Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Deep Brain Stimulation: Cure for Alzheimers?

Nov 28th, 11 / 0 Comments







Now here’s an interesting bit of research that actually may reverse Alzheimer’s disease or cure Alzheimer’s

It’s called “deep brain stimulation” (don’t try this at home) ;-) In simple terms, the brain is exposed in an operation, electrodes are inserted near the area of the brain you wish to stimulate, a battery is hooked up and inserted under your skin near the collar bone. This apparently is done under a local anesthetic and you’re conscious the entire time.

Is this Voodoo?

Apparently it has been used with some success on Parkinson’s disease and the stimulation interferes with the diseased pattern of nerve functioning – preventing the diseased brain areas from firing neurons in the stimulate areas. This allows the brain to compensate and develop healthy neural pathways while the diseased areas are incapacitated. It is also being investigated for both depression and Tourette’s Syndrome as well as being used for the Parkinson’s.

Dr. Andres Lozano at the University of Toronto has just done some preliminary research on six patients. The simple explanation is the hippocampus is the part of the brain that communicates between long and short term memory and is one of the first areas of the brain to be hit by Alzheimer’s. After one year of stimulation, not only was the problem prevented but the brains of at least two of the six patients had actually grown new cells (increases of 5 and 8%)

This is extremely interesting work but the prof cautions (and rightly so) that it is very early days in this Alzheimers research and they plan on doing a larger trial to collect more data.

Note this data has been presented at a conference but it has not been peer reviewed yet. The media picked it up on some news releases and that’s where it sits.

Interesting stuff – no Alzheimers cure but another possibility after more testing. Stay tuned.

research, treatment

Is Green Tea the Cure for Alzheimers?

Nov 7th, 11 / 0 Comments








It turns out that green tea just might have have the ability to cure Alzheimer’s disease. One of the ingredients in green tea, Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) apparently reduced the amount of beta-amyloid plaque by 60% in the test subjects when combined with a red laser light.

Thinking Voodoo therapy? Well, apparently a research team headed by Andrei Sommer at the University of Ulm in Germany showed that red lasers when applied to the brain drove water out of the cells. And if they could get chemicals into the blood stream near these cells, the water-starved cells would suck it back into themselves. (As an aside, it is notoriously difficult to get chemicals into brain cells – a self-defense mechanism we seem to have)

So when the compounds in green tea were taken orally and the red laser applied, the research team found the 60% decrease.

Red laser treatment alone reduced the plaque by 20%.

What isn’t clear (but heavily claimed by health food proponents) is whether there is any cure for Alzheimer’s using green tea without laser treatment. Or whether there’s any effect at all.

The jury is still out on this one folks but hey, green tea is good stuff and it doesn’t hurt you. This one falls into the “I don’t know but it can’t hurt me so let’s all drink it” category.

herbal, research, treatment, Uncategorized

Alzheimers Treatment Research

Nov 7th, 11 / 0 Comments








The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association has just published a study evaluating the behavior of 686 patients after they were diagnosed with Alzheimers and put on medications to slow down the effects of the disease.

Every patient in this Alzheimer’s treatment research was tested to begin and then tested twice a year to chart the progress of the disease. Researchers were trying to determine how fast the onset of the disease was and the effects of standard of care over a 4 year period.

Over 90% of patients used standard medications over the 4 years but each lost an average of 2.4 points per year on the Mini-Mental Status Examination and gained 4.5 points on the ADAS-cog tests. In other words, they lost the healthy memory points and gained the illness points.

7.4% of patients died during the 4 years whlie 13.4% were institutionalized.

But 17% did not experience a “major event” defined as functional disability or neuropsychiatric symptoms. In other words, 17% of those diagnosed and treated did not deteriorate significantly over the 4 years of the study.

This was considered surprising (it sure as heck surprised me) and treatment teams are going to have to take another look at the deterioration rates and prognosis for patients diagnosed with this disease.

The one thing that wasn’t clear from the journal was if there were any behaviors the 17% did that they other groups did not. In other words, could exercise, music, stimulation or ?? be a factor here? In my mind (and for my peace of mind) :-) I’d surely like to know about this aspect of Alzheimer’s treatment research

diagnosis, lifestyle, medications, research, symptoms

New Avenues for Alzheimers Medication Research

Dec 15th, 10 / 0 Comments







When it comes to treating Alzheimer’s patients and developing Alzheimer’s medicines, Alzheimer’s experts have long believed that the brain of Alzheimers patients somehow were producing excess amounts of the beta amyloid plaque and this “gummed up” the brain causing cell death and brain deterioration.

Research just report in Science by Dr. Randall Bateman first has shown the opposite. While it is early days yet, this research shows that it’s not the production of the plaque that’s the problem, it’s the elimination of it.

Turns out that plaque is produced by all of us but healthy individuals eliminate the plaque. Those with Alzheimers do not eliminate it. And plaque is somehow necessary for normal brain functioning. Healthy people produce the beta amyloid and it disappears in 8 hours. Those with Alzheimer’s get rid of it 30% slower than the healthy person.

The beta amyloid is necessary for electric transmission of nerve impulses but too much of it acts like a brake on the system. The buildup creates a slowing down and eventual dying of the brain cells.

So now the research and Alzheimer’s medications can investigate the disposal system for plaque – how it gets eliminated from the brain and what medications we might use to speed this up.

