A new Cleveland Clinic-led study has identified mechanisms by which COVID-19 can lead to Alzheimer s disease-like dementia. The findings, published in Alzheimer s Research & Therapy, indicate an overlap between COVID-19 and brain changes common in Alzheimer s, and may help inform risk management and therapeutic strategies for COVID-19-associated cognitive impairment.
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IMAGE: The enhanced physical activity group underwent 26 weeks of supervised treadmill training. Blood samples for both groups were taken at baseline and after 26 weeks. view more
Credit: Florida Atlantic University
Increasing evidence shows that physical activity and exercise training may delay or prevent the onset of Alzheimer s disease (AD). In aging humans, aerobic exercise training increases gray and white matter volume, enhances blood flow, and improves memory function. The ability to measure the effects of exercise on systemic biomarkers associated with risk for AD and relating them to key metabolomic alterations may further prevention, monitoring, and treatment efforts. However, systemic biomarkers that can measure exercise effects on brain function and that link to relevant metabolic responses are lacking.
As visual recognition memory emerges in visual cortex, one circuit of inhibitory neurons supplants another and slower neural oscillations prevail, according to a new MIT study.
New research into Alzheimer s disease (AD) suggests that secondary infections and new inflammatory events amplify the brain s immune response and affect memory in mice and in humans even when these secondary events occur outside the brain.
Alzheimer s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer s Association. We found that all causes of dementia are risk factors for severity and death in COVID-19 and that these risks are more pronounced for Alzheimer s patients,
Sérgio Verjovski-Almeida, principal investigator for the project and a professor at USP s Chemistry Institute, told
Agência FAPESP.
Dementia had already been identified as a risk factor for COVID-19, alongside other comorbidities, such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. One of the reasons is age: patients with dementia tend to be older, and many live in care homes where the risks of infection and viral transmission are greater.