Clipmarks | BobbyDelray's 'dementia' clips

Christmas Carols for Disturbed Friends

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:45:03 GMT

clipped by: gingembre
clipper's remarks: I'm humming #8 as I write this...most disturbing

Clip Source: gingembresplace.blogspot.com

1. Schizophrenia -- Do I Hear What I Hear?
2. Multiple Personality Disorder - We Three Kings Disoriented Are
3. Dementia - I Think I'll Be Home For Christmas
4. Narcissistic - Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
5. Manic - Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and....
6. Paranoid - Santa Claus is Coming To Town To Get Me
7. Borderline Personality Disorder - Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
8. Personality Disorder - You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, and I Don't Know Why
9. Attention Deficit Disorder - Silent Night, Holy oooh look at the Froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?

10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells.. .

(received in an email from a disturbed friend) :D

Tags: humor, christmas, holiday-related

Learning protects the brain

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 13:41:49 GMT

clipped by: haraya

Clip Source: www.economist.com

KEEPING mentally agile protects against dementia but until now no one has known exactly why. One possible reason was revealed at this week's annual Society for Neuroscience conference in Atlanta—at least, for rats. Thousands of new brain cells or neurons grow each day in the brains of rats and, presumably, in the brains of people, too. But only those animals that actively engage in learning get to keep the new cells. In their mentally lazy companions new cells die after a couple of weeks.

Until relatively recently, scientists thought that no new neurons grew in the brains of adults and that every blow on the head or glass of wine after adolescence cut the number of brain cells. Over the past decade, though, neuroscientists have realised that young neurons do continue to appear in the brains of mature mammals—but what they might do is only now being pieced together. Many of these new brain cells are found in the hippocampus, a structure used to remember events, people and places. This suggested to Tracey Shors, of Rutgers University in New Jersey, that the cells might be involved in forming such memories.

Tags: science, neuroscience, health, brain, learning, research, dementia, life, medicine

Thinking Hard Protects Brain in Later Life

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:57:55 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The brain, like every other part of the body, changes with age, and those changes can impede clear thinking and memory. Yet many older people seem to remain sharp as a tack well into their 80s and beyond. Although their pace may have slowed, they continue to work, travel, attend plays and concerts, play cards and board games, study foreign languages, design buildings, work with computers, write books, do puzzles, knit or perform other mentally challenging tasks that can befuddle people much younger.

But when these sharp old folks die, autopsy studies often reveal extensive brain abnormalities like those in patients with Alzheimer’s.

Cognitive reserve, in this theory, refers to the brain’s ability to develop and maintain extra neurons and connections between them via axons and dendrites. Later in life, these connections may help compensate for the rise in dementia-related brain pathology that accompanies normal aging.

Tags: cognitive reserve, ageing

Coffee Cuts Risks of Brain Disorders

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 08:12:12 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Good news in a cruel world!

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Coffee may cut the risk of dementia by blocking the damage cholesterol can inflict on the body, research suggests.

The drink has already been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer's Disease, and a study by a US team for the Journal of Neuroinflammation may explain why.

A vital barrier between the brain and the main blood supply of rabbits fed a fat-rich diet was protected in those given a caffeine supplement.

UK experts said it was the "best evidence yet" of coffee's benefits.

The "blood brain barrier" is a filter which protects the central nervous system from potentially harmful chemicals carried around in the rest of the bloodstream.

Other studies have shown that high levels of cholesterol in th

Caffeine is a safe and readily available drug and its ability to stabilise the blood brain barrier means it could have an important part to play in therapies against neurological disorders

Dr Jonathan Geiger
University of North Dakota

Tags: coffee, dementia, neuroloigical disorders

What's Wrong with the President?

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 14:33:47 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: postmodern-research.blogspot.com

[Video]

Tags: bush, president, senile, dementia, ten, years, difference

Alzheimer's breakthrough

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:01:18 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The Alzheimer's Society last night hailed an apparent breakthrough in the treatment of dementia by scientists at Aberdeen University. A team led by Professor Claude Wischik published results of early trials of a new drug, suggesting it could be at least twice as effective as current medicines in slowing progression of the disease.

The drug, called rember, slowed cognitive decline by 81%, Wischik said in a paper presented to the international conference on Alzheimer's disease in Chicago.

Rember is the first drug to act on a protein called tau that helps brain cells keep their structure and communicate with each other. In people with dementia this protein becomes tangled and causes brain cell death. Wischik's research suggested rember could reduce the tau tangles and slow the deterioration of the brain.

People taking it for 50 weeks had a slower decline in blood flow to the parts of the brain that are important for memory than those taking a dummy pill.

When Human Rights Extend to Nonhumans

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:59:27 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The 300 apes in Spanish zoos would not be freed, but better conditions would be mandated.

