Category Archives: Research News (General)

Older people with Alzheimer’s disease are less likely to also have cancer, and older people with cancer are less likely to also have Alzheimer’s disease.

This is according to a study published in Neurology on 10 July 2013.

The study of 204,468 Italian people aged 60 and older found that over six years, 21,451 people developed cancer and 2,832 people developed Alzheimer’s disease. 161 people had both cancer and Alzheimer’s. That number would have been expected to be 281 for cancer and 246 for Alzheimer’s.

This means the risk of cancer was cut in half for people with Alzheimer’s disease and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease was reduced by 35 per cent for people with cancer.

Direct link to the study available below:

MEPs set to draft written declaration aimed at improving the quality of life of people living with chronic degenerative brain diseases

The pledge to table a written declaration was unveiled by Austrian ALDE deputy Angelika Werthmann at an event in the European parliament on Tuesday July 9th and is expected to be drawn up after MEPs return from their summer break in September.

Werthmann, a vocal campaigner on issues surrounding neurodegenerative diseases, told participants that the increasing prevalence of people suffering from conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis highlighted the need for both national and EU policymakers to provide sufferers with "better opportunities within Europe".

Increasing awareness, workplace adaptations and early diagnosis can help lessen the impact of neurodegenerative diseases, as well as reducing healthcare costs, allowing people to, "remain as active as possible in the workplace", said Werthmann.

The three co-organisers of the event, the European multiple sclerosis platform, Alzheimer Europe and the European parkinson’s disease association outlined four key actions that they believe will help people remain employed:

• raising awareness through education and training of employers and colleagues
• adapting social legislation to offer better protection
• work place adaptations – allowing people to work with their remaining competencies
• early access to diagnosis and treatment that would allow people to remain professionally active for longer

More information available at the link below:

Four different biomarkers uncovered that characterize the non-genetic form of the disease

Although several genetic ALS mutations have been identified, they only apply to a small number of cases. The ongoing challenge is to identify the mechanisms behind the non-genetic form of the disease and draw useful comparisons with the genetic forms.

Now, using samples of stem cells derived from the bone marrow of non-genetic ALS patients, Prof. Miguel Weil of Tel Aviv University’s Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases and Personalized Medicine in the Department of Cell Research and Immunology and his team of researchers have uncovered four different biomarkers that characterize the non-genetic form of the disease.

Each sample shows similar biological abnormalities to four specific genes, and further research could reveal additional commonalities. "Because these genes and their functions are already known, they give us a specific direction for research into non-genetic ALS diagnostics and therapeutics," Prof. Weil says. His initial findings were reported in the journal Disease Markers.

Across a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, cerebrovascular disease affecting circulation of blood in the brain was significantly associated with dementia.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania contend that people already exhibiting clinical features of Alzheimer’s disease and other memory impairments may benefit from effective therapies currently available to reduce vascular problems.

Thus, early management of vascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol, and adopting a ‘heart healthy’ diet as well as exercise and other lifestyles in midlife may delay or prevent the onset of dementia due to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

More information available at the link below: 

The Alzheimer’s Society UK led a Dementia Priority Setting Partnership with the James Lind Alliance to identify some of the priorities for dementia research.

Through extensive engagement with people with dementia and their carers, health and social care practitioners, and organisations that represent these groups, over 4,000 questions on the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care of dementia have been whittled down to a top 10 list:

1. What are the most effective components of care that keep a person with dementia as independent as they can be at all stages of the disease in all care settings?
2. How can the best ways to care for people with dementia, including results from research findings, be effectively disseminated and implemented into care practice?
3. What is the impact of an early diagnosis of dementia and how can primary care support a more effective route to diagnosis?
4. What non-pharmacological and/or pharmacological (drug) interventions are most effective for managing challenging behaviour in people with dementia?
5. What is the best way to care for people with dementia in a hospital setting when they have acute health care needs?
6. What are the most effective ways to encourage people with dementia to eat, drink and maintain nutritional intake?
7. What are the most effective ways of supporting carers of people with dementia living at home?
8. What is the best way to care for people with advanced dementia (with or without other illnesses) at the end of life?
9. When is the optimal time to move a person with dementia into a care home setting and how can the standard of care be improved?
10. What are the most effective design features for producing dementia friendly environments at both the housing and neighbourhood levels?

More information available at the link below:

Interferon-Beta Aids Balance and Movement in Mice With Spinocerebellar Ataxia 7

The first in vivo trial of the use of interferon-beta in a mouse model of the group of fatal, neurodegenerative diseases known as spinocerebellar ataxia has shown that its use can significantly improve their physical condition and control symptoms.

Researchers in France and the US believe that their results show that a clinical trial in humans is merited.

More information at the link below:

A report of the first year of the UK Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia has been published

The achievements against the three main areas of the challenge are described, with progress reports from the three Dementia Challenge Champion Groups on:
1. Driving improvements in health and care.
2. Creating dementia friendly communities.
3. Better dementia-related research.

Also, Prime Minister David Cameron recently announced that a G8 dementia-specific summit will be held in the UK in September 2013, allowing health and science ministers, international leading experts, senior industry leaders and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to achieve more coordination and collaboration on dementia R&D globally. 

More information at the links below:

A number of recent systematic reviews relevant to JPND diseases are highlighted below

Click on the titles to access the abstract of the review:

Discovery reveals how an important protein helps translate learning into memory

Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (Gladstone Institutes) have deciphered how a protein called Arc regulates the activity of neurons – providing much-needed clues into the brain’s ability to form long-lasting memories.

These findings, reported in Nature Neuroscience, also offer newfound understanding as to what goes on at the molecular level when this process becomes disrupted. 

Latest figures show that in 1990, 3.68 million people had dementia in China and by 2010 this number had risen to 9.2 million

The international study, led by the University of Edinburgh and published in The Lancet, reviewed almost 90 public health studies that included the health information of almost 350,000 people in China. 

More information at the link below: