Category Archives: Cognitive functioning

Publication Date: 

Fri, 03/10/2017

Ten months ago, Peter Mittler stood before a global audience of Alzheimer’s disease researchers and advocates and decried the indignities that people with dementia undergo.
He knows the subject intimately: Mittler, an 86-year-old British psychologSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Wed, 03/01/2017

For some people with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, frequent, brisk walks may help to bolster physical abilities and slow memory loss, according to one of the first studies of physical activity as an experimental treatment for dementia.
But tSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Tue, 02/21/2017

Rambling and long-winded anecdotes could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease, according to research that suggests subtle changes in speech style occur years before the more serious mental decline takes hold.
The scientists behind the work said iSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Sat, 02/18/2017

Last summer, deep disappointment befell the Alzheimer disease (AD) community when study results showed that the widely heralded experimental drug LMTX had failed to help AD patients. In November, another promising drug, solanezumab, also dashed hopes.See Original Article

Publication Date: 

Fri, 01/27/2017

In a barbed wire – enclosed parking lot 100 meters downwind of the Route 110 freeway, an aluminum hose sticks out of a white trailer, its nozzle aimed at an overpass. Every minute, the hose sucks up hundreds of liters of See Original Article

Publication Date: 

Wed, 01/18/2017

A pilot study led by Ipsit Vahia, a member of the HMS faculty of psychiatry and medical director of Geriatric Psychiatry Outpatient Services at McLean Hospital, suggests that the use of tablet computers is both a safe and potentially effective apprSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Mon, 01/09/2017

Faye Miles, a vibrant woman who loved gardening, said she was going to run a quick errand, hopped in her truck, and headed toward the farmstand five minutes from her Wareham home.
Then, the 68-year-old retired teacher vanished. Hours later, in the midSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Wed, 01/25/2017

A gradual decline in memory is a dreaded effect of normal aging. But Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have discovered that some people in their 60s, 70s or 80s have the youthful memories of 20-year-olds and their brains show why. Bradford DiSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Wed, 09/28/2016

A recent report doesn’t bode well for the population of aging Latinos in the United States.
According to “Latinos and Alzheimer’s Disease: New Numbers Behind the Crisis,” which was released last week, as many as 3.5 million Latinos are expecteSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Tue, 09/13/2016

Some loss of memory is usually considered an inevitable part of aging, but new research reveals how some people appear to escape that fate. A study by investigators at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital examined a group of older adulSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Thu, 09/08/2016

The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) – the long-running National Institutes of Health-supported study investigating brain and fluid biomarkers of the disease – enters a new phase of discovery with the launch of ADNI3. With the receSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Thu, 12/01/2016

In an old factory building with breathtaking views of Boston Harbor and the Charlestown Navy Yard, a group ofmore than 20 researchers spend their Thursday afternoon looking at brain scans and discussing their findings of the week.  This doesn’t looSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Wed, 07/20/2016

The brain looks like a featureless expanse of folds and bulges, but it’s actually carved up into invisible territories. Each is specialized: Some groups of neurons become active when we recognize faces, others when we read, others when we raise See Original Article

Publication Date: 

Thu, 08/18/2016

Heathrow Airport is now working with the Alzheimer’s Society so it can learn about dementia and offer the best experience for travellers with the illness.
The programme is called ‘Dementia Friendly Communities’ and is part of the Prime MinisSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Tue, 08/09/2016

Our thinking, perception, and ability to understand language are processed in the outermost layer of the brain, the cerebral cortex. Knowing exactly where our senses and perceptions take shape in the brain is important for unraveling how aging, neuSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Tue, 09/13/2016

Some loss of memory is usually considered an inevitable part of aging, but new research reveals how some people appear to escape that fate. A study by investigators at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital examined a group of older adulSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Wed, 07/27/2016

Lengthy waiting lists for rooms for Alzheimer’s patients are forcing caregivers to put their loved ones in less specialized facilities – which often levy additional fees for every extra service required to keep those vulnerable residents safSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Thu, 09/08/2016

The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) – the long-running National Institutes of Health-supported study investigating brain and fluid biomarkers of the disease – enters a new phase of discovery with the launch of ADNI3. With the receSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Wed, 07/13/2016

The gene that makes some people more vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease as adults also affects the brain development and mental abilities of children, a new study shows.
Researchers who examined brain scans of 1,187 kids and teens found distinct pSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Thu, 05/26/2016

