A piece of paper.

That's what Roy Vosloh kept in a drawer next to his chair. As he descended into the dark confusion of Alzheimer’s, he would often take out the paper, unfold it and read it. Something was written on it that he didn't want to forget. It was his wife's name.

Roy’s journey down the road of the devastating illness began in 1997, on the day Georgia Ruth, his wife, received a phone call at work....MORE...The Baytown Sun

Ebixa extends its indication to become the only drug for moderate and severe Alzheimer’s disease....MORE...

You name it, the list of problems that obesity can cause is long: heart disease, heartburn, diabetes, arthritis, to name a few.

And now, according to new studies in the latest Archives of Internal Medicine, there's evidence that being fat may be the reason for a loss in mental sharpness as we age.

One study showed that individuals who were obese at midlife had an increased risk for dementia--a loss of cognitive abilities--later in life compared to individuals of normal weight.

Gisele Wolf-Klein, Chief of Geriatric Medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, says, "There is some strong correlation between vascular problems and dementia in general probably because the circulation of the brain and the circulation to the neurons is affected."

Obesity causes resistance to insulin, and frank diabetes, and that has been believed to be an important factor in the development of Alzheimer's.

Still, even if you take the sugar, insulin and diabetes factor out of it, this study still found that, along with midlife obesity, high blood pressure and high total cholesterol level were all significant risk factors for dementia, each one increasing the risk around two times.

In fact, a person with all three of these had around a six times higher risk for dementia than those with none of these risk factors.

Carissa Romano's grandfather might be a good example.....WTNH.com - MORE

The MD Health Channel's
Assisted Living Directory

CLICK HERE

The MD Health Channel's
Alzheimers & Aging Book Club

CLICK HERE

RECOGNIZING ALZHEIMERS

LISTEN NOW by clicking on the black triangle in the bar below...OR

LISTEN LATER by clicking on "MP3 file" to download to your iPOD or any MP3 Player



MP3 File

An intervention designed to prevent medical complications and delivered by a geriatric team can reduce the risk of death and complications in older patients hospitalized with hip fracture, according to researchers.

"The geriatric team contributes to the prevention and treatment of medical problems associated with the fracture and its surgery, and designs an individual rehabilitation plan according to the medical situation and the social support for each patient," lead author Dr. Maite Vidan, of Hospital General Universitario "Gregorio Maranon" in Madrid, Spain, told Reuters Health.Further analysis showed that the geriatric intervention cut the risk of death or major complications by 45 percent. The most common major complications were delirium and bedsores.MedlinePlus: MORE

They might have trouble recognizing their children or remembering their address, but on Wednesday they sang "Amazing Grace" and recited the Lord's Prayer from memory.

More than 30 seniors with Alzheimer's disease and other dementia-related conditions attended Mass at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, where familiar religious rituals awakened their long-term memories.

"It's seeing the stained glass windows. It's sitting in the pew and seeing the minister," said Jacque Schweppe, an Alzheimer's Association volunteer. "It's a blessing to see how many respond. We know for most of them as soon as they leave those doors it's going to be lost for them."

KRT Wire | MORE

Cognitive scores declined on average at a rate of 0.04 standardized units per year (SU/y). Fish intake was associated with a slower rate of cognitive decline in mixed models adjusted for age, sex, race, education, cognitive activity, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and total energy intake. Compared with a decline rate in score of %u20130.100 SU/y among persons who consumed fish less than weekly, the rate was 10% slower (%u20130.090 SU/y) among persons who consumed 1 fish meal per week and 13% slower (%u20130.088 SU/y) among persons who consumed 2 or more fish meals per week.Arch Neurol -- Abstract:MORE

In the next few weeks, millions of Medicare beneficiaries will make decisions that could affect their out-of-pocket medical costs for years to come.

They have to decide whether to sign up for a prescription drug plan, sorting through dozens of options with radically different costs and benefits.

Information issued by the government, while generally accurate, tends to give an upbeat assessment of the new benefit, emphasizing the advantages. But the new program is so complex that the government, by its own account, has made two significant errors in explaining it to the public.

Federal health officials incorrectly described the standard minimum drug benefit in an advertisement that appeared on Sept. 25 in Parade magazine, the Sunday newspaper supplement with a circulation of more than 37 million. In addition, the official Medicare handbook, sent to all beneficiaries, significantly overstates the number of prescription drug plans that will be available without any premiums for low-income people.

The Bush administration has notified Congress of the errors and says they will be corrected in future brochures and on the Medicare Web site.

Drug plans began marketing activities, including unsolicited telephone calls to beneficiaries, on Oct. 1. People can sign up on Nov. 15. Coverage begins Jan. 1. And May 15 is the last day to sign up in 2006.

A person who spends $2,000 a year on prescription drugs could save $928 next year under a drug plan offering the standard benefit with average premiums. A Medicare beneficiary who spends $4,850 on medicines would save $1,116. But people with only $530 in drug costs would pay one-third more than they do now.MORE . - New York Times

MORE : "To the researchers' surprise, they found that people who engaged in leisure time physical activity at least twice a week as they passed through middle age, had a 50 percent lower chance of developing dementia and a 60 percent lower chance of developing Alzheimer's disease compared with more sedentary colleagues."

Advise patients that while most prescription drugs will be covered under Medicare Part D, this coverage will vary among plans and they should choose their plans carefully.

Remind eligible patients that enrollment for Medicare prescription drug plans begins November 15 and continues until May 15, 2006. Eligible patients who delay enrollment will pay higher premiums after the May 15 deadline.more - CME Teaching Brief - MedPage Today