberer.” Is there such a profession? Would the person perform functions that family members of people with memory loss often do? Or...

MCI Symposium: Vascular Dementia and MCI, Part 1

2010-01-03T16:42:15-05:00

Vladimir Hachinski, MD, FRCPC, DSc Dr. Vladimir Hachinski, a prominent stroke researcher, thinks that treating vascular diseases such as high blood pressure and “hardening of the arteries” can reduce your risk of both stroke and Alzheimer’s. Several months after the...

Another Study Links Diabetes to Dementia

2010-01-02T10:31:57-05:00

British researchers have published study results suggesting that if you have been diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment, having diabetes increases your risk of developing full-blown dementia.

Ginkgo Fails Again

2009-12-31T16:08:49-05:00

Late last year, initial results from GEMS, the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory Study, showed that ginkgo did not prevent older people from developing Alzheimer’s or other dementias during a six year follow up period. But did it help prevent smaller...

Speaking Our Minds: Book Review

2009-12-28T10:03:26-05:00

Thoughtful. Dignified. Funny. That’s how I would describe the seven people profiled in the new edition of Lisa Snyder’s Speaking Our Minds: What It's Like to Have Alzheimer's . Lisa is a clinical social worker at the University of California,...

Alzheimer's Clinical Trial Setbacks

2009-12-17T10:58:19-05:00

A clinical trial of an Alzheimer’s treatment has failed, and another has been modified due to serious side effects. A Phase III trial involving over 1000 patients diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s disease showed no benefits from tarenflurbil, a potential treatment...

Surgery and Memory Loss Revisited

2009-12-06T17:14:00-05:00

Judging by the comments on my previous post on surgery, anesthesia and memory loss, it's common to have cognitive problems after surgery. But a new study by researchers at University of Washington in St. Louis shows that surgery does not...

Analyzing a Famous Brain

2009-12-05T15:07:41-05:00

The Brain Observatory, a lab based at the University of California, San Diego, studies the structure of the human brain. Its new project – analyzing the brain of a man who developed amnesia in 1957 after surgery to treat seizures...

Family History of Alzheimer's and High Blood Pressure

2009-11-23T16:26:25-05:00

Summary: Middle-aged people whose parents were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s tend to have higher blood pressure and, at least in the lab, their blood produces more proteins that contribute to inflammation. These characteristics may increase their risk of developing dementia. Controlling...