Memory Articles
Early Alzheimer's Symptoms?
Buschke Memory Impairment Screen Indicates Early Alzheimer's Symptoms
Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine report in the January 1999 issue of Neurology that it is now possible to quickly and accurately determine whether a person is experiencing the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and other dementing disorders.
A new screening test, the Buschke Memory Impairment Screen, was recently developed at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and can be conducted in four short minutes to identify Alzheimer's in its infancy. It accurately separates people with normal forgetfulness from those who are likely to have the disease. The test is based on insight into memory decline and uses category cues and specific scoring methods to identify patients who should seek further diagnostic evaluation and possible treatment.
Herman Buschke, MD and fellow researchers who created the test, hope it will be used by primary care physicians to reassure their forgetful patients, as well as catch Alzheimer's early on in those who actually do have it so they may seek treatment. A large number of middle-aged people worry needlessly that they may have Alzheimer's. "Follow-up studies are currently underway to assess the usefulness of the screen in a number of health-care situations and to evaluate remote versions of the test," remarked Dr. Buschke.
Vitamin E May Stave Off Age-Related Memory Problems
In addition to other health related benefits, such as improved cardio-vascular health, including antioxidants in one's diet may soon add prevention of cognitive decline in the later years. A study at the University of Graz in Austria suggests that vitamin E, in particular, may stave off age-related memory problems.
In the November 1998 Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, researchers report a study of over 1700 healthy people aged 50 to 75. Results indicate that those persons with low levels of the antioxidant performed poorly in comparison to those with higher levels when given a series of tests measuring cognitive ability. While the association was weak, the authors noted the findings "... are compatible with the view that some dietary antioxidants may protect against cognitive impairment in older people."
However, the study was unable to determine whether low vitamin E levels were actually causing cognitive impairment or whether pre-existing mental deficits were causing the lowered levels (which would render the correlation irrelevant). Memory problems can cause increased risk of malnutrition, which in turn may cause antioxidant levels to drop.
Further research into the precise biological significance of the study's findings is needed to understand exactly how vitamin E relates to improved memory function in the elderly.
Some Brain Functions Able To Shift From Damaged To Undamaged Regions
Researchers at the University of Toronto report that the human brain has the ability to compensate for certain damage following head injury, by reorganizing itself. This so called "plasticity" lets the cortex, the advanced "thinking" part of the brain, take on the functions of a damaged thalamus, a more primitive area which relays sensory impulses and body movement to the cortex.
A recent study in The Journal of Neuroscience [1999;19] offers insight into the roles of the thalamus and cortex in plasticity. A damaged thalamus can reorganize, but it must receive signals from an undamaged cortex that helps the thalamus adapt to injury. Once the changes have been made, the thalamus can maintain itself.
Therefore, if damage is incurred in the thalamus area of the brain, there is still a good chance the cortex can help it reorganize and resume functioning on its own. This new knowledge may prove very helpful in developing therapies for stroke patients and sufferers of head trauma, as well as aid in the prevention of negative brain surgery side effects when removing tumors and treating epilepsy.
Animal Hippocampus Research Useful In Studies Of Human Cognitive Decline In Aging And Alzheimer's
Persons with global amnesia, as in Alzheimer's disease, have suffered damage to the hippocampus and cannot recall many types of experiences that happen after damage has occurred. They can usually remember experiences from a long time before the brain damage. Human research in this sensitive area is limited for obvious reasons, but recent findings indicate that animals may be good models for studying human cognitive decline.
Memories are formed in mice and men in a relatively similar way, report Boston University brain researchers who are experimenting on rodents. The primitive hippocampus plays a role in other kinds of memory, not just in spatial memory which is triggered by association with a specific place.
Associative memory makes it possible for you to think of
your first car whenever you smell diesel fuel. This type of memory, it is now believed, is not limited to humans. Researchers found that rat hippocampus neurons do not simply remember "place" as had been thought, but respond to a wide range of perceptual, cognitive and behavioral events.
"It seems likely that as well as being involved in spatial memory, the hippocampus plays a broad role in other kinds of memory in rats and other mammals, including humans," Dr. Eichenbaum reports in the British journal Nature ( February, 1999).
These findings suggest that rodents can be a good study model for research into Alzheimer's and other disorders involving cognitive decline.
Mediterranean Diet May Help Prevent Memory Loss
Researchers at the University of Bari in Italy report in the May 1999 issue of Neurology that diets rich in olive oil may help prevent age- related memory loss in otherwise healthy older adults.
