How Do Middle-Aged Folks Get Dementia? It Could Be These Proteins
UCSF researchers have found clues about how frontotemporal dementia develops that could lead to new diagnostics and get more patients into clinical trials.

University of California San Francisco
Give to UCSFUCSF researchers have found clues about how frontotemporal dementia develops that could lead to new diagnostics and get more patients into clinical trials.
A study followed the sleep patterns of older female participants to see if specific patterns of change were associated with a higher risk of dementia. The participants, whose average age was 83, were monitored by wrist devices that track movement and time spent asleep.
To help patients recover more quickly, hospitals may provide physical and occupational therapy – especially for older adults to help them preserve or regain function. How much therapy is best, though, isn’t clear.
Why do women's brains fare better in aging than men's? A study found that the second, 'silent' X chromosome turns on in the brain of old female mice and improves learning and memory – opening new paths to slow the decline in men and women.
A study found that B12 requirements may be too low for some people, putting them at risk for cognitive decline.
A new EPA ban on TCE, a common industrial cleaning agent and contaminant, begins this year. UCSF’s Samuel Goldman, who led groundbreaking research to link TCE to Parkinson’s Disease, talks about the health risks.
Researchers found that female mice using only maternal X chromosomes showed faster cognitive decline, which could help explain the variation in brain aging between the sexes.
A new study found that menopause can speed up the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS), affecting mobility and cognitive ability.
UCSF experts share how to plan for a vibrant future as we age.
Poor sleep in midlife, like difficulty falling asleep or waking early, may accelerate brain atrophy linked to dementia, a UCSF study finds.
A UC San Francisco-based research registry that has already recruited more than 10,000 Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander participants has received $16 million in federal funding to double its efforts and expand research into this growing but underrepresented population of the U.S. population.
Traumatic experiences can worsen the pain, depression and loneliness at the end of life, according to a study led by UCSF and the University of Michigan.
UCSF is collaborating with the SF Palliative Care Work Group to set up partnerships with local community groups to discuss advance care planning and palliative care. These community groups include churches, senior centers and organizations representing minority populations.
A clinical trial that will test three drugs concurrently, and could include more, represents new hope for patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), an incurable neurodegenerative disorder that usually kills within seven years after symptoms start.
A study found that practicing pelvic yoga didn't result in substantially greater improvements in urinary incontinence for aging women compared to other muscle conditioning exercises.
Hospitals in poor communities are significantly less likely to obtain certification for stroke services, which makes them unable to provide urgent, lifesaving treatment.
UCSF Medical Center has been ranked among the country’s best hospitals in adult care in U.S. News & World Report’s prestigious Best Hospitals survey.
A newly discovered hormone explains why females can maintain bone density during lactation, when calcium is stripped away to make milk. This discovery could one day have applications to treating fractures, osteoporosis, and other bone diseases.
Scientists have identified the biomarkers in progressive supranuclear palsy, a type of frontotemporal dementia, the most common dementia affecting people under 60.
A study linked chronic inflammation in early adulthood to loss of cognitive skills in midlife. Chronic inflammation is caused by obesity, smoking, and poor health. Those with higher levels of inflammation were twice as likely to have poor cognitive performance than those with low inflammation.
UCSF gynecologists explain how hormone therapy may ease the transition.
Perpetual stress runs us down. But a truly restorative state that alters our bodies at the cellular level can counter this deterioration.