- Genes uniquely expressed by brain's immune cells
Investigators have used a new sequencing method to identify a group of genes used by the brain’s immune cells — called microglia — to sense pathogenic organisms, toxins or damaged cells that require their response. Identifying these genes should lead to better understanding of the role of microglia both in normal brains and in neurodegenerative disorders.
- Protein interplay in muscle tied to life span
Biologists have uncovered a complicated chain of molecular events that leads from insulin to protein degradation in muscles and significantly diminished life span in fruit flies. The new study, which may have broad implications across species, identifies the fly version the mammalian protein activin as the central culprit in the process.
- Older adults with severe mental illness challenge healthcare system
Although older adults with serious mental illness didn’t have more recorded physical illness and had fewer outpatient visits to primary care physicians, they made more medical emergency department visits and had considerably longer medical hospitalizations than older adults without mental illness according to a study.
- High blood pressure in middle age vs old age may predict memory loss
People in middle age who have a high blood pressure measure called pulse pressure are more likely to have biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease in their spinal fluid than those with lower pulse pressure, according to research published.
- Intranasal insulin improves cognitive function in patients with type 2 diabetes
As the link between type 2 diabetes and dementia becomes more widely recognized, new findings offer promise of a new treatment for this growing problem.
- Can eyes help diagnose Alzheimer's disease?
An international team of researchers studying the link between vision loss and Alzheimer’s disease report that the loss of a particular layer of retinal cells not previously investigated may provide a new way to track disease progression. “The retina is an extension of the brain so it makes sense to see if the same pathologic processes found in an Alzheimer’s brain are also found in the eye,” they explain.
- Compound inhibits cognitive impairment in animal models of Alzheimer's disease
The novel compound IRL-1620 may be useful in treating Alzheimer’s disease, as it has been shown to prevent cognitive impairment and oxidative stress in animal models.
