Published: November 16, 2010
Researchers have discovered why some people with dementia are compelled to massively overeat, opening the way for better diagnosis and the development of new treatments for the disease.
The research, led by Dr Olivier Piguet from Neuroscience Research Australia, shows for the first time that some people with frontotemporal dementia have deterioration in the brain region that controls hunger.
“We think the cells in this brain region lose the ability to tell these individuals when they’ve had enough to eat,” says Dr Piguet. [continue reading…]
Published: October 30, 2010
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esearchers say commonly used psychiatric drugs could be effective in slowing the progression of certain types of dementia.
Dr John Kwok and colleagues from Neuroscience Research Australia have discovered a mutant gene that causes abnormal proteins to build up in the brains of people with frontotemporal dementia, a disease that affects people in their 50s and 60s.
Common psychiatric drugs, such as haloperidol, used to treat schizophrenia, are known to act on this gene.
“Our hope is that these drugs will slow the progression of the disease,” says Dr Kwok. [continue reading…]
Published: October 25, 2010
Large doses of B-complex vitamins could reduce the rate of brain shrinkage by half in elderly people with memory problems and slow the progression of dementia.
A two-year clinical trial in England has shown that B vitamins, including B-6, B-12 and folic acid, slow down mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a condition which is a major risk factor for Alzheimer disease and other forms of dementia. [continue reading…]
Published: October 16, 2010
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Alzheimer’s disease is not the only type of dementia. Two particular forms are dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease dementia. In both forms, the diagnosis is of vital importance because the treatment for these dementias differs from that for Alzheimer’s dementia, as Brit Mollenhauer and co-authors explain in the dementia theme issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107[39]: 684-91).
[continue reading…]
