Scientists ID Enzyme Causing Brain Cell Death
An enzyme believed to play a role in the death of neurons in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases has been identified by U.S. researchers. The finding could help in the development of new drugs to treat these debilitating conditions. The scientists focused on an enzyme called HDAC1, which configures chromatin, the structural component of chromosomes. Tests... Read more
Study Recruiting From Alzheimer’s-Prone Families
The adult children of people with the rarer, inherited form of Alzheimer’s disease are being sought for a new study to better understand the biology of the brain disorder. Three hundred adults with a biological parent diagnosed with a known genetic mutation causing the rare, early-onset form of Alzheimer’s are needed for the six-year, $16 million study being funded by the U.S. National... Read more
A Third of Medicare Clients Unfamiliar With Benefits
How well a person on Medicare understands the program’s benefits affects their access to health care, a new study says. The report, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, found that a third of the surveyed Medicare beneficiaries from across the United States considered themselves as being unfamiliar or very unfamiliar with their program’s benefits. The lack of understanding... Read more
Costly heart pumps extend lives for some: study
Heart pumps can buy time for people with failing hearts in need of a transplant but implanting heart-assist devices in the elderly as a substitute for a heart transplant benefits only some — and at a high financial cost, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. They said about half of people 65 and older who got the devices between 2000 and 2006 under Medicare, the U.S. health insurance program for... Read more
Home interventions benefit older cancer survivors
A home-based diet and exercise program may improve physical functioning in elderly, long-term cancer survivors, results of a controlled study indicate. “Today, two thirds of individuals diagnosed with cancer survive their cancer,” Dr. Wendy Demark-Wahnefried noted a conference sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research. “That’s good news. However, the dark side... Read more