Alzheimer's Disease Archives

Alzheimer's Disease, Science & Technology News

Artificial intelligence reveals current drugs that may help combat Alzheimer’s disease

March 13, 2021

PET scan of a human brain with Alzheimer’s disease.

New treatments for Alzheimer’s disease are desperately needed, but numerous clinical trials of investigational drugs have failed to generate promising options. Now a team at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) has developed an artificial intelligence-based method to screen currently available medications as possible treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. The method could represent a rapid and inexpensive way to repurpose existing therapies into new treatments for this progressive, debilitating neurodegenerative condition. Importantly, it could also help reveal new, unexplored targets for therapy by pointing to mechanisms of drug action.

“Repurposing FDA-approved drugs for Alzheimer’s disease is an attractive idea that can help accelerate the arrival of effective treatment—but unfortunately, even for previously approved drugs, clinical trials require substantial resources, making it impossible to evaluate every drug in patients with Alzheimer’s disease,” explains Artem Sokolov, Ph.D., director of Informatics and Modeling at the Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology at HMS. “We therefore built a framework for prioritizing drugs, helping clinical studies to focus on the most promising ones.”

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Alzheimer's Disease, Science & Technology News

Scientists Invented a Wearable Device That Can Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease

January 7, 2021

Erika P.

scientists-invented-wearable-device-alzheimer-disease — Google Glass-like device could help prevent Alzheimer’s Screenshot from YouTube.

A team of scientists from the University of Otago unveiled a new wearable device strapped across the head and produces electrical pulses to arouse the olfactory nerves. That area is usually known to be dysfunctional during the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

This Google Glass-like device is fitted with six electrodes placed near the temporal lobe, a part of the brain that controls the organization of sensory input. It is said that this new device will prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

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AI, Alzheimer's Disease, Healthcare, Science & Technology News

Researchers use AI to predict Alzheimer’s disease 7 years before clinical diagnosis

November 1, 2020

IBM and Pfizer developed an AI that looks at speech patterns over time for markers of the crippling degenerative disease.

Alzheimer’s is a crippling degenerative disease, but the answer to early diagnosis might lie in speech.

I was afraid my grandmother wouldn’t remember who I was the last time I saw her in person. She looked small and frail in the wheelchair but I could still see the sparkle in her eyes. Our relationship was complicated, but when she said she remembered me, none of it mattered any more.

I sat by her wheelchair and tried to cram in a decade of memories and happenings. Every few moments, it was like she’d reset, and would ask what I’d been up to all these years. We’d go through everything again. We only had a few precious hours before she didn’t remember who I was anymore, no matter how many stories I told her.

Alzheimer’s is a degenerative brain disease that over 5 million Americans live with, and that number is only expected to grow, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. But IBM Research and Pfizer have developed a new AI model that uses quick speech tests to help predict the onset of the disease in healthy people, the companies said Thursday. The AI’s accuracy is about 70%, potentially giving people up to seven years’ notice before symptoms of cognitive decline.

The disease can seem like it sneaks in, beginning with symptoms that may be misinterpreted as typical age-related changes. These early warning flags are important to recognize, as they’re a sign of coming cognitive decline. The sooner clinicians can detect Alzheimer’s disease, the more that can be done to help a patient, even though there’s no cure to date.

Continue reading… “Researchers use AI to predict Alzheimer’s disease 7 years before clinical diagnosis”

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Alzheimer's Disease, Healthcare, Medical Breakthrough, Memory, Science & Technology News

World-first gene therapy reverses Alzheimer’s memory loss in mice

August 6, 2020

Research into Alzheimer’s-related memory loss has uncovered an exciting new breakthrough in the form of a world-first gene therapy

Scientists in Australia have made an exciting breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research, demonstrating what they describe as the first gene-therapy-based approach for treating advanced forms of the disease. Through experiments in mice, the team was able to show how activating a key enzyme in the brain can prevent the kind of memory loss associated with advanced forms of Alzheimer’s, and even reverse it.

The research was carried out at Macquarie University, where dementia researchers and brothers Lars and Arne Ittner were investigating the role of a key enzyme in the brain called p38gamma. Through previous research, the brothers had shown that by activating this enzyme in mice with advanced dementia, they could modify a protein that prevents the development of Alzheimer’s symptoms.

Continue reading… “World-first gene therapy reverses Alzheimer’s memory loss in mice”

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Alzheimer's Disease, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News, Stem cells

Scientists discover protective Alzheimer’s gene and develop rapid drug-testing platform

July 21, 2020

PET scan of a human brain with Alzheimer’s disease.

A gene has been discovered that can naturally suppress the signs of Alzheimer’s Disease in human brain cells, in research led by Queen Mary University of London. The scientists have also developed a new rapid drug-screening system for treatments that could potentially delay or prevent the disease.

The main challenge in testing Alzheimer’s drugs in clinical trials is that participants need to have symptoms. But once people have symptoms, it is usually too late for treatments to have a significant effect, as many brain cells have already died.

The only current way to test potential preventative treatments is by identifying participants who are at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s and seeing if treatments prevent the onset of their disease. This includes people with Down’s syndrome (DS) who have around a 70 per cent chance of developing Alzheimer’s during their lifetime. This is because the extra chromosome 21 they carry includes the gene for amyloid precursor protein which causes early Alzheimer’s when overdosed or mutated.

In the study, published in the Nature group journal Molecular Psychiatry, the researchers collected hair cells from people with DS and reprogrammed them to become stem cells, which were then directed to turn into brain cells in a dish.