Olive oil contains high levels of monounsaturated fats, and is the main source of fat in the Mediterranean diet. Aside from olive oil, foods high in monounsaturated fat include walnuts, pork, poultry, beef, fish, eggs, and many plant-derived oils.
The process by which these fats protect against mental decline is not fully understood, but speculation that monounsaturated fats help maintain the structure of brain cell membranes, thus protecting against age-related damage is the subject of further research.
Drawing helps Children's Verbal Reports After Long Delays
Researchers at the University of Otago have found that children's memories are facilitated by the simple task of drawing. When asked to recall a significant event one day, six months, or one year after its occurrence, children who were allowed to draw and tell about the event provided much more detail than those asked simply to tell about the event. This increase in information did not affect the accuracy of recall.
These findings, reported in Journal of Experimental Psychology, Vol. 5, No. 3, suggest that drawing may help children talk about past events with greater clarity, a very useful discovery in both clinical and legal testimonials given by children.
Experimental drug may double treatment time for preventing brain damage following a stroke
Strokes, a major cause of brain injury affecting a significant portion of the population each year, occur when blood flow to the brain is obstructed, usually by a blood clot. A relatively successful treatment in the past few years has been use of the drug TPA, which, if administered within 3 hours of a stroke, can prevent death and severe brain damage. However, as reported in February 15, 1999 issue of TIME magazine, researchers discovered that a new drug, called recombinant pro-urokinase, can be given up to 6 hours after a stroke and still achieve dramatic results.
Use of this treatment requires special skill on the part of the doctor, who must thread a catheter directly into the brain. It is still considered an experimental procedure, which many hospitals are not equipped to perform; even so, it offers promising news for those at risk of stroke. Strokes afflict 600,000 Americans each year.
At risk individuals including smokers, those overweight,those over age 55, those with diabetes, those with heart disease and those with high blood pressure would do well to inquire at local hospitals about the availability of TPA treatment and any experimental studies involving pro-urokinase - be prepared and know where to go if a stroke is suffered.
Alzheimer's Vaccine Moves Toward FDA Safety Trails With Humans
Recent research reported in the July 19, 1999 issue of The Scientist suggests that Alzheimer's disease may respond to vaccination. The Alzheimer's vaccine would prepare the immune system to fight the disease by introducing into the body a small amount of a synthetic form of the damaging amyloid plaques typically found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.
This synthetic amyloid has been shown by researchers at Elan Pharmaceuticals of South San Francisco, CA, to both prevent plaque formation and halt further buildup in mice genetically engineered to display Alzheimer's-like symptoms.
Although the biochemistry of the vaccine is not fully understood at present, it is possible that the vaccine functions by activating antibodies which signal white blood cells to destroy amyloid plaques.
An application will soon be submitted to the FDA to begin safety trials for the drug, perhaps by the end of the year. Regardless of the eventual out-come, this new line of research promises to help scientists understand the role of amyloid plaques associated with the disease.
Scientists Find Evidence That New Brain Cells May Be Produced Throughout Life. "Use It or Lose it" Principle Also in Evidence.
Contrary to previous research, scientists under the direction of Salk Institute investigator Dr. Fred H. Gage in La Jolla, CA, have reported startling evidence of neurogenesis in humans, indicating that people may keep growing new brain cells well into old age and that living neurons are kept alive during the process of active learning. Research resulting from studies of the brains of deceased elderly cancer patients indicates that newly-formed neuron cells have been detected only in the hippocampus area of the brain involved in learning and memory.
Just as physical activity enhances the muscles of the body, mental exercise seems to enhance development of neurons, the special nerve cells that make up the central nervous system and the brain. In other studies, researchers believe that even regular jogging may spur the growth of new brain cells. It seems that "use it or lose it" may indeed be a fundamental principle of life.
As reported in the February 15, 1999 issue of The Scientist, these findings open the door to an immensely important area of neurobiological research which has implications for therapies for treatment of damage caused be trauma, stroke, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Disease.
Recovery of Function in Stroke Patients Improved with New Therapy
A new approach to therapy, now in clinical trials, has been shown to help some stroke victims get better sooner. Doctors observed that low-dose amphetaminetherapy combined with physical therapy enabled stroke patients to increase the rate of recovery in their ability to speak and move their limbs. If confirmed in other trials, this finding represents the first effective treatment for recovery of function after stroke. This finding was reported in the February 22, 1999 issue of the New York Times. A stroke is the term given to the condition resulting from damage done by blood clots in the brain. Traditional stroke treatment focuses on prevention for high risk populations or, when a stroke occurs, staving off brain damage from blood clots by immediately administering drugs.