dementia – News Stories About dementia - Page 6

Dementia Hasn't
Dulled Gifts of
101-Year-Old Pianist

Jul 11, 2016 3:12 AM CDT

Dementia Hasn't Dulled Gifts of 101-Year-Old Pianist

She's a 'wonderful example of an indomitable human spirit'

(Newser) - The incredible abilities of a 101-year-old pianist with vascular dementia highlight just how much we still have to learn about our own brains. The woman rarely knows where she is and can't recognize anybody she has met in the last 20 years or more, but she can play more...

Study Floats
'Provocative'
New Theory
on Alzheimer’s

May 26, 2016 12:03 PM CDT

Study Floats 'Provocative' New Theory on Alzheimer’s

Old infections may be at root of disease

(Newser) - A new study out of Harvard puts forward what the New York Times calls a "startling hypothesis" about Alzheimer's. The research published in Science Translational Medicine suggests that old infections in the brain—or, more specifically, the body's attempt to fight them off—may be at the...

Reagan's Daughter
Calls Will Ferrell
Role 'Heartless'

OPINION

Apr 29, 2016 6:52 AM CDT

Reagan's Daughter Calls Will Ferrell Role 'Heartless'

Patti Davis slams upcoming 'comedy' focusing on her dad's dementia

(Newser) - News that actor Will Ferrell will be playing a dementia-stricken Ronald Reagan in an upcoming comedic film caused an "uproar" this week, per CNN , with critics denouncing the decision to treat Alzheimer's disease as the joke framing the movie. Among the detractors: Reagan's family, including his daughter,...

There's a Delicious
Way to Fight Dementia

NEW STUDY

Mar 14, 2016 9:05 AM CDT

There's a Delicious Way to Fight Dementia

Study: Blueberries boost cognitive function in those with mild impairments

(Newser) - Think your memory is starting to slip? Start munching on blueberries. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati say chowing down on the "superfruit" may help treat patients with cognitive impairments. Elaborating on earlier research that showed animals who consumed blueberries saw improved cognitive function, scientists conducted two studies: In...

Heartburn Meds May Include Scary Health Risk

Heartburn Meds May
Raise Risk of Dementia

new study

Feb 15, 2016 7:00 PM CST

Heartburn Meds May Raise Risk of Dementia

Study raises concerns about proton-pump inhibitor drugs

(Newser) - Certain heartburn drugs have already been linked to heath woes including heart disease and kidney disease. Now a study in JAMA Neurology says those drugs—proton-pump inhibitors like Prilosec, Prevacid, and Nexium—may also boost the chance of dementia, UPI reports. Analyzing a German health insurer's data on nearly...

Why Dementia Rates
Are Going Down

NEW STUDY

Feb 11, 2016 8:00 AM CST

Why Dementia Rates Are Going Down

Education, heart health cut the risk, researchers say

(Newser) - If you look after your heart and educate your brain, you have a better chance of avoiding or at least delaying dementia, new research suggests. Boston University School of Medicine researchers say data from the Framingham Heart Study, which has tracked the health of thousands of people in the Massachusetts...

Sicker Sense
of Humor Could
Signal Dementia

Nov 10, 2015 2:16 PM CST

Sicker Sense of Humor Could Signal Dementia

Some patients laughed at tragic events prior to diagnosis: study

(Newser) - Scientists are exploring what could be an intriguing link between a dark sense of humor and a rare form of dementia. Researchers at University College London explain that frontotemporal dementia affects the part of the brain related to personality and behavior and can cause patients to become impulsive and reckless....

Robin Williams' Widow: He Had Just 3 Years Left to Live

Nov 3, 2015 10:07 AM CST

Robin Williams' Widow: He Had Just 3 Years Left to Live

Susan Williams talks about his final months, days

(Newser) - More than a year after he took his own life, Robin Williams' widow is talking about his final days. In interviews with People and Good Morning America , Susan Williams says that it was Lewy Body Dementia or DLB, an incurable brain disease commonly associated with Parkinson's , that drove her...

Did Our Justice System
Fail a Sick Psychiatrist?

Oct 18, 2015 12:55 PM CDT

Did Our Justice System Fail a Sick Psychiatrist?

CSM digs into case of convicted drug dealer Joel Dreyer

(Newser) - Back in the 1980s, Joel Dreyer was a devoted family man and a respected psychiatrist who testified as an expert witness in criminal trials. Today, he's serving 10 years for his stint as one of the biggest prescription drug dealers in California's Riverside County. How did it all...

Modern Malady May Be Behind Rise in Dementia

study says

Aug 16, 2015 7:54 AM CDT

Modern Malady May Be Behind Rise in Dementia

Researchers in new study think pollution and pesticides play a role

(Newser) - Could pollution be to blame for why dementia is killing more people and being diagnosed earlier than ever? That's the theory being floated by researchers involved in a study of patients in 21 countries from 1989 to 2010. The Smithsonian reports that while dementia is typically associated with people...

