Elderly persons with essential tremor (ET) are almost twice as likely to have dementia as those without ET, according to a new study from Elan Louis, MD, professor of neurology, and colleagues at Columbia University in New York. More »

The assessment and treatment of psychiatric symptoms in persons with cognitive dysfunction are becoming increasingly important. Prevalence estimates of dementia in the United States range from 5% in those aged 71 to 79 years to 25% to 50% in those 90 or older. More »

MRI measures of regional brain atrophy, taken at the University of California, San Diego, have established the basis for a new way to diagnose Alzheimer's disease. More »

Mortality in elderly patients with dementia markedly and progressively increases with extended use of antipsychotics, according to the first long-term controlled study of risk in this population. Earlier evidence of this risk was from short-term trials not exceeding 14 weeks. More »

MRI measures of regional brain atrophy, taken at the University of California, San Diego, have established the basis for a new way to diagnose Alzheimer's disease. More »

Fluorine-18 Pittsburgh Compound B, an imaging agent that could facilitate the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, has been used to identify amyloid deposition in the brains of cognitively normal adults. More »

A discovery about the brain protein KIBRA, commonly found in the kidneys and brain, could lead to future treatments for Alzheimer disease (AD). Investigators at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), lead by Corneveaux and Liang, in Phoenix found that the risk for AD is 25% lower in persons who carry the memory-enhancing KIBRA gene.1 This fi nding indicates that there might be a link between KIBRA and some of the proteins with which it interacts. More »

The use of antipsychotics to quiet agitated older adults with dementia has come under increasing fire. After a Canadian study demonstrated an increased risk of adverse events or death with these agents,1 the FDA expanded its earlier warning to physicians. More »

Results from a preliminary PET imaging study suggest that 80% of elderly people with mild cognitive impairment and evidence of beta-amyloid plaque in their brains will develop Alzheimer's disease. More »

The era of postautopsy confirmation of Alzheimer’s disease may be coming to an end. MR imaging could spot signs of brain deterioration predictive of cognitive decline months, even years, before the onset of dementia, according to recent studies performed in Canada, Europe, and the U.S. More »