One pathologic process occurring in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients is nerve cell damage caused by strong overstimulation of the cell. This is one factor among others eventually leading to the death of the nerve cell. A research team headed by Amalia Dolga, PhD, of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, showed in animal experiments that giving a drug called Lovastatin could prevent the death of nerve cells under these conditions. The statins not only prevented cells from dying but also prevented the loss of memory capacity that normally occurs after such cell death. Lovastatin is a statin which is usually used to reduce high blood cholesterol levels, a state considered to be a risk factor for stroke and Alzheimer’s disease.

According to a recently published study by scientists from the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) at the University of South Florida and their colleagues from other research centers in the US and at the Saitama Medical University in Japan, caffeine might become a future treatment option in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers gave mice that were genetically changed to show symptoms of Alzheimer’s a caffeine dosage equivalent to 5 cups of coffee a day which lead to a reduction of memory impairment and diminished accumulation of amyloid beta protein in the brain of the mice. When the mice reached the age of 18 to 19 months they were divided into two groups, one which received a daily dose of 500 mg caffeine added to their drinking water, and another received only plain drinking water. After two months, the mice of the caffeine group showed better results in memory and thinking tests than the non-caffeine group and even performed as well as mice without dementia. In addition, when examining the brains of the mice, the caffeine group had nearly 50 per cent less beta-amyloid. The researchers are now working on getting funding to replicate these findings in well designed clinical trials for humans.

Inflammation is a normal immunologic response of the human body to infections, foreign bodies or cell death. Two studies published by William A. Banks, M.D., professor of geriatrics and pharmacological and physiological science at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, suggest that an ongoing inflammatory process interferes with a normal function of the blood-brain barrier. This is a network of cells that regulates the exchange of substances between the brain and the blood. The so-called LRP pump is a transporter that forms part of this system and is responsible for the regular removal of the amyloid beta protein, which pathologically accumulates in the brain in Alzheimer’s disease. According to the research of Dr. Banks, inflammation leads to a blockage of the LRP pump in mice which results in an increased deposition of amyloid protein in the brain, accompanied by cognitive impairment as observed in Alzheimer’s patients. Furthermore, the study showed that treatment with indometacin, an anti-inflammatory drug usually used for e.g. headaches or back pain, prevented inflammation and thus the malfunction of the LRP pump. These findings go hand in hand with clinical practice, where the use of indomethacin has been associated with protection against Alzheimer’s.

Vitamin D3, a special form of Vitamin D may both alone and together with a synthetic version of curcumin, a turmeric spice, be able to help the immune system clear the brain of amyloid beta. This amyloid forms the plaques that are thought to play a significant role in developing Alzheimer’s disease. Especially Alzheimer’s patients who usually spend a lot of time indoors may suffer from a lack of vitamin D3 as it is synthesized through the skin only in the presence of sunlight. Using blood samples from nine Alzheimer’s disease patients, one patient with mild cognitive impairment and three healthy control subjects, researchers found that curcuminoids enhanced the surface binding of amyloid beta to immune cells and that vitamin D strongly stimulated the uptake and absorption of amyloid beta in those cells in a majority of patients. Therefore, UCLA scientists and colleagues from UC Riverside and the Human BioMolecular Research Institute who conducted the research, hope that vitamin D3 and curcumin may offer new preventive and treatment options in the future. The researchers added that no effective dosage could be recommended so far. To investigate this, larger studies on vitamin D and curcumin with more patients are planned.

Scientists have found that harmful tangles of proteins that cause diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease can be transmitted from one brain to another, spreading and causing damage after being injected into the brains of mice. The researchers stressed, however, that Alzheimer’s disease was not contagious and said it could not be caught, for example, through blood transfusions.
Alzheimer’s disease and similar neurodegenerative diseases can be caused by the build-up in the brain of tangled masses of a type of protein called tau. They destroy brain function and, when they damage large amounts of tissue, can lead to dementia.

Researchers from the University of Aberdeen report that the drug memantine, used for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and praised as "the first and only representative of a new class of Alzheimer drugs" works in fact similar to other existing compounds, and is beneficial only in a narrow concentration range. They further indicate that the complex pharmacological profile of memantine requires careful consideration concerning suitable doses and suitable patient groups, so that the best use can be achieved for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

By the end of 2008, Clariness launched ClinLife, its Internet patient portal, in 8 further countries. It is now available in a total of 14 countries across Europe and North America.

In 2008, ClinLife exceeded the 1 million visitors mark in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. 50,000 subjects have registered with the ClinLife clinical trial database and generated more than 15.000 referrals to investigator sites.

