Alzheimer's & dementia

waltky · Feb 13, 2013

Cognitive decline linked to hearing loss...

Straining to Hear and Fend Off Dementia
February 11, 2013, At a party the other night, a fund-raiser for a literary magazine, I found myself in conversation with a well-known author whose work I greatly admire. I use the term conversation loosely. I couldnt hear a word he said. But worse, the effort I was making to hear was using up so much brain power that I completely forgot the titles of his books.

A senior moment? Maybe. (Im 65.) But for me, its complicated by the fact that I have severe hearing loss, only somewhat eased by a hearing aid and cochlear implant. Dr. Frank Lin, an otolaryngologist and epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, describes this phenomenon as cognitive load. Cognitive overload is the way it feels. Essentially, the brain is so preoccupied with translating the sounds into words that it seems to have no processing power left to search through the storerooms of memory for a response. Over the past few years, Dr. Lin has delivered unwelcome news to those of us with hearing loss. His work looks at the interface of hearing loss, gerontology and public health, as he writes on his Web site. The most significant issue is the relation between hearing loss and dementia.

In a 2011 paper in The Archives of Neurology, Dr. Lin and colleagues found a strong association between the two. The researchers looked at 639 subjects, ranging in age at the beginning of the study from 36 to 90 (with the majority between 60 and 80). The subjects were part of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. None had cognitive impairment at the beginning of the study, which followed subjects for 18 years; some had hearing loss. Compared to individuals with normal hearing, those individuals with a mild, moderate, and severe hearing loss, respectively, had a 2-, 3- and 5-fold increased risk of developing dementia over the course of the study, Dr. Lin wrote in an e-mail summarizing the results. The worse the hearing loss, the greater the risk of developing dementia. The correlation remained true even when age, diabetes and hypertension other conditions associated with dementia were ruled out.

In an interview, Dr. Lin discussed some possible explanations for the association. The first is social isolation, which may come with hearing loss, a known risk factor for dementia. Another possibility is cognitive load, and a third is some pathological process that causes both hearing loss and dementia. In a study last month, Dr. Lin and colleagues looked at 1,984 older adults beginning in 1997-8, again using a well-established database. Their findings reinforced those of the 2011 study, but also found that those with hearing loss had a 30 to 40 percent faster rate of loss of thinking and memory abilities over a six-year period compared with people with normal hearing. Again, the worse the hearing loss, the worse the rate of cognitive decline.

Both studies also found, somewhat surprisingly, that hearing aids were not significantly associated with lower risk for cognitive impairment. But self-reporting of hearing-aid use is unreliable, and Dr. Lins next study will focus specifically on the way hearing aids are used: for how long, how frequently, how well they have been fitted, what kind of counseling the user received, what other technologies they used to supplement hearing-aid use. What about the notion of a common pathological process? In a recent paper in the journal Neurology, John Gallacher and colleagues at Cardiff University suggested the possibility of a genetic or environmental factor that could be causing both hearing loss and dementia and perhaps not in that order. In a phenomenon called reverse causation, a degenerative pathology that leads to early dementia might prove to be a cause of hearing loss.

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Richard Powell · Feb 15, 2013

I have saw a movie in this context . This movie was pictured on life of Alzheimer patient and hos struggle for life. Through this I concluded that life with this disease is not possible specially with family man

waltky · Mar 11, 2013

Alzheimer's early diagnosis blood test...

Alzheimer's blood test could give early diagnosis
10 March 2013 - British researchers have developed a test to detect Alzheimer's disease in its earliest stages.

It works by looking for a combination of "markers" in the blood which are different in healthy people and those with the disease. Delegates at the Alzheimer's Research UK Conference heard that the University of Nottingham is now developing a quick and easy test to do in clinics. It could mean much earlier diagnosis and better treatments, they said. The test uses some proteins that have been strongly linked with Alzheimer's disease, such as amyloid and APOE. But through careful analysis of blood from people with the disease, as well as those with early-stage memory problems, the researchers detected some other markers that were suggestive of the disease. Most notably, some proteins related to inflammation seem to have been added to increase the power of the test.

Promising

Prof Kevin Morgan from the University of Nottingham said they still had to validate the test and it could be a decade before it was used in patients. But he added that the combination of markers they had found was looking very promising. "Our findings are exciting because they show that it is technically possible to distinguish between healthy people and those with Alzheimer's using a blood test. "As blood tests are a fast and easy way of aiding diagnosis, we are really encouraged by these findings and the potential they hold for the future." He said there were several ways the test could benefit patients, including giving people a definitive diagnosis, which was not always possible at the moment. It could also direct future therapies to make sure patients were getting the most appropriate treatment, he explained.

Screening

Potentially, it could be a "cheap and easy pre-screen" test which enabled Alzheimer's to be picked up before symptoms appeared, he said. "The way we see it working is you can test people and it will tell them if they have the all-clear, or if they are medium- or high-risk. "If they are medium-risk, they can be monitored closely and high-risk patients can be referred to a specialist for more in-depth testing." Dr Eric Karran, director of Research at Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "Giving people with dementia an accurate diagnosis is not always easy, and so building up our armoury of diagnostic techniques is vital. "While there is still some way to go before a test like this could become available, the results are promising. "When used alongside other diagnostic techniques, a blood test like this could be a real help."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21712349
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waltky · Mar 21, 2013

Uncle Ferd says dat'd be a good way to keep tabs on Granny when she goes out roamin'...

Sheriff proposes ankle monitors for Alzheimer's
Mar 20,`13 -- A northern Utah sheriff's office is floating a unique and unproven idea for keeping seniors with Alzheimer's disease and dementia safe: Give them ankle monitors normally used on criminals on house arrest or parole.

There are no shortage of private health care companies and law enforcement agencies around the country that offer tracking devices such as bracelets, necklaces or pocket-size locators that allow families to find loved ones who suffer from dementia and wander off. But the Davis County sheriff's proposal to strap seniors with the bulky ankle monitors - which most people associate with criminals on parole - appears to be a new one.

Deputy Sheriff Kevin Fielding said the agency announced the idea in a news release Tuesday so it could gauge public interest. Sheriff's officials know many options exist for families trying to keep their grandparents safe, but the agency already has the monitors and technology available through a private company it contract with for its inmates. "If grandma wanders off, we could find exactly where she is," Fielding said. "If we could bring a search to a close in 30 minutes in a winter like we had this year, that'd be a whole lot better than eight hours." Fielding said the ankle monitors also could be used for autistic children, or anyone at risk of wandering off.

The monitors would be voluntary and offered to residents for about $4 a day, or $120 a month. Police would monitor the person's movement only when the family contacts them. The county would make no money off the program, but it could cut costs by avoiding having to deploy numerous officers for long stretches to find people, Fielding said. Searches can require dozens of officers and the use of ATVs, snowmobiles and other equipment, and they easily cost tens of thousands of dollars. The idea would have to be approved by county commissioners. So far, nobody has expressed interest other than members of the media, Fielding said.

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waltky · Mar 24, 2013

Help for Alzheimer's care-givers at home...

Improving Quality of Life for Alzheimers Patients, Caregivers
March 23, 2013 As America's elderly population grows, so, too, does the need for specialized care for adults with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. A facility in Fairfax, Virginia, provides that care, and also supports the children and spouses who are the seniors' primary care-givers at home.

Linda Roberts' mother - like more than 5 million Americans - has Alzheimers. I went to visit her five years ago, found out some stuff was going on. I packed her up that weekend and took her home, said Roberts. She joined the more than 15 million family members and friends caring for someone with Alzheimers. Roberts said it has been devastating to watch her mother struggling with the incurable brain-wasting disease. Being her mother's sole caregiver, she added, also is daunting. Its extremely stressful being a full time caregiver-keeping my patience, trying to over and over repeat things that I need to get done. I think thats my frustration, she said.

Two years ago, Roberts found help at the Alzheimers Family Day Center, where adults with Alzheimers and dementia can spend the day in a supervised, enriching environment much like a daycare center for young children. The facility is open on weekdays from early in the morning to late in the afternoon. Its really given me time to do things during the day and pursue some hobbies or have some time to myself, said Howard Simmons, who began bringing his wife to the daycare center three years ago. She was diagnosed with Alzheimers in about (20)06. In about '07, '08, I was becoming quite frustrated because when youre the principal caregiver and they are home, youre doing everything. You know, I became the cook, the cleaner, he said.

The retired civil engineer said having his wife here every day eases his mind. He knows shes in a safe place, taken care of and well-fed. We serve breakfast, we serve lunch and two snacks a day, said Lisa Wright, the facility's program manager. She noted that the staff also provides a wide variety of activities that are therapeutic, and fun. We have an artist come in and do just specific art with small groups. We have musical therapy where we have a lady that brings in instruments and they all get to play the instruments. We have a physical therapist here two days a week," said Wright. "We have a ballroom dancer that comes in. I think that's probably the favorite. We do a lot of mind-challenging games. The other day I stepped in to do some activities and we focused on pairs, so we talked about what comes in pairs. So we do brain exercise type of activities, as well, said Wright.

Medical care also is available. We have a nurse practitioner that comes once a month. We have a fulltime nurse on staff. We can handle almost everything right here during those hours, said Wright. In addition, the center offers services for caregivers. We have a support group that they can come and just share with one another. We have an outreach and education. [If] there are issues at home, our social worker would go make a home visit and maybe some suggestions on how to make things easier, said Wright.

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waltky · Mar 28, 2013

$4 app helps Alzheimer's caregivers...

Mobile App Helps Alzheimers Caregivers
March 27, 2013 - Caring for someone with Alzheimers disease can be stressful. Patients with the degenerative brain condition have a host of medical needs that can require the services of numerous health care professionals. Even for the most organized caregiver, keeping track of all that medical information can be a challenge. Now a new piece of mobile software provides a helping hand.

Alzheimers disease, a form of dementia, is generally a condition of old age. Since people are living longer all over the world, the number of Alzheimers parents and grandparents in their 70s, 80s and 90s is expected to triple in some countries by the middle of the century. Increasingly, family members are being called upon to assist in the care of loved ones with Alzheimer's, a complex and difficult task that many people find themselves unprepared for. That is why the Hebrew Home, a privately-run geriatric care organization in Riverdale, New York, developed a new iPhone and iPad application called Balance.

The $4 App, which can be purchased online, offers caregivers helpful information about Alzheimers, including tips on getting a reliable diagnosis of the condition, recognizing its symptoms, and managing routine daily care of the Alzheimers patient, such as feeding, bathing and hygiene. Balance is the brainchild of Hebrew Home's program development director, David Pomeranz. He says the app also displays the latest news about research into the causes and treatment of Alzheimer's disease - all with the aim of helping those caring for Alzheimer's patients. "It is not easy and we hope this will make it a little easier for people," he said.

This undated image provided by Merck & Co., shows a cross section of a normal brain (right) and one of a brain damaged by advanced Alzheimer's disease

The Hebrew Home is a not-for-profit organization that provides care, mostly in community-based settings, to 75,000 patients with Alzheimers disease throughout the metropolitan New York City area. "We are dealing with their family members because as a philosophy, we feel that we need to care for the caregiver equally in our [response to the] care needs [of] the client themselves, since if the caregiver does not have the proper supports, they simply cannot be a caregiver," Pomeranz said.

He says the Balance software is designed to let the user organize medical and other information so they can easily keep tracks of the health status of their patient. It allows caregivers to manage doctors appointments in real time and share information with physicians on the patient's daily mood swings. As if to underscore that Alzheimer's is a global health issue, Pomeranz says the App is being downloaded by caregivers all over the world. "It has been interesting to see that we have had apps purchased [in countries] from Egypt to the Netherlands to Greece. It is like the United Nations every day, to see where people are buying this," he said. Pomeranz says software developers are working on a version of Balance for mobile devices using the Android operating system.

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waltky · Apr 4, 2013

Alzheimer's is the most expensive malady in the U.S...

Study: Dementia tops cancer, heart disease in cost
Apr 3,`13 > Cancer and heart disease are bigger killers, but Alzheimer's is the most expensive malady in the U.S., costing families and society $157 billion to $215 billion a year, according to a new study that looked at this in unprecedented detail.

The biggest cost of Alzheimer's and other types of dementia isn't drugs or other medical treatments, but the care that's needed just to get mentally impaired people through daily life, the nonprofit RAND Corp.'s study found. It also gives what experts say is the most reliable estimate for how many Americans have dementia - around 4.1 million. That's less than the widely cited 5.2 million estimate from the Alzheimer's Association, which comes from a study that included people with less severe impairment. "The bottom line here is the same: Dementia is among the most costly diseases to society, and we need to address this if we're going to come to terms with the cost to the Medicare and Medicaid system," said Matthew Baumgart, senior director of public policy at the Alzheimer's Association.

Dementia's direct costs, from medicines to nursing homes, are $109 billion a year in 2010 dollars, the new RAND report found. That compares to $102 billion for heart disease and $77 billion for cancer. Informal care by family members and others pushes dementia's total even higher, depending on how that care and lost wages are valued. "The informal care costs are substantially higher for dementia than for cancer or heart conditions," said Michael Hurd, a RAND economist who led the study. It was sponsored by the government's National Institute on Aging and will be published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia and the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Dementia also can result from a stroke or other diseases. It is rapidly growing in prevalence as the population ages. Current treatments only temporarily ease symptoms and don't slow the disease. Patients live four to eight years on average after an Alzheimer's diagnosis, but some live 20 years. By age 80, about 75 percent of people with Alzheimer's will be in a nursing home compared with only 4 percent of the general population, the Alzheimer's group says. "Most people have understood the enormous toll in terms of human suffering and cost," but the new comparisons to heart disease and cancer may surprise some, said Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the Institute on Aging. "Alzheimer's disease has a burden that exceeds many of these other illnesses," especially because of how long people live with it and need care, he said.

For the new study, researchers started with about 11,000 people in a long-running government health survey of a nationally representative sample of the population. They gave 856 of these people extensive tests to determine how many had dementia, and projected that to the larger group to determine a prevalence rate - nearly 15 percent of people over age 70. Using Medicare and other records, they tallied the cost of purchased care - nursing homes, medicines, other treatments - including out-of-pocket expenses for dementia in 2010. Next, they subtracted spending for other health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes or depression so they could isolate the true cost of dementia alone. "This is an important difference" from other studies that could not determine how much health care cost was attributable just to dementia, said Dr. Kenneth Langa, a University of Michigan researcher who helped lead the work.

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waltky · Apr 5, 2013

Diagnosing Alzheimer's earlier...

Early genetic markers of Alzheimer's risk identified
4 April 2013 - Genetic markers that could help highlight who is at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease have been identified by US scientists.

The research in Neuron identifies mutations that affect the build-up of certain proteins in the brain. High levels of these tau proteins increase the chance of having the disease. UK experts said the study could help understand the changes that occur in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Tangles of a kind of tau called phosphorylated tau (ptau) are a hallmark of the disease.

The brains of Alzheimer's patients - like the one on the left - are more shrunken than normal ones

One of the new gene variants identified by the Washington University School of Medicine team was also shown to be linked to a small increased risk of developing Alzheimer's and a greater risk of cognitive decline. The team used genetic information from more than 1,200 people, significantly larger than previous studies in this area. Dr Alison Goate, who led the study, said: "We anticipate that knowledge about the role of these genes in Alzheimer's disease may lead to the identification of new targets from therapies or new animal or cellular models of the disease.

Lifestyle 'plays a role'

UK experts said the study adds to the number of genetic markers that have been linked to the development of Alzheimer's disease. Dr Doug Brown, director of research and development at the Alzheimer's Society, said: "In discovering new genes that have a link to Alzheimer's, this robust study helps scientists to better understand the way the brain changes when dementia develops. "Research such as this may in the future help us to engineer treatments aimed at stopping such changes and therefore slowing or stopping the effects of dementia."

He added: "These new gene markers, as important as they are, are likely to be a few of many that might affect a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's. "However, it is important to stress that lifestyle factors also play a role, and research has shown that eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly, not smoking, and getting your blood pressure and cholesterol checked regularly are key ways to reduce your risk of dementia."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22025100
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waltky · Apr 6, 2013

Uncle Ferd says ya gotta do somethin' or Granny'd be takin' her clothes off inna front yard...

Majority of 'deprivation of liberty' cases unreported, says report
6 April 2013 - Limits placed on the freedom of people with dementia or brain injuries are not being properly recorded, according to a healthcare regulator.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said almost two-thirds of applications to restrict a person's liberty were not reported to it, as required by law. The CQC said it could signal a lack of understanding or compliance with the Mental Capacity Act. In some cases, patients had their freedom removed for months at a time. Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) are used when someone lacks the capacity to make decisions for themselves. Often, the safeguards allow a care worker to prevent someone with a mental disability or injury from leaving their care home, or to restrain them. Almost 12,000 applications were made to restrict people's liberty between April 2011 and March 2012, an increase of 57% in two years.

Visits 'restricted'

Frida Sullivan was moved by her daughter, Jayne, into a care home in Cheam, south-west London, in 2009. She hoped to be able to take her mother out on visits, sometimes back to her old house. "In less than a week of her being there, I was told visits had to be severely restricted because she was causing problems," Jayne Sullivan said. "The home blamed the outings and the visits, which I thought was ridiculous - they accepted her on those grounds. They said if I didn't do what I was told, they would kick her out." Ms Sullivan said the health trust and social workers took the side of the care home. "I had to do what I was told. I didn't know about Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, nor the Court of Protection. I suspect most people don't," she said. Three years after Frida was put in the home, the local government ombudsman found proper procedure - the DoLS - had not been followed. The care home declined to comment.

Regional variations 'concerning'

When a care home or hospital applies to use the safeguards, the outcome must be reported to the healthcare regulator so it can ensure they are being applied appropriately. But in England the CQC found only 37% of cases were properly recorded last year. As a result, around 7,000 people were deprived of their liberty in a way that did not follow procedure. The Welsh regulator is to start calculating a comparable figure from this year. Lawyers representing people with mental disabilities suspect the numbers may be far higher because some care homes and hospitals are restraining people without using the safeguards. Michael Furminger, a barrister specialising in community care law, said the possibility of people being deprived of their liberty without proper authority was worrying. He said: "There are probably thousands of cases where either the care home do not know what they are doing, or do know but still do not make the application. "At least if there is an application and a family is not happy, they can challenge it. But if there is a deprivation of liberty without authority, there is nothing to challenge."

Analysis by 5 live Investigates suggests someone in Leicestershire is more than 40 times more likely to be deprived of their liberty using the safeguards in the Mental Capacity Act than someone in Tower Hamlets. A spokesman for Tower Hamlets council, which made four applications, said it was reviewing its use of the safeguards in recognition of its low figures. Leicestershire County Council, which made 463 applications, said it was "proactive" in its safeguarding work. A spokesman for the authority said: "We see these figures as a validation of good practice being in place, with care home managers, hospital staff and other professionals." The Alzheimer's Society said the safeguards help protect human rights, but that it was concerned about the uneven use of them across the country.

More http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22026308
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waltky · Apr 23, 2013

possum wonderin' if the mouses have human memories?...

Human Stem Cells Restore Memory, Learning in Mice
April 22, 2013 - Scientists have successfully transplanted human stem cells into brain-damaged mice and helped them recover their memory and learning skills.

The study was carried out by Dr. Su-Chun Zhang, a professor of neuroscience and neurology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. According to the study, the implanted human stem cells transformed into two common types of neurons, GABA and cholinergic neurons. "These two neuron types are involved in many kinds of human behavior, emotions, learning, memory, addiction and many other psychiatric issues," said Zhang in a statement. For the experiment, Zhang treated the human stem cells with chemicals known to promote their development into nerve cells.

Scientists have successfully transplanted human stem cells into brain-damaged mice and helped them recover their memory and learning skills.

After receiving transplanted cells, the mice performed better in tests that measure learning and memory. One test in particular had the mice transverse a water maze, which challenged them to remember the location of a hidden platform in a pool. Zhang said the damage to the mice brains was done in an area called the medial septum, which connects to the hippocampus by GABA and cholinergic neurons and is fundamental to our ability to learn and remember. The transplanted cells were placed in the hippocampus. Once implanted, the cells began to respond to chemical directions from the brain and began to specialize to connect to the appropriate cells in the hippocampus.

Zhang said the process is akin to removing a section of telephone cable. If you can find the correct route, you could wire the replacement from either end, he added. While the study does provide some hope for future treatment to brain damaged humans, Zhang says the stem-cell therapy is unlikely to be the immediate benefit. "For many psychiatric disorders, you don't know which part of the brain has gone wrong," he said. The study was first published in the current issue of Nature Biotechnology.

Human Stem Cells Restore Memory, Learning in Mice
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waltky · Apr 30, 2013

Aluminum Useful, but Could Be Dangerous...

New Documentary Explores Aluminum's 'Dark Side'
April 29, 2013 - Aluminum is everywhere. From airplanes to cooking pans, this versatile, light-weight metal has been around for generations. And its many benefits have made life easier and more convenient for millions of people. But a new documentary portrays what the filmmaker describes as the "dark side" of aluminum.

Its in the cans we drink out of and in the products we like to cook with. Aluminum is everywhere, including in products that make us feel better, safer and cleaner. Like antacids, sunscreen and antiperspirants. But Austrian filmmaker Bert Ehgartner says theres another side to aluminum. It has a lot of good plus[es]. But there is also a dark side of this metal," he said. Ehgartner explores that alleged "dark side" in his new film, The Age of Aluminum. The documentary shows the mining and production of aluminum and its resulting impact on the environment.

One sees the mining of bauxite, an ore that contains a large amount of aluminum hydroxide, from a rainforest in Brazil. The film shows how large areas of rain forest have to be dug up in order to reach the bauxite. The toxic waste from aluminum production is then discarded over vast areas. And according to the film, the mining waste is apparently causing health problems for the nearby inhabitants who swim in the water, drink it and cook with it. The children complain of itchy skin and have developed blisters. The film also includes footage of a 2010 accident at a Hungarian aluminum factory.

Ehgartner says aluminum is also making people sick, in other ways - through the very products that make life more convenient, and safer, for so many. I was surprised, for example, when I found it in vaccines or when I found it in certain kinds of cosmetics and antiperspirants, even in foods. You find it everywhere," he said. Scientists in the film link aluminum found in those products to a wide variety of modern diseases, including breast cancer, Alzheimers, allergies and Autism.

Neuroscientist Dr. Christopher Shaw is particularly concerned about the link between aluminum, which can be found in drinking water and antacid medication, and Alzheimers, a fatal brain-wasting disease. Many researchers are beginning to accept that aluminum has some sort of role to play in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers. Whether it does in others is still an open question, but Alzheimers is really coming into focus and it's fairly clear that the body burden of aluminum from all the sources to which humans are exposed may be contributing to Alzheimer's Disease," he said.

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waltky · Jul 19, 2013

Uncle Ferd says Granny's mind is slippin' like a transmission inna rusty old Ford...

For Some, Mild Slips of Memory May Be Very Early Alzheimer's
July 17, 2013 For years, doctors have dismissed patients' worries about mild slips of memory as a normal part of aging. Now, as the focus in Alzheimer's research moves toward early diagnosis, researchers are looking for ways to tell whether some of these senior moments are an early sign of the disease.

The idea is so new that scientists can't even agree on what to call these memory complaints among people who are still cognitively normal. But experts gathered at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Boston say evidence is growing that it may be possible to couple certain patterns of memory lapses with genetic markers or changes in the brain and spinal fluid to better predict which individuals are displaying the earliest symptoms of Alzheimer's. Finding people who are just beginning to develop the disease is important as companies struggle to find treatments that can prevent or delay the disease. In the past 12 months, several high-profile clinical trials testing drugs in people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's failed to show a benefit. Scientists believe that may be because the drugs are being tried too late, when the disease has already killed off too many brain cells.

Last week, Eli Lilly and Co. announced it will start a new clinical trial of its experimental Alzheimer's drug solanezumab focusing only on patients with mild signs of the disease, after two late-stage studies of the treatment in people with more advanced disease failed to show a benefit. Dean Hartley, director of science initiatives at the Alzheimer's Association, said scientists are just beginning to quantify whether anecdotal reports of memory loss have any bearing on whether a person ultimately develops dementia. The difficulty is that many things can cause temporary memory slips, including sleeplessness, depression, stress and some medications. The question is which ones are indicative of underlying pathological changes, he said.

To study the problem, Dr. Rebecca Amariglio, a neurologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, took a sample of 189 clinically normal adults over age 65 and asked them questions about their memories. Researchers also did brain scans using a radioactive tracer that can detect the presence of a protein called beta amyloid that is believed to be an early sign of Alzheimer's disease. The team found that the people who reported the most trouble with their memories also had amyloid buildup in their brains. Subjective concerns may be an early indicator of Alzheimer's pathology, said Amariglio, who is presenting her findings at the Alzheimer's meeting this week. Questions used by the team covered a whole range of common memory issues, such as misplacing belongings or forgetting details of conversations. Such lapses can of course be just an artifact of people leading busy lives. The trick is sorting out which memory complaints are meaningful and which aren't.

Dr. Richard Kryscio, an expert in biostatistics at the University of Kentucky, has been tracking memory complaints in more than 1,000 cognitively healthy people in their 60s and 70s for more than a decade. People who sign up for the study visit the center once a year to take a battery of cognitive tests. Each person is asked whether he or she has noticed any decline in memory since the last visit. Kryscio reported results of the first 531 people at the Alzheimer's meeting. The group started the study at an average age of 73. Over the course of 10 years, more than half of study participants said they noticed a change in their memories. Among this group, individuals were also twice as likely to be diagnosed with dementia or a precursor to dementia called mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in follow-up visits as those who reported no change.

More http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-memory-alzheimers/1704137.html
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waltky · Jul 28, 2013

Now, where did I put my glasses?...

10 Drugs That May Cause Memory Loss
May 10, 2013 - Are you having trouble remembering things? One of these meds may be the problem

l For a long time doctors dismissed forgetfulness and mental confusion as a normal part of aging. But scientists now know that memory loss as you get older is by no means inevitable. Indeed, the brain can grow new brain cells and reshape their connections throughout life. Most people are familiar with at least some of the things that can impair memory, including alcohol and drug abuse, heavy cigarette smoking, head injuries, stroke, sleep deprivation, severe stress, vitamin B12 deficiency, and illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease and depression. But what many people don't realize is that many commonly prescribed drugs also can interfere with memory. Here are 10 of the top types of offenders.

Why they are prescribed: Benzodiazepines are used to treat a variety of anxiety disorders, agitation, delirium and muscle spasms, and to prevent seizures. Because benzodiazepines have a sedative effect, they are sometimes used to treat insomnia and the anxiety that can accompany depression.

Examples: Alprazolam (Xanax), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), clonazepam (Klonopin), diazepam (Valium), flurazepam (Dalmane), lorazepam (Ativan), midazolam (Versed), quazepam (Doral), temazepam (Restoril) and triazolam (Halcion).

How they can cause memory loss: Benzodiazepines dampen activity in key parts of the brain, including those involved in the transfer of events from short-term to long-term memory. Indeed, benzodiazepines are used in anesthesia for this very reason. When they're added to the anesthesiologist's cocktail of meds, patients rarely remember any unpleasantness from a procedure. Midazolam (Versed) has particularly marked amnesic properties.

Alternatives: Benzodiazepines should be prescribed only rarely in older adults, in my judgment, and then only for short periods of time. It takes older people much longer than younger people to flush these drugs out of their bodies, and the ensuing buildup puts older adults at higher risk for not just memory loss, but delirium, falls, fractures and motor vehicle accidents.

