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| Alzheimer’s Starts Earlier for Heavy Drinkers, Smokers |
| Sunday, 04 May 2008 | |
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CHICAGO – Heavy drinkers and heavy smokers develop Alzheimer’s disease years earlier than people with Alzheimer’s who do not drink or smoke heavily, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 12–19, 2008. “These results are significant because it’s possible that if we can reduce or eliminate heavy smoking and drinking, we could substantially delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease for people and reduce the number of people who have Alzheimer’s at any point in time,” said study author Ranjan Duara, MD, of the Wien Center for Alzheimer’s Disease at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, FL, and Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. “It has been projected that a delay in the onset of the disease by five years would lead to a nearly 50-percent reduction in the total number of Alzheimer’s cases,” said Duara. “In this study, we found that the combination of heavy drinking and heavy smoking reduced the age of onset of Alzheimer’s disease by six to seven years, making these two factors among the most important preventable risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.” The study looked at 938 people age 60 and older who were diagnosed with possible or probable Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers gathered information from family members on drinking and smoking history and determined whether the participants had the ?4 gene variant of the APOE gene, which increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. People with the ?4 variant also develop Alzheimer’s at an earlier age than those who do not have the gene variant. Seven percent of the study participants had a history of heavy drinking, which was defined as more than two drinks per day. Twenty percent had a history of heavy smoking, which was defined as smoking one pack of cigarettes or more per day. And 27 percent had the APOE ?4 variant. Researchers found that people who were heavy drinkers developed Alzheimer’s 4.8 years earlier than those who were not heavy drinkers. Heavy smokers developed the disease 2.3 years sooner than people who were not heavy smokers. People with APOE ?4 developed the disease three years sooner than those without the gene variant. Adding the risk factors together led to earlier onset of the disease. People who had all three risk factors developed the disease 8.5 years earlier than those with none of the risk factors. The 17 people in the study with all three risk factors developed Alzheimer’s at an average age of 68.5 years; the 374 people with none of the three risk factors developed the disease at an average age of 77 years. The study was supported by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs. The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 21,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to improving patient care through education and research. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and stroke. For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit www.aan.com.
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| High Cholesterol in Your 40s Increases Risk of Alzheimer's Disease |
| Saturday, 26 April 2008 | |
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CHICAGO – People with high cholesterol in their early 40s are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than those with low cholesterol, according to research that will be presented at the upcoming American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 12–19, 2008.
"High mid-life cholesterol increased the risk of Alzheimer's disease regardless of midlife diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking and late-life stroke," said Solomon. Solomon says conclusions regarding high mid-life cholesterol and the risk of vascular dementia were difficult to formulate as there are several types of vascular dementia that may have slightly different risk factors.
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| Alzheimer's Vaccine Clears Plaque but Has Little Effect on learning and Memory Impairment |
| Monday, 07 April 2008 | |
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UCI study suggests that combination of therapies provides best opportunity for Alzheimer’s treatment
A promising vaccine being tested for Alzheimer’s disease does what it is designed to do – clear beta-amyloid plaques from the brain – but it does not seem to help restore lost learning and memory abilities, according to a University of California, Irvine study.
Head said this discovery helps explain why there was little difference in the behavioral test results between immunized and nonimmunized dogs. In addition, she added, it implies that after clearing beta-amyloid plaques from the brain, the next step is to repair these neurons. This approach will be critical for treating and reversing the effects of the Alzheimer’s disease.
Currently, Head and her colleagues are developing approaches to repair these damaged neurons and hope to test them clinically. Head is a researcher with the UC Irvine Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia. Viorela Pop, Vitaly Vasilevko, Mary Ann Hill, Tommy Saing, Floyd Sarsoza, Michaela Nistor, Lori-Ann Christie, Saskia Milton, Charles Glabe and David Cribbs of UC Irvine; and Edward Barrett of the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute in Albuquerque, N.M., assisted with the study. The National Institutes of Health supported the study, and the Lovelace Institute provided the canine study subjects.
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| 10 million U.S. baby boomers will develop Alzheimer's disease |
| Wednesday, 26 March 2008 | |
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1 in 8 boomers will develop Alzheimer’s disease, according to new Alzheimer’s Association report The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that 10 million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer’s disease in the United States, according to their new report released today, the 2008 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures.
The new report says the disease is poised to strike one out of eight baby boomers. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, now is the time to address this looming epidemic that currently has no effective disease-modifying treatments that halt or delay the progression of the disease. The Association’s report details the escalation of Alzheimer’s disease, which now is the seventh-leading cause of death in the country and the fifth-leading cause of death for those over age 65. It also offers numerous statistics that convey the burden Alzheimer’s imposes on individuals, families, government, business, and the nation’s health and long-term care systems. For example:
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