Simple Tests
May Hint at
Alzheimer's 18 Years
Before Diagnosis

Jun 25, 2015 1:30 PM CDT

Simple Tests May Hint at Alzheimer's 18 Years Before Diagnosis

Study: Those who score low on memory, thinking exams at greater risk

(Newser) - A new study suggests a relatively easy way to gauge whether people are more likely to wind up with an Alzheimer's diagnosis as far as 18 years down the road: memory and thinking tests. A study out of the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago tracked more than 2,...

Tribe Became
Immune to
Brain Disease—
by Eating Brains

Tribe Became Immune to Brain Disease— by Eating Brains

The cannibalistic practice spread disease that some managed to resist

(Newser) - When members of the Fore tribe in Papua New Guinea ate the brains of their extended kin at funerals, it was their way of paying respect. Unfortunately, the ritual also helped spread kuru prion disease, a form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)—a rare but fatal brain disease that can lead...

78-Year-Old
on Trial for
Having Sex
With His Wife

Apr 14, 2015 11:40 AM CDT

78-Year-Old on Trial for Having Sex With His Wife

Some say Henry Rayhons' wife, Donna, who had dementia, wasn't able to give consent

(Newser) - An elderly man having sexual relations with his wife wouldn't normally be front-page news. But for Henry Rayhons, a former Republican legislator in Iowa, it's a trickier case. The 78-year-old is currently on trial, charged with felony sex abuse for allegedly having sex last May with his wife,...

Overweight People
a Lot Less Likely
to Get Dementia

STUDY SAYS

Apr 10, 2015 3:51 AM CDT

Overweight People a Lot Less Likely to Get Dementia

Biggest study of its kind surprises researchers

(Newser) - The skinnier you are in middle age, the more likely you are to get dementia in your old age, according to British researchers who sound baffled by their own findings. In the largest study of its kind, the researchers looked at up to 20 years of medical records from almost...

Alzheimer's
Drug Shows
Startling
Promise

Alzheimer's Drug Shows Startling Promise

Puts brakes on mental decline, but not without side effects

(Newser) - "Encouraging" Alzheimer's news: Biogen Idec's drug aducanumab has been shown to slow mental decline in patients with early or mild Alzheimer's disease in a small drug trial, the full results of which were released Friday. The New York Times reports 166 patients were randomly given low...

Can This 3-Step Test
Predict Alzheimer's?

new study

Mar 19, 2015 11:44 AM CDT

Can This 3-Step Test Predict Alzheimer's?

Mayo Clinic doctor's simple test could reveal MCI risk

(Newser) - Dementia rates are on the rise, and soon, the burden of identifying the disease may fall to primary care physicians rather than neurologists. Unfortunately, imaging tests and spinal taps are expensive, invasive, and just "not practical," the Mayo Clinic's Dr. Ronald Petersen tells Time . So he has...

Benadryl Can Up Your
Risk of Alzheimer’s

Benadryl Can Up Your Risk of Alzheimer’s

As can other common drugs including sleep aids, antidepressants: study

(Newser) - Need help with allergies—or sleeping? Be careful: A new study finds that some sleeping aids and allergy pills, including Benadryl and Nytol, are associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The study looked at "anticholinergic" drugs, which block acetylcholine, a nervous system chemical transmitter, thus...

Could Hibernation Lead Us
to Alzheimer's Drug?

Jan 16, 2015 11:18 AM CST

Could Hibernation Lead Us to Alzheimer's Drug?

Study offers possibility of finding drugs that could have same effect as body cooling

(Newser) - During hibernation, animals like bears and mice lose as much as 30% of their synapses as the creatures cool; but those brain connections are recreated when they wake back up however many weeks or months later. Synapses are similarly lost (but, of course, not reformed) in the brains of Alzheimer'...

Cancer Is the 'Best Death'

OPINION

Jan 2, 2015 1:10 PM CST

Cancer Is the 'Best Death'

Dr. Richard Smith argues it's the best way to go

(Newser) - If you exclude suicide, by Dr. Richard Smith's count there are four ways to die: sudden death, organ failure, dementia, and cancer. In a blog post for the British Medical Journal , which he edited until 2004, Smith picks cancer as the way he'd like to go—and notes...

Hoping to Fend
Off Dementia?
First, Stand
on One Leg

study says

Dec 21, 2014 4:35 PM CST

Hoping to Fend Off Dementia? First, Stand on One Leg

Japanese study finds 'low-tech' warning of future problems

(Newser) - Think you're at risk of a stroke? Then try standing on one one leg for at least 20 seconds, a new study says. Japanese researchers had nearly 1,400 women and men, with an average age of 67, try the balancing act for at least a minute—and found...