The human brain has 100 billion neurons, each of which is connected to many others. Neuroscientists believe these connections hold the key to our memories, personality and even mental disorders such as schizophrenia. By unraveling them, we may be able to learn more about how we become our unique selves, and possibly even how to alter those selves.
psychology
Revised criteria could reclassify many with mild Alzheimer dementia
Many patients currently diagnosed with very mild or mild Alzheimer disease dementia could potentially be reclassified as having mild cognitive impairment (MCI) under revised criteria for that condition, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Neurology.
Why two new studies represent important breakthrough in Alzheimer’s disease research
Two different research groups have independently made the same important discoveries on how Alzheimer’s disease spreads in the brain. The groups’ findings have the potential to give us a much more sophisticated understanding of what goes wrong in Alzheimer’s disease and, more importantly, what can be done to prevent or repair damage in the brain.
Study shows Alzheimer’s disease may spread by ‘jumping’ from one brain region to another
For decades, researchers have debated whether Alzheimer’s disease starts independently in vulnerable brain regions at different times, or if it begins in one region and then spreads to neuroanatomically connected areas. A new study by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers strongly supports the latter, demonstrating that abnormal tau protein, a key feature of the neurofibrillary tangles seen in the brains of those with Alzheimer’s, propagates along linked brain circuits, “jumping” from neuron to neuron.
Study of Alzheimer’s-related protein in healthy adults may shed light on earliest signs of disease
Researchers from the Center for Vital Longevity at the University of Texas at Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center have completed a large-scale neuroimaging study of healthy adults from age 30 to 90 that measured beta-amyloid protein—a substance whose toxic buildup in the brain is a diagnostic marker for Alzheimer’s disease.