Two minute slideshow of people living in an Alzheimer’s facility in Orange County. This project was done for the 2005 OCC Social Issues Documentary Photography Scholarship by Mary Amor.
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Cynthia Lemere of Harvard Medical School shares her findings on the link between inflammation and Alzheimer’s disease. Series: “Inflammation as Cause and Consequence of Disease” [1/2008] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 13576]
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The Cardiac Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Recognizes Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) Awareness Week
Philadelphia, Pa. (Vocus/PRWEB) February 08, 2011
More than one million children and adults in the U.S. are living today with congenital heart defects and are an incredible example of the power of the advances in surgical and medical care and research efforts. As a family member or friend of a child or adult with a congenital heart defect (CHD), you have an incredible story to share.
The Cardiac Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia kicks off Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week and invites families and individuals whose lives have been touched by congenital heart disease to advocate, fundraise and share your personal story to raise awareness of congenital heart disease and support research efforts at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. A specialized toolkit has been developed to help families and individuals become CHD Champions.
This advocacy toolkit includes tips on how to raise awareness about CHD by sharing your story or fundraiser with the media, reaching out to legislators or writing an editorial for your local newspaper. The toolkit was developed to partner with our families and the larger community to make a difference in raising awareness about congenital heart disease.
“Awareness and funding of CHD is vital to the development of new and better treatments and to continue to search for the causes of congenital heart disease,” said Robert Shaddy, M.D., chief of the division of Cardiology at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia “Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week brings pediatric issues to the forefront, and I invite everyone to partner with the Cardiac Center to raise awareness that children’s heart issues are extremely important.”
The Cardiac Center is one of the largest centers in the world dedicated to caring for patients of all ages with CHD with 24,000 outpatient visits, 1,500 inpatient admissions, more than 1,000 cardiac catheterizations and more than 900 surgical procedures annually. The Cardiac Center offers the most cutting-edge surgical and interventional treatments available for children with heart defects, many of which have been pioneered by CHOP physician-scientists.
Babies who are prenatally diagnosed with a congenital heart defect may be delivered in the Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit, the world’s first delivery unit exclusively for babies with congenital conditions.
The Cardiac Center staff is a team composed of pediatric and adult cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, pediatric cardiac anesthesiologists, cardiac nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, social workers, respiratory therapists, child life specialists, operating room technicians and many others who are dedicated exclusively to providing a continuum of care for patients of all ages with CHD, fetus through adult.
Join Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in recognizing Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week, February 7-14, 2011.
Become a CHD Champion. Make a difference. Visit heart.chop.edu for the tool kit and more information.
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Dr. Miguel Pappolla
(PRWEB) March 9, 2010
A new study from scientists in the United States and Spain has found that a mutation in a gene causing a common hereditary form of high blood cholesterol is associated with “mild cognitive impairment” (MCI), a precursor stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Worldwide, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia affecting elderly individuals. It is usually preceded by a period characterized mainly by memory deficits known as MCI. The study will be published in the March issue of the American Journal of Medicine.
Leading the study were Dr. Miguel Pappolla and Dr. Kumar Sambamurti from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and Dr. Daniel Zambon from the University of Barcelona in Spain. Their groups of scientists examined memory and other brain functions in a group of patients with familial hypercholesterolemia, a hereditary condition caused by a mutation in the low density lipoprotein receptor, a protein involved in the transport of cholesterol into cells. Patients with familial hypercholesterolemia showed a very high incidence of MCI (21 percent) when compared with age-matched individuals without the disease (2.9 percent).
For almost a decade, it has been suspected that individuals with high blood cholesterol during mid-life may carry a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. However, the evidence for this association was controversial and the mechanisms unknown. Although non-hereditary forms of Alzheimer’s disease do not show this type of mutation, the recent finding, says Pappolla, is of paramount importance as it points to a defect on the cholesterol transport systems underlying the risk of developing MCI.
For more information about this study and its findings, contact Miguel Pappolla, MD, PhD.
Contact:
Miguel Pappolla, MD, PhD.
228-219-7246
DrP(at)stmichaelclinics(dot)com
www.SMPSclinic.com
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Although there is no cure for the degenerative brain disorder known as Alzheimer’s, the good news is that modern medicine can help slow the disease’s progression.Watch More Health Videos at Health Guru: www.healthguru.com
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Alzheimers Disease
Get paid 60% of every sale. Easy money for you with high converting sales page by pro copywriter. Plus, we are constantly improving copy and your conversions with split-testing.
Alzheimers Disease
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Alzheimer’s disease ? Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Prognosis and Latest Treatment
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that occurs gradually and results in memory loss, behavior changes, and a decline in cognitive abilities. These losses are related to the death of brain cells and the breakdown of the connections between them.
