Brain bleeding is common with aging, UCI study finds

Blood thinners may exacerbate the condition in older people

2010-11-09

(Press-News.org) Irvine, Calif., Nov. 8, 2010 — A small amount of bleeding in the brain seems to be common among older individuals, according to a UC Irvine study.

Neurologist Dr. Mark Fisher and neuropathologist Dr. Ronald Kim found that cerebral microbleeds are highly prevalent in the aging brain – and not primarily products of stroke-related injury, hypertension or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, as had been thought.

"Prior work relied on brain imaging to show cerebral microbleeds," Fisher said. "But in this study, deep regions of the brain were closely examined under a microscope, and nearly all subjects had evidence of small areas of bleeding."

Results appear online in the journal Stroke.

Fisher, Kim and colleagues at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center studied postmortem brain specimens from 33 individuals, ranging in age from 71 to 105, with no history of stroke. Cerebral microbleeds were identified in 22 cases – all occurring in capillaries, the small blood vessels of the brain.

This is a substantially higher rate of incidence than that reported in MRI studies, which have shown microbleeds in 18 percent of people between 60 and 69 and in 38 percent of those over 80.

"Drugs that interfere with platelets and blood clotting, such as aspirin, are known to be associated with microbleeds seen in brain imaging studies," Fisher said. "Our findings suggest that aspirin and other platelet medications may have a different effect on the aging brain than on younger brains."

Results from the UCI study also indicate that leakiness of brain blood vessels increases with age, he said, despite the fact that a specific barrier (known as the blood-brain barrier) exists to prevent leakiness.

The areas of bleeding found in the study were very small and certainly not life-threatening, Fisher said. How they might affect intellectual and neurological function is a subject for further exploration.

INFORMATION: Dr. Samuel French and Dr. Ping Ji of Harbor-UCLA participated in the study, which received National Institutes of Health support.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Led by Chancellor Michael Drake since 2005, UCI is among the most dynamic campuses in the University of California system, with nearly 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 1,100 faculty and 9,000 staff. Orange County's largest employer, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3.9 billion. For more UCI news, visit www.today.uci.edu.

News Radio: UCI maintains on campus an ISDN line for conducting interviews with its faculty and experts. Use of this line is available for a fee to radio news programs/stations that wish to interview UCI faculty and experts. Use of the ISDN line is subject to availability and approval by the university.

UCI maintains an online directory of faculty available as experts to the media. To access, visit www.today.uci.edu/experts. For UCI breaking news, visit www.zotwire.uci.edu.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Scientists discover how the songbird's brain controls timing during singing

2010-11-09

AUDIO: New research that reveals the activity of nerve cells in a songbird's brain as the bird sings a specific song is helping scientists to understand how birds string together sets... Click here for more information. A team of scientists has observed the activity of nerve cells in a songbird's brain as it is singing a particular song. Dezhe Jin, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at Penn State University and one of the study's authors, explained that ...

Stevens and TNO conduct joint experiments in Dutch Harbor for maritime security

2010-11-09

Hoboken, NJ – Stevens Institute of Technology and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) have recently conducted joint experiments in the Dutch Navy Harbor of Den Helder, where passive acoustic systems from both parties were combined. Initial experimental results are presented at the Waterside Security (WSS) 2010 conference. This important experimental campaign was financed by the Netherlands Ministry of Defence. The collaboration between Stevens and TNO was initiated in early 2010 after recognizing a strategic opportunity to form a long-term ...

TB-drugome provides new targets for anti-tuberculosis drug discovery

2010-11-09

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the University of Leeds have linked hundreds of federally approved drugs to more than 1,000 proteins in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), opening new avenues to repurpose these drugs to treat TB. The study was published Nov. 4 in PLoS Computational Biology. "Tuberculosis is currently one of the most widely spread infectious diseases, with an estimated one-third of the world's population infected and between one and two million people dying each year from ...

DHA improves memory and cognitive function in older adults

2010-11-09

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 8, 2010 — A study published in the November edition of Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association suggests that taking docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) may improve memory and learning in older adults with mild cognitive impairments. This is promising news for many aging Americans who are searching for options to maintain memory and support overall cognitive health. The "Memory Improvement with Docosahexaenoic Acid Study" (MIDAS) was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the effects of DHA—the principle ...

Nanogenerators grow strong enough to power small conventional electronics

2010-11-09

VIDEO: In the laboratory of Zhong Lin Wang at Georgia Tech, a blinking LCD signals the success of a five-year effort to power conventional electronic devices using nanoscale generators that harvest... Click here for more information. Blinking numbers on a liquid-crystal display (LCD) often indicate that a device's clock needs resetting. But in the laboratory of Zhong Lin Wang at Georgia Tech, the blinking number on a small LCD signals the success of a five-year effort ...

Single parenthood doesn't pay off for plants

2010-11-09

Durham, NC —Many plants can pollinate themselves and reproduce without the aid of a mate, thanks to having both male and female parts. But the short-term perks of being able to go it alone come with long-term costs, says a new study in the journal Science. The reason is because plants that can pollinate themselves are more prone to extinction, scientists say. Flowering plants are incredibly creative when it comes to sex, said co-author Boris Igic, a biologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Plants just can't walk over to potential mates like we do. Many species ...

Frequency of foot disorders differs between African-Americans and whites

2010-11-09

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Common foot disorders such as flat feet, corns and bunions are more prevalent among African Americans than in whites, a new study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers has found. African Americans in the study age 45 or older were three times more likely than whites of the same age to have corns or flat feet (medical name: pes planus). In people who were not obese, African Americans were twice as likely to have bunions (hallux valgus) and hammer toes than whites, said Yvonne M. Golightly, PT, PhD, lead author of the study, titled ...

Potential drug therapy for diabetic retinopathy under study

2010-11-09

One drug's startling ability to restore retinal health in the eyes of diabetic mice has researchers wanting to learn more about how it works and whether it might do the same for people. "We want to know if this drug has the potential to block the visual devastation that can occur with diabetes," said Dr. Sylvia Smith, retinal cell biologist and co-director of the Vision Discovery Institute at the Medical College of Georgia. "That means we need to know more about how and when it is effective." Diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness in working-age Americans, ...

Iron stimulates blooms of toxin-producing algae in open ocean, study finds

2010-11-09

SANTA CRUZ, CA--A team of marine scientists has found that toxin-producing algae once thought to be limited to coastal waters are also common in the open ocean, where the addition of iron from natural or artificial sources can stimulate rapid growth of the harmful algae. The new findings, reported this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, add to concerns about proposals to use iron fertilization of the oceans as a way to combat global warming. Blooms of diatoms in the genus Pseudo-nitschia, which produce a neurotoxin called domoic acid, are a regular ...

Psychologists identify influence of social interaction on sensitivity to physical pain

2010-11-09

TORONTO, ON – Psychologists at the University of Toronto have shown that the nature of a social interaction has the ability to influence an individual's sensitivity to physical pain. The discovery could have significant clinical implications for doctor-patient relationships and the general well-being of an individual on a daily basis. "Dozens of studies over the past several decades have demonstrated the impact of inadequate social connectedness on numerous health outcomes, including cardiovascular health, immune function, post-surgical recovery, and lifespan," says ...

Brain bleeding is common with aging, UCI study finds

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: