Elevated Blood Sugar Sours Older Women's Wits : "Chronically elevated blood glucose saps cognitive function in older women, according to researchers here.

Postmenopausal women with glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels of 7% or higher had a fourfold risk of mild cognitive impairment or dementia over four years compared with women with HbA1c lower than 7%, reported Kristine Yaffe, M.D., of the University of California San Francisco and colleagues, in the current issue of the Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging....."

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!..Calorie Restriction May Prevent Alzheimer's Through Promotion Of Longevity Program In The Brain
Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City:
A recent study directed by Mount Sinai School of Medicine suggests that experimental dietary regimens might calm or even reverse symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The study, which appears in the July 2006 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, is the first to show that restricting caloric intake, specifically carbohydrates, may prevent AD by triggering activity in the brain associated with longevity.

"Both clinical and epidemiological evidence suggests that modification of lifestyle factors such as nutrition may prove crucial to Alzheimer's Disease management," says Giulio Maria Pasinetti, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Director of the Neuroinflammation Research Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "This research, however, is the first to show a connection between nutrition and Alzheimer's Disease neuropathy by defining mechanistic pathways in the brain and scrutinizing biochemical functions. We hope these findings further unlock the mystery of Alzheimer's and bring hope to the millions of Americans suffering from this disease."

"Don Hayen, a retired doctor, is working on his second book, in addition to hosting a blog to help himself and others cope with the effects of Alzheimer's disease.":

New Studies Bolster Potential of Statin Drugs for the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease
Statin drugs may help treat or prevent Alzheimer's disease (AD) by reducing inflammation according to researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine (Wolozin B, Manger J, Bryant R, Cordy J, Green RC, McKee A, Acta Neurol Scand Suppl. August, 2006;114: s185:63-70). The authors review current research into the relationship between cholesterol, statin drugs and AD and note that "demonstration that cholesterol lowering medicines, such as statins, benefit subjects with AD would have a large and immediate impact on public health." Their studies compared the brains of AD patients who took statins with those who did not and found evidence that statins strikingly reduced signs of inflammation in the brain, pointing to a possible mechanism through which statin drugs might slow or prevent the progression of the disease..."

Lonely Children May Grow Up With Fragile Hearts - CME Teaching Brief - MedPage Today
"For some patients with cardiovascular disease risk factors, the root cause may be the loneliness of childhood, according to a study that followed more than 1,000 adults from birth. Those who were socially isolated as children and adolescents were up to 2.5 times more likely than others to have three or more risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including hypertension and elevated cholesterol, said Avshalom Caspi, Ph.D., of the Institute of Psychiatry here...."

Ketamine May Give 'Almost Instantaneous' Relief for Severe Depression - medpagetoday:
"Symptoms of depression can be made to disappear in less than two hours with a common anesthetic, not the weeks or months required for onset of relief with traditional antidepressants, according to results of a pilot study.

'We have broken the sound barrier in depression treatment,' said Carlos A. Zarate, Jr., M.D., chief of the mood disorders section the National Institute of Mental Health, who reported on the effects of ketamine, a common anesthetic, in the August 8 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Dr. Zarate and colleagues said a single injection of ketamine, which targets the N-methlyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, can eliminate depression symptoms within 110 minutes...

Interestingly, ketamine is a popular street drug, which is sold under a number of names including kit kat, jet and super C. Dr. Zarat acknowledged that common side effects included perceptual disturbances, confusion, increased blood pressure, euphoria, dizziness, and increased libido.

But the effects never lasted longer than 110 minutes, while the beneficial effect of a single dose was generally durable for seven days.

Ketamine is approved for human use, but is most commonly used as a veterinary anesthetic...."

Aging Males Contribute to Miscarriage Rate : "Paternal age is a significant risk factor for miscarriage, according a case control study of almost 14,000 pregnancies. It showed that men start to go downhill after 35.

Women with partners ages 35 or older had nearly a threefold increase in spontaneous abortions compared with women whose partners were younger than 25, wrote Karine Kleinhaus, M.D., M.P.H., of Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, and colleagues, in the Aug. 1 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology...."

Disadvantaged Elderly Particularly Vulnerable to Heat Wave :
"The summer is barely half over, and much of the country has had enough -- enough of heat-related illness, enough heat-related power outages, and enough heat-related misery from a sweltering wave of extraordinary heat that broke records from coast to coast.

In the hours before the oppressive temperatures began to moderate, more than 50,000 baseball fans sweated through a three-hour day game here at Yankee Stadium in temperatures that hovered near 100 degrees. They were given free bottles of water.

Ironically, though, the outdoor gathering was healthier than staying home in sweltering conditions, which a study in the August issue of the American Sociological Review called the primary cause of the deaths of more than 700 elderly Chicago residents in a 1995 heat wave....."