Brain
Educated People Who Develop Dementia Lose Memory at Faster Rate
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People with more years of education lose their memory faster than those with less education in the years prior to a diagnosis of dementia, according to a study published in the October 23, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study included 117 people who developed dementia out of an original cohort of 488 people. Researchers followed the participants for an average of six years using annual cognitive tests. Study participants ranged in formal education levels of less than three years of elementary school to people with postgraduate education.
Meth abuse may speed age-related brain degeneration
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Young people who abuse methamphetamines may put themselves at risk of parkinson-like movement disorders later in life, a new animal study suggests.
In experiments with mice, scientists found that animals deficient in a protein called glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) were especially vulnerable to long-term movement problems after being exposed to the neurotoxic effects of a methamphetamine “binge.”
Ibuprofen may improve liver-related brain deficits
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Treatment with the commonly used over-the-counter drug ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), may reduce the impairments in thinking ability that often accompany severe liver disease, findings from an animal study suggest.
Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory agent that belongs to a group of drugs called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Previous research has suggested that inflammation plays a key role in the development of brain impairments caused by liver disease, referred to as “hepatic encephalopathy.”
Link identified between Alzheimer’s disease and glaucoma
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UK scientists have shown for the first time that key proteins involved in Alzheimer’s disease are also implicated in glaucoma, the major cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Research carried out at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and funded by the Wellcome Trust has also shown that novel drugs being trialled for Alzheimer’s disease which target this protein may be used to treat glaucoma.
The research team has developed a new technology for visualising nerve cell damage in the retina, known as Detection of Apoptosing Retinal Cells. Using this technology, they demonstrated that the protein beta-amyloid, which causes the so-called “plaque” lesions in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, also leads to nerve cell death in the retina. The research is published online today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.
Pediatricians and pathologists see traumatic brain injury differently
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Confronted with the same hypothetical scenarios of traumatic brain injuries to children, pediatricians and pathologists were unable to agree half the time whether the deaths should be investigated as potential child abuse, researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine found.
The study demonstrates the need for improved, uniform definitions if research is to prevent such abuse, said Antoinette Laskey, M.D., M.P.H., a forensic pediatrician and assistant professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, and her colleagues. They reported on their efforts to develop a framework to help researchers compare cases in the April issue of the journal Child Abuse and Neglect.
Statin treatment improves spatial memory in mouse models of Alzheimer’s
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Treatment with Simvastatin, one of the statin drugs widely used for lowering cholesterol in humans, significantly improved spatial memory - how to navigate a water maze - in mice genetically bred to have an Alzheimer’s like disease. Although statin improved memory in both males and females, the results were more pronounced in males.
Dr. H. A. Morcos, chair of Pharmacology at the American University of Antigua, and colleagues at Florida A & M University presented the study April 30 at Experimental Biology 2007 in Washington, DC. His presentation is part of the scientific program of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
How student doctor got personal experience of brain surgery
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As I walked into the neurologist’s office, I thought I knew what was coming. I didn’t. I’m a medical student and had looked up all of my symptoms; everything seemed to point to carpal-tunnel syndrome - a trapped nerve in my wrist. I sat down and, from the look on my doctor’s face, began to feel uneasy. He said that something unexpected had shown up on my MRI scan. The pins and needles, wasting and weakness that I had been experiencing in my left hand for nearly a year were, in fact, caused by a condition that I had never heard of called Chiari malformation.
This meant that I had been born with my cerebellum protruding through the base of my skull. The extra tissue had altered the pressure and flow of spinal fluid, causing it to get “dumped” into the middle of my spinal cord, a condition called syringomyelia, which was progressive.
Brain Structure Changes Years Before Memory Loss Begins
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People who develop dementia or Alzheimer’s disease experience brain structure changes years before any signs of memory loss begin, according to a study published in the April 17, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers say these findings may help identify people at risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which leads to Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers performed brain scans and cognitive tests on 136 people over the age of 65 who were considered cognitively normal at the beginning of the five-year study. Participants were then followed annually with neurologic examination and extensive mental status testing. By the end of the study, 23 people had developed MCI, and nine of the 23 went on to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The brain scans of the 23 people with memory loss were then compared to the 113 people who remained cognitively normal.
Different Approach Needed to Protect Brains of Premature Babies
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A study of how the brain of a premature infant responds to injury has found vulnerabilities similar to those in the mature brain but also identified at least one significant difference, according to neuroscientists and neonatologists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
In an animal model of brain injury, researchers showed for the first time that parts of the developing brain are vulnerable to damage from glutamate, a nervous system messenger compound. Glutamate is already well-known for its links to injury in the mature brain. But scientists also found damage in the developing brain that could not be linked to glutamate, suggesting that different treatments are needed to prevent brain injury in premature infants.
Low-cal ketogenic diet slows brain cancer in mice
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A calorically restricted ketogenic diet decreases the growth of malignant brain tumors in laboratory mice, according to an online report in the journal Nutrition & Metabolism.
A ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that induces excess production of ketone bodies, which are incompletely burned fat molecules. This diet has been used to control epileptic seizures that do not respond to drug treatment.
Impact of Brain Injury on Family Members
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After a traumatic brain injury medical professionals tend to focus on the patient but research shows a great impact on family members as well. Studies in the 1970s began to recognize these issues, while other work in the 1980s documented emotional distress that persisted for up to seven years and many studies in the 1990s identified tremendous levels of stress on caregivers and family members. The special April issue of the journal NeuroRehabilitation sheds light on the substantial advances in the science of family member and caregiver research with six special articles by experts in the field, exploring ways in which interventions can be targeted for optimum effectiveness.
In spite of growing evidence of family/caregiver distress after injury, developing appropriate intervention strategies to help families and caregivers has lagged behind.
Smoking changes brain the same way as drugs do
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Smoking causes long-lasting changes in the brain similar to changes seen in animals when they are given cocaine, heroin and other addictive drugs, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
A study of the brain tissue of smokers and nonsmokers who died showed that smokers had these changes, even if they had quit years before, the team at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reported.
Memory loss from shock therapy tied to technique
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Memory loss due to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), commonly known as electroshock therapy, may to a large extent be associated with how the treatment is administered, according to a study of patients referred to one of seven hospitals in the New York metropolitan area for ECT.
Despite ongoing controversy, there has never been a large-scale study of the cognitive effects of ECT, Dr. Harold A. Sackeim of New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, and colleagues point out in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
Bleeding in infant brain common in vaginal births
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About one quarter of infants delivered in vaginally have a small amount of bleeding in their brains, while none delivered by Caesarean section do, according to the results of a study published Tuesday.
But the researchers, at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, said it was premature to view these “surprising” findings as an endorsement of C-sections. Plus this study was relatively small.
Flu shot linked to small risk of brain disorder
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The flu vaccine can slightly raise the risk of a potentially disabling neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome, researchers said on Monday, but they stressed the vaccine’s benefits far outweigh its risks.
Canadian researchers, writing in the journal of the Archives of Internal Medicine, estimated that one to two people per million who get the flu vaccine will develop Guillain-Barre syndrome as a result. The ailment normally affects about one of every 100,000 people per year.
