A Mayo Clinic study has found that women experience brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease up to 20 times faster than men, attributing this to an imbalanced presence of alpha-synuclein (α-synuclein), a protein also linked to Parkinson's disease. In an article published in JAMA, researchers did not observe this pattern in men when the same factors were considered. According to the study, this interaction could help explain why women account for the majority of Alzheimer's cases—between 60% and 70%—in countries like the United States, a trend also observed in Spain and South Korea, among others, and influenced by variables such as life expectancy, hormonal factors, and social influences.

Exposure to high levels of air pollution increases the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to a study from Emory University in the United States. After analyzing the medical records of nearly 30 million people over the age of 65 from 2000 to 2018, researchers concluded that exposure to high levels of environmental pollution is directly associated with a greater likelihood of developing this dementia. The link established by this study holds true regardless of whether people suffer from other chronic illnesses—such as hypertension—although they observed that having had a stroke also makes one more vulnerable to the impact of pollution. The results, which They are published in the open access journal PLOS Medicine, They highlight that interventions to improve air quality in municipalities could contribute to the prevention of dementia and protect the overall health of the population.

A new step forward in the fight against Alzheimer's. A drop of dried blood obtained with a simple finger prick, like the ones people with diabetes use to measure their glucose, could be used to detect key markers of this disease. This is described in a study conducted by the ACE Alzheimer's Research Center in Barcelona and the Carlos III Health Institute in Madrid, published this Monday in the journal Nature Medicine. The research is progressing with a method – blood extraction – that has long been studied to predict the disease. It is now especially relevant that the detection could be done by the patient simply and quickly.

One in ten people over 70 suffers from dementia due to Alzheimer's disease, but there is also 10% of the population over seventy who suffer from the disease, although they have not yet experienced any symptoms. This is the conclusion of a pioneering study conducted with more than 11,000 blood samples from Norwegian citizens and published this Wednesday in the journal NatureTo assess the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease, an international team of researchers used a database and biological samples from 250,000 Norwegians at the University of Trøndelag (HUNT). From these, they used blood samples from 11,486 people aged 58 and older and analyzed the levels of Tau, the protein responsible for the internal structure of neurons and the proper transmission of molecules. This marker serves as an indicator of amyloid plaques in the brain, a substance that accumulates in large quantities and is considered an unequivocal sign of Alzheimer's. In addition to these analyses, the researchers administered cognitive tests to participants over 70 years of age to compare Tau levels with the presence of dementia. The results of this research showed that approximately 10% of the participants over 70 years of age had Alzheimer's disease and exhibited both symptoms of cognitive decline and elevated Tau levels. Another 10% had elevated Tau levels and showed mild cognitive impairment. Finally, one in ten participants over 70 years of age had high Tau levels but, instead, did not experience symptoms of cognitive decline, a condition known as preclinical Alzheimer's.

The arrival of immunotherapy in hospitals, the birth of gene editing and walking devices, the first drugs against Alzheimer's and injections for weight loss... It's difficult to look back and choose just a few milestones that demonstrate how, in the last fifteen years, medicine has funneled through countless advancements. Since 2010, tens of millions of medical articles have been published in high-impact journals, and as you read these lines, scientists and laboratories are not slowing down. Since its first issues, the ARA has reported on and delved into many of these achievements, and has not been oblivious to the ethical and economic challenges that health research has faced. Nor has it been unaware of the profound crisis of confidence that some disciplines have experienced in the last five years.

Science has long since proven that Staying physically active as you age significantly reduces the risk of developing dementia.It doesn't have to be a specific exercise: even a little walking helps strengthen the brain. Now, researchers in the United States have gone further and estimated that taking more than 5,000 steps a day can slow cognitive decline in people with preclinical Alzheimer's—that is, before the dysfunction and irreversible loss of neurons that appear once the first symptoms of the disease manifest have begun. Researchers at Mass General Brigham, a network of hospitals based in Boston, followed approximately 300 people for 14 years. These individuals had no symptoms of the disease but had an accumulation in their brains of two key proteins in the development of Alzheimer's. These proteins are called tau and beta-amyloid, and their accumulation in the brain is considered an unmistakable sign of the disease long before symptoms begin. Therefore, the authors conclude that all participants had preclinical Alzheimer's. According to the findings, published this Monday in the journal Nature MedicineExercising every day, such as walking, would slow the accumulation of the tabla protein and, therefore, the progression of the disease. This is one of the first studies to delve into the relationship between different levels of physical activity and these key proteins in Alzheimer's disease. Starting from the premise that a sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor for the onset of the disease, the study's authors have determined that even very moderate physical activity, such as walking between 3,000 and 5,000 steps a day, is associated with slower cognitive decline. However, according to the research findings, the benefits are greater and stabilize with physical activity that includes between 5,000 and 7,000 steps. For a simple example, this would be equivalent to walking the stretch between Passeig de Gràcia and the Sagrada Família, about 4 kilometers.

"I'm not well, doctor. I think I have depression or, worse, early-onset dementia," I terrified my family doctor. "I feel deeply sad, I want to cry, I'm in a very bad mood and irritable, and I call my daughters for no reason. At work, I can't concentrate. I'm even starting to have major memory lapses," I confessed through a flood of tears.

An injection of nanoparticles can reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer's in mice genetically engineered to suffer cognitive decline similar to that caused by this dementia, which affects some 33 million people worldwide.

When I began working in the field of virology two decades ago, searching for antiviral treatments, I never imagined that the knowledge accumulated in our field would contribute years later to the design of new therapies for Alzheimer's. However, in recent years, there has been growing interest in laboratories around the world, including our own, IrsiCaixa, in understanding the role that viruses play in the neurocognitive degeneration process linked to this type of dementia. These studies are now beginning to yield astonishing results.

