Tampa, FL (June 5, 2012) – Those cups of coffee that you drink every day to keep alert appear to have an extra perk – especially if you’re an older adult.  A recent study monitoring the memory and thinking processes of people older than 65 found that all those with higher blood caffeine levels avoided the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in the two-to-four years of study follow-up.  Moreover, coffee appeared to be the major or only source of caffeine for these individuals. Researchers from the University of South Florida and […]

To watch Dr. Darrell Kirch’s keynote presentation, click here. To download presentation (130 MB), right click on the folowing link and then select Save As. http://health.usf.edu/nocms/publicaffairs/now/videos/Dr%20Kirchlecture2012.m4v Medical schools need to think differently about what excellence means if they are to lead the way towards reforming healthcare, says the leader of the Association of American Medical Colleges. “One thing that holds us back … We have fallen into a trap, in academic medicine and nationally, about how we judge excellence, said Dr. Darrell Kirch, president and CEO of the AAMC, at […]

USF’s Meredeth A. Rowe, PhD, RN, FGSA, FAAN, was selected as finalist in the inaugural selection process for a Florida Innovative Development for Economic Advancement (IDEA) grant, which offers early-stage financing to promising technology companies in central Florida that need help bridging the gap between initial product development and venture capital funding. Dr. Rowe, who is professor and the Lewis and Leona Hughes Endowed Chair in Nursing Science at the USF College of Nursing, submitted Caregiver Watch, a small business she owns that produces AlzAlert™, a night home monitoring system […]

The USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute was illuminated Thursday evening in shades of purple – the signature color of Alzheimer’s disease — as faculty, staff, caregivers and university, community and governmental leaders gathered to celebrate the opening of its one-stop memory care center. The new Center for Memory C.A.R.E. reaches a whole new level in applying the latest technology and research to the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, while helping ease the anxiety and difficulties of patients and their caregivers. Guests had a chance to tour the distinctive $3.5-million […]

Mini-apartment to test ability of patients to live on their own helps set new center apart Tampa, FL (Nov. 17, 2011) — The  University of South Florida today opens a distinctive center offering people with memory disorders and their families a full range of individualized, multispecialty services in one welcoming place. The Center for Memory C.A.R.E. (Clinical Assessment, Research and Education), on the second floor of the six-story USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute, is designed to support patients and their caregivers while providing convenient access to the latest research, technology […]

Tampa, FL (Nov. 9, 2011)– Using innovative techniques for unbiased counting of brain cells, Peter R. Mouton, PhD, of the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute and a diverse team of researchers have confirmed a new theory about a cause of autism. The pivotal study, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, confirmed that the brains of children with autism have an overabundance of brain cells produced only before birth, suggesting that autism arises from prenatal processes gone awry. Led by Eric Courchesne, PhD, at the University of California […]

Mouse-model study led by University of South Florida suggests potential new treatment target Tampa, FL (Sept. 15, 2011) — Decreasing expression of a protein associated with susceptibility to depression made old mice resistant to depressive-like behavior while improving their hormonal response to stress, a study led by researchers at the University of South Florida found. The lack of this protein, FKBP51, did not adversely affect their memory, learning, or basic motor functions. The study suggests that drug discovery efforts aimed at reducing levels of the protein FKBP51 may yield new […]

Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute gets USF Health’s first PET/CT scan It was delivered on schedule Aug. 1 — all 13,000 pounds of the $1.3-million-dollar baby. By crane, not by stork. With precision logistics, USF Health’s first PET/CT scan system was safely hoisted for installation onto the second floor of the Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute. The high-tech neuroimaging equipment will be a key piece of the Institute’s new Complete Alzheimer’s C.A.R.E. (Clinical Assessment Research & Education) Center, scheduled to open later this year.   Delivery of the 13,000 pound PET/CT scan, including the instrumentation […]

Members of the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute staff and board break through a wall, marking the official beginning of the second-floor renovation to create the facility’s Complete Alzheimer’s CARE Center. More than two years after the Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute’s merger into USF Health, faculty are attracting significant new funding for Alzheimer’s disease research as they prepare to launch a one-of-a-kind Complete Alzheimer’s CARE (Clinical Assessment, Research & Education) Center for patients and their families early next year. At a meeting last week, members of the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s […]

A USF study indicates an unidentified coffee component combined with caffeine increases a growth factor that counters Alzheimer’s disease pathology and improves memory in mice Tampa, FL (June 21, 2011) – A yet unidentified component of coffee interacts with the beverage’s caffeine, which could be a surprising reason why daily coffee intake protects against Alzheimer’s disease. A new Alzheimer’s mouse study by researchers at the University of South Florida found that this interaction boosts blood levels of a critical growth factor that seems to fight off the Alzheimer’s disease process. […]