Monday, January 30, 2017

Free Book: Preventing Dementia


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Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,


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The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition



nia.nih.gov

The news is full of stories about ways to stay healthy, eat right,
and keep fit. Along with keeping their bodies healthy, people
want to keep their minds sharp as they age. They also want to
avoid brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Currently, Alzheimer’s disease has no known cure, but recent
research results are raising hopes that someday it might be possible
to delay, slow down, or even prevent this devastating disease. The
National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes
of Health (NIH) at the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, is the lead Federal agency for research related
to Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and
age-related cognitive decline. This booklet summarizes what
scientists have learned so far and where research is headed.
There is no definitive evidence yet about what can prevent
Alzheimer’s or age-related cognitive decline. What we do
know is that a healthy lifestyle—one that includes a Get the whole book preventing Alzheimer's disease

Friday, January 27, 2017

Delirium could accelerate cognitive decline in people with dementia

Caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

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dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,

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The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition

Alzheimer's Society

alzheimers: Puzzled mind and brain teasers symbol featuring a human head with jigsaw puzzle peices representing the concept of riddles of thinking and problem solving to find a solution and answers to mysteries of the brain. Stock Photo


Published 18 January 2017
A study, published today (Wednesday 18 January 2017) in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, is the first to show that delirium can worsen cognitive decline in people with dementia.
The new research was carried out by UCL and the University of Cambridge and was funded by the Wellcome Trust.
When hospitalised, people can become very confused and disorientated. This condition is known as delirium and affects a quarter of older patients. This study finds delirium may have long-lasting consequences, including accelerating declines in memory and thinking caused by dementia. 
Researchers looked at three populations in Finland, Cambridge and the UK, examining brain specimens in 987 people over the age of aged 65. Each person's memory, thinking and experience of delirium had been recorded over 10 years towards the end of their life.
People who had experienced delirium or who had dementia-related changes in their brains showed greater declines in memory and thinking performance than those without. However, those with dementia-related changes who also experienced delirium had the most severe declines in their cognition over the 10 years prior to death.
Dr Clare Walton, Research Manager at Alzheimer's Society said:
'Delirium is a temporary state of confusion and disorientation that is quite common among older people, especially those in hospital or living with dementia.
'Growing evidence shows that a case of delirium can predict worsening memory and thinking problems or the onset of dementia. This study suggests that delirium is not just a result of dementia-related changes in the brain but might independently cause problems with cognition. We don't understand why yet, but future research should look at the long term impact of delirium on the brain.
'We often hear of people who have developed memory and thinking problems or dementia after a stay in hospital. Understanding how delirium is involved and whether it can be prevented or treated is a pressing issue.'

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Self reported cognitive decline as an early warning sign of cognitive impairment or even Alzheimer'

Caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great 
dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,

Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire

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caregiver you can be


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The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition


Barbara (Bobbi) Kolonay RN BSN MS CCM HNB-BC

Expert in Holistic Aging & Care Management, Speaker, Author, Consultant, Entrepreneur, "Assuring Dignified Aging"

Dementia Weekly

Recent data from several research groups have provided evidence that self-experienced decline in cognitive performance in elderly people, even those with normal performance on cognitive tests, is a risk factor for future dementia and Alzheimer's disease, and may indicate an increased likelihood for the presence of preclinical Alzheimer's.
However, research on SCD is limited by lack of a common research framework, which prevents comparability across studies and hinders deeper research into the topic. 

In response, Frank Jessen, Ph.D., of the University of Bonn, Germany, led an international group of Alzheimer's researchers to form the Subjective Cognitive Decline Initiative (SCD-I). The working group includes the primary authors of the recently presented diagnostic criteria as well the lead investigators of prominent biomarker initiatives (ADNI, AIBL, DESCRIPA, Dementia Competence Network) and large population-based cohort studies. The group concluded that, "The currently available data is too limited and too heterogeneous to define SCD… as a clear-cut entity and highlights the need for intensified research on this topic." 

The initial goal of the SCD-I then became to develop and disseminate a research framework for SCD, with a focus on SCD during the preclinical stage of Alzheimer's. 

"This framework provides guidelines on terminology and assessment of SCD in various research settings," said Jessen. "It also describes key features that increase the likelihood that SCD in an individual is related to preclinical Alzheimer's." 

Jessen says the new research framework "will greatly support research on the earliest stage of Alzheimer's." 



















































Saturday, January 21, 2017

Doll therapy for those with dementia

Caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great 
dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,

Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire

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The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition

Jada And Jayden Baby Doll Set
LinkedIn

Taposhi Sarwat
Digital Marketing Enthusiast
Leah Bisiani, Director of Uplifting Dementia demonstrates 'Doll therapy' and what positive impact does it have on people living with dementia 
http://ow.ly/Ux163081XWc




Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Alzheimer's study

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caregiver you can be


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The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition

Kenneth S. Kosik, MD, is professor of neuroscience and codirector of the Neuroscience Research Institute

It’s easy to think that the mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease will be revealed in the high-tech hallways of US medical centers and research institutes. But new discoveries are coming from far-off places like Medellín, Colombia, which may be ground zero for finding the genetic basis of this dreaded neurodegenerative disease that strips people of memories and destroys personalities.
For more than 25 years, I have worked with Dr. Francisco Lopera of Medellín’s University of Antioquia in studying the largest known family with inherited Alzheimer’s disease. Its family tree goes back 300 hundred years. Hundreds of individuals in this family are fated to get the disease. Their symptoms usually develop between the ages of 45 and 50.
Studying this community has given us a clear picture of Alzheimer’s in this genetic microcosm. We now know the gene, called presenilin 1 (PSEN1), that is responsible for this family’s disease. Knowing the gene mutation means we can predict which family members will get Alzheimer’s. Knowing whom the disease will strike, and when, offers a powerful basis for finding a treatment and determining if it is effective. The Colombian family is now part of a large prevention trial.
While most of the family members with the PSEN1 variant develop Alzheimer’s disease before age 50, a few develop it later. We have recently discovered that these individuals carry a different genetic variant that provides some protection against the disease. This modifier gene can delay Alzheimer’s onset by as much eight to 10 years. But it doesn’t provide complete protection — we haven’t seen anyone with the PSEN1 mutation who escapes Alzheimer’s disease.
In a surprisingly improbable happenstance, another large family with a different genetic mutation that also causes Alzheimer’s at an early age lives in a nearby village. This gives us an opportunity to put our findings of a modifier gene to the test in a different genetic setting.