Inevitable expansion across Europe:

"Due to the very successful patient recruitment with ClinLife in Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Austria, our customers encouraged us to expand our services to further countries. It was just a matter of time until ClinLife became paneuropean, and this we achieved by the end of 2008. Clinical studies are carried out globally and we want to support our customers in all important regions. The initial results have exceeded our expectations by far." explains Michael Stadler, Managing Director of Clariness Holding AG.

Impressive results in the new European countries:

Shortly after starting in the new European countries, the success of ClinLife became clear. In the first two months, Poland had as many registrations as the well established portals in Germany and the UK. Also France, Holland and Spain have produced impressive results, proving that ClinLife is a highly successful method to recruit patients. One of the most encouraging aspects is that the cost of recruiting a patient via ClinLife is significantly lower than the cost of traditional newspaper advertising.

ClinLife now available in the U.S. and Canada:

The motivation to expand to North America was initiated by existing customers, for which Clariness had successfully recruited patients in Europe. Within a few months, these customers realized that the European investigators had achieved a tremendous recruitment advantage through ClinLife and wanted to leverage this system abroad. By moving into North America, Clariness more than doubles it´s patient access potential.

In cooperation with international pharmaceutical and biotech companies, as well as medical device manufacturers, more than 500 trials in 40 different therapeutic areas have been supported by Clariness and published on ClinLife.

The benefits of strategically planned and centrally organized patient recruitment results in a faster and successfully completed study.

For millions of Americans, including thousands of Iraq War veterans, ringing in the ears is a condition that is annoying at best and disabling at worst.

Now, a researcher says he hopes to find a cure in a very unusual place -- a fish.

Ernest Moore, an audiologist and cell biologist at Northwestern University, said the zebrafish seems to have the ability to suffer from the condition, known as tinnitus. Treatment with drugs appears to help restore electrical activity in the fish's inner ear to normal.

"If they work in clinical trials in humans, this might offer a cure," Moore said. "What we're hoping is that we could perhaps help individuals who have this intractable problem."

Audiologists are arguably the most qualified of all health care professionals to offer clinical services for tinnitus. Yet many audiologists lack a high level of training in appropriate interventions, leaving them wondering how to most effectively treat "tinnitus patients."

Audiologic tinnitus management (ATM) was first described as a detailed and comprehensive protocol in 2005 (Henry et al., 2005a, b). The ATM methodology has since undergone further development and includes a more detailed education protocol to assist patients in learning self-management for tinnitus. In addition, the methodology was integrated into a hierarchical program so that clinical intervention occurs only to the degree necessary. The expanded and updated method, referred to as progressive ATM (PATM), is a sound-based method. It is distinguished from other sound-based methods (specifically, tinnitus masking, tinnitus retraining therapy, and Neuromonics tinnitus treatment) because the protocol is adaptive to meet each patient's unique needs.

A new study suggests that people with high blood pressure are not as likely to suffer from migraine headaches.
Researchers analyzed the blood pressure, as well as the frequency of headaches and the history of taking blood-pressure medication, of more than 51,000 Norwegians. They found that those with high blood pressure were as much as 40 per cent less likely to get headaches or migraines.

The study concludes that people with high blood pressure have stiff arteries, and it may be that they protect against migraines by affecting a part of the brain known as the baroreflex arch.
"The baroreflex arch helps maintain blood pressure, but when it is affected, it can cause hypoalgesia, a condition that makes a person less sensitive to pain," study author Dr. Erling Tronvik, of the Norwegian National Headache Centre at Trondheim University Hospital in Norway, said in a statement.

According to Tronvik, the findings support earlier studies that have linked increasing blood pressure to decreasing chronic pain throughout the body.

Patent Foramen Ovale is a defect in the atrial septum, the wall between the two upper chambers of the heart. The foramen ovale is a flap or tunnel shaped hole in the atrial septum during fetal development that allows blood to travel through the heart without going to the lungs. This small flap-like opening normally closes shortly after birth as the pressure from the baby's heart pushes the flap to the septal wall. If this opening does not close shortly after birth, a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) results.
A PFO occurs in about 1/4th of the population and can allow blood clots to move through blood vessels in the body.
It is thought that small blood clots (micro embolisms) may trigger migraine attacks.

Retrospective research has shown that some people who have had PFO closure for health reasons other than migraines have reported a reduction in frequency and severity of migraine attacks.
For this reason, further knowledge on the relationship between PFO and migraine is being sought.

Depression is associated with many physical conditions.
The most commonly implicated conditions are those that involve either inflammation or chronic pain.

In a recent analysis of data from the CCHS 1.2, Dr. Nathalie Jette has demonstrated the strong link between migraine and major depression. She has also shown that the association is not specific for major depression. An association was observed also for bipolar disorder, panic disorder and social phobia.

