According to the study by new University of Colorado Boulder research associates, aging rats that ran just over half a kilometer each week were protected against infection-induced memory loss.

Even a small amount of running was sufficient to confer robust benefits for those rats that ran compared to those that did not run, the researchers found.  “This is an important finding because older aged individuals are more vulnerable to memory impairments following bacterial infections or surgery,” explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.  “Millions of baby boomers are reaching the age when diminished memory should be of great concern.”

Prior research studies have shown that exercise in humans protects against declines in cognitive function associated with aging and protects against dementia. Researchers also have shown that dementia is often preceded by bacterial infections, such as pneumonia, or other immune challenges.

The OC resesearchers noted that this is the first study to show that voluntary exercise reduced aging-induced susceptibility to the cognitive impairments that follow a bacterial infection.  The researchers found that rats infected with E. coli bacteria experienced detrimental effects on the hippocampus, an area of the brain that mediates learning and memory.   Small amounts of voluntary exercise prevented the priming of microglia, the exaggerated inflammation in the brain, and the decrease of growth factors.

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Scientists at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City reported that small clusters of A-beta protein, called “oligomers”, found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, are what poison brain cells and cause the memory loss associated with the disease. 

Today 5.4 million Americans have been diagnosed with Alzeimers according to data shared by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, the national trade group that helps consumers get long-term care insurance coverage.  “Alzheimer’s is the most costly long-term care incident impacting individuals and their families,” explains Jesse Slome, the organization’s executive director.

Previous research has shown that grape seed polyphenolic extract (GSPE) slows and may even stop A-beta oligomers from being formed.  As a result, the scientists indicate it also reduces cognitive impairment and the characteristic brain degeneration seen in mice bred to develop Alzheimer’s Disease.

For almost half a year, researchers gave GSPE to mice bred to develop Alzheimer’s Disease.  The mice’s brains had significantly reduced levels of the chemical implicated in the promotion of Alzheimer’s disease memory loss. B

As a result, the researchers concluded that GSPE was a safe, low-cost intervention that can selectively lower levels of memory-impairing A-beta oligomer in live subjects, and “strongly suggest that GSPE should be further tested as a potential prevention and/or therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease.

The lead scientist noted that patients who are already in the first stages of the disease may also benefit from early intervention with such a treatment.  Funds from the National Institutes of Health helped pay for the study.

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According to researchers, another study found that blood tests could indicate higher risks of dementia later in life.

Alzheimer’s disease is not curable and existing treatments only have limited effects notes Jesse Slome, director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.  Alzheimer’s is the leading cause of costly long-term care need among seniors.

The ability to precisely diagnose Alzheimer’s disease during life, which is now impossible, could lead to improved research.

The findings from the study were published Jan. 19 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Currently, doctors correctly diagnose Alzheimer’s disease about 85 percent of the time. The illness can be confirmed only through brain analysis after death.

In one of the new studies, researchers led by a team from Avid Radiopharmaceuticals reported that they were able to find signs of Alzheimer’s disease by using PET scanning technology. They had scanned 35 people who appeared to have the disease before their deaths and looked for signs of beta amyloid, a kind of gunk that clogs the brain in people with the illness.

The other study attempted to measure levels of beta amyloid in the blood. It linked lower levels — a sign that the gunk is getting tied up in the brain — to higher cognitive problems in 997 elderly people over a nine-year period.

The researchers also found that people with higher levels of “cognitive reserve” — such as those with higher levels of education and literacy — seemed to be buffered against dementia, said the study’s lead author at the University of California, San Francisco.

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November is Long-Term Care Awareness Month and even the U.S. Congress has urged “the people of the United States to recognize (this) as an opportunity to learn more about the potential risks and costs … and the options available.”   Alzheimer’s is a leading cause of need for long-term care. 

Over 10 million American females either have Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or look after a patient with the disease, according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.  

Two thirds (65%) of all Alzheimer’s patients are female (3 million in America) and 6.7 million women care for somebody with the disease, says The Shriver Report, a collaboration between California’s First Lady Maria Shriver and The Alzheimer’s Association. 

By the year 2050 approximately 8 million women will have AD in the US.

Here are some of the highlights of the report:

• Over 10 million American females either have AD or look after a patient with the disease
• 65% of Alzheimer’s patients are female
• 60% of caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients are female
• 40% of caregivers who are female say they have no choice
• One third of all female caregivers are caring for somebody with AD around the clock, seven days a week
• The impact of AD on business, families and government is estimated to be $300 billion annually
• Nearly two-thirds of caregivers who also have a job say they have no choice but to get to work late, clock off early and sometimes take time off to care for somebody with AD.

