When Alzheimer’s begins in middle age, misdiagnosis may be more likely. This rare form of Alzheimer’s affects work, finances and family.
by Mayo Clinic

Early-onset Alzheimer’s is an uncommon form of dementia that strikes people younger than age 65. Glenn Smith, Ph.D., a neuropsychologist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., answers questions about this condition.

How common is early-onset Alzheimer’s?

Of all the people who have Alzheimer’s disease, only about 5 percent develop symptoms before age 65. So if 4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s, at least 200,000 people have the early-onset form of the disease. Early-onset Alzheimer’s has been known to develop between ages 30 and 40, but that’s very uncommon. It’s more common to see someone in his or her 50s who has the disease.

What causes it?

It often runs in families. Many people with early-onset Alzheimer’s have a parent or grandparent who also developed Alzheimer’s at a younger age. A significant proportion of early-onset Alzheimer’s is linked to three genes.

by Sharon Tanenbaum for Everyday Health

What did you do for Thanksgiving last year? Where did you go on your honeymoon? Starting at 100, count backward by seven. Remember the following three-word sequence: truck, cabin, spoon.

These are among the series of questions Derek Shepherd and Meredith Grey are asking of Alzheimer’s disease patients to determine whether they’re qualified for entry into a clinical trial on this season’s Grey’s Anatomy.

But if you’re sitting on the couch five minutes later struggling to remember the word “cabin,” should you worry about your own brain health? And just how accurate is such a test at gauging Alzheimer’s disease risk? Everyday Health asked leading memory experts for answers.

What the Grey’s Memory Tests Means

Sore point: Woman suffer pain more acutely than men, scientists discovered from a study using MRI brain scans

by Jenny Hope for The Daily Mail

The long-running battle of the sexes over who feels the most pain has been won. Sophisticated brain scans show that women have more intense responses to pain than men. The reaction from the stronger sex is concentrated in parts of the brain involved in pain avoidance, according to new research.

A study using MRI brain scanners found women process pain in the brain differently to men. Doctors were investigating gender differences in how the sexes respond to the pain of chronic conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome – which affects more women than men.

But the findings also shed light on the age-old debate about the sensitivity of the sexes.

by Alzheimer’s Reading Room

One in eight Americans will fall prey to Alzheimer’s disease at some point in their life, current statistics say. Because Alzheimer’s is associated with vascular damage in the brain, many of them will succumb through a painful and potentially fatal stroke.

Researchers led by Dr. Dan Frenkel of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Neurobiology at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences are working on a nasally-delivered 2-in-1 vaccine that promises to protect against both Alzheimer’s and stroke. The new vaccine repairs vascular damage in the brain by rounding up “troops” from the body’s own immune system.

In addition to its prophylactic effect, it can work even when Alzheimer’s symptoms are already present. The research on this new technology was recently accepted for publication in the journalNeurobiology of Aging.

by Jennifer Corbett Dooren for The Wall Street Journal

People with an immediate family history of Alzheimer’s disease are four to 10 times as likely to contract the condition. A new study now suggests the chances of getting Alzheimer’s are higher if your mother had it than if your father had it.

Jeffrey Burns, the director of the University of Kansas Medical Center’s Alzheimer’s and Memory Program, said the findings don’t mean that children of mothers with Alzheimer’s disease will develop the condition. “It’s not clear on an individual basis how much this risk applies,” he said.