alzheimers

Scientists discover magic molecule which stops development of Alzheimer’s disease

10th March 2015

In what is a huge scientific breakthrough, scientists have managed to find the molecule, which halts the development of Alzheimer’s at a crucial stage, and breaks the toxic chain reaction that leads to the death of brain cells. The research was carried out by an international team made up of academics from Cambridge University, Lund University, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Tallinn University. Their findings which show that a molecular chaperone, a type of molecule that occurs naturally in humans, can play the role of an ‘inhibitor’ part-way through the molecular process that is thought to cause Alzheimer’s, were reported in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. Dr Samuel Cohen, a research fellow at St John’s College, Cambridge, and a lead author [More…]

Dementia Friends

21st February 2015

Alzheimer’s charity hails one million ‘dementia friends’ One million people have now signed up to be “dementia friends” in England, the Alzheimer’s Society has announced. People in all walks of life have been trained to spot the signs of the disease so they can help sufferers. Meanwhile, the government has announced that it will be spending more than £300m to tackle dementia in England over the next parliament. Source- BBC News Sophie Hutchinson reports.

Improved lifestyle choices could cut Alzheimer’s by third

4th March 2014

A third of cases of Alzheimer’s disease could be prevented if people start taking steps to improve their lifestyles, a study published in the journal Lancet Neurology has claimed. Research was carried out to understand the impact seven lifestyle risk factors had on a person’s chance of developing the disease. The factors were diabetes, midlife hypertension, midlife obesity, physical inactivity, depression, smoking and low educational achievement, all of which have previously been linked to Alzheimer’s Researchers from the University of Cambridge looked into how the seven risk factors affected the population-attributable risk (PAR) of developing Alzheimer’s disease in the US, Europe and the UK, suggesting a third of cases could be prevented if people adopt healthy lifestyle changes. Dr Simon Ridley, head of research at [More…]