Feb 7th, 2023 - Mild to moderate alcohol consumption was associated with lower risk of dementia compared with not drinking, while sustained heavy drinking was tied to an increased dementia risk. (JAMA Network Open) Objective differences in mothers' memory function rarely have been seen in empirical studies and the term "mommy brain" needs to be rebranded, researchers argued. (JAMA Neurology) Cerebrospinal flui...

Feb 6th, 2023 - A blood test identified which cognitively intact people with brain amyloid pathology were most likely to deteriorate in the next 6 years, longitudinal data showed. Compared with other measures, plasma phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) best predicted decline on the modified Preclinical Alzheimer Cognitive Composite (mPACC) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) with correlation coefficient...

Feb 3rd, 2023 - Sustained vigorous exercise might have slowed disease progression in two patients with positive Alzheimer's biomarkers and mild cognitive impairment, two case reports suggested. At age 64, patient 1 was diagnosed with amnestic mild cognitive impairment. More than 15 years later, at age 80, he had minimal cognitive and functional decline and was diagnosed with mild Alzheimer's disease. Patient 2...

Jan 31st, 2023 - In children with drug-resistant epilepsy, the modified Atkins and ketogenic diets were more effective than usual care in achieving large short-term reductions in seizures and short-term seizure freedom, a systematic review and network meta-analysis found. Across 12 randomized trials, all three dietary interventions evaluated -- ketogenic, modified Atkins, low glycemic index therapy (LGIT) -- sh...

Jan 31st, 2023 - Opioids at low doses continued to have good efficacy in people with refractory restless legs syndrome over 2 years, longitudinal data showed. (Neurology) In a mouse model, focused ultrasound-mediated liquid biopsy (sonobiopsy) released more tau proteins and neurofilament light chain into blood circulation than liquid biopsy without focused ultrasound. (Radiology) Increased screen time in infanc...

Jan 30th, 2023 - Reducing blood pressure and cholesterol in the TIPS-3 trial with a polypill, with or without aspirin, showed no protective effect on cognition in older adults with cardiovascular disease risk factors, a secondary analysis showed. During a 5-year follow-up, about the same number of trial participants in TIPS-3 experienced substantive cognitive decline in both the treatment and placebo groups, ac...

Jan 30th, 2023 - People with autism had an elevated risk of cardiometabolic conditions across several dozen studies, researchers confirmed in a meta-analysis. Among children and adults in the analyzed studies, autism was associated with greater likelihood of concomitant: Yet, there was no significantly associated increased risk of hypertension and stroke with autism across all age groups, according to investiga...

Jan 30th, 2023 - Children with a concussion may no longer have to sit quietly in a dark room for days. New research suggests that prolonged absence from school and other activities may hinder recovery from a concussion. Returning to school earlier than previously recommended may be associated with lower symptom burden, leading to a faster recovery, according to an published online in JAMA Network Open. The anal...

Jan 30th, 2023 - At least 22 viral illnesses were linked with an increased risk of subsequent neurodegenerative disease, NIH researchers found. Using data from the U.K. and Finland, Mike Nalls, PhD, of the NIH Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias, and co-authors identified 45 viral exposures that were tied to an increased risk of dementia or other neurodegenerative diseases and replicated 22 of these as...

Jan 27th, 2023 - As researchers continue to seek insights to improve the understanding, prevention, and treatment of Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD), a growing body of research highlights significant racial and ethnic disparities in various aspects of these diseases.1 “In Blacks and Hispanics, the prevalence of ADRD is 1.5 to 2 times higher compared to non-Hispanic Whites,” said Timothy S. Chang,...

Jan 26th, 2023 - Antipsychotic drug prescribing rates among people with dementia increased markedly during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a multinational database study showed. Notably, those rates did not return to prepandemic levels after the acute phase of the pandemic had ended, Kenneth K.C. Man, PhD, of University College London School of Pharmacy, and colleagues reported in JAMA Psychiatry. In...

Jan 25th, 2023 - Memory decline was slower for older adults who had a healthy lifestyle, even for people with high genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease, data from a Chinese study showed. People 60 and older who had at least four of six favorable lifestyle factors -- healthy diet, exercise, social contact, cognitive activity, and no smoking or drinking -- had slower memory decline than those who had no more than...

Jan 24th, 2023 - Retrospective questionnaire data showed sleeping less than 7 hours a night during adolescence may be linked with an increased risk of developing MS. (Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry) A proposed biosimilar matched reference natalizumab (Tysabri) in efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity in patients with relapsing-remitting MS. (JAMA Neurology) Newborn screening for spinal muscular ...

Jan 23rd, 2023 - Moderate and vigorous physical activity was linked with midlife cognition, a U.K. study showed. Among nearly 4,500 people born in 1970, time spent performing moderate and vigorous physical activity was associated with higher verbal memory and executive function scores relative to time spent sleeping, being sedentary, or engaging in light activity, according to John Mitchell, MSci, a doctoral ca...

Jan 23rd, 2023 - Head injuries decreased long-term survival time in a dose-dependent manner, longitudinal data showed. All-cause mortality was twice as high for adults who had sustained a head injury earlier in life (HR 1.99, 95% CI 1.88-2.11) compared with those who had no head injury, reported Holly Elser, MD, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and co-authors. Both the frequency of head h...

Jan 20th, 2023 - Higher systolic blood pressure variability (BPV) over time raised dementia risk later in life, an observational study showed. At 3, 6, 9, and 12 years, higher systolic BPV was tied to a higher subsequent risk of dementia, with HRs ranging from 1.02 (95% CI 1.01-1.04) to 1.10 (95% CI 1.05-1.16), reported Simin Mahinrad, MD, PhD, of Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago...

Jan 18th, 2023 - Most college varsity athletes who recovered slowly from concussion were able to return to play with an additional month to recover beyond the typical recovery time, an observational study showed. Of 399 athletes with slow recovery after concussion, 77.6% returned to play within 60 days of injury, reported Thomas Walker McAllister, MD, of the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis...

Jan 17th, 2023 - Web-guided diagnosis and treatment of recurrent benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) proved efficacious in a randomized parallel-group study in South Korea. In an intention-to-treat analysis of 128 patients, 72.4% of those who performed a self-administered canalith repositioning maneuver (CRM) according to the type of BPPV diagnosed when they experienced recurrent episodes reported resol...

Jan 17th, 2023 - Being socially isolated was associated with a 28% higher risk of incident dementia over 9 years, data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study showed. (Journal of the American Geriatrics Society) Six minutes of high-intensity exercise boosted levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein involved in neuroplasticity, in 12 aerobically fit healthy young adults. (Journal of ...

Jan 13th, 2023 - Learning about a positive amyloid-PET result was associated with psychological changes among people with subjective cognitive decline, but those changes did not reach a threshold for clinical concern. In the prospective AMYPAD consortium study, people who received news about a positive amyloid scan showed small increases in distress, anxiety, or depression scores compared with peers who learned...