Alzforum News

Polyglutamine Protein Promotes Natural Cell Death in Worms

24 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

How do glutamine-rich proteins cause neurodegenerative disease?...

Peptide Sparks Synaptic Plasticity, Improves Memory in Rodents

24 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

A small peptide called FGL boosts learning and memory when administered to rodents, and is poised to begin clinical trials in Alzheimer’s disease patients this year...

News Focus: 2012 Human Amyloid Imaging Conference

24 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

When 225 researchers convened to exchange the latest on β amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) on 12-13 January 2012, there was a palpable sense of urgency...

Can Dirty Air Cloud the Mind?

23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Air pollution—already tied to asthma and heart attacks—appears also to wreak havoc in the brain...

First Responder to Axon Injury Does More Harm Than Good

23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Squash an axon and the whole neuron dies. Researchers do not fully understand how the loss of that cellular limb causes the relatively undamaged cell body to degenerate...

HHS Seeks Input on Draft National Plan

22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

After months of deliberation, today the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services formally released a Draft National Plan to tackle Alzheimer’s disease...

Huntington’s Strategies Tap Transcription, Htt Phosphorylation

20 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Two potential approaches for tackling Huntington’s disease come to the fore in this week’s literature...

Are Broken Genes Common in Humans?

20 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Previous genome studies suggest that all of us possess a few hundred non-functional genes...

Neurodegeneration and Aging: Could MicroRNA Be the Link?

17 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Aging is one of the biggest risk factors for neurodegenerative disease, but the biological link between the two processes is unclear...

Synuclein—Researchers Out of Sync on Structure

17 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Researchers created a stir last year when they claimed α-synuclein is not a random, unfolded monomer in its native form, as was widely believed...

San Francisco: GABA Neurons Blamed for Memory Loss in ApoE Mice

16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

People carrying one copy of the ApoE4 gene variant are up to four times more likely to develop AD, but what makes the protein so harmful?...

ALS: Speeding Ahead With Trial of Immunomodulator

16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Researchers announced on 14 February 2012 that they are planning to start a clinical trial this year to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with Gilenya...

San Francisco: Tweaking Brain ApoE Reduces Aβ, Symptoms

16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Considering the dramatic impact of its E4 allelic variant on Alzheimer’s disease risk, apolipoprotein E arguably has drawn scant attention from AD drug developers...

Slicing and Dicing: TDP-43 Teams Up With Nucleases to Make MicroRNAs

16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

TDP-43 shepherds select microRNAs through their maturation process from nuclear transcripts to grown-up regulatory fragments set loose in the cytoplasm...

Late- and Early-Onset AD—Not So Distant at Genetic Level

14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Mutations in amyloid precursor protein and presenilin can give rise to a late-onset, inherited version of Alzheimer’s disease...

Upping Brain ApoE, Drug Treats Alzheimer's Mice

10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Move over, β amyloid. Here comes apolipoprotein E—target of a potential new Alzheimer’s disease therapy that looks promising in mice...

Virtual Reality Reveals Deep-Brain Memory Stimulus, Early AD Signs

10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Deep-brain stimulation is being explored as a way to alleviate depression and relieve obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Could it improve memory, too?...

Silent Vascular Disease May Hasten Dementia Progression

10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

People with dementia who had occasional small clots of solid material flowing through their cerebral arteries declined nearly twice as fast as people without such specks...

Computer-Painted Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Neuroscientists are reaping the benefits of new technological advances in image processing...

Beyond Aβ: Other APP Fragments Affect Neuron Health and Disease

9 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Evidence is accumulating that other APP fragments, such as β-CTF and sAPPβ, may play crucial roles both in neuronal health and in AD...

Paper Alert: γ-Secretase Modulators Trump Inhibitors

9 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

A paper reports that γ-secretase inhibitors do nothing to improve memory in AD mice when given subchronically, and can even worsen cognition in normal mice...

Not the Usual Suspects: Tracking BACE Inhibition, Axon Role

8 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

BACE1 has been a tough nut to crack...

More Than a LRRK: PD Field Thinks Big With Genetic Cohort

8 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Researchers hope to get closer to the goal of disease-modifying treatment by studying people who carry PD risk mutations in the LRRK2 gene...

New Shot in Arm for Alzheimer's Research Announced Today

7 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

The Obama Administration is investing an additional $130 million in Alzheimer's research over the next two years...

Tau Joins APP in the Ironworks

3 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Could the answer to tau’s involvement in so many neurodegenerative conditions lie in its failure to perform a newly discovered role: promoting iron export?...

Mice Tell Tale of Tau Transmission, Alzheimer’s Progression

3 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

A study reported in the February 1 PLoS One offers an explanation for how tau pathology progresses in Alzheimer’s disease...

Intracellular Aβ Causes Neurodegeneration in Mice

2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

A study injects new data into an ongoing debate about the role of intraneuronal Aβ...

Would Congress Please SPRINT Toward Cures?

2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

At a press conference held today in Washington, D.C., congressional leaders introduced "The Spending Reductions Through Innovations in Therapies (SPRINT) Agenda Act of 2012”...

Love a Good Fight? Check Out Brouhaha Over Amyloid Imaging

2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

As the first of a suite of PET β amyloid imaging agents stands poised to receive a ruling from the FDA, seven scientists are questioning the validity of this technology...

Not Just Fun and Games—Cognitive Engagement Deters Amyloid

1 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

A new study suggests that cognitive stimulation in early and midlife protects from amyloid plaque deposition—known to be associated with Alzheimer's disease...

Solanezumab, Gammagard Trials Survive Futility Analysis

1 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Recent company reports reveal that clinical trials of two different Alzheimer’s disease immunotherapies survived futility analyses...

Astrocyte Imaging Supports Early Inflammation in the AD Brain

1 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Thanks to a compound that allows live imaging of astrocytes, scientists find that the cells are highly activated early on in Alzheimer's disease...

Induced Neurons From AD Patients Hint at Disease Mechanisms

31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Human neurons, whether made from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) or directly from fibroblasts, are one of the newest tools for Alzheimer’s disease research...

Alzheimer's Challenge 2012

30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

What is a simple, cost-effective way to diagnose and track Alzheimer's disease?...

Research Brief: Retracted Longevity GWAS Now Republished

30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

A study on genetic variants of extreme longevity that was reported in 2010 and later retracted by the authors now appears in revised form...