If you take one of these meds for insomnia, mild anxiety or agitation, talk with your doctor or other health care professional about treating your condition with other types of drugs or nondrug treatments. If you have insomnia, for instance, melatonin might help. Taken before bedtime in doses from 3 to 10 mg, melatonin can help to reestablish healthy sleep patterns. Be sure to consult your health care professional before stopping or reducing the dosage of any benzodiazepine. Sudden withdrawal can trigger serious side effects, so a health professional should always monitor the process.

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waltky · Aug 13, 2013

Mebbe dey should use pics of close family members...

Test of famous faces 'helps to spot early dementia'
12 August 2013 > Asking patients to identify pictures of famous people, such as Elvis Presley and Diana, Princess of Wales, may help spot early dementia, say researchers.

Doctors currently use simple mental agility tests to screen for the disease, but US experts believe a face recognition test should be used too. A small study in the journal Neurology found it could flag up the beginnings of one type of dementia in 30 patients. Trials are needed to see if it works for other forms of the disease. The research at Northwestern University in Chicago found that people with early onset primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a rare form of dementia, struggled to identify black and white prints of 20 famous people, including John F Kennedy, Albert Einstein and Martin Luther King. Participants were given points for each face they could name. If they could not name the face, they were asked to identify the famous person through description instead.

'Lot of nuances'

Compared with 27 dementia-free volunteers, the 30 participants with PPA scored poorly on the famous face test. While it is normal for anybody to forget a name or a face from time to time, failing to recognise someone as famous as Presley suggests there could be a deeper-rooted cause. Brain scans of the participants with PPA revealed loss of brain tissue in areas that deal with recognising faces. Lead author of the study Tamar Gefen said it would be useful to add the test to the others that doctors use to spot early dementia. She said: "It could be incorporated into a battery of tests for dementia. There are a lot of nuances and differences in dementia so it is good to use different tests." Doctors already screen by asking questions such as "What month and season is it?" The celebrity test would need to be adapted for the individual. Someone aged 45 might not be expected to recognise film stars from the 1930s, and a patient in their eighties might not be familiar with current pop stars, for example.

Dr Marie Janson, of Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "It's important to be able to give an accurate diagnosis for people with dementia so they can gain access to the right care and treatments, but the different forms of dementia can be difficult to identify. "Studies such as this could increase our understanding of the way the brain is affected by different forms of dementia, but we must invest in research if results like these are to be used to move towards better diagnosis." A spokeswoman for the Alzheimer's Society said: "Tests like this could help identify rarer forms of dementia which might otherwise be overlooked. "However, problems with facial recognition are not a symptom of all types of dementia, so more research is needed to see whether adaptations of this approach could have wider use."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23665502
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waltky · Aug 20, 2013

Copper suspected as possible cause of Alzheimer's...

Copper Implicated as a Possible Cause of Alzheimers Disease
August 19, 2013 > Scientists say copper may contribute to the development of Alzheimers disease, a degenerative brain disorder that causes dementia and eventually death.

Alzheimers disease is a leading cause of dementia worldwide in people ages 65 and older. According to the organization Alzheimer's Disease International, almost 36 million people were living with dementia globally in 2010, and the number is projected to rise to 115 million by 2050. Alzheimers is caused by the toxic accumulation of a protein called amyloid beta. Amyloid beta forms plaques in the brain that are the hallmark of the disease. But the mechanism underlying the collection of the protein is unknown.

Now, researchers have concluded that one of the main environmental triggers of Alzheimers disease appears to be copper, an important metal that is in meat, fruits and vegetables as well as drinking water. Copper plays an important role in nerve conduction, bone growth and hormone secretion. Rashid Deane is a professor of neurosurgery at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. According to Deane, copper accumulates in the brains of those with Alzheimers, contributing to the collection of beta amyloid, normally swept away in healthy individuals by a protein called LRP1, which Deane likens to a garbage truck. It looks like in the copper-dosed animals that are aging, the capacity to remove the toxin amyloid from the brain is reduced in these animals because there isnt so many garbage trucks to take it away," said Deane.

Researchers led by Deane fed copper-laced drinking water to mice for three months. Investigators found the copper in the blood stream made its way to the walls of capillaries that protect the brain from toxins, including copper. Over time, Deane says, the copper broke down the so-called blood-brain barrier that prevents harmful substances, such as copper, from entering and harming the brain. Researchers noted the same effect in human brain cells. The mystery is why copper collects in the brains of some individuals, potentially causing Alzheimers disease, and not in others.

Deane says those who develop Alzheimers are at risk because of genetics as well as their body's ability to prevent damage to cells. And then theres the impact of modern life. Humans live in different places sometimes over their lives, they eat things, they try different foods. And some people are very conscious in what they are eating now because they are wise about the composition of the food and they know the nutritional value of the food they are eating. So, that may be one variable component which may tend to explain why it develops," said Deane. Because copper is in everything, other researchers say trace amounts are unlikely to account for the epidemic of Alzheimer's disease. An article on copper's potential role in Alzheimer's disease is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

http://www.voanews.com/content/copp...ible-cause-of-alzheimers-disease/1732914.html
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New WHO Report Focuses on Mental Health
August 19, 2013 A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) argues that humanitarian emergencies offer opportunities for improving peoples lives through improving mental health services. The report is being released on World Humanitarian Day, August 19, in hopes of ensuring that those faced with emergencies can recover and rebuild their lives even better than before.

When conflicts and natural disasters trigger mental health problems, psychological help is needed, but usually is not available. Humanitarian agencies work hard to help people recover. But WHO found much of the support offered tends to be of short duration. Mark Van Ommeren of WHO's Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse noted that many people affected by catastrophic events have long-term problems and are in need of long-term help.

He said emergencies present an enormous opportunity to build back better health systems, especially mental health systems, which, according to WHO, are virtually nonexistant in low-and-middle income countries. Those systems would be for all people in need - people with new mental health problems and people with pre-existing mental health problems," Van Ommeren explained. "That is important because in many areas of the world, as you know, there are no mental health services. So, this is an opening. This is also very important because societies that go through major emergencies need to recover and mental health is essential for recovery of these events for the functioning of society, for the resilience of society.

Resident of Half Way Home, a government-run home for the mentally ill located inside a mental health hospital premise, sits on her bed in Mulleriyawa, on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka

WHO's 110-page report provides guidance for strengthening mental health systems after emergencies. It focuses on 10 cases, where countries have taken advantage of this opportunity. One nation the report cites is Sri Lanka. In the aftermath of the catastrophic 2004 Tsunami, it said the government created a new national mental health policy, which extends to most parts of the country.

Another example is that of Iraq. Dr. Van Ommeren said it is particularly appropriate to focus on Iraq since the WHO report is being issued on World Humanitarian Day, marking the 10th anniversary of the bombing of United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, which killed at least 22 people including UN Special Representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Iraq since 2004, has made substantial progress towards the creation of a mental health system-meaning that, making sure that people have access to mental health care," he said. "So, now over all these years about half of all the general practitioners--you can imagine it is a big country, there are a lot of general practitioners--about half of them have been trained in mental health. That brings mental health care closer to the people. Before that, most mental health care was only available in big cities, in asylums. The situation was much more negative. Now, it is more positive.

