Your Eyes are window into dementia
A new study has found that changes in the eye could help predict dementia, even before the symptoms show. According to the researchers from Gladstone Institutes and University of California, San Francisco, loss of cells in the retina could be used as an early marker for frontotemporal dementia (FTD), prior to the onset of cognitive symptoms. Scientists studied a group of individuals who had a certain genetic mutation that is known to result in FTD. They found that before any cognitive signs of dementia were present, these people showed a significant thinning of the retina compared with people who didn’t have the gene mutation. Although located in the eye, the retina is made up of neurons with direct connections to the brain.
Exercise for heart benefits brain
Exercising to improve your cardiovascular strength may protect from cognitive impairment as you age, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Montreal and its affiliated Institut universitaire de geratrie de Montreal Research Centre studied 31 young people between the ages of 18 and 30, and 54 older participants aged between 55 and 75. “Our arteries stiffen with age, and the vessel hardening is believed to begin in the aorta, the main vessel coming out of the heart, before reaching the brain,” said Claudine Gauthier, first author of the study. “Indeed, the hardening may contribute to cognitive changes that occur during a similar time frame. We found that older adults whose aortas were in a better condition and who had greater aerobic fitness performed better in a cognitive test.”
Insulin intake ups diabetics’ risk
A new research has revealed that high insulin levels contribute to obesity and its complications, and this finding may have important implications when treating diabetes. Researchers from University of Texas, who made the discovery by studying mice engineered to lack receptors for a hormone called glucagon, which spurs the liver’s production of glucose into the bloodstream and thus maintains the fuel supply for the brain. The study displayed that insulin blocked the secretion of glucagon, opposed glucagon action on the liver, and instructed the body to take up glucose from the blood, hence, Type 2 diabetics could not respond properly to insulin and had uncontrolled glucagon production, thereby causing their livers to overproduce glucose, contributing to high blood-sugar levels.
