-Dr.Kathy Johnson, PhD, CMC

An exciting discovery was recently made in regards to a new method for battling Alzheimer’s disease. Paul Greengard, an 84-year-old scientist, was featured in a New York Times article for his amazing findings.  He found a new drug that could possibly halt, or slow down the disease, but there is still a lot to research.  Many researchers are excited about Greengard’s new approach as it is completely different from the Eli Lilly drug that was recently banned.

New drugs, along with the Eli Lilly drug, target the enzyme gamma secretase to stop it from making the protein beta amyloid, which is thought to cause plaque in the brain for those with Alzheimer’s. By completely blocking this enzyme it causes harm. As a result, these new drugs have been worsening the symptoms of Alzheimer’s in testing subjects.

What Greengard found was a special protein that tells the enzyme to make beta amyloid. Blocking this protein has no effect on other gamma secretase activities as the newly discovered protein is only used for beta amyloid production. With that said, there is a drug already on the market that has been found to block beta amyloid and researchers say this could possibly be modified to work for the brain. Thanks to Mr. Greengard, we have another fascinating, new development in the cure for Alzheimer’s.

Helping parents move from a home they have lived in for years is a very challenging task – a task that most of us will have to go through at some point in our lives. Amy Goyer, of AARP, describes the difficulties and mistakes she made while helping to move her parents out of a home they lived in for 28 years, which I wanted to share with you.

For Amy, it was very difficult to determine where to place her parents, as they wanted to move into an assisted-living facility. She was unsure of what their needs would be in the future and did not want to risk picking the wrong place.  A helpful tool she used to get her parents involved in the decision making process was a flip chart. On the flip chart they would list things in different categories that were important to them such as having a washer and dryer in the apartment and having a safe place to walk the dog.

With these logistical challenges come emotional challenges as well. When a family goes through a big change like a move, sometimes not all members can take part in the process as it takes away time from jobs and families. In the end, it is important to take your time and weigh all possible options before deciding on the best living situation for your parents.

-Dr.Kathy Johnson, PhD, CMC

I found an interesting article featured on aarp.org that discusses a study that was presented at the Alzheimer’s Association 2010 International Conference. Study findings show how drinking coffee and tea may benefit your health. It found that the memory of regular tea drinkers declined a third less with age compared to the memory of non-regular tea drinkers. However, this effect wasn’t attributed to the caffeine in the tea because the results were not the same in coffee drinkers.

Another study presented at the conference found that when one drinks a large amount of coffee or tea on a regular basis it can lower their risk of heart disease.  This is true for tea more than coffee. Other studies found that coffee also lowered the risk of cancers of the mouth cavity and pharynx.

A professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard said that these findings show that coffee and tea consumption is not harmful, but beneficial to your health.  However, more long term research still needs to be conducted before this finding can be considered a fact.

-Dr.Kathy Johnson, PhD, CMC

As reported in The New York Times, the drug being tested by Eli Lilly for Alzheimer’s has been put on hold. The drug was found not to work, but that was not the real reason for its failure. Researchers found that the drug made the patients’ symptoms of memory loss worsen and their ability to care for themselves decrease.

The findings from this study put into question the hypothesis that researchers have been following for why Alzheimer’s begins. The hypothesis deals with the protein beta amyloid, which accumulates in the brain and can cause this disease. The hypothesis stated that if these proteins were reduced, the disease may be slowed, stopped or prevented. The drug that Eli Lilly was testing did in fact lower levels of the protein beta amyloid. However, the result was not what they expected.

Researchers are now saying that the Lilly result shows that their hypotheses are too simplistic. Other recent studies have found that PET scans of the brain and tests of cerebrospinal fluid can detect people who are at risk for the disease. However, those tests are now only a benefit to companies that are testing new therapies.  No good comes from diagnosing people early if there is nothing they can do to prevent what is inevitable.
Some researchers are still hopeful and will continue to follow the amyloid hypothesis, however, companies are trying out new approaches. As one researcher said, “Failures certainly don’t build energy and enthusiasm. The market is still there, but failures do take their toll.”

Meditation has been found to reduce stress, lower blood pressure and diminish the risk of strokes, but it recently has been linked to decreasing the symptoms of old age. An article in AARP by Michael Haederle talks about these meditation benefits and the brain. The research is based on an interesting concept called neuroplasticity, which deals with attention and how depending on our focus it can reshape the brain in different ways.

When one meditates, they redirect their attention in ways that can stop the decline of gray matter in the part of the brain that helps to control motor skills and learning. Studies conducted by Joshua Grant from the University of Montreal have shown that people who have been meditating for a long time are less sensitive to pain because they have a thicker layer of gray matter in the area that processes pain. Meditation actually thickens the gray matter, which is similar to the concept that working out certain muscles can make them bigger.

Studies that were conducted on a smaller scale found after subjects meditated for 20 minutes a day, three consecutive days in a row, they had a higher tolerance for pain than before. The benefits to meditation have been shown to keep the mind younger for longer.