More http://www.voanews.com/content/new-who-report-focuses-on-mental-health/1732327.html
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waltky · Sep 6, 2013

Granny likes to play games - but sometimes she forgets how...

Video Game Boosts Brain Power of Older Adults
September 05, 2013 ~ Scientists have developed a video game for older adults that appears to improve their short-term memory and long-term focus. Seniors who play the so-called multi-tasking game develop neurological improvements rivaling those of 20-year-olds.

Peoples short and long-term cognitive abilities decline with each passing decade. But there is growing scientific evidence that the human brain, with the right stimulation, can be reprogrammed to counteract the effects of age. The latest research comes out of the University of California San Francisco, where researchers developed a video game for seniors called NeuroRacer. The game study involved more than a dozen 60 to 80-year-old participants, who were asked to maneuver a video-screen car at the same time that signs flashed in front of them on a screen. The signs were either relevant or irrelevant to the game play. The participants followed signs they deemed relevant and disregarded those they thought were unimportant.

Researchers began their investigation by measuring how well participants performed on one task and compared it to how well they did when a second task was added. Compared with young people who played the game once, study lead author Adam Gazzaley said in a telebriefing with reporters there was a striking improvement in multi-tasking after seniors practiced at home for one month. Before training, they had a 65 percent drop in performance when they do the two tasks versus one task. After training, they only had a 16 percent drop in performance. And thats better than the 20-year-olds that had a performance drop in the 27 percent range," said Gazzaley.

In this undated image provided by The Gazzaley Lab of the University of California, San Francisco, a study participant plays NeuroRacer in San Francisco.

Most striking to Gazzaley was that improvements in the seniors' brain power carried over for six months into other mental areas and without any additional game play... ..like sustained attention, which is vigilance, ability to hold your attention to something that is very boring and respond to it rapidly and accurately, that improved selectively in this group. And also working memory, their ability to hold something in mind for a short period of time and respond to it accurately and rapidly; that also improved," he said.

Although hes reluctant to endorse commercially available video games, Gazzaley says some shooter games that focus players attention on a particular target could have a similar benefit. Gazzeley says his lab is in the process of developing other video games for people with attention deficit disorder and depression. An article on a video game that boosts the brain power of older individuals is published in the journal Nature.

http://www.voanews.com/content/video-game-boosts-brain-power-of-older-adults/1744311.html
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Shooterman · Sep 6, 2013

My Mom had Alzheimers and on December 4, 1994, it killed her. It had taken her mind long before and living was just a rote for her. It is a insidious disease that I would never wish off on my worst enemy.

RPA1 · Sep 6, 2013

The Romans sweetened 'bad' wine with lead acetate, used some lead piping, some jewelry was made from lead and there were a few concoctions boiled in lead pots. Interestingly, lead was known to be poisonous at that time too. I guess they just thought it wasn't that bad.

waltky · Sep 19, 2013

Uncle Ferd already practicin' ju-jitsu fer when Granny goes completely goofy...

Rising Alzheimer's creates strain on caregivers
WASHINGTON (AP) -- David Hilfiker knows what's coming. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's so early that he's had time to tell his family what he wants to happen once forgetfulness turns incapacitating.

"When it's time to put me in an institution, don't have me at home and destroy your own life," said the retired physician, who is still well enough that he blogs about the insidious progress of the disease. "Watching the Lights Go Out," it's titled. Nearly half of all seniors who need some form of long-term care - from help at home to full-time care in a facility - have dementia, the World Alzheimer Report said Thursday. It's a staggering problem as the global population ages, placing enormous strain on families who provide the bulk of that care at least early on, and on national economies alike.

Indeed, cognitive impairment is the strongest predictor of who will move into a care facility within the next two years, 7.5 times more likely than people with cancer, heart disease or other chronic ailments of older adults, the report found. "It's astonishing," said Marc Wortmann, executive director of Alzheimer's Disease International, which commissioned the report and focused on the problems of caregiving. "What many countries try to do is keep people away from care homes because they say that's cheaper. Yes it's cheaper for the government or the health system, but it's not always the best solution." And dropping birth rates mean there are fewer children in families to take care of aging parents, too, said Michael Hodin of the Global Coalition on Aging. "Very shortly there will be more of us over 60 than under 15," he noted.

Today, more than 35 million people worldwide, including 5 million in the U.S., are estimated to have Alzheimer's. Barring a medical breakthrough, those numbers are expected to more than double by 2050. This week, the U.S. National Institutes of Health announced $45 million in new Alzheimer's research, with most of the money focused on finding ways to prevent or at least delay the devastating disease. The Obama administration had hoped to invest $100 million in new Alzheimer's research this year, a move blocked by the budget cuts known as the sequester. Overall, the nation has been investing about $400 million a year in Alzheimer's research.

But the disease's financial toll is $200 billion a year in the U.S. alone, a tab expected to pass $1 trillion by 2050 in medical and nursing home expenditures - not counting unpaid family caregiving. The world report puts the global cost at $604 billion. Thursday, families affected by Alzheimer's and aging advocates said it's time for a global push to end the brain disease, just like the world's governments and researchers came together to turn the AIDS virus from a death sentence into a chronic disease.

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Colonel K · Sep 19, 2013

waltky said: ↑

Aluminum Useful, but Could Be Dangerous...

New Documentary Explores Aluminum's 'Dark Side'
April 29, 2013 - Aluminum is everywhere. From airplanes to cooking pans, this versatile, light-weight metal has been around for generations. And its many benefits have made life easier and more convenient for millions of people. But a new documentary portrays what the filmmaker describes as the "dark side" of aluminum.
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There was a scare about aluminium in the late seventies, and though it's toxic, and one of many metals found in trace levels in the body, there's no conclusive evidence connecting aluminium intake and dementia. (of which Alzheimers Disease is one form)
British coal miners, at risk of silicosis from coal dust, would inhale "Macalpine's Powder" before a shift as a preventative measure, which effectively lined their lungs with powdered aluminium. Coal miners had no greater risk of dementia than the general population.

waltky · Sep 11, 2014

Mebbe dat diazepam Granny used to take is what makes her goofy?...

Anxiety and sleeping pills 'linked to dementia'
9 September 2014 ~ Long-term use of pills for anxiety and sleep problems may be linked to Alzheimer's, research suggests.

A study of older Canadian adults found that past benzodiazepine use for three months or more was linked to an increased risk (up to 51%) of dementia. NHS guidelines say the drugs should be used for eight to 12 weeks at most. The French-Canadian team says while the link is not definitive, it is another warning that treatments should not exceed three months. "Benzodiazepine use is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease," lead researcher, Sophie Billioti de Gage of the University of Bordeaux, France, and colleagues wrote in the BMJ. "Unwarranted long-term use of these drugs should be considered as a public health concern."