The risk of developing AD increases with age. While it may be that 10% of the population aged over-65 has AD, the percentage of people aged 85 and older with AD is greater than 50 percent! (Table 1) On average, patients with AD live for 8 to 10 years after they are diagnosed, though the disease can last for up to 20 years.
Table 1. Percentage of people affected by Alzheimer’s disease
(Source: Progress Reports on Alzheimer’s Disease 2001)
AD advances by stages, from early, mild forgetfulness to a severe loss of mental function. This loss is called dementia. In most people with AD, symptoms first appear after age 60. The earliest symptoms often include loss of recent memory, faulty judgment, and changes in personality. Often, people in the initial stages of AD think less clearly and forget the names of familiar people and common objects.
Later in the disease, they may forget how to do simple tasks, such as washing their hands. Eventually, people with AD lose all reasoning ability and become dependent on other people for their everyday care. Finally, the disease becomes so debilitating that patients are bedridden and likely to develop other illnesses and infections. Most commonly, people with AD die from pneumonia.
It is estimated that up to 4 million people currently suffer with the disease and the prevalence doubles every 5 years beyond age 65. (Table 2) It is also estimated that approximately 360,000 new cases will occur each year, though this number will increase as the baby boomers are entering their 50′s.
Table 2. Estimation of Alzheimer’s Disease Patients in the U.S. (1998-2020)
Source: Volpe Brown Whelen & Co.
A number of research groups have examined differences in AD prevalence among racial and ethnic groups. Women are slightly more likely to develop AD than men and non-Caucasians (African Americans and Hispanic Americans) have a higher risk of developing AD than Caucasians.
Causes and Treatments
In general, clinical assessment is done by a family physician (PCP). If the diagnostic test, usually Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE), points to Alzheimer’s disease, then the patient is referred to a neurologist who will then conduct the entire panel of diagnostic tests to confirm the disease. The neurologist may then work with a psychiatrist, geriatricians, pharmacist and social worker to develop a treatment protocol for the patients.
For those who are already suffering from the effects of AD, the most immediate need is to control their symptoms, including problem behaviors such as verbal and physical aggression, agititaion, wandering, depression, sleep disturbances, and delusions.
Currently, the FDA approved four medications for treating AD. All these products act by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, which breaks down acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that is important in maintaining cognitive functioning and is lost in patients with AD.(Table 3) These products, however, only provide symptomatic relief on cognitive symptoms and do not stop or reverse the progression of AD. When the disease progresses to a certain stage (usually 2 years), its therapeutic effects disappear and the drugs have to be withdrawn from the patients. Nevertheless, its temporary efficacy has been proven to delay nursing home placement and to reduce deterioration of cognitive performance.
Table 3. Selected product comparison of the Alzheimer’s disease category
Cognex®
Cognex® (tacrine) is the first reversible cholineseterase inhibitor drug approved for improving cognitive symptoms (i.e., memory, attention, reason, language, and the ability to perform simple tasks) associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
The use of Cognex® has been limited by its liver toxicity and an inconvenient dosing schedule. It has been reported that 50% of patients taking Cognex® experienced liver toxicity. As a result, patients on Cognex® require periodic liver function tests to monitor their liver enzyme level.
Furthermore, Cognex® has a cumbersome dosing schedule. While other cholinesterase inhibitors are required to be taken once or twice a daily, Cognex® has to be administered four times daily on an empty stomach.
Aricept®
Aricept® (donepezil) was the second cholinesterase inhibitor approved by the FDA for the treatment of mild to moderate dementia of the Alzheimer’s type.
Unlike the first generation cholinesterase inhibitor, Cognex®, Aricept® has a higher potency and lower incidence of peripheral adverse effect. In clinical studies, Aricept® has been demonstrated to improve memory, language and praxis (the performance of an action). Furthermore, Aricept® has not been associated with liver toxicity which was a major concern among physicians prescribing the first generation cholinesterase inhibitor.
Even though Aricept® has a convenient dosing schedule (the only once-daily chlolinesterase inhibitor) and better tolerability than other products such as Exelon®, it does not offer any significant additional clinical benefits compared with other cholinesterase inhibitors. All the existing cholinesterase inhibitor possess similar efficacy and none of them alter the long-term prognosis of Alzheimer’s disease. As a result, patients who have started taking Aricept® 2 to 4 years ago may experience reduced efficacy and may be required to switch to other drugs. In fact, a recent study demonstrated that 56% of AD patients who have previously failed to benefit from Aricept®, responded to Exelon®.
The initial recommended dose is 5 mg daily before bedtime, with an increase to 10 mg after four to six weeks, according to the patient’s response and tolerance.
