ScienceDaily: Mind & Brain News

Alzheimer's disease is the most common and best known of the tauopathies, a set of neurodegenerative brain diseases caused by toxic tangles of the protein tau. A study has now shown that targeting astrocytes -- an inflammatory cell in the brain -- reduces tau-related brain damage and inflammation in mice.

An international group of researchers analyzed the genes that are expressed in neurons and astrocytes based on data from 800 individuals and compared what happens in Alzheimer's patients and in people without diagnosed dementia. The study highlights the need to analyze molecular markers, such as genetic sequences or brain proteins, to obtain more accurate assays, diagnoses and therapies. The results also show changes in astrocytes in an attempt to adapt to the toxic environment derived from the disease, worsening its progression.

A new study describes how the spike protein used by the coronavirus to enter human cells can have a similar effect on the brain's immune cells as it does with the rest of the body.

Daytime napping among older people is a normal part of aging -- but it may also foreshadow Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. And once dementia or its usual precursor, mild cognitive impairment, are diagnosed, the frequency and/or duration of napping accelerates rapidly, according to a new study.