The current $300 billion impact of AD is set to triple within a few decades, the authors write. 78 million baby boomers are rapidly reaching the age of Alzheimer’s onset, Shriver points out; this will soon push up the economic and social costs for America as a whole.

Despite hundreds of clinical trials and millions spent on research, Alzheimer’s disease is still incurable. Researchers and experts continue to hope, and say we are making progress. Even so, there is a feeling among most Americans that scientific progress is too slow. When compared to innovative breakthroughs that have occurred in diabetes, stroke, cancer and heart disease, Americans rank Alzheimer’s at the bottom of the list.

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Luteolin is found in many plants, including carrots, peppers, celery, olive oil, peppermint, rosemary and chamomile.  The compound inhibits the release of inflammatory molecules in the brain.

According to researchers who examined the effects of dietary luteolin in a mouse model of aging and reported their findings in the Journal of Nutrition.

The researchers focused on specialized immune cells that reside in the brain and spinal cord.   Inflammation in the brain also appears to be a key contributor to age-related memory problems, said the University of Illinois animal sciences professor who led the new study.

Scientists found previously that during normal aging, microglial cells become dysregulated and begin producing excessive levels of inflammatory cytokines.  The researcher has spent nearly a decade studying the anti-inflammatory properties of nutrients and various bioactive plant compounds, including luteolin.

According to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance which tracks aging research and issues, this is the first study to suggest, however, that luteolin improves cognitive health by acting directly on the microglial cells to reduce their production of inflammatory cytokines in the brain.

The researchers showed that microglial cells that were exposed to a bacterial toxin produced inflammatory cytokines that could kill neurons. When the microglia were exposed to luteolin before they encountered the toxin, however, the neurons lived.

The researchers next turned their attention to the effects of luteolin on the brains and behavior of adult (3- to 6-month-old) and aged (2-year-old) mice. The mice were fed a control diet or a luteolin-supplemented diet for four weeks. The researchers assessed their spatial memory and measured levels of inflammatory markers in the hippocampus, a brain region that is important to memory and spatial awareness.

Normally, aged mice have higher levels of inflammatory molecules in the hippocampus and are more impaired on memory tests than younger adult mice. Aged mice on the luteolin-supplemented diet, however, did better on the learning and memory task than their peers, and the levels of inflammatory cytokines in their brains were more like those of the younger adult mice.

The data suggests that consuming a healthy diet has the potential to reduce age-associated inflammation in the brain, which can result in better cognitive health.

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According to the findings of studies conducted by researchers from Oxford University, England, in an article published in Plos One (Public Library of Science One), this two-year clinical trial is the largest ever which examined the effect of B vitamins on “mild cognitive impairment” (MCI).

Individuals with MCI have a higher risk of progression to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia notes Jesse Slome, director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance the industry’s trade group.

“People with mild cognitive impairment can function in everyday activities, but they may have problems with memory, such as recalling people’s names, losing the flow of a conversation, and not remembering where they left things,” Slome explains. Approximately 16% of individuals aged over 70 years are affected by mild cognitive impairment.
David Smith, University Department of Pharmacology and Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, trial co-leader, said:

The single-center, randomized, double-blind controlled trial involved 168 volunteers who all had been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment.  One group received high daily doses of vitamins B₆ (0.5 mg/d) and B₁₂ (20 mg/d), as well as folic acid (0.8 mg/d). This was 300 times the recommended daily intake for B₁₂, 15 times daily recommended amounts of B₆, and 4 times daily recommended intake of folic acid.

The other group received a placebo (tablets without any active ingredients).  Treatment lasted 24 months.

The principal outcome measure was the change in the rate of atrophy of the whole brain, assessed by serial volumetric MRI scans.

The researchers found that the B vitamin with folic acid group had an average brain shrinkage of 0.76% per year.   The placebo group had an average brain shrinkage of 1.08% per year. 

Those with the highest homocysteine blood levels at the start of the trial who took the B vitamins and folic acid experienced half the brain shrinkage compared to individuals with the highest homocysteine blood levels at the start and who received the placebo. 

To learn more about long-term care insurance and receive a free, no obligation quote for this protection, visit the Association’s Consumer Information Center.  Click here now.