Meditation is often thought of as a religious practice, but in reality, as one meditation teacher said, it is just a mind exercise. Meditation is very easy to learn and can be incorporated in any type of lifestyle and its benefits not only help the mind and body, but can help you cope with the things in life that cause stress.

-Dr.Kathy Johnson, PhD, CMC

Findings from Harvard researchers link more exercise and restricted calorie intake to delayed mental and physical deterioration because exercising and watching what you eat rejuvenates the connections between the nerves and muscles that they control.

Researcher Joshua Sanes, a professor of molecular and cellular biology and Director of the Center for Brain Science at Harvard University, used mice with genetically engineered nerve cells to study these effects.  The study showed that aging is caused by the deterioration of the connection of nerves that control muscles, called neuromuscular junctions. These links are very similar to the connection that neurons form in the brain to pass information. Sanes says that in a healthy neuromuscular synapse, nerve endings and their receptors fit together perfectly in order to achieve maximum efficiency in transmission from the brain to the muscle to cause movement. However, as people age, these synapses deteriorate and shrink. When the nerves shrink, the receptors are not covered completely, thus resulting in the interference of transmission from nerves to muscles, which can cause wasting and death of muscle fibers. The wasting of muscle, called sarcopenia, is a huge problem in aging populations.

When these mice were put on an exercise program, they partially reversed the damage to their synapses. With restricted-calorie diets, they avoided the deterioration of their synapses as well

A fascinating article from The Wall Street Journal brings to light several interesting issues that emerge among siblings when their parents start needing care.

-Dr.Kathy Johnson, PhD, CMC

It is a very challenging task to take care of someone who has Alzheimer’s or another form of memory loss in your home. The story of a 60-year-old Brooklyn resident named John that cares for his Uncle Karl who has Alzheimer’s was featured in a Huffington Post article by Kathryn Haslanger. Karl normally has help from a part-time aid while John is working; yet Karl is adamant about doing things for himself even though his condition is worsening. Karl’s doctor suggested that he receive home care visits from an occupational therapist to help John with modifying the environment at home to deal with the growing challenges of Karl’s dementia.

The occupational therapist, Jennifer E. Anderson, explained that those with dementia often feel as though they can keep themselves safe and in control, when they actually cannot. John must be constantly vigilant with Karl.

Mrs. Anderson also told John that because those with dementia become more resistant over time to changes within their environment, that changes should be made as soon as possible. These changes should also be on the permanent side so that the person with dementia cannot attempt to remove/change them. Some examples of these changes were to change the present toilet for a higher one, along with switching out the towel bars for grab bars. Keeping clutter down is also very important as to “…reduce confusion, but keep things where they always were. For example, two coffee mugs are probably enough, but make sure they’re in the same place they always were.” Another suggestion was to remove stove knobs to prevent its usage, but to encourage microwave cooking instead. Lastly, Mrs. Anderson encouraged Karl to wear a Personal Emergency Response Service  (PERS) system in case he feels unsafe or hurts himself when he is alone.

Mrs. Anderson warned John about the late-stages of dementia and things to do to make Karl safer in his home. She advised that John should eventually cover the mirrors in his home as many patients become upset by their reflections and think that a stranger is watching them, as they do not recognize their appearance. Another common occurrence is people wandering away from home, which can be deterred by the caregiver installing a curtain to cover the door.

Mrs. Anderson suggested the eventual use of an advanced technology that monitors the movements of people with dementia and alerts the caregivers as to where they are and what they are doing. John commented, “While we all decided we are not ready for that level, or that cost, yet, we are staying open to the idea.”

Great article on msn.com that discusses how home care after hip surgery may increase survival of patients according to a new study published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

-Dr.Kathy Johnson, PhD, CMC

Recent studies suggest Lou Gehrig might not have had Lou Gehrig’s disease according to this New York Times article.  Gehrig exhibited the same symptoms associated with A.L.S. but its causes might have been different.  A study published in a prominent journal on neuropathology suggests that athletes and soldiers given the diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (A.L.S. or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) may have formed these symptoms from repetitive injuries like concussions and head trauma.

Doctors at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Massachusetts and Boston University School of Medicine have been studying deceased athletes who have suffered head trauma. Recently, these doctors discovered that two past NFL players and a boxer, all diagnosed with A.L.S., did not actually have the disease at all.  Instead, they had a different disease caused by trauma to the brain that wears away the central nervous system in similar ways.

Lou Gehrig suffered from multiple concussions during his baseball career and high school football bout as a running back at Columbia University. His resolve to play through these injuries without adequate recovery time could have also contributed to his condition, though the exact cause of his death will remain unknown as his body was cremated.

These recent studies have shown that head traumas can serve as a catalyst for genes that erode the victims’ nervous system, causing A.L.S.type symptoms. According to these studies, “dramatically high levels of tau and TDP-43, two proteins known to cause motor-neuron degeneration, were found in the spinal cords as a result of blows to the brain, with the proteins probably traveling down the spinal cord, rather than direct injury to the spinal cord.” This process, like A.L.S., leads to a progressive motor degeneration and death.