"In addition, having migraine and a psychiatric condition is associated with worsened health-related outcomes (disability, quality of life, restriction of activities)," Dr. Nathalie Jette from University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada told Reuters Health.
Jette and colleagues sought to determine the prevalence of various psychiatric conditions in association with migraine and to describe the pattern of association of this "comorbidity" with a variety of health-related outcomes.
They report in the journal Headache that study subjects with migraine had a higher lifetime and 12-month prevalence of major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, and social phobia, relative to migraine-free study subjects.

The association between migraine and psychiatric disorders did not differ significantly according to gender, age, place of residence, or level of education.

The researchers also found that having migraine and any mental health disorder increased the chance that patients would have 2-week disability, restriction of activities, poorer quality-of-life, or mental health care use.

Jette said: "Assessing individuals with migraine for coexisting psychiatric conditions is very important to adequately manage this patient population and to guide public health policies regarding health services utilization and healthcare costs."
"Not recognizing psychiatric comorbidities in migraine could result in an increased burden to the patient, their families, and society," she warned.
"We strongly believe that patients with migraine and a psychiatric comorbidity such as anxiety and/or depression are best treated as part of a multidisciplinary program and that medications alone are often not sufficient to address these comorbid conditions," Jette added.
"The treatment of migraine is complex and requires significant time and effort on the part of both the patient and the physician," she concluded. "More specialized programs are often needed to treat those with refractory or difficult migraine, including in particular those with psychiatric comorbidity."

Migraine headaches are definitely troublesome, even debilitating at times.

Recent research in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention suggests that in some women, migraine headaches may actually be beneficial.
Researchers looked at two studies involving over 3,000 women who developed breast cancer and discovered that women with a history of migraine headaches were 30% less likely to develop hormonally-receptive breast cancers.

Greater exposure to estrogen increases one's risk of developing breast cancer, and lower levels of estrogen often lead to more migraine headaches. Therefore, women with migraines have lower levels of estrogen and lower risk of breast cancer.

Nothing has been proven for sure, but researchers are calling for more investigation.
One limitation of this research is that the women involved in the two breast cancer studies were all past menopause.
It is unclear how migraines and premenopausal breast cancer may be related, but for now it's interesting to note that a troublesome condition may not be all bad.

Teva Neuroscience Canada announced today the launch of FROVA(R) (frovatriptan succinate tablets), a unique treatment for patients suffering from migraines. The single strength 2.5 mg tablets are now available by prescription in pharmacies throughout Canada. This is important news for those suffering from migraines who are not receivingeffective therapy at the current time.

FROVA is indicated for the acute treatment of migraine attacks with or without aura in adults. "The launch of FROVA in Canada is further proof of Teva Neuroscience's commitment to patients suffering from neurology disorders", announced Dr. Jean Godin, General Manager, Teva NeuroscienceCanada. "While there are other treatments currently available for patients with migraines, our research shows that many patients are not satisfied with the relief or tolerability offered by the current medications. FROVA has a unique profile that may benefit many patients."

Dr. Marek Gawel, a neurologist at Sunnybrook Health Science Center as well as Women's College that specializes in treating patients with migraines, was involved in various clinical trials for the drug. "In clinical trials we have found that the drug offers some unique advantages not found in other triptans. FROVA provides lasting relief for migraines.

A daily aspirin can control pre-hypertension, but only if it is taken at bedtime, a Spanish study shows.

Almost one in three adult Americans has high blood pressure. Nearly one-third of those who have it don't know it, the American Heart Association reports.

Researchers have long known that type-2 diabetes and depression often go hand in hand. However, it's been unclear which condition develops first in patients who end up with both. Now, a new study led by Johns Hopkins doctors suggests that this chicken-and-egg problem has a dual answer: Patients with depression have an increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes, and patients with type-2 diabetes have an increased risk of developing depression.

People whose blood shows signs of inflammation are more likely to later develop Alzheimer’s disease than people with no signs of inflammation, according to a study published in the May 29, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Older men who receive testosterone replacement therapy because of low testosterone are no more likely to get prostate cancer than similarly aged men not receiving testosterone, a new study found.

New research suggests that the form of tomato product one eats could be the key to unlocking its prostate cancer-fighting potential. "Processing of many edible plants through heating, grinding, mixing or drying dramatically increases their nutrition value, including their cancer prevention potential. It appears that the greatest protective effect from tomatoes comes by rehydrating tomato powder into tomato paste," said Valeri V. Mossine, Ph.D., research assistant professor of biochemistry at the University of Missouri.