People who have Down syndrome are living longer than ever before, and a significant number of them will go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease. This article explores the connection between these two disorders, and provides a summary of interventions that may help people who have both conditions.
Wandering in Alzheimer's and dementia patients is more complicated than you think: Caregiver SOS
I came over to say “hi” to my mom who has Alzheimer’s and found her standing on the corner. Mom said she was on her way to the corner store. There is no store close by! Is this the wandering I feared?
No Wanderlust
Most people have heard of dementia and wandering. Wandering is a complicated concept, as it is a term that conjures up someone aimlessly walking around and potentially getting into trouble. The latter part is true, it is potentially dangerous, but it often happens for a reason.
Sauna Bathing Reduces Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease
A new study, published online in the journal Age and Ageing, found a strikingly large protective effect for regular sauna bathing. Researchers found that men who regularly used the sauna were far less likely to develop dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Compared to men who went to the sauna once per week or less, men who bathed in the sauna 2-3 times per week were 22% less likely to develop dementia and 20% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Men who frequented the sauna 4-7 times a week were 66% less likely to develop dementia and 65% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Put another way, those who went to the sauna only once per week were three times as likely to develop dementia or Alzheimer’s disease than those who went almost every day.
From Psychedelics To Alzheimer's, 2016 Was A Good Year For Brain Science
With a president-elect who has publicly supported the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism, suggested that climate change is a hoax dreamed up by the Chinese, and appointed to his Cabinet a retired neurosurgeon who doesn't buy the theory of evolution, things might look grim for science.
Yet watching Patti Smith sing "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" live streamed from the Nobel Prize ceremony in early December to a room full of physicists, chemists and physicians — watching her twice choke up, each time stopping the song altogether, only to push on through all seven wordy minutes of one of Bob Dylan's most beloved songs — left me optimistic.
Artificial Intelligence For Early Alzheimer’s Detection
A handful of startups are employing artificial intelligence technologies and big data in an attempt to diagnose dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. The effort could lead to better interventions and even therapeutic drugs if it becomes possible to detect cognitive decline before it really starts.
The benefits to society – not to mention market potential – for the early detection of dementia anId Alzheimer’s disease are huge. According to the World Health Organization, there were 47.5 million people worldwide with dementia in 2015, with 7.7 million new cases each year. The total number of people with dementia is projected to reach 75.6 million in 2030 and almost triple by 2050 to 135.5 million. There are nearly 500 open studies on Alzheimer’s disease alone, according to ClinicalTrials.gov.
Alzheimer's and dementia patients benefit from MemoryWell digital storytelling project
Australian Graham Newton-Small used to drive Winston Churchill around London between his shifts as a barman in Earl's Court.
He also spent 20 years working for the United Nations in Africa, grew up in regional NSW and loved watching MASH and listening to The Beatles.
But none of the dementia care nurses working with him every day would have known that about him, if it were not for his daughter Jay Newton-Small.
Study Urges Training Radiologists to Detect Elder Abuse
Although radiologists are highly trained to detect cases of potential child abuse, very few have received either formal or informal instruction in detecting elder abuse.
And while spotting abuse in older people tends to be a much more complicated task, many radiologists express a desire for more training in this area, according to a new study.
“Radiologists are a core part of the medical team in child abuse cases, so why shouldn’t they be a core part of the team in elder abuse?” said Dr. Tony Rosen, study coauthor and emergency physician at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York.
Keep Your Brain Healthy, Lower the Risk of Alzheimer’s
More than 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive, incurable condition that robs them of their memory and often changes their very personality.
A new documentary airing on PBS at 10 p.m. Eastern time on Jan. 25 examines the disease and what will be needed to confront it.
Alzheimer’s: Every Minute Counts, produced by Twin Cities PBS (the parent of Next Avenue), features interviews with doctors, researchers and caregivers. The focus is on the urgent need for more research, especially as the large boomer generation ages.
Who Should Assess the Needs of and Care for a Dementia Patient’s Caregiver?
Abstract
Using a clinical case example, we examine whether health and human service professionals have a moral obligation to assess and address the needs of family caregivers of persons with dementia and, if so, the challenges in doing so under current health care and reimbursement mechanisms. We also discuss specific strategies for involving caregivers.
Three things I learned taking care of my elderly parents
During the last five or six years, as my elderly parents were overtaken by illness and disease, our roles reversed from when I was a child. I became their caretaker, which included navigating our health care system.
My parents had a host of ailments, but principally for my mother, a 50-year smoker, it was a chronic, progressive lung disease. For my father, it was Lewy body dementia, which shares some symptoms with Parkinson’s disease, such as tremors and problems with walking or balance.
Despite failed trials, experts believe we'll have an Alzheimer's drug by 2025
The results of recent trials that tested much-anticipated Alzheimer's disease drugs dashed the hopes of patients with the debilitating condition. The most recent disappointment came from the large trial for solanezumab, by Eli Lilly, announced last month.
But experts across the field say hope is not lost. They believe we will have some form of drug against the disease by 2025, albeit most likely a pilot version that will need to be upgraded.
This former journalist helps caregivers get to know who their patients once were, before dementia took hold
Three years ago, when Jay Newton-Small moved her father into a care facility in Sykesville, Md., she was given a 20-page questionnaire to fill out. Her father had Alzheimer’s disease, and his fading memory and agitated behavior made it hard for caregivers to understand his needs. But as Newton-Small leafed through the lengthy form, she had a hunch that it was not the best approach.
“I was like, ‘You’re never going to have time to read 20 pages on each patient,” said Newton-Small, a District resident who was a reporter for Time magazine. So, at the risk of the staff thinking she was “weird,” she offered to use her professional skills to write her father’s story for them — including the bit about how he was once a part-time driver for Winston Churchill and how he liked to amble around the cypress trees and lavender fields in the south of France, where he had a country home.