Researchers at the prestigious Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York have developed the most comprehensive map of brain tissue proteins that may be associated with Alzheimer's disease. After examining how more than 12,000 protein molecules—which are a kind of nanorobot natural system that builds, repairs, and regulates vital processes within the brain, have identified up to 300 that experience communication failures and that could be linked to this neurodegeneration. These hundreds of proteins had barely been studied in the context of dementia, and among them stands out one alteration that researchers now want to understand in depth to find out if it could be one of the origins of the disease. If confirmed, they say, a window of research could open in the future that allows this type of error to be transformed into new therapeutic targets.

"In the next five years, the way we treat Alzheimer's disease could change completely. We must be cautious, yes, but we are also optimistic," says Juan Fortea, director of the memory unit of the neurology department at the Hospital de la Santa Cruz y Sant Pau. In the last three decades, the prognosis for patients has hardly improved, but significant advances have been made that now open the door to a period of hope for patients and their families. The arrival of the first treatments that slow the progression of symptoms and the effectiveness of new diagnostic tests, which with a simple blood test allow us to anticipate the onset and course of the disease, lay the foundations for a revolution against Alzheimer's. Now, an international group of 40 experts, including the Catalan researcher, have warned in a publication in The Lancet that these improvements must be accompanied by urgent changes to unlock their full potential and achieve a real paradigm shift in the fight against the disease.

This Sunday, downtown Barcelona is preparing to host one of the city's most popular annual sporting competitions: the Carrera de la Merced Bimbo Global Race. Professional and amateur runners will participate in a unique 10-kilometer route, starting on Carrer Aragó, passing Passeig Sant Joan and Avinguda Paral·lel, and finishing in Plaça Catalunya. All proceeds from this year's registrations will go to the Fundació Alzheimer Catalunya.

The first tool that allows predicting the progression of mild cognitive impairment toward Alzheimer's dementia is here, and it has a Catalan stamp. It is a biomarker (a biological molecule that can be identified and quantified) in blood discovered and developed by the company ADmit Therapeutics, with Bellvitge Hospital as the clinical coordinating center. Unlike other blood tests recently developed by international teams, which serve to confirm the presence of the disease, the new MAP-AD test has focused on patient prognosis and provides decisive clinical information on the future evolution of each case. "Having a reliable tool that anticipates progression will allow us to improve the information given to families and better guide interventions," highlights Dr. Jordi Gascón, coordinator of the trial published this Friday in the journal iScience.

The connection between the digestive system and the brain is more important than previously thought. This was confirmed by a macro-study by the Center for Alzheimer's and Other Dementia Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published this Wednesday in the scientific journal Science Advances. The research led by Spanish scientist Sara Bandrés-Ciga, director of the neurogenetics department at the Center for Alzheimer's Research, also concludes that the likelihood of developing neurodegenerative diseases can double in people who suffer from persistent intestinal disorders.

Inflammation is in fashion. Or more than inflammation, anti-inflammation. The networks are full ofinfluencers and tips to reduce inflammation: diets, supplements, shakes, anti-inflammatory foods. But what exactly does it mean to be inflamed? What impact does it have on our health? Is it really that bad?

A study from Harvard Medical School has found that the loss of lithium, a metallic chemical element, could be one of the first changes that lead to Alzheimer's. According to the finding, the brain naturally produces this metal, which serves to protect it from neurodegeneration. The findings, published in the journal Nature, that The results, which took ten years to obtain, are based on a series of experiments with mice, analyses of human brain tissue, and blood samples from people at various stages of cognitive health. However, the authors caution that the experiment is still in a preliminary phase and may not be applicable to humans.

At least one in six cases of Alzheimer's disease has genetic causes. Specifically, those with two copies of a gene called APOE4 have a greater than 95% chance of developing the signs of this dementia between the ages of 60 and 65. Now, researchers at the Sant Pau Research Institute have discovered in a study that these individuals have a key alteration that could explain why they have such a high risk of developing the disease: their neurons do not properly absorb cholesterol, which is very important for the maintenance and function of our brains. For the Catalan researchers, these conclusions, published in the journal Journal of Lipid Research This Wednesday, they open new avenues for intervention in the treatment of this disease.

Yet another twist in the fight against Alzheimer's in Europe. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has reversed its decision and recommended authorizing the marketing of Kisunla, a drug containing a protein called donanemab that slows the progression of the neurodegenerative disease in its early stages. reject your authorization Four months ago, the European regulator's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use now believes the drug from the US company Eli Lilly has proven beneficial for a specific type of patient and recommends it for people with one or no copies of a gene called APOE4. This excludes those affected who have two copies of this gene.

The scientific community has long since established a place for blood tests in the diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer's. This is especially true for the progression of this neurodegenerative disease, even in its earliest stages, when symptoms are not yet evident. Neurology Unraveling this new mechanism, which reinforces the role of blood tests in the future of dementia diagnosis and monitoring. Neurologist and researcher from the Dementia Neurobiology Group at San Pablo University, Ignacio Illán, who led the research, highlights the potential of this marker as a clinical tool. "Not only does it accurately identify Alzheimer's disease, but it also allows us to estimate its rate of progression, a key aspect for making therapeutic decisions," he says.

The stress caused by traumatic events, such as the loss of a partner or financial problems, triggers changes in the brain that are linked to Alzheimer's, according to a study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a center supported by the La Caixa Foundation, and the Barcelona Beta Brain Research Center (BBRC), affiliated with the Pasqua Foundation. The results, published in the journal Neurology, suggest that grieving for the loss of a partner, having a low educational level, and being unemployed are factors that increase the risk of suffering from alterations associated with this disease. However, the researchers emphasize that there are differences in the brain's response to stressful life events depending on whether the affected person is male or female.