The class of drugs known as benzodiazepines is mainly used to treat anxiety or insomnia

The study involved about 2,000 cases of Alzheimer's disease in adults aged over 66 living in Quebec. All had been prescribed benzodiazepines. They were compared with about 7,000 healthy people of the same age living in the same community. While an increased risk was found in those on benzodiazepines, the nature of the link was unclear. Dr Eric Karran, director of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "This study shows an apparent link between the use of benzodiazepines and Alzheimer's disease although it's hard to know the underlying reason behind the link. "One limitation of this study is that benzodiazepines treat symptoms such as anxiety and sleep disturbance, which may also be early indicators of Alzheimer's disease."

Long-term use

Prof Guy Goodwin, president of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, said the findings "could mean that the drugs cause the disease, but is more likely to mean that the drugs are being given to people who are already ill". Dr James Pickett, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said with 1.5 million people in the UK being prescribed benzodiazepines at any one time, "evidence that their long-term use increases the risk of dementia is significant, and raises questions about their use".

Benzodiazepines are used to treat anxiety disorders and insomnia. Despite published guidance on their appropriate use for short-term management, inappropriate prescribing of the drugs is still a concern. Experts are calling for better monitoring of side-effects, particularly in older adults.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29127726
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Is working at night bad for you?
9 September 2014 ~ How much does working in the small hours harm the mind and body? Claudia Hammond investigates the evidence.

In some jobs, working the night shift is unavoidable. There are hospitals to run, planes to fly and shops to keep open as we move towards a 24-hour society. With careful planning and a bit of peace during the daytime, it is possible to work all night and still get eight hours sleep the follow day. Some people will even tell you they don’t mind and that they get used to working in this way. But can their bodies ever become fully accustomed to working to a clock turned upside down? And, more worryingly, is nocturnal labour bad for your health? There are two elements to these questions. One is about how we feel – our mental wellbeing. People are right to say they get used to shift work. There’s evidence that we cope with subsequent night shifts better than the first of a series, but some people find it much harder than others.

A Canadian study monitored the timing of the sleep, the light levels and the quantity of the sleep hormone melatonin produce by a small group of police officers as they embarked on a week of night shifts. Usually we release melatonin late in the evening when we start feeling tired and ready for bed. If you’ve adapted well to working nights, the peak will move to daytime instead. In this study, those whose pattern of melatonin production showed they had made that adjustment felt happier and more alert, as well as showing faster reaction times – but only 40% managed to make the switch. In a larger study of more than 3,000 police officers working shifts in Canada and the US, the consequences for those who were unable to adjust were clear, with 40% diagnosed with some kind of sleep disorder.

Even if you do feel OK, there’s also the question of whether your body could be suffering in the long-term. When it comes to assessing the physiological effects, one of the problems is differentiating between the impact that shift work might have on your lifestyle from the direct impact of working during the night. It is harder to eat healthily or to exercise regularly if you’re working shifts. Not only is a salad harder to obtain during the night, but it’s probably not what you feel like when you’re trying to keep yourself awake. This tempts people towards snacks and takeaways. Pizza and curry may be convenient and make you feel better, but of course eating them every night isn’t very healthy. There’s also less opportunity for exercise. While you might manage to drag yourself to the gym at the end of a day’s work, it’s that much harder to do that at the end of your shift if you’re already been up all night and are yearning for a nap.

Airline pilots were found to be happier on the days they were resting compared with those where they worked early or late shifts. Of course it’s not unusual to prefer your day off to the days you have to get up and go to work, regardless of the time. But the researchers also found that when the pilots worked the early shift they had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol on waking and produced more cortisol throughout the day. In the long-term, high levels are thought to be associated with an increased the risk of heart problems and high blood pressure.

More http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140909-is-working-at-night-bad-for-you
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waltky · Sep 15, 2015

Dat's why Granny takes her vitamin D...

Study: Vitamin D Supplements Might Slow Dementia
September 14, 2015 - Over the next 50 years, it's expected that Alzheimers disease and dementia will strengthen their grip on older adults worldwide. Researchers are studying vitamin D to see if it can slow the onset of dementia

Vitamin D comes from the sun and from some foods like nuts, lentils and fatty fish. Researchers have found that low levels of vitamin D could be related to dementia and Alzheimer's disease, one of the most common forms of dementia. Alzheimer's can be exhausting for caregivers and frightening to those who have it. "The worse thing that I found was I was getting lost in the car, not just forgetting where I was going - I wouldn't know where I was," said dementia sufferer, Chris Roberts.

The World Health Organization estimates that more than 47 million people suffer from dementia, with about 60 percent of them in low- and middle-income countries - countries with the least ability to cope. U.S. researchers studied older adults and measured both their vitamin D levels and their cognitive ability: that is, the ability to remember things and to process thoughts. Some of the subjects had outright dementia, some had mild cognitive impairment and some had what we would call normal cognitive functioning, said Dr. Joshua Miller of Rutgers University.

The researchers found that about 60 percent of the group was low in vitamin D. Those who had dementia also had lower vitamin D status than those who had mild cognitive impairment or who had normal cognitive functioning, Miller said. Those low in vitamin D showed more short-term memory loss, as well as less ability to organize thoughts, prioritize tasks and make decisions. They were declining about two-and-a-half times faster than those who had adequate vitamin D, Miller said.

While this study shows that vitamin D seems to play a role in slowing the onset of dementia, more studies are needed to see if vitamin D supplements can help slow this decline. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

http://www.voanews.com/content/study-says-vitamin-d-might-slow-dementia/2964161.html
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waltky · Nov 3, 2015

'Face blindness' test developed...

Test to diagnose 'face blindness'
3 Nov.`15 - Scientists have come up with a questionnaire they say should help diagnose a condition called face blindness.

Prosopagnosia, as doctors call it, affects around two in every 100 people in the UK and is the inability to recognise people by their faces alone. In its most extreme form, people cannot even recognise their family or friends. Milder forms, while still distressing, can be tricky to diagnose, which is why tests are needed. People with prosopagnosia often use non-facial cues to recognise others, such as their hairstyle, clothes, voice, or distinctive features. Some may be unaware they have the condition, instead believing they have a "bad memory for faces". But prosopagnosia is entirely unrelated to intelligence or broader memory ability.

One [anonymous] person with prosopagnosia explains: "My biggest problem is seeing the difference between ordinary-looking people, especially faces with few specific traits. "I work at a hospital with an awful lot of employees and I often introduce myself to colleagues with whom I have worked several times before. I also often have problems recognising my next-door neighbour, even though we have been neighbours for eight years now. She often changes clothes, hairstyle and hair colour. When I strive to recognise people, I try to use technical clues like clothing, hairstyle, scars, glasses, their dialect and so on."

Doctors can use computer-based tests to see if people can spot famous faces and memorise and recognise a set of unfamiliar faces. And now Dr Pundit Shah and colleagues at University College London have come up with a 20-item questionnaire to help measure the severity of someone's face blindness. Each question is scored out of five, giving a total score of up to 100, but the abridged version below, created with the help of Dr Shah, gives a score out of 50.

