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28 February 2017

Mayo Clinic publishes genetic screen for Alzheimer’s in African-Americans

Nilufer Ertekin-Taner

A Mayo Clinic research team has found a new gene mutation that may be a risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease in African-Americans. This is the first time this gene has been implicated in the development of this disease in this population. Alzheimer’s disease has been understudied in African-Americans, despite the fact that the disease is twice as prevalent in African-Americans, compared to Caucasians and other ethnic groups.

23 February 2017

Alzheimer’s drug prescribed ‘off-label’ for mild cognitive impairment could pose risk for some

Sophie Sokolow

Donepezil, a medication that is approved to treat people with Alzheimer’s disease, should not be prescribed for people with mild cognitive impairment without a genetic test. UCLA School of Nursing researchers discovered that for people who carry a specific genetic variation — the K-variant of butyrylcholinesterase, or BChE-K — donezpezil could accelerate cognitive decline.

23 February 2017

Mild cognitive impairment, a condition that often predates Alzheimer’s disease, can be remotely detected through a self-administered virtual reality brain training game

Greek researchers demonstrated the potential of a self-administered virtual supermarket cognitive training game for remotely detecting mild cognitive impairment (MCI), without the need for an examiner, among a sample of older adults. MCI patients suffer from cognitive problems and often encounter difficulties in performing complex activities such as financial planning. They are at a high risk for progressing to dementia however early detection of MCI and suitable interventions can stabilize the patients’ condition and prevent further decline.

16 February 2017

Validation of suspected somatic single nucleotide variations in the brain of Alzheimer’s disease patients

It has been proposed that somatic gene variations (SNV) present in few brain cells could facilitate the development of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease. Testing that hypothesis requires DNA sequencing directly in brain cells or tissue rather than in blood cells. However, the identification of SNV by standard and reliable sequencing procedures does not work well when the number of cells bearing the specific SNV (or mutation) is very low within the tissue. In this way, another techniques, such as high-throughput methods, could be used. However, those methods can introduce errors in reading sequence alignments that can interfere with the identification of true somatic variations.

15 February 2017

Is it Depression or Dementia? Brain SPECT Imaging Helps Distinguish Them

Does a patient have depression or a cognitive disorder (CD) such as Alzheimer’s disease or both? Since both disorders have overlapping symptoms, how can a clinician tell them apart to make an appropriate diagnosis? In a new article published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, researchers have found that single photon emission computed tomography, or SPECT, can help to distinguish between these diagnostic categories.

26 January 2017

Deep Brain Stimulation Studies in Alzheimer’s Disease Pose Ethical Challenges

Andrew M. Siegel, MD

Promising, early studies of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease have paved a path for future clinical trials, but there are unique ethical challenges with this vulnerable population regarding decision making and post-study treatment access that need to be addressed as they ramp up, Penn Medicine researchers argue in a new review in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

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