Again – early days in the testing and findings but an entirely new approach has been announced.

medications, research, treatment

Alzheimers and Beer

Jun 7th, 10 / 1 Comment







So the amount of beer you drink – the amount of beer belly you carry – directly correlates to the size of your brain and is correlated with Alzheimers.

Dr Sudha Seshadri – lead researcher on this study from Boston University School of Medicine measured body mass index, waist circumference, and scanning to evaluate the amount of belly fat.

The study showed (as has other studies) that as belly fat increased, brain volume decreased. But it also correlated with Alzheimers. Note the total body weight was correlated, just the amount of fat residing between internal organs (belly fat) so bigger is OK – fat is not.

So we all know that excess weight correlates highly to high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes; now we can add Alzheimers to that list.

One more reason to keep losing weight he says having dropped 20 pounds by exercise in the past year.

causes, research

Music and Alzheimers

May 17th, 10 / 0 Comments







Boston University neuroscientist Brandon Ally reports that he and some colleagues tested a small group diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s and 14 healthy adults to compare how they recognized song lyrics. All participants were shown the lyrics on a computer screen but in half the group, a woman “sang” the words and in the other half, she “spoke” the words.

The early Alzheimers patients recognized 40% of the sung words versus 28% of spoken words. The control group didn’t show that much of a difference recognizing 77% of sung versus 74% of spoken.

So the question posed by this study is whether music can help Alzheimer’s patients with memory retention?

In my mother’s case, one of the few things she still remembers are the words to songs. She doesn’t recognize the grandchildren, but she does remember the words to songs from 70 years ago with almost perfect recall. And she can be found in the front row of the sing-songs in the nursing home belting them out with her amazingly clear voice.

Bottom Line

Nothing scientific (although a good question) here for you to do but something to keep in mind about making things rhyme or humming instructions in humorous ways if the information may be important. It may help ….

lifestyle, research

Alzheimers Support Issues

May 10th, 10 / 0 Comments







In a poll in Toronto on Alzheimer’s support issues, just over 500 caregivers were asked about the level of aggression of their family members suffering from Alzheimer’s.The majority of those caregivers had observed agitation while approximately one-third had
seen aggression towards themselves.

These caregivers also reported a very high incidence of mood swings and disorientation and almost 23 percent said they had been scared or threatened by their patient’s behavior.The interesting part of the report suggested that those in caregiver roles were somewhat comfortable talking to others (outside the immediate family) about disorientation and mood swings but drew the line when it came to aggressive behavior – not wanting to talk about these with non-family members.

It is also reported that caregivers reported extra fatigue, difficulties with sleeping, head aches, and weight gain.

Bottom line:

It’s pretty tough to talk about one of your loved ones when their behavior is clearly aggressive or anti-social.

And this is the time caregivers really need support.It’s a tough role to be in for sure but understand that others are dealing with similar issues and are just as reticent to discuss it as you are.

research, support

Reversing Alzheimers

May 10th, 10 / 1 Comment








Up to now, reversing Alzheimers symptoms has been thought to be impossible. British researchers believe there is a chance that the brain cells that were previously thought to be dead can, in fact, be brought back to life before permanent damage sets in

Note this doesn’t repair brain cells after permanent damage has occurred. Researchers at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge researched the small axons that connect brain cells together.  The found that these axons started swelling and are damaged and die before brain cells die. This process of axon death can take up to four months according to the researchers.

Publishing test results in the journal “Brain” Dr. Michael Coleman suggested that drugs could be developed that would repair or bring these axons back to life if caught early enough. There would appear to be a window of opportunity to repair preliminary damage or reconnect the brain cells that are not yet dead.

Bottom Line

This is quite experimental work and no drugs or clinical trials are yet underway but it would seem to hold promise for future work in slowing, stopping or reversing Alzheimers disease. But at the present time, reversing Alzheimers isn’t possible.

research, treatment

Sleep Apnea and Alzheimers

May 10th, 10 / 0 Comments







In an interesting way, a treatment for Sleep Apnea may be a treatment for Alzheimers as well.

The Details

A report in the Journal of the Geriatrics Society reports that a study being done on seniors with sleep apnea, improved the cognitive function of those with Alzheimers.

Sleep apne treatments involve opening up the airways into the lungs with positive air pressure during sleep. This forces extra oxygen into the lungs in a non-invasive way.

The sleeper simply wears a small oxygen mask while sleeping.

Sleep apnea happens when the airways become blocked during sleep periods, cutting off breathing and the major symptom is extremely loud snoring,

Bottom Line

Seniors with sleep apnea should clearly be treated with positive air pressure systems and that improvements in the Alzheimer’s were seen after only 3 weeks of oxygen treatment.

No effect was seen on the placebo group in this treatment for Alzheimers Disease

lifestyle, research, treatment

Alzheimers and Diabetes

May 6th, 10 / 0 Comments







Here’s a quick note about alzheimers and diabetes to make your dieting even more important.

Scientists now think there’s a correlation between having diabetes and getting Alzheimers. In fact, not only getting Alzheimer’s but a faster decline once you have it.

Diabetes apparently damages blood vessels leading to the brain and has been known to cause a vascular dementia where the brain slows down functioning because of a lack of blood flow.

Now apparently the distinction between this vascular dementia and full blown Alzheimer’s is diminishing.

Bottom line:

Get your weight under control and watch the sugar intakes. Get that old regular checkup and let your doctor know what you’re trying to do.

Because the real bottom line here is that if the docs can’t tell the difference between the two problems – then neither can you or your family.

lifestyle, research