Prevent or Delay ALS

  High dietary intakes of foods high in carotenoids (beta-carotene and lutein) may help prevent or delay the onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Annuals of Neurology Jan. 29 2013

PLIE Helps Patients with Alzheimer's

  PLIE (Preventing Loss of Independence Through Exercise) is a new program that combines elements of Eastern and Western traditional exercises and emphasizes focus on performing basic functional movements,encouraging social engagement and increasing bodily awareness. In the small group studied, patients would arrive at the exercise facility not remembering that they had been there but would start going through the movements of the routine. This fits with what we know about Alzheimer's : memory for events is impaired but procedural memory holds out and resists declination.
65th Annual AAN meeting San Diego March 2013
  In a related study, daily walking has been shown to stabilize Alzheimer's disease across one year.
Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2013;56(1):96-103

Colicky Infants at Risk for Childhood Migraine

  Children that presented to the ER with migraine were 6x more likely to have a history of colic during infancy.
  It is theorized that colic may represent sensitization of the perivascular nerve terminals in the gut.
   Sadly, the brain-gut relation remains one of the least understood and least researched areas of medicine.
JAMA 2013;309(15):1607-1612

Gene Mutation Increases Risk of Alzheimer's

  ABCA7 genetic mutation in African Americans nearly doubles the risk of Alzheimer's disease. It is not associated with the disease in Europeans.
JAMA April 10, 2013

New Treatment Guideline in Acute Spinal Cord Injury: NO STEROIDS

   The first new spinal cord injury treatment in a decade cites strong evidence that high-dose steroids are associated with harmful side effects, including death, in acute spinal cord injury.
Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the American Association of Neurological Surgeons

Coffee, Tea or Fiber ? To Decrease Stroke Risk

   Greater dietary fiber intake is decidedly associated with lower risk of first stroke. 

STROKE March 28,2013

   Higher consumption of green tea and coffee may decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. 

STROKE March,14 2013

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Increases Risk of Dementia

   From WashUCOM St. Louis, more than half the study participants with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) developed dementia. 
   It is uncertain as to the pathological mechanism which may be involved :repeated drops in oxygen? the paucity of deep (reparative) sleep? or some other mechanism.
JAMA 2011;306(6):613-619