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Alert issued for missing Apopka man with Alzheimer’s disease
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office today issued an alert for a 71-year-old Apopka man who is missing and without his medication for Alzheimer’s disease.
Read more on Orlando Sentinel
Boomers face the frightening world of Alzheimer’s disease
NEWBURGH — Baby boomers have another hurdle to face — Alzheimer’s disease.
Read more on Middletown Times Herald-Record
Alzheimer’s research update
Alzheimer’s disease researchers have been working for a while with a small, sticky protein fragment, beta amyloid, that clumps into balls in the brains of patients with this degenerative neurological disease. It is a normal protein that is present in every normal brain but in Alzheimer’s it starts to accumulate into these balls or plaques. On buildup of amyloid symptoms of the disease appear.
Read more on News-Medical-Net
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A daughter’s perspective upon learning that her mother has Alzheimer’s Disease.
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Walking may slow cognitive decline in adults with MCI, Alzheimer’s disease
Walking may slow cognitive decline in adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as in healthy adults, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Read more on News-Medical-Net
Perhaps you’ve witnessed close friends or relatives become a shell of their former selves as their mental abilities wither away from the debilitating effects of Alzheimer’s disease. It is a truly tragic occurrence to endure. If you haven’t been in this unfortunate position, consider yourself very lucky.
Currently, more than 5 million people suffer from Alzheimer’s disease in the United States. Approximately 12.5% of Americans older than 65 are at risk for Alzheimer’s, and that figure jumps to a staggering 50% for those over 85. As the baby boomer generation approaches their mid 60’s, you will most likely see these figures rise even higher.
Currently, there is no 100% proven method of prevention against Alzheimer’s disease. It is a complex and nuanced disorder, and while doctors and researchers are making great strides, they are still not fully certain as to all of the causes and best prevention practices.
However, recent discoveries point to the fact that prevention against Alzheimer’s disease lies mainly in how you live your life. As with many other devastating diseases such as cancer, heart disease and stroke, adapting healthy lifestyle practices has been found to be the best way to prevent Alzheimer’s.
4 Pillars of Alzheimer’s Prevention
“We have to realize that the era of the magic bullet – drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease – is over. We need to take an integrative approach, like they do for heart disease. What works for the heart, works for the head,” contends Dr. Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., President and Medical Director of the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation.
Dr. Khalsa has been working to fight Alzheimer’s disease with the non-profit ARPF since 1993. He has developed his “4 Pillars of Alzheimer’s Prevention” which he asserts are the most effective way to avoid developing the disease.
Pillar 1 – Diet and Vitamins
According to Dr. Khalsa, a proper Alzheimer’s prevention diet should consist of 20% “good” fat (including extra virgin olive oil, avocado, and flaxseed oil), 40% lean protein (especially fish), and 40 % complex carbohydrates and vegetables.
It is important to avoid a diet high in trans-fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. Eating foods rich in anti-oxidants is very important. Many foods high in vitamins C and E are also rich in anti-oxidants. Blueberries, grapes, cranberries, papaya, apples, and green leafy vegetables are all a good source of anti-oxidants.
Omega-3 fatty acids, found in salmon, trout, albacore tuna, and spinach, help prevent the build-up of plaques in the brain. It’s also important for you to take a high potency multi-vitamin that contains folic acid and vitamin C.
Pillar 2 – Stress Management
High cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high cortisol levels can all lead to developing Alzheimer’s. And stress is a major factor in all of these conditions.
Cortisol is a stress chemical released in your body. In excess, it damages the cells in your brain’s memory center. And as stress and cortisol levels increase, your chances for memory loss increase dramatically.
Regular stress relaxation practice has been shown to improve focus, attention, and mental performance. Some practical stress management techniques include meditation, yoga, hypnosis, relaxation exercises, prayer, and deep breathing.
Pillar 3 – Mind and Body Exercise
It is important to engage in both physical and mental exercise on a regular basis. Research has shown a link between cardiovascular health and brain functioning. This makes perfect sense, since your heart is responsible for pumping blood to your brain.
Physical exercise has been found to reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s by as much as 50%. The following activities will provide you with a more than adequate regimen of physical activity to keep your brain healthy: 30 minutes of regular brisk walking, jogging, dance classes, swimming, hiking, and regular participation in sports.
It is also important to engage in a variety of mental activities. Mental exercise can reduce your risk for Alzheimer’s by 70%.
Stimulating the brain can increase the number of brain cells you have as well as the connections between these cells. It can also strengthen your current brain cells.
Dr. Khalsa stresses the importance of participating in a variety of mental exercises. The mind is kept sharper when activities are varied and new. Sticking to the same routine mental exercises doesn’t help maintain brain functioning very much.
