Problems with the brain’s waste clearance system could underlie many cases of dementia and help explain why poor sleep patterns and cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure increase the risk of dementia.
A drug used to treat epilepsy patients could help prevent stroke in people whose arteries show signs of atherosclerosis – furring of the arteries – scientists will tell audiences at the Cambridge Festival.
Scientists have identified new genetic clues in people who have had small and often apparently ‘silent’ strokes that are difficult to treat and a major cause of vascular dementia, according to research led by the University of Cambridge and published in The Lancet Neurology.
Fourteen out of every 1,000 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital experience a stroke, a rate that is even higher in older patients and those with severe infection and pre-existing vascular conditions, according to a report published this week.
People at high genetic risk of stroke can still reduce their chance of having a stroke by sticking to a healthy lifestyle, in particular stopping smoking and not being overweight, finds a study in The BMJ today.
The theory that education protects against Alzheimer’s disease has been given further weight by new research from the University of Cambridge, funded by the European Union. The study is published today in The BMJ.
Nine researchers from the University of Cambridge are among 46 world leading UK researchers who have been elected to the prestigious Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
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