MDNews - Mid Hudson

Hopeful Future A Neurologic Disorders Glimpses of a for People With CCORDING TO THE National Institutes of Health, more than 600 neurologic diseases have been identified, including Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and stroke. In this issue of MD News, we survey some of the most recent research findings that shed light on the development and treatment of these prominent neurologic disorders. NEUROLOGIC DISORDERS ARE A DEVASTATING AND DIVERSE GROUP OF DISEASES, BUT A HOST OF RECENT FINDINGS HAVE HELPED RESEARCHERS BETTER UNDERSTAND SOME OF THE MAJOR TYPES AND RAISE HOPES FOR A FUTURE IN WHICH DISORDERS OF THE BRAIN, SPINAL CORD AND NERVES NO LONGER ROB PEOPLE OF THEIR ABILITY TO PERFORM SOME OF LIFE’S MOST BASIC ACTIONS. Alzheimer’s Disease Gaining a better understanding of Alzheimer’s disease — particularly about why certain people develop it — is a critical issue facing medicine today, especially as the baby boomer generation ages. The Alzheimer’s Association reports that 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease today, while the number living with the disease is expected to jump to 16 million by 2050. The results of two recent studies may prove to have far-reaching consequences as medicine seeks to relieve the burden of Alzheimer’s disease. The results of a study published in Neurology in March 2011 further underscore increasing evidence that Alzheimer’s disease has a decidedly maternal connection. For two years, researchers followed 53 people age 60 and older who did not have dementia. The participants — 11 of whom had a mother with Alzheimer’s disease, 10 of whom had a father with the disease and the rest of whom had no family history of the disease — underwent brain scans and cognition exams during the study. Individuals whose mothers had Alzheimer’s disease experienced more gray matter shrinkage and whole brain contraction than those in the other groups, demonstrating that Alzheimer’s disease is more likely to be inherited from the mother. In June 2010, Neurologywas also the forum for the announcement of findings detailing the best tools to use to predict whether an individual with cognitive difficulties might one day be afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease. As part of the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, 85 people with mild cognitive impairment underwent an episodic memory test, MRI brain scans and PET brain scans. Twenty-eight of the participants ages 55 to 90 developed Alzheimer’s disease while being followed for an average of nearly two years. Researchers found that those whose PET scans and memory tests were abnormal stood a 12-times greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than people whose tests raised no red flags. 12 | Mid Hudson MD NEWS  MDNEWS.COM

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