An aspirin a day may slow brain decline in elderly women at high risk of cardiovascular disease, research finds.
Whether hearing loss is truly a cause of cognitive decline or merely a risk factor associated with the ageing brain, the decline of cognitive abilities into dementia is set to explode financial models of health and social care in Western societies and requires urgent attention.
In the 1970s, fears that whooping-cough vaccine might cause brain damage led to a decline in vaccine cover and an increase in outbreaks of the disease.
"In principle, if you can get the NGF into the brain successfully, this could offer a way of slowing down the decline of mental abilities in patients with Alzheimer's disease, " she said.
The researchers noted, however, that "the direction of causation is unclear, " meaning they couldn't tell if a healthier brain was a result of physical activity, or if people showing signs of cognitive decline weren't able to exercise.
WSJ: Exercise Might Beat Puzzles for Protecting the Aging Brain
For patients who already have some symptoms of cognitive decline, a positive scan suggests that moderate to frequent amyloid plaques are present in the brain, which is consistent with Alzheimer's disease.
It may be that loneliness may affect systems in the brain dealing with cognition and memory, making lonely people more vulnerable to effects of age-related decline in neural pathways, he suggested.
Especially confusing, says Gazzaley, is that key brain functions, like short-term memory, processing speed, and the capacity to multi-task, decline steadily as we age.
Questions remain about using deep-brain stimulation to treat dementia, including whether it would work for Alzheimer's patients and at what stage of decline, whether it is safe and how long the effect will last, said Dr. Salloway.
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