Good news on Alzheimer's: Lots of research and progress; More good news: Marijuana and video games help

The pace of progress in the fight against Alzheimer's disease is quickening. In the past month, Science Daily has published four articles on recent developments.

Researchers Track Spread Of Alzheimer's Disease Through The Brain's Hippocampus

Using an innovative three-dimensional imaging technique, a team of UCLA researchers have tracked how Alzheimer's disease spreads through the hippocampus -- the area of the brain linked with memory -- in a pattern consistent with the known trajectory of neurofibrilliary tangle dissemination, an accumulation of diseased proteins in the brain cells.

This progress is important because it means that researchers will be more easily capable of evaluating the success of potential treatments.

The study appears online at the Web site of Brain magazine.

Scientists Develop New Treatments For Alzheimer's Disease

The [University of Liverpool] research team has used a family of long chain sugars called Heparan Sulphates (HS), found on nearly every cell of the body, to produce a new compound that can prevent the formation of clumps of small proteins that form in the brain. These clumps or 'plaques' disrupt the normal function of cells leading to progressive memory loss which is characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.

This is significant because these new compounds, which are based on the body's natural substances, may provide a unique route to effective treatments for Alzheimer's. Underlying its importance, a new company called IntelliHep Ltd, has been founded to explore the commercial opportunities of it.

Computer-based 'Games' Enhance Mental Function In Patients With Alzheimer's

Computer-based tasks aimed at increasing mental activity and enhancing mental function can improve cognition in patients with Alzheimer's disease, serving as an effective addition to medications commonly used to treat the disease. Researchers found that the Internet-accessible computer activities were even more successful than classic exercises of mental stimulation commonly used with dementia patients. The findings, from the Fundació ACE, Institut Català de Neurociències Aplicades in Barcelona, Spain, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, are published in the October issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

While these are not your typical shoot-em-up computer games, this is significant because even after the disease has advanced the combination of interactive multimedia Internet-based system and a standard pharmacological treatment of Alzheimer's disease cognitive function in patients is improved.

Latest Buzz: Marijuana May Slow Progression Of Alzheimer's Disease

Baby boomers will remember the refrain that smoking marijuana will give you brain damage. It turns out that when it comes to Alzheimer's disease, these authorities couldn't have been more wrong.

Evidence suggests that people who regularly smoked marijuana in the 1960s and 1970s rarely develop Alzheimer's disease, said Wenk, adding that researchers are eager to develop a drug with the anti-inflammatory properties of marijuana, but without the drug's psychoactive effects.

Scientists have even developed something called WIN-55212-2 (WIN), a synthetic drug similar to marijuana. While this compound improves memory and helps to control inflammation, it is not a candidate for use in humans because "it still contains substances that could trigger a high." Yes, that's right, they may be on the path to developing a wonder drug for Alzheimer's but won't use it until they can figure out a way to eliminate the pleasurable side-effects. Some may wonder if its so bad that people who may it into their 80s and then are effected by a degenerative brain disease shouldn't get a little pleasure from their medicines?

Whether because of senior care issues or because one day you'll be in the "Alzheimer's years," this is an important issue for pretty much anyone over 40. Fortunately, a great deal of progress is being made against the disease though any real understanding of the cause and the development of treatments are in their earliest stages. Click on the "brain health" tag below for more stories on the subject.