Dementia and Alzheimer Disease

Neurology News Network for the week of March 9, 2019.

The 23rd FDA commissioner’s resignation is effective in about a month; his successor has not yet been named.

The pediatric critical care medicine attending physician in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia spoke about how physicians can better address brain death in pediatric patients.

According to recently published results from the SPRINT MIND trial, the jury is still out.

Neurology News Network for the week of February 23, 2019.

AED use was not significantly associated with dementia risk in patients followed by general practitioners and neuropsychiatrists, however, the potential harmful effects of levetiracetam generic brands on cognition should be further investigated.

A joint statement from the FDA commissioner and the director of the agency’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research noted the product is being offered at a variety of establishments as a treatment for conditions for which its benefits are unproven.

A recent study evaluated the effect of aerobic exercise on cognitive function and physical conditioning in young adults. The result? These boots are made for more than walking.

The framework consists of 2 documents that expand on the agency’s plans for its risk-based approach for describing drugs, devices, and biologics, including those designated as regenerative medicine advanced therapies.

Neurology News Network for the week of February 14, 2019.

The new funding initiatives and innovative programs to expedite research efforts could hasten the search for biomarkers of Alzheimer disease in the blood and, ultimately, open the door to easier, quicker, and more affordable diagnostic methods.

The results of this observational “real-world” study found that disease duration, but not age, at the time of the surgery was associated with the dementia risk.

A number of warning and online advisory letters were issued to 17 companies selling almost 60 products claiming to prevent, treat, or cure Alzheimer disease, among a number of health conditions.

His daughter says that he often tells stories he has heard about someone else as if they had happened to him.

Findings from a cross-sectional exploration have suggested that biological differences between men and women may explain the higher risk for Alzheimer faced by women.

The chief executive officer of C2N Diagnosis spoke about an investigational blood test used for screening of amyloid pathology in individuals being assessed for Alzheimer disease diagnosis.

If the C2N brain amyloidosis test becomes FDA approved, this could be the first blood-based screening test to predict brain amyloid PET scan results in those with memory complaints or dementia.

Neurology News Network for the week of February 2, 2019.

The chief scientific officer of Cortexyme detailed the findings of a study that suggested that Porphyromonas gingivalis plays a role as a driver of Alzheimer disease pathology.

The Independent Monitoring Committee’s interim analysis suggested that the treatment was unlikely to meet the trials’ primary end point of change from baseline in Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes score.

The model showed that sporadic Alzheimer cells differentiated in an accelerated fashion in early development, as well as irregularities in the REST protein.

Here: Results from a clinical study of African-American patients with mild cognitive impairment.

Despite the non-significant differences between groups, a slight trend toward a dementia risk reduction has led to the Alzheimer’s Association providing funds for a follow-up extension trial, dubbed SPRINT-MIND 2.0.

This investigation has suggested that Porphyromonas gingivalis may be a driver of Alzheimer disease progression and that an investigational bacterial protease inhibitor may be able to prevent that sequence.

The director of the Center for Neurodegeneration and Translational Neuroscience and director emeritus, Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, shared thoughts on his hope for the future of Alzheimer disease, among other topics.