FRIDAY, Sept. 12 (HealthDay News) -- People who eat a strict Mediterranean diet are at less risk of developing heart disease, cancer, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, Italian researchers report.

A so-called Mediterranean diet is rich in olive oil, grains, fruits, nuts, vegetables and fish, and includes a moderate amount of red wine but is low in meat, dairy products and other alcohol.

FRIDAY, Aug. 22 (HealthDay News) -- A new method of identifying protein structures related to Alzheimer's disease has been developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The research team says its computer-based technique could help in the development of drugs that could prevent the formation of such structures.

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by two kinds of proteins (amyloid and tau) that accumulate in the brain. In a study published in the Aug. 22 issue of PLoS Computational Biology, the MIT team focused on tau.

By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News) -- If you are single and in your 40s, it might be a healthy idea to get hitched.

A new Scandinavian study found unmarried middle-aged people are more likely to develop cognitive impairment than their partnered counterparts.

WEDNESDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News) -- People whose mothers have had Alzheimer's disease may be predisposed to the mind-robbing condition, a new study finds.

The link may be a dysfunction in how the brain handles sugar -- something that's probably genetic and starts years before symptoms of Alzheimer's appear, researchers say.

SUNDAY, July 27 (HealthDay News) -- The use of blood pressure drugs called angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) is associated with lower incidence and slower progression of Alzheimer's disease, researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine report.

Their analysis of U.S. government data revealed that patients taking ARBs were 35 percent to 40 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia than people who didn't take the drugs.

THURSDAY, July 24 (HealthDay News) -- When the elderly woman first arrived at Brooke Grove Retirement Village in Sandy Spring, Md., some of the staffers were skeptical when they saw she had brought her cat along.

The woman, in the early stages of dementia, "floated in and out," according to Jackie Carson, the assisted living administrator at Brooke Grove, a center specializing in Alzheimer's care.

Staffers had to help the woman remember to feed the cat, and some were initially resentful, saying their job was to care for people, not animals, she added.

Men and women with early-stage Alzheimer's disease who were more physically fit also had larger brains compared to their counterparts in less stellar shape.

The findings, though preliminary, may indicate that staying physically fit could slow the brain atrophy (shrinkage) associated with Alzheimer's disease. Or they may indicate that some common underlying process affects both brain atrophy and cardiorespiratory fitness.

By Amanda Gardner
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 27 (HealthDay News) -- Long-anticipated results from a trial on an experimental Alzheimer's therapy look promising, at least in a certain group of patients.

Findings that are slated to be presented Sunday at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease in Chicago suggest that while the drug, bapineuzumab, showed only a modest trend towards a benefit in patients with the ApoE4 gene, there were more notable improvements in the degree of cognitive decline in individuals lacking the gene.

TUESDAY, June 24 (HealthDay News) -- The Alzheimer's drug memantine (brand name Namenda) may help reduce a form of brain injury that affects many premature babies, according to a Children's Hospital Boston study.

Hypoxic-ischemia, a compromise of the brain's blood and oxygen supply, can lead to cerebral palsy and cognitive/behavioral problems.

In experiments with rats that had brain injury similar to that seen in some premature infants, the Children's Hospital team found memantine could reduce damage to cells called oligodendrocytes, which form the brain's white matter.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Genetic testing may sound like a bit of science-fiction, but go online and you'll find at-home kits for everything from diabetes to Alzheimer's. Now, the market is expanding to include tests for psychiatric conditions like bipolar disorder that critics say may be more fiction than science.

"I won't go so far as to say it's meaningless; it's just that we don't know what the meaning is," said Dr. Michael C. Miller, editor-in-chief of the Harvard Mental Health Letter.