dementia Archives - The Silver Ink

Polluted air is not good for brain, it could shrink it!

April 27, 2015 By Stephen Kenwright Leave a Comment

According to new study it is found that the polluted air can affect brain and can potentially lead to cognitive loss.

It is also found that polluted air if inhaled can decrease the size of the brain, and people who are constantly exposed to polluted air are at a high risk of strokes or dementia.

The study is performed by researchers of Boston University School of Medicine and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The study revealed that middle age to older age people are most affected from polluted air.

For the study, researchers had 943 participants, who were all 60 years of age. Initially all the participants were reviewed and regarded as healthy, as they were free from any incidence of stroke or dementia in the past.

The participants lived in New York, Boston and New England where pollution is not significant. The brain functions of all the participants were recorded through MRI. The images were studied in relation to the level of pollution in the area where the participants lived.

The findings revealed that with an increase of 2.5 micrograms of fine particles pollution for every cubic meter, the brain volumes were smaller by 0.32 percent.

The sources of pollution are many, but the main factor contributing to it is car exhaust.

According to Dr.Sudha Seshadri, a representative from the Boston University of Medicine and Professor of Neurology, people who are living in highly polluted areas have smaller volume of brain when compared to the people of similar age, the main reason for this is polluted air inhaled by the person.

The study revealed a link between high pollution and strokes, high pollution risks the person for a silent stroke by 46 percent. Many people are aware about the link, but in future it can also lead to severs strokes.

Silent strokes are small and no discomfort can be felt by the person, but it can detected by MRI.

Obese people likely at lower risk of developing dementia

April 11, 2015 By Kyle Mills Leave a Comment

A recent study involving about two million people indicates that middle aged people who are obese or overweight are less likely to develop the problem of dementia compared to their normal and underweight counterparts.

According to the researchers, obese and overweight people were found nearly 30 percent less likely to suffer dementia 15 years later than their healthy weight peers.

On the other hand, the underweight people were 34 percent more likely to develop the memory problem compared to those people whose weight was normal.

Dr. Nawab Qizilbash, lead study author from Spain-based OXON Epidemiology Ltd., said, “The results that obese and overweight people would be protected are unexpected.”

The retrospective study was only able to show a link between overweight or obesity problem and a lowered risk of dementia. The study’s findings didn’t show a cause-and-effect relationship between the two.

For the study, the researchers collected medical records of about 20 years of nearly two million British adults with an average age of 55 (at the beginning of the study). The researchers followed the people for 15 years and found 45,500 of the participants suffered from dementia.

Qizilbash, however, cautioned people from preferring weight gain in hopes of preventing dementia.

According to the author, the findings showed a predictable rise in premature death risk from being obese or overweight.

“Even if there were to be a protective effect on dementia from being overweight or obese, you may not live long enough to get the benefit,” he said.

The findings of the study were published online on Friday in journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Biogen Idec’s new drug which can cure Alzheimer’s

March 22, 2015 By Kyle Mills

Biogen Idec Inc experimental drug is going to treat Alzheimer’s. According to the study and the experiment’s result this drug is going to significantly slow cognitive decline in patients with early and mild forms of the disease.

Alzheimer’s accounts for 60 to 70% of cases of dementia. The most common symptoms are difficult remembering events, language problems, mood swings etc. Till date there is no such medicine which can cure the disease but medical science has not even produced a drug which can slower the disease’s development.

The drug is believed to reduce the brain destroying amyloid plague. Alzheimer’s is caused by these plagues in the brain and it plays a prominent role in the development of the disease.

The drug which is said to cure Alzheimer’s is aducanumab.

Alzheimer’s affects 15 million people worldwide, a number that is expected to grow to 75 million by 2030 without effective treatments. These treatments are very expensive so most people go for cost effective treatments which show only temporary results.

Alfred Sandrock, Biogen’s chief medical officer said that it is for the first time that an experimental drug has shown significant reduction in amyloid plague and also slowing impairments in patients with mild disease.

The second trial involved 166 people with mild to severe Alzeimers. They were divided into five groups four of them received different dose and the fifth received placebo. The results showed that all the participants showed better improvement than the ones who took placebo.

The experts are getting ready for the third trial later this year and based on the results the drug will be given approval.

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