Tag Archives: Brain Health

Memory Research: Ability To Forget Is Crucial To How The Brain Works

From a Nature.com online article:

Nature Outlook The Brain“What is memory without forgetting?” asks Oliver Hardt, a cognitive psychologist studying the neurobiology of memory at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. “It’s impossible,” he says. “To have proper memory function, you have to have forgetting.”

A growing body of work, cultivated in the past decade, suggests that the loss of memories is not a passive process. Rather, forgetting seems to be an active mechanism that is constantly at work in the brain. In some — perhaps even all — animals, the brain’s standard state is not to remember, but to forget. And a better understanding of that state could lead to breakthroughs in treatments for conditions such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and even Alzheimer’s disease.

To read more click on the following link: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02211-5

Brain Health Research: Controlling Blood Pressure Reduces Age-Related Cognitive Loss

From a National Institute on Aging news release:

Blood Pressure link to white matter lesions“These initial results support a growing body of evidence suggesting that controlling blood pressure may not only reduce the risk of stroke and heart disease but also of age-related cognitive loss,” said Walter J. Koroshetz, M.D., director of the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). “I strongly urge people to know your blood pressure and discuss with your doctors how to optimize control. It may be a key to your future brain health.”

In a nationwide study, researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of hundreds of participants in the National Institutes of Health’s Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) and found that intensively controlling a person’s blood pressure was more effective at slowing the accumulation of white matter lesions than standard treatment of high blood pressure. The results complement a previous study published by the same research group which showed that intensive treatment significantly lowered the chances that participants developed mild cognitive impairment.

To read more click on following link: https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/intensive-blood-pressure-control-may-slow-age-related-brain-damage

Brain Health Research: Risk Of Dementia Can Increase With Low & High Levels Of Hemoglobin

From a Neurology.org online Journal article:

Neurology JournalLow and high levels of hemoglobin are associated with an increased risk of dementia, including AD, which may relate to differences in white matter integrity and cerebral perfusion.

Objective: To determine the long-term association of hemoglobin levels and anemia with risk of dementia, and explore underlying substrates on brain MRI in the general population.
Methods: Serum hemoglobin was measured in 12,305 participants without dementia of the populationbased Rotterdam Study (mean age 64.6 years, 57.7% women). We determined risk of dementia and Alzheimer disease (AD) (until 2016) in relation to hemoglobin and anemia. Among 5,267 participants without dementia with brain MRI, we assessed hemoglobin in relation to vascular brain disease, structural connectivity, and global cerebral perfusion.

To read more click on following link: https://n.neurology.org/content/neurology/early/2019/07/31/WNL.0000000000008003.full.pdf

Health Issues: Seizures and Blood Pressure Swings Complicate a Medical Diagnosis

“Seizures are not uncommon in the elderly. Nearly a quarter of those who have a first seizure are over 65. Most are caused by a stroke or a mass; traumatic head injuries can cause them. So can abnormalities in blood chemistry. In the emergency room, the man had no sign of any of these, despite a thorough exam and extensive testing and imaging.”

The patient had both neurological and psychiatric symptom, which complicated a speedy diagnosis. A “new group of disorders” involving the “immune system wrongly attacking the brain” was a final diagnosis. Read the NY Times Magazine article in the link below to learn more: