Dementia
Work has begun to bring a landmark neurological research and treatment centre to reality.
The UCL Neuroscience centre of excellence will be home to three bodies: the world-leading UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology; the headquarters of the UK Dementia Research Institute, the single biggest investment the UK has ever made in dementia; and the UCLH National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), which is the UK's largest dedicated neurological and neurosurgical hospital. Clinical work and research will take place together within the new facility, at 256 Grays Inn Road in London, enabling an active dialogue between people with neurological disorders, their doctors, and researchers.
New understanding of how the production of a protein in the brain is controlled could pave the way for new treatments for a wide range of neurological conditions.
In a newly-released study, researchers investigated a section of genetic material known as antisense long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), which helps fine-tune the production of the protein tau inside brain cells. This precision in tau regulation is crucial for smooth functioning of the nerve cells. Understanding the mechanism which helps regulate tau production could be the key to developing better treatments for conditions including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, corticobasal degeneration and progressive supranuclear palsy.
The rise of Zoom meetings and other forms of online communication during the pandemic may have played a role in helping older people in the fight against dementia, new research has revealed.
Through regularly staying in touch with family and friends online, a person can help maintain their long-term memory - adding a further benefit to the rise in virtual ways of communication, a new study has discovered. Researchers found that older people who frequently use online communication such as email and video call, alongside traditional social interactions in person or over the phone, showed less of a decline in episodic memory – the ability to recollect meaningful events and the impairment of which is a hallmark sign of major forms of dementia.
Eating a Mediterranean diet could help reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive decline, new research has found. By following a dietary pattern with a greater intake of vegetables, fruit, cereals, fish and monounsaturated fatty acids - like that from olive oil - the risk of protein build-up and brain atrophy can be reduced. Such a Mediterranean-led diet also has a low intake of dairy products, red meat and saturated fatty acids. Previous research has revealed following such a diet can reduce risk of heart disease and support weight loss - but this new research from the DZNE German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases has revealed its efficacy in the fight against dementia.
New research may help explain why people with type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop dementia.
The findings could help identify risk factors for dementia in people with type 2 diabetes and inform interventions to help prevent or delay the condition. The Imperial College London research emphasises the importance of carefully managing cardiometabolic factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels from the earliest stage. The research, funded by Diabetes UK, analysed ‘cardiometabolic factors’ – such as blood pressure, blood sugars and cholesterol levels – in people with type 2 diabetes across two decades. The team identified changes in these factors during this period that were associated with developing dementia in later life.
Two world-renowned former rugby stars have joined with Alan Shearer in stepping up the fight against dementia in sport.
Shane Williams, the all-time record try scorer for Wales, and World Cup-winning England lock Ben Kay are among 50 former elite rugby players to have backed the prevent PREVENT:RFC project, the latest phase of the Sport United Against Dementia campaign.
A potential treatment for dementia could be designed on the back of new findings that show the benefits of reducing toxic gas levels in the brain.
The study analysed the impact of reducing the levels in the brain of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which is potentially harmful to neurons. Researchers found that H2S was blocking the activity of some cells' potassium channels, which allow electrically charged atoms to pass through. This caused an increase in activity when these pathways were disrupted and researchers believe this overactivity is a cause of cell death.
Alzheimer’s Research UK describes dementia as ‘a group of symptoms that occur when brain cells stop working properly.’
Because of this broad definition, dementia can undertake many different forms. Current research has discovered the condition has over 100 manifestations, all of which are progessive.
People who sleep six hours or less each night in their 50s and 60s appear to be more likely to develop dementia later in life, new research has revealed.
Those who persistently experienced lack of sleep were roughly 30 per cent more likely to develop dementia, compared to those with normal sleep duration, a study led by UCL and INSERM researchers found. “Sleep problems are known to occur in people with dementia, but it remains unclear whether sleep duration in midlife affects the risk of developing dementia at older ages,” says lead author Dr Séverine Sabia. “Here, by using a very long follow-up period, we have found that short duration sleep in midlife, assessed more than 25 years before mean age at dementia onset, is associated with dementia risk in late life.
Powerful algorithms used by Netflix, Amazon and Facebook can 'predict' the biological language of neurodegenerative diseases, scientists have found.
Big data produced during decades of research was fed into a computer language model to see if artificial intelligence (AI) can make more advanced discoveries than humans. Academics from St John's College, University of Cambridge, found the machine-learning technology could decipher the 'biological language' of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s. Their groundbreaking study could be used in the future to 'correct the grammatical mistakes inside cells that cause disease’.
