Early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease could save millions or even billions of dollars while simultaneously improving care, according to new work by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.

Modern societies face the increasing burden of age-related diseases, in particular Alzheimer's disease and type 2 diabetes. There is some evidence that the causes underlying both diseases are linked. Do Alzheimer's disease and type 2 diabetes represent the endpoint of aged, exhausted, and dysfunctional cells having reached their maximal life expectancy.

Of dozens of candidates potentially involved in increasing a person's risk for the most common type of Alzheimer's disease that affects more than 5 million Americans over the age of 65, one gene that keeps grabbing Johns Hopkins researchers' attention makes a protein called neuroglobin.

Even very early in Alzheimer's disease, people become less efficient at separating important from less important information, a new study concerning Alzheimer's disease has found.

In a new study, published in the May issue of Elsevier's Experimental Neurology, scientists at the University of British Columbia have discovered that drugs commonly used to treat ulcers have significant neuroprotective properties, which appear to be enhanced when used in combination with ibuprofen, a widely used anti-inflammatory drug.

A test developed by physician-scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis may help assess more quickly the ability of Alzheimer's drugs to affect one of the possible underlying causes of Alzheimer's disease in humans, accelerating the development of new treatments.

A recent study by Mount Sinai faculty suggests that a gene associated with onset of type-2 diabetes also decreases in Alzheimer's disease dementia cases.

Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have demonstrated that attacks on the mitochondrial protein Drp1 by the free radical nitric oxide—which causes a chemical reaction called S-nitrosylation—mediates neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have linked a potential indicator of Alzheimer's disease to brain damage in humans with no signs of mental impairment.

Using special MRI methods, researchers have identified a pattern of regional brain atrophy in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) that indicates a greater likelihood of progression to Alzheimer's disease. The findings are published in the online edition of Radiology.

Diabetics have a significantly greater risk of dementia, both Alzheimer's disease — the most common form of dementia — and other dementia, reveals important new data from an ongoing study of twins. The risk of dementia is especially strong if the onset of diabetes occurs in middle age, according to the study.

Will scientists one day be able to slow the aging of the brain and prevent diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's? Absolutely – once the genetic coding associated with neuronal degeneration has been unraveled.