I decided to go have the Brac blood test to see if I carry the breast cancer gene(marker). Although I realize that I might not have it now it could always come in the future. My sister was a breast cancer survivor. Nothing is set in stone. Neither of my parents have cancer of any kind and they are into their 80's. None of my grandparents did either. However, I have decided against having the AD test after a lenghty discussion with my own Neurologist.

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Physical frailty among the elderly may be linked to early Alzheimer's disease, regardless of whether or not patients develop dementia, new research reveals.

The finding, based on brain autopsies of deceased elderly patients, raises the notion that motor impairment in the elderly is an early symptom of Alzheimer's -- one that appears before mental decline.

It could also turn out to be that frailty and Alzheimer's are not directly linked but stem from a common origin, researchers say.

TUESDAY, Aug. 12 (HealthDay News) -- PET scans may provide doctors with a non-invasive method of detecting Alzheimer's disease-related brain plaques, Finnish researchers say.

Currently, the only reliable way to assess the presence of such plaques is through analysis of brain tissue samples obtained when a patient is alive or after death. In their study, University of Kuopio researchers examined 10 patients without severe dementia who'd undergone a biopsy of their brain's frontal cortex to check for normal-pressure hydrocephalus, an abnormal increase of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain.

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News)-- New reports on very different approaches to treating Alzheimer's disease could one day lead to better therapies for the mind-robbing condition, experts say.

A trio of studies that were expected to be presented Wednesday at the Alzheimer's Association 2008 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease in Chicago noted progress made on three different treatment fronts.

TUESDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- A drug that aims to reduce the clogging "tangles" in the brain cells of people with Alzheimer's disease appears promising in early trials, researchers report.

Further studies are necessary to confirm whether the medication is as effective at slowing Alzheimer's as it seems, or whether it needs to be given as part of a cocktail of treatments.

TUESDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists may be succeeding in the hunt for biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease.

A biomarker -- something that can be measured and that gives an indication of what's going on inside the body -- will help in early detection, in testing new therapies and, once doctors have better drugs for Alzheimer's, with earlier intervention in the disease process.

TUESDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- High or low levels of the hormone thyrotropin may be associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease in women. Thyrotropin affects thyroid gland function and thyroid hormone levels.

Between 1977 and 1979, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School measured thyrotropin levels in 1,864 people, average age 71, without cognitive problems. The participants were then assessed for dementia every two years.

MONDAY, July 28 (HealthDay News) -- The growth in the number of cases of mild cognitive impairment in the elderly population is outstripping earlier predictions, Mayo Clinic researchers report.

"The rate of new mild cognitive impairment cases, in this group, was considerably higher than anticipated," lead researcher Dr. Ronald C. Petersen said in a news release. "If we extrapolate Alzheimer's incidence rates to MCI, we would expect perhaps 1 to 2 percent per year, but our findings were substantially higher than that."

MONDAY, July 28 (HealthDay News) -- Alzheimer's patients may often become upset and even act out when nurses or other caregivers use "baby talk" to converse with them, a new study shows.

Researchers who taped the interactions of nursing home staff and people with moderate Alzheimer's found that the residents often became more agitated and resistant to care if they were addressed as infants.

Scientists are reporting that they have captured images of brain lesions in rabbits similar to those found in people with Alzheimer's disease using conventional MRIs.

Amyloid plaques, which accumulate in the brain and are a hallmark of Alzheimer's, have been captured before through extra-high-power MRI scanners meant for use in animals and with PET scans.