Contributed by Craig Stark, PhD Researchers from the UK have just released a report showing how we can extract valuable cognitive data out of video game performance. Using the mobile game Sea Hero Quest, which relies heavily on spatial memory and navigation, the researchers were able to discriminate healthy aging from those at-risk for Alzheimer's. By using games that are fun and engaging, but are designed to tap into specific brain processes, we can usher in a new era of diagnosis. Research in my lab here at UCI is further looking at whether playing certain kinds of video games can actually…
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Facebook Live Series - ASK THE DOC: Alzheimer's Research Today! This monthly series features short talks and Q&A with experts from the University of California, Irvine Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND), 1 of 32 congressionally designated Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers in the nation. Join UCI MIND on Facebook (@UCIrvineMIND) the first Friday of every month from 9:00-9:30 AM PST to learn about advances in research to improve Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Episode 4: "Are there any promising vaccines for Alzheimer's?" This month, we're joined by Elizabeth Head, PhD. Dr. Head earned a PhD in…
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Tune in this Friday, May 3 @ 9AM for the next episode of our monthly Facebook LIVE series, "Are there any promising vaccines for Alzheimer's?" This month, we're joined by Elizabeth Head, PhD. Dr. Head earned a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Toronto and completed postdoctoral training at UCI. She recently returned to UCI from the University of Kentucky and serves as Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Dr. Head has dedicated over 20 years and more than 150 publications to the field of aging and Alzheimer's disease research with a focus on individuals…
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UCI MIND, in partnership with UCI School of Biological Sciences and UCI Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, hosted the annual Distinguished Lecture on the Brain in March at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. Guest speaker Ronald C. Petersen, MD, PhD, Director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, delivered an insightful lecture on the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in the era of biomarkers to hundreds of audience members, both in-person and via livestream. The full lecture is available below and on our YouTube channel. Stay tuned for details on the 2020 Distinguished Lecture on the Brain.
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Contributed by Andrea J. Tenner, PhD Researchers at McGill University recently published results from a clinical trial of the common non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), naproxen, showing that it was ineffective at preventing Alzheimer's disease (AD) in cognitively unimpaired people with a family history. I am not surprised by this result, as naproxen is a nonselective inhibitor of inflammatory mediators. Dr. Breitner, the lead investigator on the manuscript, is an excellent physician scientist. The study authors indicated that the results do not rule out a benefit from mid-life anti-inflammatory drugs, and that the study turned out to have too few participants…
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The Atlantic - April 11, 2019. Kim Green, a neurobiologist at UC Irvine, notes mutant mice lacking microglia have broadly similar patterns of disorganization in their brains. These mice models essentially predicted what would happen in the human. He had just never expected to see a person without microglia. “It’s absolutely remarkable,” he says.
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