Could it be that Alzheimer’s disease stems from the toxic remnants of the brain’s attempt to fight off infection?
Provocative new research by a team of investigators at Harvard leads to this startling hypothesis, which could explain the origins See Original Article

Publication Date: 

Wed, 07/06/2016

Today, the House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee proposed a $350 million increase for Alzheimer’s research at the NIH. This bipartisan effort was led by Alzheimer’s champion Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and comes just weeks after the SenatSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Thu, 07/14/2016

Five drug makers, including Cambridge-based Biogen Inc., are banding together with academic scientists to form a research consortium aimed at speeding development of therapies for Alzheimer’s, a neurological disorder that has stubbornly eluded trSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Fri, 06/24/2016

Starting in July, a massive open online course (MOOC) will translate recent population-based findings into practical advice on how individual people might lower their risk of dementia. Called “Preventing Dementia,” the course will summarize facSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Sat, 07/09/2016

Nobody knew each other’s name. Even so, 60 people who either were at risk of having an autosomal-dominant Alzheimer’s mutation, or were accompanying someone who was, exchanged information about a shared problem. There were moments of validation – See Original Article

Publication Date: 

Fri, 07/08/2016

WHEN a “brain fitness” course was introduced at her retirement community, Connie Cole was eager to sign up. After joining, she learned how to use an Apple iPad and work more complex tasks verbally and on paper.

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Publication Date: 

Wed, 04/20/2016

This Forum explored the challenges and complexities of drug trials, and how they impact disease treatment and prevention –  particularly for conditions that currently have little or no therapeutic options. As a case study, the panel discussed AlzheimSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Thu, 06/16/2016

Suzanne Corkin and Henry Molaison shared more than just a research relationship, though that collaboration put them in the history books. When experimental surgery left him unable to form long-term memories, he became arguably the world’s most stSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Thu, 04/21/2016

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia. It is a biological disease marked by physical changes in the brain—most notably buildup of small protein clumps called plaques and tangles – that lead to the death of nerve cells. The cell death usuSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Wed, 04/20/2016

This Forum explored the challenges and complexities of drug trials, and how they impact disease treatment and prevention –  particularly for conditions that currently have little or no therapeutic options. As a case study, the panel discussed AlzheimSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Sun, 05/22/2016

Dorene Rentz, one of 
the local neuropsychologists behind a pioneering Alzheimer’s study, spends her days searching for 
answers in the mysterious plaques that invade the brains of those suffering from the incurable disease.
And Rentz’s seaSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Thu, 05/26/2016

Could it be that Alzheimer’s disease stems from the toxic remnants of the brain’s attempt to fight off infection?
Provocative new research by a team of investigators at Harvard leads to this startling hypothesis, which could explain the origins See Original Article

Publication Date: 

Sat, 04/30/2016

Last week, Rudolph Tanzi was laying down keyboard tracks at Johnny Depp’s L.A. music studio for Joe Perry’s soon-to-be-released solo album. This past week, he launched a new app for Alzheimer’s patients.
Tanzi, of course, knows what an importSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Wed, 05/04/2016

MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL IS THE MOST PROLIFIC HEALTHCARE ORGANISATION PUBLISHING IN TOP JOURNALS

See Original Article

Publication Date: 

Tue, 05/03/2016

Epilepsies are a spectrum of brain disorders in which surges of electrical activity in clusters of brain cells cause seizures. At least 2.3 million adults and nearly 500,000 children in the U.S. live with some form of epilepsy. Partial, or focal, sSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Wed, 04/06/2016

Thousands of gene candidates in the human genome have the potential to play a role in the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. But you are just one scientist. How can you even start such an enormous task? This quest – one scientist analySee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Fri, 02/26/2016

The prevailing wisdom about dementia is simple: Keep your mind active as you age to lower the risk of cognitive decline. But is the same true for Alzheimer’s disease, which is the most common form of dementia? New research suggests that the answeSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Thu, 03/03/2016

The blood-brain barrier at the interface between the brain’s blood vessels and nerve cells acts as a vital gatekeeper to the brain, allowing essential nutrients and fluids to pass into the central nervous system and the web of our brain’s neuroSee Original Article

Publication Date: 

Thu, 03/31/2016

More than 99% of clinical trials for Alzheimer’s drugs have failed, leading many to wonder whether pharmaceutical companies have gone after the wrong targets. Now, research in mice points to a potential new target: a developmental process gone awSee Original Article