The Ageing Brain

For a doctor, the overwhelming feeling one gets when trying to talk to a patient in an acute confusional state is that he or she just is not really with you. The precise manifestations of what is ...

All of our organs change as we age and unfortunately the changes are usually for the worse. For example, there is a decrease in reserve capacity in the lungs, kidneys and heart. The changes in the ...

In the Western world, people are living longer than ever before and the fastest growing subgroup is the "oldest old" (over age 85). So in recent years there has been an explosion of interest and ...

So far no cure for Alzheimer's has been found, but there has been a huge amount of research on the subject over the last 15 years, which has led to drugs that can treat some of the symptoms. There ...

There's no cure for Parkinson's disease, but there are drugs like levodopa that can help. Deep brain stimulation devices help after levodopa effects wear off and there's a lot of research into new ...

We all know that if we want to keep our bodies fit and healthy then we have to exercise and keep our muscles in shape. So it isn't surprising that the same applies to our brains. If you want your ...

There's an ancient Greek myth about an ingenious inventor called Daedelas who constructed wings that could be stuck onto people's arms with wax. He made some for himself and for Icarus, his son, ...

Strokes are the third commonest cause of death in the UK and about a third of people who have a stroke are left with disabilities. Though some people recover well from a stroke, there's no actual ...

In every era there have been diseases that wreak havoc in humanity. Throughout history the causes of most such illnesses have been unknown and people generally accepted that. But we're not ...

Michael J Fox, Pope John Paul II, Salvador Dali and millions of other people throughout the world have suffered from Parkinson's disease. Although we know a lot about the underlying neurological ...

Strokes are the third commonest cause of death and the single most common cause of disability in the UK. They're commonest in the elderly, but can affect young adults, children and even babies. ...

Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia, mainly affecting old people, causing increasing forgetfulness and inability to function in daily life. The disease progresses slowly over years, and ...

Parkinson's disease is a chronic, progressive neurological disorder, where movement is impaired because of neurone degeneration. The main symptoms are tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia (slowed ...