- -07-29-08 Study: Pre-Alzheimer's Hits Males Hard (MSNBC News)
- "A milder type of mental decline that often precedes Alzheimer’s disease is alarmingly more common than has been believed, and in men more than women, doctors reported Monday."
"Dr. Ralph Nixon, a New York University psychiatrist and scientific adviser to the Alzheimer’s Association, was blunt."
" 'We’re facing a crisis,' he said."
" 'There are no treatments now to prevent this mental slide or reverse it once it starts.' 07-08
- -Alzheimer's Disease and a Poorer Gait (USA Today)
- "Walking becomes slower or more variable. The research presented at the meeting is robust. These links have been suggested before, but this is the first science to support it. In several of the studies, gait changes were noted before cognition changes. One of the studies showed there was no link between walking and memory, but there is a link between walking pace and variability and executive function (a set of mental processes)." 07-12
- -New Alzheimer's Diagnostic Tool (Time.com)
- "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the O.K. last Friday to a new radioactive dye that helps doctors scan the brain for Alzheimer’s disease."
"The dye, called Amyvid (florbetapir), made by Eli Lilly & Co., binds to the sticky amyloid proteins that build up in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s. The dye can be detected by using positron emission tomography, or PET scans."
"The test could allow doctors to diagnose Alzheimer’s much earlier and more accurately. In patients with symptoms of cognitive decline, the presence of amyloid would support an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. The dye cannot be used alone to diagnose Alzheimer’s, however, especially not in people without symptoms because people with normal brain function may accumulate amyloid plaques as they age, and because the plaques can be associated with neurological conditions other than Alzheimer’s." 04-12
- -Study: Early Signs of Alzheimer's Disease Found (BBC - EIN News)
- "Scientists have assembled a 'timeline' of the unseen progress of Alzheimer's before symptoms appear."
"It's likely that any new treatment for Alzheimer's would need to be given early to have the best chance of success."
"The ability to detect the very earliest stages of Alzheimer's would not only allow people to plan and access care and existing treatments far sooner, but would also enable new drugs to be trialled in the right people, at the right time." 07-12
- Alzheimer's Disease (National Library of Medicine - Medline Plus)
- Provides information on diagnosis and treatment. 11-99
- Early Detection of Alzheimer's Soon Possible (BBC News)
- "Early dementia could be detected with a simple eye test, similar to those used to test for high blood pressure and diabetes, US scientists believe."
"The scientists believe the technology, known as quasi-elastic light scattering, may detect the very earliest stages of amyloid deposits in the lens, even when they appear completely clear to the naked eye." 07-06
- Memory Loss that Is Not Alzheimer's Disease (Caring.com)
- "It's hard not to think of Alzheimer's disease when memory loss or a memory lapse darkens your day. After all, Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia are constantly in the headlines -- and of the more than five million affected Americans, 200,000 are under age 65. But many other situations can also produce this worrisome symptom." 05-11
- New Blood Test May Be 100,000 Times More Sensitive (ABC News)
- "FACTT, shorthand for fluorescent amplification catalyzed by T7-polymerase technique, detects unusual proteins in the blood — sometimes the first telltale signal that something is wrong."
"If FACTT can find traces of unusual proteins or other molecules in the bloodstream, that might ultimately make it possible to pick up signs of Alzheimer's disease before it creates brain damage. It might pick up the errant proteins created by the human form of mad cow disease. It might also make it possible to find a cancer before a tumor shows up on a mammogram or other X-ray." 03-06
- New Brain Scan for Diagnosis of Early Alzheimer's (Time.com)
- "Alzheimer’s disease has always been difficult to diagnose — the only way to identify it definitively is by autopsying the brain after death — but scientists may now have an easier way to spot the degenerative brain disease long before that, even before symptoms appear, using brain scans." 12-11
- Stages of Alzheimer's Disease (Caring.com)
- "One vexing thing about Alzheimer's, especially in the beginning, is how its effects differ from person to person. The person you're caring for might not experience every symptom or behavioral change, and the disease's timetable can vary. A particular Alzheimer's stage may last years longer for one person than for another, and symptoms can be experienced at earlier or later stages than described below. Because Alzheimer's is a progressive disease, however, it always starts with mild symptoms and gradually worsens as it continues." 11-10
- Study: Effective Test for Alzheimer's Disease Found (New York Times)
- "Researchers report that a spinal fluid test can be 100 percent accurate in identifying patients with significant memory loss who are on their way to developing Alzheimer’s disease." 08-10
- Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease (Caring.com)
- "Only a qualified physician can conclude with high certainty that a living person has Alzheimer's disease. But the following eight symptoms are strongly associated with the disease. If you detect these signs in someone, it would be wise to seek a medical evaluation." 04-12