Meanwhile, even in democracies, the law accords diminished rights to many humans: children, prisoners, the insane, the senile. Teenagers may not vote, philosophers who slip into dementia may be lashed to their beds, courts can order surgery or force-feeding.

Spain’s Catholic bishops attacked the vote as undermining a divine will that placed humans above animals. One said such thinking led to abortion, euthanasia and ethnic cleansing.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

If you caught your son burning ants with a magnifying glass, would it bother you less than if you found him torturing a mouse with a soldering iron? How about a snake? How about his sister?

Does Khalid Shaikh Mohammed — the Guantánamo detainee who claims he personally beheaded the reporter Daniel Pearl — deserve the rights he denied Mr. Pearl? Which ones? A painless execution? Exemption from capital punishment? Decent prison conditions? Habeas corpus?

Such apparently unrelated questions arise in the aftermath of the vote of the environment committee of the Spanish Parliament last month to grant limited rights to our closest biological relatives, the great apes — chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans.

The committee would bind Spain to the principles of the Great Ape Project, which points to apes’ human qualities, including the ability to feel fear and happiness, create tools, use languages, remember the past and plan the future.

Tags: human rights, animal rights, ethics

Why it's not a crazy idea to be bilingual

Sat, 13 Jan 2007 20:42:23 GMT

clipped by: gingembre
clipper's remarks: That's it--I'm going to start using my Spanish and continue my French lessons!

Clip Source: www.ctv.ca

Bilingualism may delay onset of dementia: study

Updated Fri. Jan. 12 2007 8:42 AM ET

Lifelong bilingualism can help delay the onset of dementia symptoms by four years, Canadian researchers have found.

Patients who were fluent in two or more languages and spoke them regularly reported dementia symptoms on average about four years after people who spoke only one language, says principal investigator Ellen Bialystok.

Bilingualism may help to stave off cognitive decline because of the mental agility necessary to juggle them in day-to-day life, researchers said.

"Our study found that speaking two languages throughout one's life appears to be associated with a delay in the onset of symptoms of dementia by four years compared to those who speak one language," said Bialystok, also an associate scientist at the Rotman Research Institute.

The study followed on the heels of previous reports from Bialystok and colleagues showing bilingualism enhances attention and cognitive control in both children and older adults.

Researchers examined the diagnostic records of 184 Toronto-area patients who came to Baycrest's Sam and Ida Ross Memory Clinic between 2002 and 2005 with cognitive complaints. Of those patients, 91 were monolingual and 93 were bilingual.

The bilingual speakers spoke a combination of 25 different languages, the most prevalent being Polish, Yiddish, German, Romanian and Hungarian.

The researchers determined that the mean age of onset of dementia symptoms in the monolingual group was 71.4 years, while the bilingual group was 75.5 years. This gap remained even after considering the possible effect of other lifestyle factors such as cultural differences, immigration, formal education, employment and gender.

"There are no pharmacological interventions that are this dramatic" in delaying symptoms, said neurologist Dr. Morris Freedman, who is head of the Division of Neurology, and director of the Memory Clinic at Baycrest.

Tags: aging, languages, mental health, research, memory, communication, medicine, health, science, dementia, alzheimer's

115-year-old Woman's Brain in Tip-Top Shape

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:22:06 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

A Dutch woman who reached 115 years of age and remained mentally sharp throughout life also had a healthy brain when she died, a new study finds.

The woman's brain showed almost no evidence of Alzheimer's disease. The finding suggests Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia are not inevitable, as had been suspected.

"Our observations suggest that, in contrast to general belief, the limits of human cognitive function may extend far beyond the range that is currently enjoyed by most individuals," said lead researcher Gert Holstege, a neuroscientist at the University Medical Center Groningen, in The Netherlands.

At age 82, the Dutch woman made arrangements to donate her body to science after death. She contacted Holstege when she reached age 111, worried that her body was too old to be useful for research or teaching purposes. The neuroscientists reassured her that, contrary to her belief, they were particularly interested due to her age.

Tags: aging, brain, tip-top

IBM-Swiss scientists to create artifical human brain by 2015

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:13:30 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: memebox.com

Director Henry Markram of the IBM-Swiss Blue Brain project believes that his team of up to 125 researchers is on target to create the world’s first artificial brain by as early as 2015.

In June 2005, IBM and the Swiss Brain Mind Institute announced a plan to create a digital 3D replica of the human brain. Named after the IBM Blue Gene supercomputer, the Blue Brain Project has started modeling, in precise detail, the cellular infrastructure of the cerebral neocortex.

Although Markram expects his creation may eventually learn to speak, he is not holding his breath waiting for consciousness to rise from its brain. What he is after is something far more useful than a talking machine. By creating a better understanding of how human brains perform, doctors will learn more about why our brains fail.

Disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and dementia are the price we pay for having complicated brains.

Tags: artificial, brain, human, health, medicine, computing

Education and Thinking May Protect against Dementia

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:58:50 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Having a large hippocampus - a part of the brain involved with memory - seems to provide protection against the symptoms of dementia, a study suggests.

The hippocampus is the magenta area at the base of this brain

The hippocampus is located close to the junction with the spinal cord and is believed to "encode" experiences so they can be stored as long-term memories in another part of the brain.

This work is consistent with increasing research that has shown that people with higher levels of education or cognitive reserve may be protected from some of the effects of dementia

Professor Clive Ballard
Alzheimer's Society

Tags: hippocampus, dementia

Boosting brain power -- with chocolate

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 11:56:19 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: physorg.com

Boosting brain power -- with chocolate

Eating chocolate could help to sharpen up the mind and give a short-term boost to cognitive skills, a University of Nottingham expert has found.

A study led by Professor Ian Macdonald found that consumption of a cocoa drink rich in flavanols — a key ingredient of dark chocolate — boosts blood flow to key areas of the brain for two to three hours.

Increased blood flow to these areas of the brain may help to increase performance in specific tasks and boost general alertness over a short period.

The findings, unveiled at one of the biggest scientific conferences in America, also raise the prospect of ingredients in chocolate being used to treat vascular impairment, including dementia and strokes, and thus for maintaining cardiovascular health.

The study also suggests that the cocoa flavanols found in chocolate could be useful in enhancing brain function for people fighting fatigue, sleep deprivation, and even the effects of ageing.

Ian Macdonald, professor of metabolic physiology at The University of Nottingham, used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to detect increased activity in specific areas of the brain in individuals who had consumed a single drink of flavanol-rich cocoa. The effect is linked to dilation of cerebral blood vessels, allowing more blood — and therefore more oxygen — to reach key areas of the brain.

Flavanols are not only found in chocolate with a high cocoa content — they are also present in other substances such as red wine, green tea and blueberries.

He emphasised that the level of cocoa flavanol used in the study is not available commercially. The cocoa-rich flavanol beverage was specially formulated for the purpose of the study.

Tags: science, research, brain, mind, chocolate, cognitive skills

Alzheimer's memory loss faster among well-educated

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 07:40:30 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: strange...I just thought that the more your read, think & write, the more you shall be excercising your brains!...wasted a lot of time in getting qualified!!!

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Having more years of formal education delays the memory loss linked to Alzheimer's disease, but once the condition begins to take hold, better-educated people decline more rapidly, researchers said on Monday.

Their study, published in the journal Neurology, tracked memory loss in a group of elderly people from New York City's Bronx borough before they were diagnosed with Alzheimer's or another form of old-age dementia.

Every year of education delayed the accelerated memory decline that precedes dementia by about 2-1/2 months, according to the researchers at Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

But once this memory loss began, the rate of decline unfolded 4 percent more quickly for each additional year of education, the researchers said.

Someone with 16 years of schooling might experience memory decline 50 percent more quickly than another person with just four years education, based on the findings.

Tags: alzheimer, memory loss, education, research, neurology.

Nicotine can be good for the brain, research suggests

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:12:07 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: static-p4.fotolia.com

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Nicotine can be good for the brain, research suggests, and its effects could form the basis for new drugs to stave off Alzheimer's disease.

Smokers may already be familiar with the mental “buzz” from nicotine but researchers from King's College London found that in rats it improved their learning, memory and performance on cognitive tasks by up to 15 per cent.

Scientists pointed out, however, that the effect was very small and the health risks of smoking and toxic effects of using nicotine patches would outweigh the benefits in healthy people. Pharmaceutical companies are hoping to amplify the positive effects of nicotine to benefit dementia patients, while minimising the risk of addiction.

Studying the mechanisms of nicotine action may speed the discovery of more effective cognitive enhancers than nicotine itself, with longer-lasting effects. “This is a promising stage in the years of research,” Professor Stolerman said.

I missed the early signs of Dementia (Alzheimer's) in my mother, will You?

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:19:14 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: iamanalzheimerscaregiver.blogspot.com

Looking back, there is little doubt in my mind I should have realized my mother was suffering from dementia sooner. Sadly, I didn't have the proper education, information, or frame of reference.

Most people tend to ignore the early symptoms of the disease believing they are simply signs of "old age"

Anyone who ends up in my shoes knows and understands that a person in the early stages of Alzheimer’s can function normally

even drive a car

Behavior changes slowly in the elderly

as they begin to suffer cognitive impairment these changes are hard to detect

If my mother had been enrolled in any of the studies listed below, I feel certain she would have been diagnosed sooner. This would have allowed me to get her in an exercise program, get her proper nutrition, and insured that she was taking her medication as prescribed

I learned in the last four years how important these factors are in the quality of her life

The woman in the picture is my 91 year old mother

She suffers from Alzheimer’s disease

Tags: alzheimer's, dementia, early signs