ST. LOUIS — Joe knew something was terribly wrong when his wife, an energetic nurse and mother of three, became forgetful in her early 60s. Four years ago, Lynn was diagnosed with dementia but decided against having a spinal tap that would have shown whether the cause was Alzheimer’s disease.
Memory loss is often the first sign of Alzheimer’s disease, followed by confusion and difficulty thinking. These symptoms reflect the typical pattern of worsening damage to brain tissues. Toxic clusters of proteins first concentrate in the temporal lobes of the brain — the memory area — before spreading to parts of the brain important for […]
Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and many other neurodegenerative diseases are marked by damaging clusters of proteins in the brain. Scientists have expended enormous effort searching for ways to treat such conditions by clearing these toxic clusters but have had limited success.
An idea that has propelled Alzheimer’s research for more than 30 years is approaching its day of reckoning. Scientists are launching a study designed to make or break the hypothesis that Alzheimer’s is caused by a sticky substance called beta-amyloid. The study will give an experimental anti-amyloid drug to people as young as 18 who […]
Families that have a child with Rett syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that almost exclusively affects females, often travel hundreds of miles to the Rett Spectrum Clinic in St. Louis — a collaboration between Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital — for multispecialty care and access to innovative clinical trials.
Scientists have identified a handful of gene mutations that cause or contribute to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. But many scientists suspect that other DNA changes may help drive Alzheimer’s-related damage to brain cells and lead to symptoms of confusion and memory loss experienced by patients.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in the spring of 2022, students and staff at schools that serve children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) were left stranded. These students and staff faced unique circumstances because they could not always follow the CDC guidance on masking, testing, and social distancing due to the nature of these […]
Using demographic information, brain imaging test results and genetic biomarkers, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed an algorithm that can help provide people who volunteer for studies of aging with information about the risk each faces of developing dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.
If you’ve had COVID-19, it may still be messing with your brain. Those who have been infected with the virus are at increased risk of developing a range of neurological conditions in the first year after the infection, new research shows. Such complications include strokes, cognitive and memory problems, depression, anxiety and migraine headaches, according […]
An investigational drug developed to treat a rare, inherited form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) reduced molecular signs of the fatal, paralyzing disease and curbed neurodegeneration — but at the six-month mark, the drug did not improve motor control and muscle strength, according to results from a phase 3 clinical trial led by researchers at […]