Obstacles remain

Despite more than 100 years of research, relatively little is known about Alzheimer’s disease. Experts still don’t have a fundamental understanding of the underlying biological and physiological changes of the disease or what drives them.
The scope of the problem is daunting. Around the world, more than 40 million people are currently suffering from Alzheimer’s; more than 5 million of them live in the United States, and that number is projected to double as baby boomers age over the next 20 years. The disease already burdens our communities and our country: 15 million Americans provide care for a loved one with the disease, while Alzheimer’s health care costs exceed $200 billion a year in the US and are projected to surpass $1 trillion as the population ages.


The drug development process for Alzheimer’s disease is riddled with challenges. One issue for clinical trials is the inclusion of individuals misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Including individuals with vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, or even poorly understood forms of cognitive impairment — all of which can look like Alzheimer’s — can easily throw off a trial’s results. On the other hand, including those with advanced Alzheimer’s may also skew results because they may have lost too many brain cells to measurably respond to the therapy.
Researchers also face challenges when measuring trial outcomes, since they must quantify changes in the way a person thinks (cognition). Directly measuring cognition can be hard to do, so stand-ins such as brain imaging are often used to interpret whether a therapy is effective. Unfortunately, such stand-ins don’t always correlate with changes in cognition or quality of life.

A path forward

Lopera and other colleagues are now conducting a clinical trial in Colombia to test an antibody directed against a type of protein called amyloid, which collects in the brain plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Regardless of the outcome of this trial, additional research and trials in Medellín and other parts of the world may help us better identify the underlying physiology of the disease, information the global scientific community desperately needs. Expanding the scope of our understanding can help expand the pipeline for drugs to target Alzheimer’s. There are likely many ways into this problem, but one thing is certain: The only way out of it is research.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Dementia drugs help head and heart

Caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great 
dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,

Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire

Here is information on being the best 
caregiver you can be


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The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition

Heart   Alzheimer's and Dementia Weekly

Drugs that are used for treating Alzheimer’s disease in its early stages are linked to a reduced risk of heart attacks and death, according to a large study of over 7,000 people with Alzheimer’s disease in Sweden. 

The research, which is published online in the European Heart Journal [1], looked at cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs), such as donepezil (Aricept®), rivastigmine (Exelon®) and galantamine (Reminyl®), which are used for treating mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease [2]. Side-effects of ChEIs include a beneficial effect on the vagus nerve, which controls the rate at which the heart beats, and some experimental studies have suggested that ChEIs could also have anti-inflammatory properties.

Professor Peter Nordström, of UmeÃ¥ University, UmeÃ¥, Sweden, and colleagues followed 7073 people with Alzheimer’s disease, who were on the Swedish Dementia Registry from May 2007 to December 2010. They found that those who were on ChEIs had a 36% reduced risk of death from any cause, a 38% reduced risk of a myocardial infarction (heart attack) and a 26% reduced risk of death from cardiovascular causes such as stroke compared to people not taking ChEIs. These results included adjustments for various confounding factors such as age, sex, whether the diagnosis was for Alzheimer’s dementia or Alzheimer’s mixed dementia (where more than one type of dementia occur simultaneously), level of care, and medical history including medications for other conditions.

Prof Nordström said: 

“If you translate these reductions in risk into absolute figures, it means that for every 100,000 people with Alzheimer’s disease, there would be 180 fewer heart attacks – 295 as opposed to 475 – and 1125 fewer deaths from all causes – 2000 versus 3125 – every year among those taking ChEIs compared to those not using them.”
Patients taking the highest recommended doses of ChEIs had the lowest risk of heart attack or death: 65% and 46% lower respectively compared with those who had never used ChEIs.

The researchers also checked whether the reduction in risk applied only to the use of ChEIs or was seen in other drug treatments for dementia. Memantine is a drug indicated for use in moderate to advanced Alzheimer’s disease and works in a different way to ChEIs [3]. The researchers found it made no difference to the risk of heart attack or death from any cause.

Prof Nordström said: 

“As far as we know, this is the first time that the use of ChEIs has been linked to a reduced risk of heart attacks and deaths from cardiovascular disease in general or from any cause. As this is an observational study, we cannot say that ChEI use is causing the reduction in risk, only that it is associated with a reduction. However, the strengths of the associations make them very interesting from the clinical point of view, although no clinical recommendations should be made on the basis of the results from our study. It would be of great value if a meta-analysis of previous, randomised controlled trials could be performed, as this might produce answers on which clinical recommendations could be based.”
As the study was based on a nationwide group of patients, Prof Nordström said it should be possible to extrapolate the findings to other countries.

Drugs for Early to Midstage
Brand NameGeneric Name
Aricept®donepezil
Exelon®rivastigmine
Remynil or Razadyne®galantamine
Drugs for Moderate to Severe Stage
Namenda® or Ebixa®memantine






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