Dynamic SQLite ListView onUpdate greys out all items

I have an Activity which goes through the normal procedures.

        databaseHelper = new AppDatabaseHelper(this ); //openOrCreateDatabase(Constants.NAME, 1, null);
        database = databaseHelper.getWritableDatabase();

        // select columns[] from table order by sentdate desc
        cursor = database.query(AppDatabaseHelper.MAIL_TABLE, columns, null, null, null, null, AppDatabaseHelper.C_MAIL_SENTDATE + " DESC");

        // Does the displaying work //
        cursorAdapter = new SimpleCursorAdapter(this, R.layout.mail_element, cursor, col开发者_C百科umns, columnsMap);
        lv.setAdapter( cursorAdapter );

My problem is when the list gets refreshed, the dataset observer does not fire, and executing this code from a timer to ensure it is working causes all elements in the listview to become greyed out, or 50ish% invisible.

               Log.d(Constants.TAG, "MailActivity > List changed!");
               CursorAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();

               cursor = database.query(AppDatabaseHelper.MAIL_TABLE, columns, null, null, null, null, AppDatabaseHelper.C_MAIL_SENTDATE + " DESC");;
               cursorAdapter = new SimpleCursorAdapter(context, R.layout.mail_element, cursor, columns, columnsMap);

               lv.setAdapter( cursorAdapter );

Does anyone have an idea why these elements are turning grey when the list is updated? When I exit the activity and re-open it, it shows up fine again.

Solved, I had to change the cursor, instead of re-doing the adapter!

Log.d(Constants.TAG, "MailActivity > List changed!");
cursorAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();

cursor = database.query(AppDatabaseHelper.MAIL_TABLE, columns, null, null, null, null, AppDatabaseHelper.C_MAIL_SENTDATE + " DESC");;
cursorAdapter.changeCursor( cursor );

lv.setAdapter( cursorAdapter );