Alzheimer’s Paper Retracted; Pets and Human Cognition; Long COVID Internal Tremors

— News and commentary from the world of neurology and neuroscience

by
Judy George, Deputy Managing Editor, MedPage Today
January 2, 2024

Nature announced that another Alzheimer’s paper led by former Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne, PhD, was retracted, identifying anomalies in the 2009 study of amyloid precursor protein (APP) and death receptor 6 (DR6) binding. The paper has been cited 814 times.

Clinically apparent Helicobacter pylori infection raised the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in people ages 50 and older. (Alzheimer’s & Dementia)

Owning a pet was associated with slower declines in verbal memory and verbal fluency in older adults who lived alone, but not in those who lived with others. (JAMA Network Open)

Biomarkers of glial injury persisted for more than 6 weeks in hospitalized patients who had neurological complications during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. (Nature Communications)

The experiences of people with long COVID symptoms that featured internal tremors and vibrations were described in BMJ Open.

A study of more than 10,000 people linked exercise-related physical activity with brain volumes. (Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease)

The U.S. has failed to make changes to its insufficient caregiving system, argued Rachael Scarborough King, PhD, the wife of healthcare activist Ady Barkan who recently died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. (New York Times)

Real-world mobility measures in people with Parkinson’s disease were moderately associated with clinical assessments, suggesting wearable sensors may capture different aspects of motor function. (Movement Disorders)

CNN looked at how chronic pain patients found relief with ketamine.

A history of daily smoking was strongly associated with decreased total brain volume. (Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science)

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) advocate and #MEAction cofounder Beth Mazur died after a 15-year battle with ME, the organization announced.