For the first time, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that three different degenerative brain disorders are linked by a toxic form of the same protein. The protein, called Elk-1, was found in clumps of misshaped proteins that are the hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Huntington’s disease. ...

Estimates are that some 10 percent of people over the age of 65 will develop Alzheimer's disease, the scourge that robs people of their memories and, ultimately, their lives. While researchers race to find both the cause and the cure, others are moving just as fast to find the earliest signs that will predict an eventual onset of the disease, well before any outward symptoms. The reason is simple: The earli ...

I am pleased to present reason #1,555,233 not to smoke cigarettes (yes, I made that up, but the point hits home). A UCSF analysis of published studies on the relationship between Alzheimer's disease and smoking indicates that smoking cigarettes is a significant risk factor for the disabling disease. After controlling for study design, quality of the journals, time of publication, and tobacco industry affili ...

A recent study published in the January issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings demonstrates that the prevalence of delirium can be decreased by 50 percent with light sedation, compared to deep sedation, in elderly patients who undergo hip fracture repair under spinal anesthesia with propofol sedation. ...

A scientific group led by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) have identified three kinases, or proteins, that dismantle connections within brain cells, which may lead to memory loss associated with Alzheimer's disease. These findings, the results of a multi-year TGen study, are published in this month's edition of BMC Genomics in a paper titled: "High-content siRNA screening of the kinome ...