Home Tags Posts tagged with "brain lesions"

brain lesions

0

A new study suggests that keeping mentally active by reading books or writing letters helps protect the brain in old age.

A lifetime of mental challenges leads to slower cognitive decline after factoring out dementia’s impact on the brain, US researchers say.

The study, published in Neurology, adds weight to the idea that dementia onset can be delayed by lifestyle factors.

An Alzheimer’s charity said the best way to lower dementia risk was to eat a balanced diet, exercise and stay slim.

In a US study, 294 people over the age of 55 were given tests that measured memory and thinking, every year for about six years until their deaths.

Keeping mentally active by reading books or writing letters helps protect the brain in old age

Keeping mentally active by reading books or writing letters helps protect the brain in old age

They also answered a questionnaire about whether they read books, wrote letters and took part in other activities linked to mental stimulation during childhood, adolescence, middle age, and in later life.

After death, their brains were examined for evidence of the physical signs of dementia, such as brain lesions and plaques.

The study found that after factoring out the impact of those signs, those who had a record of keeping the brain busy had a rate of cognitive decline estimated at 15% slower than those who did not.

Dr. Robert Wilson, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who led the study, said the research suggested exercising the brain across a lifetime was important for brain health in old age.

He said: “The brain that we have in old age depends in part on what we habitually ask it to do in life.

“What you do during your lifetime has a great impact on the likelihood these age-related diseases are going to be expressed.”

0

According to doctors in the US and Canada, it may be possible to use a drug to prevent some of the lasting and crippling damage caused by a stroke.

A safety trial, published in the Lancet Neurology medical journal, suggested the chemical NA-1 was safe to use.

The study on 185 people also hinted that patients given the drug developed fewer regions of damaged brain tissue.

The Stroke Association said that it was promising, but needed more research.

Tests in primates had suggested NA-1 prevented brain cells dying when a stroke starved them of oxygen.

A small trial was set up at 14 hospitals in the US and Canada.

Patients who took part were having an operation to repair a brain aneurysm, a weakened blood vessel which could rupture, are at increased risk of a stroke.

Ninety-two people had the drug injected into a vein, while another 93 were injected with salty water.

The doctors concluded that NA-1 was safe, with only two patients having mild side effects.

However, brain scans also showed that fewer brain lesions, damaged areas of tissue, formed in patients given the drug.

The doctors involved said the study provided evidence that “neuroprotection is achievable” but said that “a larger trial is necessary to investigate the robustness of the effect”.

Prof. Markku Kaste, from Helsinki University Central Hospital, said: “Age is the greatest risk factor for stroke. Because of the global population ageing, the number and burden of strokes will increase.”

He said previous trials to use drugs to protect the brain had resulted in failure. His said this drug still need to be assessed in much larger clinical trials before its effectiveness was known.

The trial was funded by the biopharmaceutical companies NoNO and Arbor Vita.