Some good activities for maintaining healthy brain functioning include learning something new (a musical instrument, a foreign language, a hobby, etc.), memory games, taking a class, reading (especially challenging material), crossword puzzles and Sudoku games, and writing (stories, articles, poetry, memoirs, etc.).
Pillar 4 – Pharmaceuticals
Cholinesterase inhibitors are effective in slowing down the decline in cognitive abilities brought on by Alzheimer’s. Other drugs that are commonly used to treat the disease include Aricept, Exelon, Namenda, and Razadyne.
Always make sure to consult your doctor before using these medications, and go for regular check-ups to make sure that your body isn’t experiencing any harmful side effects from these drugs.
It’s never too early to start your program of prevention against Alzheimer’s disease. By adopting healthier lifestyle practices when you are young, you can enjoy better mental functioning as you reach the later years of your life.
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The story of living with the horrible disease, how it affects the afflicted and their loved ones. Stem Cell research is the most promising research in terms of potential cures for this and many other currently incurable diseases. Nothing is more “Pro-Life” than curing deadly disease and helping the suffering. Support Stem Cell research.
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Regular Consumption of High Cholesterol Diet May Lead to Alzheimer’s Disease
Nov. 24, 2010 – A new study indicates that regularly consumption of a high fat cholesterol diet may lead to Alzheimer’s disease.
Read more on Senior Journal
Alzheimer’s Disease: A History, Plus Memory Testing Methods
Alzheimer’s disease describes a condition named after its discoverer, Alois Alzheimer. In 1907 he wrote a textbook study of a woman of 51 who had died of dementia, and whose brain he had subjected to microscopic analysis.
The examination showed changes Alzheimer had never witnessed before. Parts of the brain showed tangling and other parts showed clumping of brain matter. Later research showed more “younger” people who had died of dementia who displayed the same brain abnormalities. This came to be known as Alzheimer’s disease.
It was later found that this type of dementia occurred far more often in older people, with their brains showing the same abnormalities at microscopic level.
However, at this time, Alzheimer’s disease was a diagnosis only applied to younger sufferers, since these formed the basis of Alois Alzheimer’s research. Older sufferers were labeled with pre-senile dementia or senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT).
Nowadays, with dementia in younger people being quite uncommon, it is usual for the term Alzheimer’s disease to describe this entire group, right across the age range.
‘Alzheimer’s disease’ is a deceptively simple label for a complicated set of symptoms which are hard to describe in their fullness without direct personal experience of such in another. A suitably evocative description is “A living death”, while more prosaic medical terminology cites “the slow onset of memory loss with a gradual progression to a loss of judgement and changes in behavior and temperament.”
The Royal College of Physicians describes Alzheimer’s disease in more detail, defining dementia as fundamentally “the global impairment of higher functions”, listing its impact on memory, daily problem-solving ability, the performance of learned perceptuo-motor skills (such as washing, dressing, and eating), appropriate use of social skills, and control of the emotional reactions, all of which occur under the influence of an increasingly clouded consciousness which is sadly typical of Alzheimer’s.
Memory loss is of course the most obvious feature of Alzheimer’s disease, but early on it can pass undetected as sufferers often manage to cover it up. The most recent memories go first, the distant past or long-term memory holding out until the disease has become quite advanced.
The short-term memory covers recent events, such as those taking place in the last hours or days, even weeks, and it is this which Alzheimer’s sufferers have real problems with, and whose failure can signify the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
Because memory loss is central to Alzheimer’s disease and can easily be tested for, memory tests are an important diagnostic tool used to assess Alzheimer’s sufferers.
One formerly common test was to ask suspected Alzheimer’s sufferers a list of questions which probed both their long and short-term memory.
Typical questions included: How old are you, what is your date of birth, what day is it today, what month is it, what year is it, when was the First World War, what is the name of the Prime Minister, where are you now, count back from 20 to 1, and finally the sufferer would be given an address and asked to repeat it back 5 mnutes later.
If the suspected Alzheimer’s sufferer is co-operative, having been asked the questions in a respectful and unintrusive way, this is a relatively easy and inexpensive test to carry out, and which can yield useful pointers as to which parts of the memory may be problematic. Not only will long or short-term memory problems (or both) show up, but also potential orientation issues.
However, a low score by itself doesn’t prove either dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, as not everyone will know all the answers regardless of the state of their memory. The test is simply a guide to show that there may be a problem that needs further investigation.
The above is an overview of aspects of the very complex and involved medical condition known as Alzheimer’s disease.
Jay George is a writer/publisher on health matters. “Managing Alzheimer’s Disease” is an e-book offering a wealth of background information on the condition, as well as highly practical care tips. See: http://www.ManagingAlzheimers.net
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AES Seniors