Continue reading… “Scientists discover protective Alzheimer’s gene and develop rapid drug-testing platform”

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Alzheimer's Disease, Healthcare, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

Blood test detects Alzheimer’s disease

May 30, 2020

Researchers have created a simple blood test that can detect Alzheimer’s disease.

The blood test accurately measures one of the proteins—P-tau181—implicated in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), according to a new study.

Blood P-tau181 indirectly measures tau hyperphosphorylation in the brain, which is one of the hallmarks of the disease along with the clumpy plaques caused by the protein amyloid β.

Prior to this discovery, detecting the proteins and confirming an Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis was possible only through expensive PET scans, invasive lumbar punctures, or autopsy.

The search for an Alzheimer’s disease blood test has been years in the making, but a test sensitive enough to detect tau long eluded researchers.

Continue reading… “Blood test detects Alzheimer’s disease”

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Alzheimer's Disease, Machine Learning, new technology, New Viewpoints, Science & Technology News

Five key ideas you need to understand now if you want to be ready for the world of 2030

April 14, 2019

With a new series of the BBC science podcast Futureproofing on air this month, presenter Timandra Harkness explains how to get ready for the world of the future.

Just a building that keeps the rain out and your clean underwear in? Think again. The home of 2030 will be smart, connected and emotional.

“Our notion of home will change drastically,” says Sce Pike, CEO of Oregon-based IOTAS. “The notion of home is no longer four walls and a roof and a place, a location, but actually something that travels with you throughout your life.”

How does it do that? By learning your preferences and your habits, and automatically adjusting the light, heat, even your TV channels, before you have to ask. “It’s about how that home reacts to you and makes you comfortable,” says Pike.

Continue reading… “Five key ideas you need to understand now if you want to be ready for the world of 2030”

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Alzheimer's Disease, cutting edge, Genes, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

A novel dementia treatment will flood people’s brains with a low-risk version of a key gene.

March 7, 2019

No one knows for certain what causes Alzheimer’s disease. But one fact about the condition has gained nearly irrefutable status. Depending on what versions of a gene called APOE you inherit, your risk of the brain disorder can be half the average—or more than 12 times as high.

Sometimes called “the forgetting gene,” APOE comes in three common versions, called 2, 3, and 4. Type 2 lowers a person’s risk, 3 is average, and 4 increases the chance dramatically. The risk is so great that doctors avoid testing people for APOE because a bad result can be upsetting, and there’s nothing to do about it. There’s no cure, and you can’t change your genes, either.

Well, today you can’t. But doctors in New York City say that beginning in May, they will start testing a novel gene therapy in which people with the unluckiest APOE genes will be given a huge dose to their brain of the low-risk version.

Continue reading… “A novel dementia treatment will flood people’s brains with a low-risk version of a key gene.”

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Alzheimer's Disease, Biotech, Breakthrough Thinking, Medical Breakthrough, Medicine

We can now grow perfect human blood vessels in a lab

February 3, 2019

The latest game changer in diabetes research might not be a new drug or a therapy. Instead, it could be a system of human blood vessels virtually identical to the ones currently transporting blood throughout your body.

What makes these blood vessels special is that they are the first ones grown in a lab — and they’ve already generated a new lead in diabetes treatment.

Continue reading… “We can now grow perfect human blood vessels in a lab”

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Alzheimer's Disease, Analysis, Health & Fitness, Human Behavior

New research says men who marry intelligent women live longer

January 10, 2019

New research has shown that if a man wants to live a long healthy life, marrying a smart woman will go a long way in fulfilling this desire. Besides increasing longevity, having an intelligent wife can negate the chances of a man catching dementia. The right partner will definitely help enrich a person’s life.

However, intelligence is not the only criteria for a happy relationship. Compatibility is another key factor. Just like the old adage says ‘do not judge a book by its cover,’ so too a person’s outward appearance should not be the yardstick for the selection of a partner. Younger people are generally attracted to the physical aspects of a person and sometimes fail to look beyond that. This often results in bad relationships or marriages in the later years. Choosing mind over matter can, therefore, have great benefits for both.

Continue reading… “New research says men who marry intelligent women live longer”

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AI, Alzheimer's Disease, Artificial Intelligence, Healthcare, Science & Technology News

Deep learning algorithm detects Alzheimer’s up to six years before doctors

November 17, 2018

A new algorithm significantly outperformed human clinicians in predicting which patients would go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

A powerful new deep learning algorithm has been developed that can study PET scan images and effectively detect the onset of Alzheimer’s disease up to six years earlier than current diagnostic methods.

The research is part of a new wave of work using machine learning technology to identify subtle patterns in complex medical imaging data that human clinicians are unable to pick up. Continue reading… “Deep learning algorithm detects Alzheimer’s up to six years before doctors”

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Alzheimer's Disease, Health & Fitness, Human Behavior, New Viewpoints, Transportation

The healthiest people in the world don’t go to the gym

November 15, 2018

If you want to be as healthy as possible, there are no treadmills or weight machines required. Don’t just take my word for it—look to the longest-lived people in the world for proof.

People in the world’s Blue Zones—the places around the world with the highest life expectancy—don’t pump iron, run marathons or join gyms.

Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without even thinking about it. This means that they grow gardens, walk throughout the day, and minimize mechanical conveniences for house and yard work.

In fact, Blue Zones researchers determined that routine natural movement is one of the most impactful ways to increase your life span, and a common habit among the world’s longest-lived populations.

Continue reading… “The healthiest people in the world don’t go to the gym”

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