Stroke rates were similar for both groups, but hypotension and renal dysfunction were more common among ACE inhibitor-treated patients. Based on the results, the authors concluded that ACE inhibitors should be routinely used long term in all eligible high-risk patients. In a second report, the effects of losartan, an angiotensin II blocker, were compared with captopril, an ACE inhibitor, in 3,152 elderly heart failure patients. However, fewer patients taking losartan discontinued their treatment because of side effects or because of cough than did captopril patients, though worsening heart failure rates, blood pressure lowering, and heart rates did not differ between the two groups. The disease often begins with mild memory complaints and gradually progresses to dementia, which is a deterioration of most mental abilities including memory, language and higher intellectual functions.
Victims eventually become bedridden, requiring total care.
According to an article published in this month's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it has been shown that adults carrying an Alzheimer's disease gene show significant decline in brain function over a two-year period, even without symptoms of the disease. PET scans measure brain activity by revealing the amount of glucose metabolized throughout the brain. Unlike other brain imaging techniques, PET can differentiate Alzheimer's disease from the normal effects of aging. Results of the initial PET scans revealed that the group carrying the Alzheimer's gene had significantly lower function in the parietal and temporal regions of the brain, compared with the group without the APOE-4 gene. The group without the Alzheimer's gene demonstrated decline only in the frontal cortex, located in the front of the brain, which was consistent with normal aging.