Alzforum News

Larry Sparks, of Alzheimer’s-Cholesterol Fame, Dies at 63

18 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

Alzheimer's disease researchers expressed sadness this week at the sudden death of Larry Sparks...

Skin Cancer Linked to Lower AD Risk—But Don't Hit the Beach Just Yet

17 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

Skin cancer, a common and typically curable malignancy, may carry a fringe benefit—protection from Alzheimer’s disease...

Study Finds Ways to Predict, Track Huntington’s Disease

17 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

Anticipating future clinical trials for Huntington’s disease, researchers are seeking sensitive measures that will predict onset and track progression...

Dementia Incidence Said to Drop as Public Health Improves

17 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

Are fewer people getting Alzheimer’s disease now than they did 20 years ago?...

Ubiquitin System Awry in Ataxia, Intellectual Disability

17 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

Two new papers this month shore up the connection between cell waste disposal and function of neurons...

Yueming Li and Lennart Mucke Win MetLife Foundation Award

15 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

Today, the MetLife Foundation honored Yueming Li and Lennart Mucke with its 2013 Awards for Medical Research in Alzheimer’s Disease...

Could Longevity Factor, Epilepsy Med, Treat AD One Day?

14 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

At a San Francisco conference addressing Alzheimer’s and related disorders, the agenda featured a diverse mix of topics—occasionally even from the same lab...

Paracrine Signal From BACE1-Clipped Neuregulin Rescues Myelin

13 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

As β-secretase inhibitors head into Alzheimer’s disease trials, researchers are paying close attention to what else BACE1 does besides snip amyloid-β from APP...

Endocytosis Pulls α-Secretase From Synapses

13 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

Scientists report that endocytosis whisks α-secretase away from the cell membrane in a process that seems regulated by neuronal activity...

Guidelines at Nature Aim to Stem Tide of Irreproducibility

10 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

It has become a complaint heard all too often—much academic research cannot be reproduced...

Therapeutic Approaches Target Deubiquitinase, Protein Turnover

10 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

This scientific meeting that drew some 150 researchers to San Francisco 15-17 April 2013 featured an unusually broad array of topics...

Paper Alert: Antisense Oligonucleotide Therapy Safe for ALS?

9 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

An oligonucleotide designed to tamp down an enzyme that causes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis seems safe...

Gammagard™ Misses Endpoints in Phase 3 Trial

8 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

Topline data yesterday showed that intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy, known as Gammagard™, failed to meet primary endpoints of slowing cognitive and functional decline...

Criminal Minds: Explaining Lack of Empathy in Prison Psychopaths

8 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

People with psychopathic tendencies—who may constitute upwards of 15 percent of prison populations—poorly activate parts of the brain responsible for empathy...

Stem Cells Treat Epileptic Symptoms in Mice

8 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

Using stem cells to replace inhibitory neurons in the hippocampi of adult epileptic mice reduced hyperexcitability, seizures, and behavioral deficits...

Not Seeing Eye to Eye: Do Lenses Accumulate Aβ?

8 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

What if you could diagnose Alzheimer’s disease at an early stage by examining a person’s eyes?...

Do Microglia in the Hypothalamus Drive Aging?

3 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

Microglia have taken center stage in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research recently...

Can Transferrin Antibodies Safely Open the Blood-Brain Barrier?

3 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

For decades scientists have sought a way to sneak large drugs across the blood-brain barrier...

ALS in Han Chinese: Different Race, Different Genetics?

3 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

Researchers using genomewide screens have identified two new loci for sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis genes in the Han Chinese population...

Research Brief: New Mouse Line for Studying Upper Motor Neurons

3 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

In the study of ALS, lower motor neurons in the spine have received the lion's share of attention—but now there is a tool to focus on the role of upper motor neurons in the cortex...

Foundation Offers $100,000 for Sex Differences in Alzheimer’s

30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

Why are women at greater risk for Alzheimer's disease?...

ApoE Does Not Bind Aβ, Competes for Clearance

29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

Rather than sequestering Aβ to prevent its clearance from the brain, ApoE may indirectly block the peptide’s path to breakdown...

Does Progranulin Play Both Sides in AD and FTD?

26 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

Mutations that cause frontotemporal dementia may also predispose carriers to Alzheimer’s dementia...

Newborn Healers—Novel Astrocytes Repair Brain Injury

26 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

When leaky blood vessels damage the brain, the organ’s stem cell niche dispatches a specialist crew of astrocytes to stop the bleeding...

Cholinergic Neurons From Stem Cells Rescue Mouse Memories

26 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

A new recipe for cooking up cholinergic neurons from stem cells may help researchers study what goes wrong with these cells in Alzheimer’s disease...

Aβ Vaccine Leads to Safer Immune Response in Mice

25 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

A newly developed active amyloid-β vaccine removes Aβ from mouse brains while reducing inflammation and improving cognition...

As DIAN’s Scope Widens, Funding Narrows

25 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

Public funding is becoming so scarce that the DIAN researchers are increasingly asking industry to help...

Stem Cell Screen Points to ALS Disease Target

19 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

Therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have proven hard to develop, in part because of inadequate disease models...

Parkinson’s Gene Increases Risk of Dementia

19 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

One of the top Parkinson’s disease risk genes, GBA1, appears to be an even bigger risk factor for the related synucleinopathy dementia with Lewy bodies...

Safe at 4 Grams? No ARIA at High Dose of Human Aβ Antibody

18 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

Researchers showed new data on how a therapeutic Aβ antibody their company had licensed from the Swiss biotech Neurimmune was measuring up...

Lilly Buys Tau Tracers From Siemens

17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

Eli Lilly and Company announced today that it has acquired the tau PET tracer program developed by Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc....

Human-Derived SOD1 Antibodies Show Promise in ALS Mice

17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

You could say the concept that endogenous proteins in the body can misfold, aggregate, and spread disease from cell to cell has created infectious enthusiasm for drug development...

Guardian Amyloid? Aβ Hexamers Help Multiple Sclerosis Mouse Model

16 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

Could amyloid-beta fibrils—which form the hallmark plaques of Alzheimer’s disease (AD)—actually protect the brain?...

Tracing a Path from Aβ to Tau Leads Scientists to Lost Synapses

15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

How do Aβ oligomers cause synapses to wither in Alzheimer’s disease?...

Let There Be Light for New and Better Mind Control (in Mice)

12 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

Imagine a remote control that manipulates specific neurons in a mouse's brain while it scurries about its cage getting on with normal rodent business...