Three leading research funders from the UK and North America have joined forces to launch a new global initiative called MEND, or MEchanisms of cellular death in NeuroDegeneration, with a fund of $1.25m USD (£820,000/$1.56m CDN) for targeted research into brain diseases that cause dementia, such as Alzheimer’s.
Research in the US has found that former National Football League (NFL) players who started playing American tackle football before the age of 12 may have worse memory in later life, compared to those who began playing the sport later in their youth. The study is published on Wednesday 28 January in the journal Neurology online.
A new study has linked the long-term use of certain medications to a higher risk of dementia in older people. The study, which focused on drugs that alter the action of a brain chemical called acetylcholine, is published on Monday 26 January in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
Researchers at the University of Leicester have identified a molecular mechanism that helps protect an animal’s brain cells against a fall in core body temperature during hibernation. The same protein also appears to protect against neurodegeneration in mice.