Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's prevention specialist Jessica Langbaum says that like most working people she gets plenty of mental exercise without playing crossword puzzles or brain games. She says work is the key.

Two herpes viruses that cause skin rashes in toddlers may accelerate Alzheimer's disease when they infect brain cells. The finding suggests antiviral drugs might help protect the brain.

"Just the last few years alone have seen some serious breakthroughs in Alzheimer's research," Joseph Jebelli says. His new book is The Pursuit of Memory.

Critics say an effort to let Alzheimer's patients and others formally refuse feeding by hand as part of an advance directive raises concerns about potential mistreatment of the vulnerable.

Many people with Alzheimer's suffer medical and mental health issues that have nothing to do with memory loss, including slow healing, incontinence, paranoia and depression.

When Greg O'Brien found out he'd be a grandfather, he was excited. He was also sad. His granddaughter, he knew, would never know the real him.

The company 23andMe is now allowed to market tests that assess genetic risks for 10 health conditions, including Parkinson's and late-onset Alzheimer's diseases.

Scientists now have a fairly noninvasive way to test for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare form of dementia. A similar test, they say, might offer earlier diagnoses of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

They couldn't figure out why so many relatives got Alzheimer's in their 40s. Then they found out they share the rare Jalisco mutation. Their tragedy is helping scientists untangle the disease.

Hugging a doll can soothe an upset toddler, and some say it can do the same for people with dementia. But critics say this form of therapy infantilizes adults.