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A new University of Southern California (USC) Leonard Davis School of Gerontology study found a significant increase in the risk for Alzheimer's disease is linked to a mutation in a minor protein that has recently been discovered. This opens up a new possible therapy route and broadens the list of known gene targets for the illness. The tiny "microprotein" with the name SHMOOSE is produced by a recently identified gene in the mitochondria of a cell. In four distinct cohorts, a mutation in this gene is associated with a 30% increased risk for Alzheimer's disease and partially inactivates the SHMOOSE microprotein. Nearly 25% of persons with European ancestry, according to the study, have the altered protein. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer's. The disease is gradual, starting with mild memory loss and potentially progressing to the loss of communication and environmental awareness. The CDC estimates that 5.8 million Americans will have Alzheimer's d...

As their health worsens, dementia patients frequently lose the ability to speak orally with their loved ones. The Institute for Therapy through the Arts (ITA) and Northwestern Medicine have recently conducted research that shows how an innovative music intervention can close this gap. The "Musical Bridges to Memory" intervention, which was created at ITA, has a live ensemble playing music from the patient's adolescence, such as tunes from the musicals "Oklahoma" or "The Sound of Music." The authors of the study contend that allowing patients and their caregivers to engage in musical activities such as singing, dancing, and modest instrument playing together fosters an emotional bond between them. The program also enhanced social interaction among patients and reduced neuropsychiatric symptoms like agitation, anxiety, and sadness in both patients and caregivers. According to current estimates, more than 6 million people in the United States alone are th...

"Effects of cocoa extract plus a multivitamin on cognitive function: a randomized clinical trial" will appear in the Journal of the Alzheimer's Association. The three-year research of more than 2,200 older persons found a statistically significant cognitive improvement from daily multivitamin-mineral intake. Global cognition was found to be unaffected by cocoa extract. "This is the first conclusive, extensive, long-term study to suggest that older persons who use multivitamin-mineral supplements may delay cognitive aging. Although the Alzheimer's Association finds these findings encouraging, we are not yet prepared to advise the broad use of a multivitamin supplement to lower the risk of cognitive decline in older persons, according to Maria C. Carrillo, Ph.D., the Alzheimer's Association's chief science officer. "Larger, more varied study populations require independent confirmatory studies. Future therapies and preventative measures must be success...

According to a group of researchers from UTHealth Houston, a recently created agonistic antibody reduced the amyloid pathology in mice with Alzheimer's disease, indicating its promise as a potential treatment for the condition. Researchers at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, under the direction of senior author Zhiqiang An, PhD, professor and holder of the Robert A. Welch Distinguished University Chair in Chemistry, discovered that a tetra-variable domain antibody directed against the triggering receptor expressed on myeloid 2 (TREM2), known as TREM2 TVD-lg, reduced amyloid burden, eased neuronal damage, and lessened cognitive decline in mice with Alzheimer's disease Today, Science Translational Medicine published the study. An, head of the Texas Therapeutics Institute at The Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, stated that "antibody-based therapy is a promising pharmacological approach for the treatment of Alzh...

According to a recent study, drinking seven or more alcoholic beverages per week is associated with brain alterations and cognitive deterioration. A recent PLOS Medicine study with over 21,000 participants discovered a link between higher levels of iron in the brain and weekly alcohol use of seven or more units. Iron accumulation in the brain has been linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's illnesses and may play a role in the cognitive deterioration brought on by alcohol consumption. There is growing evidence that even moderate alcohol consumption can harm the health of the brain. Alcohol consumption and brain iron levels were examined by Anya Topiwala and colleagues from the University of Oxford in the UK. They used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look at the brains of 20,965 volunteers from the UK Biobank who supplied information on their personal alcohol intake. A total of nearly 7,000 persons had their livers evaluated using MRI in order to detect the levels of systemic ...

The woman's brain, according to the experts, may hold crucial clues for treating dementia. The woman appears to have been protected by the APOE3 Christchurch mutation. Aliria Rosa Piedrahita de Villegas should have had Alzheimer's disease in her 40s and died from it in her 60s due to a rare genetic abnormality. Since she remained free of dementia into her 70s, her brain is now supplying crucial information on the pathophysiology of dementia and potential treatments for Alzheimer's disease. According to initial study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and other institutions in 2019, the woman, from Medellin, Colombia, was a member of an extended family with a mutation in the PSEN1 gene. One copy of the gene is all that is required for illness to manifest due to the autosomal dominant nature of the PSEN1 E280A mutation. When carriers of the mutation typically show symptoms of the disease in their 40s or 50s and succumb to it soon after, this woman did not begin to show...

According to a recent study, lifestyle factors may be more important in determining dementia risk than age. Adults without dementia risk factors like smoking, diabetes, or hearing loss exhibited brain health that was comparable to that of people who are 10 to 20 years younger than them, according to recent Baycrest research. The study found that only one dementia risk factor could cause a person's cognitive age to increase by up to three years. Our findings imply that for defining someone's degree of cognitive functioning, lifestyle factors may be more significant than age. The study's lead author, Dr. Annalise LaPlume, a postdoctoral fellow at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute (RRI), says that this is fantastic news because there are many things you can do to change these factors, such as managing diabetes, taking care of hearing loss, and getting the help you need to stop smoking. One of the first studies to consider lifestyle risk factors for dementia across the l...