News reports of research into Alzheimer's disease Jan - August 2002
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There's a glossary of terms used in Alzheimer's research.
Disclaimer:
This section began as an offshoot of my
gathering of news items about memory. I am not a medical expert. My
background is in psychology. The information I have gathered here should
not be taken as providing any advice.
August
High calorie consumption associated with higher risk of Alzheimer’s in those genetically disposed to Alzheimer’s
980
elderly individuals without Alzheimer’s participated in a
four-year study to investigate whether there was any link
between caloric intake and Alzheimer’s. During the course of the
study, 242 patients developed Alzheimer’s, and 28% tested
positive for the APOE epsilon 4 gene. Participants were divided
into four groups depending on how many calories they consumed
daily. 263 of the participants tested positive for the APOE
epsilon 4 gene, and among them, those who consumed the most
calories had a 2.3 times greater chance of developing
Alzheimer’s compared to those who ate the fewest calories. For
those without the ApoE e gene, calorie and fat intake were not
associated with a greater risk of Alzheimer’s.
The study was reported in the August issue of the
Archives of Neurology.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-08/jota-cmc081202.htm
Verbal memory test best indicator of who will have Alzheimer's disease
A meta-analysis of 31 studies involving a
total of 1,144 Alzheimer's patients and 6,046 healthy controls,
supports the use of the California Verbal Learning Test in
predicting future Alzheimer’s type dementia. Long delay recall
and percent recall were the best predictors, with executive
function type measures also being predictive but less so than
both the long and short delay memory tests. Changes in the
hippocampus were the best volumetric or neuroimaging measure but
in general volumetric measures were less sensitive to
preclinical stages of the dementia than were the
neuropsychological tests. It should be noted that a decline in
various types of memory, especially verbal episodic memory, is
also observable in normal elderly; the crucial factor in
determining a pre-dementia state lies in the size of the memory
deficit.
Their study was presented in Chicago at the 110th Annual
Convention of the American Psychological Association (APA) on
August 25.
Reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-08/apa-vmt081302.htm
Study points to depression as a risk for developing Alzheimer's disease
More than 650 elderly people took part
in a seven-year study which has revealed that those with the
greatest number of depressive symptoms at the start of the study
were more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and also showed
more rapid cognitive decline.
The study was published in the August 13 issue of
Neurology.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-08/aaon-spt080502.htm
June 2002
Diet rich in foods with Vitamin E may reduce Alzheimer’s disease risk
Two studies have come out in favor of a diet rich in foods
containing vitamin E to help protect
against Alzheimer's disease. One study involved 815 Chicago
residents age 65 and older with no initial symptoms of mental
decline, who were questioned about their eating habits and
followed for an average of about four years. When factors like
age and education were taken into account, those eating the most
vitamin E-rich foods had a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s,
provided they did not have the ApoE e4 allele. This was not true
when vitamin E was taken as a supplement. Intake of vitamin C
and beta carotene appeared protective, but not at a
statistically significant level. The other study involved 5,395
people in the Netherlands age 55 and older who were followed for
an average of six years. Those with high intakes of vitamins E
and C were less likely to become afflicted with Alzheimer's,
regardless of whether they had the gene variation. This
association was most pronounced for current smokers, for whom
beta carotene also seemed to be protective. A number of clinical
trials are underway to further investigate these links.
The study appeared in the June 26 issue of the Journal of the
American Medical Association (JAMA).
Full
reference 2
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-06/nioa-dri062102.htm
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-06/pn-tsr062702.htm
May 2002
MRI brain scan may detect Alzheimer's disease decades before first symptoms
MRI scans of the brain may detect Alzheimer’s disease
decades before the first clinical signs of dementia occur, according to a study
revealing that shrinkage of the hippocampus occurs very early in the disease
process.
The report appeared in the May 28 issue of Neurology.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-05/uosf-mbs052302.htm
April 2002
An analysis of data from 40 participants enrolled in a long-term study at the UCSD Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) found that "paper-and-pencil" cognitive skills tests administered to normal subjects averaging 75 years of age contained early signs of cognitive decline in those subjects who later developed Alzheimer’s disease. All participants were symptom-free when they took the test. The differences were quite subtle - only some performance measures were affected. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-04/uoc--trs040502.htm
Recently, the risk of developing
Alzheimer's disease has been shown to be reduced in people
treated with statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs). A new study
has found that statins appear to block the vasoconstrictive
effects of the A-beta protein (involved in Alzheimer's disease).
