Holidays can be meaningful, enriching times for both the person with Alzheimer’s disease and his or her caregiver and family. Maintaining or adapting family rituals and traditions helps all family members feel a sense of belonging and family identity. For a person with Alzheimer’s, this link with a familiar past is reassuring. However, there may… Continue reading Holiday Tips for Caregivers
Category: Alzheimer’s Disease and other Dementias
Music Activates Regions of the Brain Spared by Alzheimer’s Disease
Ever get chills listening to a particularly moving piece of music? You can thank the salience network of the brain for that emotional joint. Surprisingly, this region also remains an island of remembrance that is spared from the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at the University of Utah Health are looking to this region of… Continue reading Music Activates Regions of the Brain Spared by Alzheimer’s Disease
Walking Speed While Carrying a Tray or Counting Backwards May Help Diagnose a Reversible Form of Dementia
There’s a cause of dementia that can sometimes be reversed, but it’s often not diagnosed because the symptoms are so similar to those of other disorders. Now researchers say a simple walking test may be able to accurately diagnose the disease, according to a study published in the February 21st 2018 online issue of Neurology®,… Continue reading Walking Speed While Carrying a Tray or Counting Backwards May Help Diagnose a Reversible Form of Dementia
Personality Changes Don’t Precede Mild Cognitive Impairment or Dementia
Researchers now say that there’s no evidence that personality changes begin before the onset of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia. For years, scientists and physicians have been debating that question. A new and comprehensive study from Florida State University College of Medicine Associate Professor Antonio Terracciano and colleagues, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry,… Continue reading Personality Changes Don’t Precede Mild Cognitive Impairment or Dementia
Eye Test May Diagnose a Common Form of Dementia
Frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that is present in tens of thousands of Americans, but is often difficult to diagnose accurately. Now in a study published September 8th online ahead of print in Neurology, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found evidence that a simple… Continue reading Eye Test May Diagnose a Common Form of Dementia
Alzheimer’s Association Survey Shows That Many Caregivers Are Going It Alone
Findings from an Alzheimer’s Association survey released in June 2017 in conjunction with Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month show that while people overwhelmingly agree it often takes a village to provide care for someone living with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia (91 percent), far too many caregivers are doing it alone. A release from… Continue reading Alzheimer’s Association Survey Shows That Many Caregivers Are Going It Alone
Caring for Elders with Dementia: Tips for Family Members
Someone in the United States develops dementia every 66 seconds, according to the Alzheimer’s Association 2016 “Facts and Figures”. The diagnosis is devastating for those who have the disease and also imposes a crushing burden on their families. The decision regarding the best way to care for a loved one with dementia is dependent on… Continue reading Caring for Elders with Dementia: Tips for Family Members
Tablet Devices Can Manage Agitation of Dementia Patients
A January 2017 pilot study led by Ipsit Vahia MD, medical director of Geriatric Psychiatry Outpatient Services at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA, suggests that the use of tablet computers is both a safe and a potentially effective approach to managing agitation among patients with dementia. The study was publsihed in the online version of… Continue reading Tablet Devices Can Manage Agitation of Dementia Patients
Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Information Fact Sheet
Scientists believe that many factors influence when Alzheimer’s disease begins and how it progresses. The more they study this devastating disease, the more they realize that genes play an important role. Research conducted and funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and others is advancing our understanding… Continue reading Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Information Fact Sheet
Alzheimer’s Disease and Decision Making: Do I Know You?
The heartbreak associated with losing a loved one to Alzheimer’s disease is indescribable. One day, an adult child holds the hand of a parent; the parent asks, “Do I know you?” and the child’s heart (no matter what age) breaks into thousands of tiny pieces never to be repaired. A spouse experiencing the same response… Continue reading Alzheimer’s Disease and Decision Making: Do I Know You?
The Depression/Dementia Connection
Editor’s note: Depression can be devastating for the sufferer and his or her loved ones, but when paired with dementia, it can be especially heartbreaking. Here, from the experts at Generations Healthcare, a network of skilled nursing, memory care and rehabilitation facilities in California, is an explanation of the link between depression and dementia, and… Continue reading The Depression/Dementia Connection
“Big Data” Studies Help in Fight Against Alzheimer’s
Scientists at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital have used a powerful tool to better understand the progression of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD), identifying its first physiological signs. Led by Dr. Alan Evans, a professor of neurology, neurosurgery and biomedical engineering at the institute, the researchers analyzed more than 7,700 brain images from 1,171 people… Continue reading “Big Data” Studies Help in Fight Against Alzheimer’s
The Other Dementias
Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning—thinking, remembering, and reasoning—and behavioral abilities to such an extent that it interferes with a person’s daily life and activities. Dementia ranges in severity from the mildest stage, when it is just beginning to affect a person’s functioning, to the most severe stage, when the person must depend completely… Continue reading The Other Dementias
Rewriting Dementia: Poetry and Alzheimer’s Patients
By Molly Middleton Meyer It’s difficult to imagine that out of grief could come something so beautiful, that out of pain could come healing, but that’s exactly what happened. In 2008, my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. My then 79-year-old mother bore most of the emotional and physical turmoil. I could use the excuse… Continue reading Rewriting Dementia: Poetry and Alzheimer’s Patients
Lack of Computer Use Linked to Cognitive Decline
Researchers say that infrequent home computer use could be linked to cognitive decline. The finding was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. The researchers, from the Oregon Health & Science University, have found a significant correlation between infrequent daily computer use and brain imaging signs commonly seen in early-stage Alzheimer’s patients. Using an MRI… Continue reading Lack of Computer Use Linked to Cognitive Decline
7 Secrets of Staying Sharp
As Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver’s Travels, wrote in the 18th-century, “The best doctors in the world are Doctor Diet, Doctor Quiet, and Doctor Merryman.” You may recognize the importance of eating right, good sleep, exercise and social interaction in cultivating a healthy brain and body. But there are a few secrets of neuroprotection… Continue reading 7 Secrets of Staying Sharp
More Exercise May Reduce Memory Loss
Older people who are physically active have larger gray matter volume in key brain areas responsible for memory and cognition, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UCLA. The findings, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, showed also that people who had Alzheimer’s disease or… Continue reading More Exercise May Reduce Memory Loss
Immune-System Cells May Help Fight Alzheimer’s
Immune cells that help fight bacterial and viral infections may play a far greater role in Alzheimer’s disease than originally thought, according to University of California, Irvine neurobiologists The researchers discovered this when Alzheimer’s disease mice genetically modified to lack these key immune cells in their blood developed the distinctive brain plaques associated with the… Continue reading Immune-System Cells May Help Fight Alzheimer’s