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Racial and ethnic disparities undermine dementia care in the US (Links to an external site)
A review of dementia research highlights unequal healthcare outcomes for Black and Hispanic people in the US
New Alzheimer’s drugs bring hope. But not equally for all patients (Links to an external site)
The medications have not been widely tested in Black people with the disease, underscoring stark — and persistent — disparities
Blood tests can help diagnose Alzheimer’s — if they’re accurate enough. Not all are (Links to an external site)
A new generation of blood tests is poised to change the way doctors determine whether patients with memory loss also have Alzheimer’s disease.
The tests detect substances in the blood that indicate the presence of sticky amyloid plaques in the brain — a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. So these tests have the potential to replace current diagnostic procedures, like costly PET scans and uncomfortable spinal taps.
Smoking causes brain shrinkage (Links to an external site)
Smoking shrinks the brain and effectively causes premature brain aging, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Quitting smoking prevents further loss of brain tissue but doesn’t restore the brain to its original size.
Clues to preventing Alzheimer’s come from patient who, despite genetics, evaded disease (Links to an external site)
Alzheimer’s disease has plagued one large Colombian family for generations, striking down half of its members in the prime of life. But one member of that family evaded what had seemed would be fate: Despite inheriting the genetic defect that caused her relatives to develop dementia in their 40s, she stayed cognitively healthy into her 70s.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis now think they know why. A previous study had reported that, unlike her relatives, the woman carried two copies of a rare variant of the APOE gene known as the Christchurch mutation. In this study, researchers used genetically modified mice to show that the Christchurch mutation severs the link between the early phase of Alzheimer’s disease, when a protein called amyloid beta builds up in the brain, and the late phase, when another protein called tau accumulates and cognitive decline sets in. So the woman stayed mentally sharp for decades, even as her brain filled with massive amounts of amyloid. The findings, published Dec. 11 in the journal Cell, suggest a new approach to preventing Alzheimer’s dementia.