It is perhaps the anti-inflammatory properties of these drugs
(rather than their role in lowering cholesterol) that helps
protect against dementia.
The study was published in the April issue of
Atherosclerosis.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-04/uosf-smp040102.htm
Results from the first study to
directly compare the two Alzheimer drugs, ARICEPT® (donepezil
HCl tablets) and Reminyl® (galantamine HBr tablets), found that
ARICEPT-treated patients showed significant benefit over
patients receiving Reminyl®. Not only were cognitive benefits
greater, but ARICEPT® was tolerated significantly better.
The study was presented at the 7th International
Geneva/Springfield Symposium on Advances in Alzheimer Therapy
(AAT) in Geneva, Switzerland.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-04/pn-asi040302.htm
March 2002
An 18-month, double-blind placebo study into a new
surgical
treatment for Alzheimer’s disease using a device called the
COGNIShunt, is being undertaken by neurologists at Emory
University. The shunt is designed to drain cerebrospinal fluid
(CSF) from the skull and into the abdominal cavity. By reducing
the build-up of CSF around the brain, doctors hope this device
will help to stabilize the disease. In a pilot study of the
COGNIShunt, the device was well tolerated by individuals with
mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-03/euhs-esc032102.htm
Experiments
with mice bred with mutant genes that cause Alzheimer's disease
found that those mice fed on a diet deficient in folate had
fewer neurons in the hippocampus ( a brain region critical for
learning and memory that is destroyed as plaques accumulate
during Alzheimer’s disease), and elevated levels of
homocysteine. Researchers suspect that increased levels of
homocysteine in the brain caused damage to the DNA of nerve
cells in the hippocampus. In the mice fed an adequate amount of
folate, nerve cells in this brain region were able to repair the
damage. But in those mice fed a folate-deficient diet, nerve
cells were unable to repair this damage. A human study is being
planned.
Green leafy vegetables, citrus fruits and juices, whole wheat
bread and dry beans are good sources of folate. In the U.S.,
since 1998, the Food and Drug Administration has required the
addition of folic acid to enriched breads, cereals, flours, corn
meals, pastas, rice, and other grain products.
The study was published in the March 1 issue of the
Journal of Neuroscience.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-03/nioa-fap030102.htm
An
analysis of data on 1037 older women who had participated in a
clinical trial of hormone replacement therapy found that high
cholesterol levels increase the risk of cognitive impairment. It
is speculated that, in addition to clogging arteries, and
possibly leading to vascular changes in the brain, cholesterol
may promote the clumping of a protein called beta-amyloid, which
is believed to damage the brain in Alzheimer’s disease patients.
The study was published in the March issue of
Archives of Neurology.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-03/uoc--cbf031302.htm
February 2002
A
study of 700 seniors over several years
found that more frequent participation in cognitively
stimulating activities, such as reading books, newspapers or
magazines, engaging in crosswords or card games, was
significantly associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s
disease (AD). Over the period, 111 participants developed AD. In
comparing levels of cognitive activity with the risk of
developing AD, it was found that a one-point increase in
cognitive activity (on a 5-point scale) corresponded with a 33%
reduction in the risk of AD. On average, compared with someone
with the lowest activity level, the risk of disease was 47%
lower for those whose frequency of activity was highest. General
cognitive decline was also less among people who did more
cognitively stimulating activities.
The study appeared in the February 13 issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-02/nioa-io020802.htm
Findings from the long-running Framingham study
found people with elevated levels of homocysteine in the blood had nearly double
the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This study is the first to tie
homocysteine levels measured several years before with later diagnosis of AD and
other dementias, and provides the most powerful evidence yet of the link between
high homocysteine levels and AD.
The report appeared in the February 14, 2002, issue of
The New England Journal of Medicine.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-02/nioa-hhl021202.htm
Genes responsible for controlling the age of
onset of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases in those
individuals genetically predisposed to developing these diseases
have been identified. It appears that chromosome 10, already
thought to contain a risk gene for Alzheimer's disease, could
also contain an age at onset gene that affects both Alzheimer's
and Parkinson's diseases.
The study appears in the April issue of
American Journal of Human Genetics.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-02/dumc-dri022502.htm
