A prominent problem in AIDS is a form of dementia that robs one’s ability to concentrate and perform normal movements. Scientists at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have discovered how HIV/AIDS disrupts the normal replication of stem cells in the adult brain, preventing new nerve cells from forming.

Mayo Clinic researchers also are working to prevent additional damage from occurring and to repair existing lesions in people who already have symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Statins are not all equal when it comes to their potential to guard against dementia, according to a study published in the online open access journal BMC Medicine. Statins are cholesterol-lowering drugs used by those with heart disease. The new findings suggest that simvastatin is associated with a lower incidence of dementia and Parkinson’s disease.

Lesions commonly seen on MRI in the brains of older patients may be a sign of potentially more extensive injury to the brain tissue, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, NC.

How often old people read a newspaper, play chess, or engage in other mentally stimulating activities is related to risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published June 27, 2007, in the online edition of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The Australian Synchrotron experiment will play a pivotal role in helping scientists from Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute and St Vincent's Institute to analyse how recently identified compounds, which improve memory in rats, interact with the protein, called insulin-regulated aminopeptidase (IRAP).

More than 26 million people worldwide were estimated to be living with Alzheimer's disease in 2006, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

University of Leeds scientists have shown how stroke victims could be more vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease - years or even decades after making a full recovery.

A new study shows that use of antipsychotic drugs is associated with an early and sustained increase in risk of death when used to treat disruptive behavior of older adults with dementia.

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are challenging current thinking on the causes and prevention of Alzheimer's disease, offering a new hypothesis that could be the key to preventing this form of dementia.

A simple personality test could help doctors detect dementia with Lewy bodies, a form of dementia often confused with Alzheimer's disease, sooner, according to a study published in the May 29, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Mayo Clinic researchers and a group of international collaborators have discovered a correlation between an extreme form of sleep disorder and eventual onset of parkinsonism or dementia. The findings appear in the current issue of the journal Brain http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/.