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New Delhi - It's a disease long associated with the elderly but is now diagnosed in younger people as well and with no permanent cure available till date. However, in what could give hope to thousands suffering from Alzheimer's Disease (AD), the pharmacology department in AIIMS has identified Ayurvedic drugs which could have a role in preventing the onset of AD and also restricting its spread in affected patients. AD is a degenerative neurological disorder leading to progressive loss of cognitive abilities, including the patient's memory due to a drop in chemicals — known as neurotransmitters — which transmits messages...

The link between a mother and child is profound, and new research suggests a physical connection even deeper than anyone thought. The profound psychological and physical bonds shared by the mother and her child begin during gestation when the mother is everything for the developing fetus, supplying warmth and sustenance, while her heartbeat provides a soothing constant rhythm. The physical connection between mother and fetus is provided by the placenta, an organ, built of cells from both the mother and fetus, which serves as a conduit for the exchange of nutrients, gasses, and wastes. Cells may migrate through the placenta...

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine in November surgically implanted a pacemaker-like device into the brain of a patient in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, the first such operation in the United States. The device, which provides deep brain stimulation and has been used in thousands of people with Parkinson's disease, is seen as a possible means of boosting memory and reversing cognitive decline.*snip*The surgery involves drilling holes into the skull to implant wires into the fornix on either side of the brain. The fornix is a brain pathway instrumental in bringing information to the hippocampus, the portion of the...

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...

Mixed emotions were inevitable for fans of Glen Campbell during the legendary singer-guitarist’s performance at the Paramount Tuesday night. One of the last concerts remaining on Campbell’s long-running “Goodbye Tour,” which the 76-year-old musician launched last year after announcing he suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, the Seattle show underscored the beloved artist’s strengths as a consummate crossover musician since the 1950s. At the same time, the ravages of Alzheimer’s were very much in evidence. Campbell sometimes stared at teleprompters, singing displayed lyrics as if reading from a book. (Even so, he lost his way on occasion.) His stage patter rambled: At...

I wrote this tonight and just need to share it. Maybe some of you have family members with this insidious disease too. Hello; it's good to see you. I don't remember why it's good to see you, but it is. I know I like you, and my eyes crinkle in evident delight that you are here. Immediately I want to rattle off something witty and topical,  But I don't remember the words right. So I look for something I can see, and relate it to you. It's good to see you. My smile is not like my smile of before....

This past weekend was my Nana’s birthday. She turned 76. A great woman! My mom had 4 kids, a single mother, and couldn’t afford the bills. Without ever complaining my Nana took me all to herself. She taught me so much! When I was learning to read and write she would open the bible. Most nights we would read and write scripture! Others we would sit and watch TV on her only couch, while eating cheese and crackers. She made my childhood! I was given the chance to be a kid only because of her. If I was ever in...

(CBS News) An ingredient used in artificial butter flavoring for popcorn may worsen the effects of an abnormal brain protein that's been linked to Alzheimer's disease. A new study in Chemical Research in Toxicology examined diacetyl (DA), an ingredient used to produce the buttery flavor and smell in microwave popcorn, margarine, candy, baked goods, and even pet food. It is also created naturally in fermented drinks like beer, and gives some chardonnay wines its buttery taste, according to the study. Scientists at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis conducted an analysis of DA, a chemical which previously has been linked...

NEW YORK — Pfizer Inc. and Johnson & Johnson said Monday they are ending development of an intravenous formulation of a drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease after the treatment failed in two late-stage clinical trials. The companies said bapineuzumab intravenous did not work better than placebo in two late-stage trials in patients who had mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. The drug is designed to prevent the buildup of plaque in the brain. J&J said it is not discontinuing development of the compound and noted it has ongoing studies including a mid-stage neuroimaging study with bapineuzumab delivered subcutaneously...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) told a recent gathering of the Women’s Political Committee that the spirits of suffragists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul spoke to her at the White House. Pelosi said she heard them say: “At last we have a seat at the table”. A video recently posted on Youtube shows Pelosi speaking in May describing her first meeting with President Bush in the White House after becoming part of the Democratic House leadership.

ScienceDaily (Aug. 1, 2012) — A new study raises concern about chronic exposure of workers in industry to a food flavoring ingredient used to produce the distinctive buttery flavor and aroma of microwave popcorn, margarines, snack foods, candy, baked goods, pet foods and other products. It found evidence that the ingredient, diacetyl (DA), intensifies the damaging effects of an abnormal brain protein linked to Alzheimer's disease. The study appears in ACS' journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.

Enlarge Image Brain preserver. A newly discovered gene mutation appears to protect against Alzheimer's disease. Credit: Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral Center/NIA/NIH A rare mutation that alters a single letter of the genetic code protects people from the memory-robbing dementia of Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study. The DNA change may inhibit the buildup of β amyloid, the protein fragment that accumulates in the hallmark plaques that form in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Other researchers say the findings are intriguing but not hugely surprising. They fit well, in fact, with current thinking about Alzheimer's disease. The newly...

Robert Maurius Reno, one of former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno’s two younger brothers, died Saturday morning, according to their sister, Maggy Hurchalla, of Stuart. The Miami native was born Dec. 11, 1939, at Jackson Memorial Hospital and succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease at the Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center, where he’d been living for about four years. He was 74 and, said Hurchalla “a proud liberal Democrat.’’ Reno became a journalist, like his parents, the late Henry and Jane Reno, and spent most of his career at Newsday, the New York daily, starting as a reporter in 1968. As a...

The brother of Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez has revealed that the 85-year-old Nobel Laureat is suffering from dementia.Jaime García Márquez, a civil engineer, told a group of students at a lecture in the Colombian city of Cartagena that his elder brother often telephones him to ask basic questions. “He has problems with his memory. Sometimes I cry because I feel like I’m losing him,” he said. The author, who has lived in Mexico City since 1961, is one of the most influential and highly-acclaimed living writers. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, and Carlos Fuentes, the...

Curtis Lee was in a fog in an Illinois care facility in March, suffering from Alzheimer's disease, when he looked over at his wife of 51 years and suddenly announced that he was somebody else. "He said, ‘My name is Choy,'" said his wife, Violet Lee. "I said, ‘Does Mr. Choy have a first name?' and he said, ‘Paul.' I said, ‘Well, then who is Curtis Lee?' He just smiled and went off to La-La Land." The question of who is Curtis Lee and who is Paul Choy now haunts Violet Lee, 71, who believes her husband was born in...

Cognitive skills such as learning and memory diminish with age in everyone, and the drop-off is steepest in Alzheimer's disease. Texas scientists seeking a way to prevent this decline reported exciting results this week with a drug that has Polynesian roots. Rapamycin, a bacterial product first isolated from soil on Easter Island, enhanced learning and memory in young mice and improved these faculties in old mice, the study showed.

STRESSFUL lifestyles could be the key trigger for incurable Alzheimer’s disease, scientists believe. Even the trauma of bereavement or moving home could bring on dementia. Scientists funded by the Alzheimer’s Society are investigating the link and hope their findings could lead to new drug treatments to fight the disease. A study at the University of Kuopio in Finland has found that the long-term effects of stress may be the biggest cause of the disease. When stressed, our blood pressure rises as our heart beats faster and levels of the hormone cortisol in the bloodstream also increase. Experts believe once cortisol...

Scientists say they have identified a possible genetic link between diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. It has been known for some time that people with diabetes have a much higher risk of developing Alzheimer's, but not why this is so.Now US researchers writing in Genetics say a study of worms has indicated a known Alzheimer's gene also plays a role in the way insulin is processed. ..... < snip > ..... A key indication of Alzheimer's, which can only be seen after death, is the presence of sticky plaques of amyloid protein in decimated portions of patients' brains. Scientists have already...

A very disturbing article in New York Magazine by Michael Wolff.  It tells the difficult story of his mother’s Alzheimer’s, a course of physical and mental decline about which I am very familiar as my uncle died from the complications of that awful disease. But Wolff says that such patients have lost dignity, and indeed, he more than implies the proper approach to dealing with dementia is to kill them sooner rather than bear the emotional and financial expense of caring for them over the long term.  From, “A Life Worth Ending:” It is peaceful and serene. Except for my mother’s disquiet. She stares...

A 79-year-old man accused of killing his wife and eating some of her flesh before he was found sitting in a rocking chair in their Shrewsbury apartment has died. Prosecutors said Saturday that Jieming Liu died at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood. Liu appeared disoriented and was wearing a white jumpsuit with no shoes when he was arraigned on April 16. He was sent to Bridgewater State Hospital for mental evaluation, but was later transferred to Shattuck for treatment. The couple arrived from China in November.