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Research published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry conducted by researchers at Bangor University, Wales found that people who received cognitive rehabilitation felt their performance of daily activities improved. Carers of those receiving the treatment also noted an improvement in their own quality of life.

Cognitive rehabilitation is a treatment where people with dementia work with health professionals to identify personal goals and develop strategies for achieving them. 

Goals were tailored to the participants’ specific needs and included things such as remembering details of jobs to be done around the house, maintaining concentration when cooking, learning to use a mobile phone and remembering the names of people at an exercise class. The cognitive rehabilitation group said they saw an improvement in their ability to carry out all of the chosen activities.

The trial compared eight weekly individual sessions of cognitive rehabilitation with relaxation therapy and no treatment. As well as setting and working on goals the cognitive rehabilitation group also learnt and practised techniques for taking in new information, managing stress and maintaining attention and concentration.

The Head of Research at Alzheimer’s Society, says, ‘This research is the first trial of its kind to evaluate the effectiveness of the ‘cognitive rehabilitation’ technique.   The findings provide a basis for a larger study of cognitive rehabilitation as a means of assisting people in the early stages of dementia and their families to better manage the condition.’

Millions will develop dementia in the next ten years according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. In order to enable people with dementia to live well with the condition we need more funding to further research in this area.

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Scientists were inspired by evidence that the mammalian brain continues to add new neurons into adulthood. The question was whether there might be a way to encourage the growth of those cells in ways that could be beneficial.

The researchers’ initial drug screen in mice turned up eight contenders that appeared to support the formation of neurons specifically in a brain region (called the dentate gyrus) known to sprout new neurons in adulthood. Of those eight chemical candidates, they focused their attention on one called P7C3, based on its other favorable drug properties.

To find out just how well P7C3 might work, the researchers put it to the test in mice carrying a mutation that renders them almost completely incapable of producing new neurons in the critical dentate gyrus region.

According to their findings, not only did new neurons form, but electrophysiological recordings also showed that processing in the dentate gyrus had been restored.  Prolonged treatment of aged rats with P7C3 also enhanced the birth of new neurons. 

The key to the treatment’s success is the protection of newborn neurons, the researchers report. In fact, they explained, the normal process by which newborn neurons are incorporated into the brain as mature cells is a long and perilous one.

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According to the lead scientist, vitamin E is a family of eight natural components, but most studies related to Alzheimer’s disease investigate only one of these components, ±-tocopherol.  The scientists hypothesized that all the vitamin E family members could be important in protecting against AD. 

“Important findings,” declared Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance as over two thirds of all dementia cases occur in people over 75 years of age.  The study suggests a protective effect of vitamin E against AD in individuals aged 80 and over.

The study was conducted at the Aging Research Center (ARC) in Stockholm, Sweden. All participants were aged 80+ years and were dementia-free at the beginning of the study (baseline). After 6-years of follow-up, 57 AD cases were identified.

The blood levels of all eight natural vitamin E components were measured at the beginning of the study. Subjects with higher blood levels (highest tertile) were compared with subjects who had lower blood levels (lowest tertile) to verify whether these two groups developed dementia at different rates. 

The study found that subjects with higher blood levels of all the vitamin E family forms had a reduced risk of developing AD, compared to subjects with lower levels. After adjusting for various confounders, the risk was reduced by 45-54%, depending on the vitamin E component.

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The study followed 1,221 couples for 12 years.  All 2,442 study volunteers were at least 65 years old and free of dementia at the outset. By the end of the study, 255 of the seniors had developed dementias, two-thirds of which were Alzheimer’s disease. 

While the research did not explicitly ask whether spouses had taken on the role of caregiver, the director of the effort noted it was safe to assume they did.   To validate and expand the findings, the study team looked at spouses’ ages, genders and whether they had a form of the APOE gene that raises the risk for Alzheimer’s disease. 

The results barely budged they note.  “Having a spouse with dementia still resulted in a six-fold increased risk of developing the condition,” explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.  “Alzheimer’s is the most costly of all long-term care risks facing millions of aging baby boomers who have no financial plan in place for this situation.”

The news was far worse for men: increase was almost 12-fold, as compared to a four-fold increase in women. 

Other studies have shown that caregivers for dementia patients have a high risk for major clinical depression. And there has been a study that showed that people who are prone to stress are at higher risk for Alzheimer’s.  The new study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

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