Daniel Pendick  PET scans peer into the heart of dementia
What’s bad for your heart is often bad for your brain. High
cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and unhealthy
“hardening” of the arteries increase your risk of mental decline
or dementia later in life. A study published online today in
Neurology opens a window into how cardiovascular disease affects
the brain and may even lead to some important insights into
Alzheimer’s disease.  Researchers from the University of
Pittsburgh and the University of Virginia found that elderly
people with the stiffest arteries were most likely to show the
kinds of damage to brain tissue often seen in people with
dementia. Although heart-unhealthy lifestyles have been linked
to increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease—the most common form of
dementia in older adults—the results of this study suggest there
may be a silver lining: “This is more evidence that
cardiovascular health leads to a healthy brain,” says University
of Pittsburgh researcher Timothy Hughes, PhD, t