Do you associate technology with youth? Picture this woman doing an automated telephone assessment and think again. Modern gadgets stand poised to transform dementia research and care. Researchers are harnessing the power of computers, digital cameras, an
Have neuroscientists entered the era of the programmable brain? Thanks to optogenetics and pharmacogenetics, which let scientists switch neuronal activity on or off with light or designer drugs, scientists can now control specific subtypes of neurons in r
Online training for use of Amyvid, the first FDA-approved Aβ imaging ligand, is now up and running,even as a task force convened by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and the Alzheimer's Association scrambles to formulate some expert guidelines on how a
Did you know that if you had a spinal tap for a cerebrospinal fluid-based Alzheimer's diagnosis in Boston, Stockholm, London, or San Diego, the readout would likely be different in each place? And different again this year and next? That's a pro
In the absence of truly effective treatments, and in the presence of a rapidly growing, dementia-prone population of elders, it's perhaps no surprise that people are increasingly open to products claiming even the slightest hint of promise, however u
If you find it hard to keep up with Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks, spare a thought for the brain. With 100 to 500 trillion synaptic connections, the human brain dwarfs all of them. How do those connections work to formulate thought, recall
The rarest kind of Alzheimer's disease, the form that is inherited from parent to child with a cruel 50 percent likelihood, has long been marked by its untapped opportunities. Affected families have made possible both the discovery of the first three
For families with autosomal-dominant neurological conditions, the fear of passing on the disease to their children looms large. Now, people at this highest genetic risk can ensure that they have healthy children by undergoing in vitro fertilization follow
In the Finnish city of Kuopio, neurosurgeons collaborate with neurophysiologists and molecular and cellular biologists to make frontal cortex, dura, intraventricular CSF, skin, fat, and other tissue from hydrocephalus patients available for research purpo
Alzforum readers might be forgiven for thinking all microglia do is act prominently, if mysteriously, in Alzheimer's pathogenesis. Not so. A recent flurry of papers shows that microglia can match themselves specifically to GABA synapses. They can rev
U.S. guidelines for assessing Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology are getting a much-needed facelift. The existing ones, in place since 1997, had fallen out of step with the current understanding of AD as a disease with a long preclinical stage.
With the holidays upon us, are your nerves fraying under the combined pressures of work deadlines, shopping, decorating, and entertaining? Now may be a good time to sit back and consider the effects of stress on the brain. Stress per se is not a cause of
Last year's ice bucket challenge for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis netted $220 million in donations for ALS charities, and the 2015 challenge is off to a strong start with $100,000 from Major League Baseball. Alzforum looks at how all that money is b