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
If you listen to National Public Radio, watch TV, or surf the Web, chances are you have come across commercials enticing you to “improve your memory” and “unlock your inner genius” with “brain training developed by neuroscientists.” In search of solid ev
The European Union is banking on big returns from nanotechnology in the fight against AD. European Union Throws Megabucks at Nanomedicine EU Consortium Applies Nanotechnology to Study AD
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
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.
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
Banked brain tissue enables crucial advances in the understanding and treatment of degenerative disorders. As appreciation of the many different variants of neurodegenerative disease is growing, well-preserved tissue is in more demand than ever. Are the b
A $40 million multicenter biomarker study for Parkinson disease progression is off and running, with enrollment underway at 10 of 18 sites in the U.S. and Europe. In design and operation, the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) follow
Alzforum readers who follow the science of preclinical Alzheimer's and prevention may have heard about three independent but complementary programs that together are laying the groundwork for secondary prevention trials across the spectrum of rare to
Move over, genome, transcriptome, proteome. The latest ome aims to map every metabolite linked to human health and disease. Metabolomics, although still a nascent field, offers hope for biomarkers and treatments in neurodegenerative disease. The field
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
Researchers have tied sleep to clearance of waste products such as excess Aβ. New research suggests this clearance may be driven by a change in the extracellular ion composition, which swells the interstitial fluid. Other work finds an essential role for
A contentious hypothesis about where and how Parkinson’s disease starts off is gaining ground as new studies provide clues in its support. Neuroanatomists Heiko Braak and Kelly Del Tredici, both at the University of Ulm in Germany, have described the dist
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