Take the test
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Online brain training 'helps older adults with everyday tasks'
3 November 2015 - Brain training - playing online games that give memory and reasoning skills a workout - is beneficial for older people, a large-scale study has concluded.

Researchers at King's College London found the mental exercises kept minds sharp and helped people with everyday skills such as shopping and cooking. Nearly 7,000 people aged 50 and over signed up for the six-month experiment, launched by BBC TV's Bang Goes The Theory. Longer studies are now beginning.

Brain training

The volunteers were recruited from the general population by a partnership between the BBC, the Alzheimer's Society and the Medical Research Council. As far as the investigators were aware, none had any problems with memory or cognition when they signed up to the experiment. Some of the volunteers were encouraged to play online brain training games for 10 minutes at a time, as often as they wished. The others - the control group - were asked to do simple internet searches.

The researchers tested the subjects on a series of medically recognised cognitive tests at baseline and then again at three months and six months to see if there was any detectable difference between the groups. The researchers found after six months, those who played "brain training" games for reasoning and problem-solving kept their broader cognitive skills better than those who did not. The benefit appeared to kick in when people played the games at least five times a week. And people over 60 who played these games reported better scores for carrying out essential everyday tasks, the Journal of Post-acute and Long Term Care Medicine reports.

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waltky · Jan 24, 2016

New way to predict dementia...

Data from routine checkups used to predict dementia
Jan. 22, 2016 - An algorithm based on the data can be used to help doctors rule out risk for developing dementia within five years

Information collected by doctors at basic checkups can be used to accurately predict risk for developing dementia, according to researchers at University College London. The researchers developed an algorithm, called the Dementia Risk Score, they say can help rule out patients at very low risk for dementia-related conditions such as Alzheimer's disease within five years. "The score could be especially useful for identifying people at a very low risk of dementia, as recorded by their general practitioner," Dr. Kate Walters, a primary care and population health researcher at University College London, said in a press release. "This could help general practitioners working with people who are anxious about developing dementia."

Researchers at University College London said an algorithm predicting dementia risk would need to be adjusted for other populations, because the initial version they designed is based entirely on medical records of people in England.

For the study, published in BMC Medicine, researchers used data collected from general practices in The Health Improvement Network database in England, selecting 930,395 patients from 377 practices between the ages of 60 and 95 who did not have dementia to build the algorithm. The algorithm is based on four variables as possible predictors of dementia: socio-demographic factors such as age and sex; health and lifestyle elements such as alcohol use and BMI; medical diagnoses; and prescription medication use. The variables were then checked against medical records of the selected patients for dementia diagnoses within a five-year follow-up period from the start of the THIN study. The algorithm was then validated with another 264,224 patients from 95 other practices.

Researchers found that for people ages 60 to 79, the algorithm performed well, while it was less accurate for people between ages of 80 and 95. At a low threshold of risk for dementia, the algorithm had a sensitivity of 78 percent and specificity of 73 percent. But at risk thresholds of 2 percent or higher, the algorithm had a higher specificity of 85 percent but much lower sensitivity of 58 percent -- which researchers said is similar to previous prediction models based on cohort studies. "Before this score is widely used we would recommend that it is independently tested in further populations of people, and that the ethical implications of using it in practice are considered," Walters said.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2016...-predict-dementia/1261453486175/?spt=slh&or=4
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waltky · Feb 14, 2016

Sounds like Granny at times...

Loss for words can be a rare brain disorder, not Alzheimer's
14 Feb.`16 | WASHINGTON (AP) A mysterious brain disorder can be confused with early Alzheimer's disease although it isn't robbing patients of their memories but of the words to talk about them.

It's called primary progressive aphasia, and researchers said Sunday they're finding better ways to diagnose the little-known syndrome. That will help people whose thoughts are lucid but who are verbally locked in to get the right kind of care. "I'm using a speech device to talk to you," Robert Voogt of Virginia Beach, Virginia, said by playing a recording from a phone-sized assistive device at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "I have trouble speaking, but I can understand you." Even many doctors know little about this rare kind of aphasia, abbreviated PPA, but raising awareness is key to improve care and because a new study is underway to try to slow the disease by electrically stimulating the affected brain region.

Robert Voogt uses the communication device MiniTalk to answer questions during a news conference in Washington, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016. Voogt cannot speak because he suffers from primary progressive aphasia, a brain disorder sometimes confused with Alzheimer's.

PPA wasn't identified as a separate disorder until the 1980s, and while specialists estimate thousands of Americans may have it, there's no good count. Families may not even seek care because they assume a loved one's increasingly garbled attempts to communicate are because of age-related dementia, said Dr. Argye Elizabeth Hillis of Johns Hopkins University. Often, it's when those people reach neurologists who realize they aren't repeating questions or forgetting instructions that the diagnosis emerges. "Nobody's talking to them, nobody's involving them. It's very sad," said Dr. Margaret Rogers of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Yet for many, "they can handle their own finances, they can drive, they can appreciate music. There's a lot that still works for them."

Dr. Argye Elizabeth Hillis of John Hopkins Hospital, with her patient Robert Voogt, left, speaks to The Associated Press during an interview in Washington, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016. Voogt suffers from primary progressive aphasia, a brain disorder. Families may not even seek care because they assume a loved one's increasingly garbled attempts to communicate are because of age-related dementia, said Hillis.

Speech and language are hugely complex. Just to speak requires activating 100 muscles between the lungs and lips to produce at least 14 distinct sounds per second, said Dr. Joseph Duffy of the Mayo Clinic. Stroke or brain injury patients often have trouble making sounds or retrieving words. PPA occurs for a different reason, because the brain regions that control language become diseased and degenerate, resulting in communication difficulties that may mimic broader dementia. Special MRI scans can tell the difference, Hillis said. They also can help identify whose aphasia will worsen faster, and who has a subtype that can morph to become Alzheimer's-like, where they eventually do lose memory and the ability to understand language.

[center][img]http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/20nxqoCmIy_eUZxXT5DWxw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3NfbGVnbztmaT1maWxsO2g9Njc1O2lsPXBsYW5lO3B5b2ZmPTA7cT03NTt3PTk2MA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/e9490d8b2a5b7508900f6a7067000bd5.jpg
Dr. Argye Elizabeth Hillis of John Hopkins Hospital, talks to her patient Robert Voogt, left, as she speaks to The Associated Press during an interview in Washington, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016. Voogt suffers from primary progressive aphasia, a brain disorder. Families may not even seek care because they assume a loved one's increasingly garbled attempts to communicate are because of age-related dementia, said Hillis.[/center]

Standard language therapy has patients match pictures to the correct word, to keep the wiring involved as active as possible. Now, Hillis' team is testing if a kind of brain stimulation that sends electrical signals through the skull can rev up the effects of that treatment. In the first 19 patients tested, people did better retrieving the right words for about two months after receiving the electrical stimulation than when they received sham zaps with their regular therapy, Hillis reported Sunday. They were more able to name objects they hadn't practiced, and brain scans showed better connectivity in the affected region. But it will take far more study to prove if the treatment produces lasting effects, she cautioned.

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