http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—A team of sleep researchers led by UC Riverside psychologist Sara C. Mednick has confirmed the mechanism that enables the brain to consolidate memory and found that a commonly prescribed sleep aid enhances the process. Those discoveries could lead to new sleep therapies that will improve memory for aging adults and those with dementia, Alzheimer's and schizophrenia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-mechanism-critical-memory-ambien.html Neuroscience Tue, 12 Mar 2013 09:42:57 EST news282300163 Older adults who have suffered from aphasia for a long time can nevertheless improve their language function and maintain these improvements in the long term, according to a study by Dr. Ana Inés Ansaldo, PhD, a researcher at the Research Centre of the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (University Geriatrics Institute of Montreal) and a professor in the School of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at the Faculty of Medicine of Université de Montréal. The study was published in Brain and Language. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-intensive-aphasia-older-patients.html Neuroscience Wed, 09 Jan 2013 04:33:12 EST news276928315 People who study or treat Alzheimer's disease and its earliest clinical stage, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), have focused attention on the obvious short-term memory problems. But a new study suggests that people on the road to Alzheimer's may actually have problems early on in processing semantic or knowledge-based information, which could have much broader implications for how patients function in their lives. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-early-cognitive-problems-eventually-alzheimer.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Fri, 28 Dec 2012 11:06:02 EST news275915154 Over the past decade, scientists have learned that sleep is one of the best memory aids available, but Mark Gluck wants to take that research further. The Rutgers professor, an expert in cognitive and computational neuroscience, is seeking to answer important questions about the complex interactions between natural fluctuations in sleep and their influence on cognitive and emotional wellbeing.  http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-impact-cognitive-emotional-well-being.html Medical research Tue, 25 Sep 2012 07:30:13 EST news267777004 In research studies, scientists regularly use positron emission tomography (PET) scans to detect signs of Alzheimer's disease. Now, Washington University physicians at Barnes-Jewish Hospital are the first in Missouri to offer a new type of PET scan for patients with memory disorders and other forms of cognitive impairment who are not involved in research studies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-imaging-aids-alzheimer-diagnosis.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Thu, 23 Aug 2012 11:00:01 EST news264937351 A team led by investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine has found that the most common genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease disrupts brain function in healthy older women but has little impact on brain function in healthy, older men. Women harboring the gene variant, known to be a potent risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, show brain changes characteristic of the neurodegenerative disorder that can be observed before any outward symptoms manifest. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-alzheimer-gene-disrupts-brain-function.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Tue, 12 Jun 2012 17:00:18 EST news258721102 A national, phase II clinical trial examining the effects of resveratrol on individuals with mild to moderate dementia due to Alzheimer's disease has begun as more than two dozen academic institutions recruit volunteers in the coming months. R. Scott Turner, M.D., Ph.D., director of Georgetown University Medical Center's Memory Disorders Program, is the lead investigator for the national study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-georgetown-physician-national-resveratrol-alzheimer.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Mon, 14 May 2012 03:41:45 EST news256185692 (Medical Xpress) -- UCSF scientists have identified patterns of brain activity in the rat brain that play a role in the formation and recall of memories and decision-making. The discovery, which builds on the team's previous findings, offers a path for studying learning, decision-making and post-traumatic stress syndrome. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-rats-recall-daily-decisions.html Neuroscience Thu, 03 May 2012 14:30:01 EST news255273823 (Medical Xpress) -- During depression, the brain becomes less plastic and adaptable, and thus less able to perform certain tasks, like storing memories. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now traced the brain's lower plasticity to reduced functionality in its support cells, and believe that learning more about these cells can pave the way for radical new therapies for depression. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-discoveries-depression.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 28 Feb 2012 06:17:23 EST news249632223 Researchers at the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics have discovered an answer to the long-standing mystery of how brain cells can both remember new memories while also maintaining older ones. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-memory-formation-triggered-stem-cell.html Neuroscience Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:56:36 EST news249224191 Working memory, which consists in the short-term retention and processing of information, depends on specific regions of the brain working correctly. This faculty tends to deteriorate in patients with schizophrenia, as it does in healthy aged subjects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-memory-deficits-schizophrenic-patients-healthy.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:20:01 EST news249210260 Patients with Alzheimer's disease who are in the early stages of their illness will likely benefit most from vaccine therapies now being tested in a number of human clinical trials, say researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-alzheimer-vaccine-triggers-brain-inflammation.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:20:01 EST news240490902 Seeing and exploring both are necessary for stability in a person's episodic memory when taking in a new experience, say University of Oregon researchers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-personal-memory.html Neuroscience Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:28:06 EST news233245674 Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital's Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Center have found positive associations between fish oil supplements and cognitive functioning as well as differences in brain structure between users and non-users of fish oil supplements. The findings suggest possible benefits of fish oil supplements on brain health and aging. The results were reported at the recent International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease, in Paris, France. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-fish-oil-impact-cognition-brain.html Health Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:26:29 EST news232795564