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All Memory Special Reports
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Caregivers -- The Hidden Patients
Approximately 80% of dementia patients are cared for by family members. That's millions of family members who provide care for a parent or relative, many of whom must balance these duties with the demands of their full-time jobs and other family members. If you are caring for a family member or friend with Alzheimer's disease, this Special Report from a recent Johns Hopkins Memory Bulletin offers practical support and advice. … More...
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New Frontiers in Alzheimer’s Research
The newest crop of amyloid-targeted drugs to prevent or reverse Alzheimer's disease includes several that are in clinical trials and may soon be available to patients. In this Special Report, Johns Hopkins reviews potential new treatments for Alzheimer's disease.
Preventing or reversing the buildup of amyloid plaque and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain remains the central focus of Alzheimer's disease research and drug development. Unfortunately, finding an effective treatment has been elusive and frustrating, often leaving… More...
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Low-Tech Screening Tests for Dementia
In this Special Report, Johns Hopkins doctors review five simple, low-tech screening tests for measuring the decline cognitive health into dementia.
New developments in brain imaging technology are significant advances in Alzheimer's research and diagnosis. But some decidedly low-tech screening tests may offer quick and inexpensive snapshots of a person's cognitive health or level of dementia. Whether any of these tests are accurate enough to be used widely for screening remains to be seen, but one… More...
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Your Memory Timeline
Knowing how the normal brain ages -- and how those changes affect your memory -- can make the occasional senior moment less worrisome.
We tend to think of our brain as different from our other organs. But the brain undergoes predictable changes over time, just like the heart. As with heart disease, good genes and a healthy lifestyle can moderate these age-related changes, but it can’t entirely stop them. … More...
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Transitioning to a Residential Facility
How do you know when the time has come to move your loved one with Alzheimer’s from the home setting to a long-term care facility? Dr. Peter V Rabins, medical editor of the Johns Hopkins Memory Bulletin, offers this advice.
If you are a caregiver struggling with the question of when to place your loved one with Alzheimer’s in a residential care facility, the questions you’re likely to ask are numerous, complex, and fraught with emotion.… More...
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The Role of Insulin in the Development of Alzheimer’s Disease
Recent research suggests that a failure in insulin processing in the brain may contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Sam Grandy, Chair of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Council of the Alzheimer’s Association, talks about this intriguing new insight.
Researchers are getting closer to understanding how Alzheimer’s disease develops, and a key component in several emerging theories is insulin and its role in the brain. One reason uncovering the role of insulin in Alzheimer’s… More...
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Mild Cognitive Impairment: article excerpted from The Johns Hopkins Memory Bulletin
MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT
Forgetfulness. It’s pretty much guaranteed to catch up with you at some point in time. You are in your 50s, 60s, 70s, or older when suddenly it seems that you’re “losing it.” The name of the movie you saw last week? Can’t remember. You grope for the title of a book you just finished reading yesterday. You find yourself standing in front of the open refrigerator door, wondering what you were looking for. At a party, you’ve been… More...
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Overcoming the Stigma of Alzheimer's Disease
Because of the nature of Alzheimer’s disease treatment, delaying diagnosis may make it more difficult to treat the disease.
No matter what the diagnosis, the shift from “healthy” to “sick” alters how you perceive yourself and how others perceive you. Sociologists refer to this as the effects of “labeling”—once diagnosed, people carry the label of their illness and, in turn, the benefits and stigma of all its expected behaviors. The very real fear of a terminal illness and the potential for social exclusion and loss of identity, dignity, and competency all coalesce to create a powerful stigma around Alzheimer’s disease. More...
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Handing Over the Car Keys
After decades of the freedom and independence, many people with dementia are reluctant to stop driving. But the decline in cognition found in people with conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease often makes them unsafe drivers. For example, people with dementia are about three to five times as likely as others their age to be involved in a car crash. More...
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What to Expect From Alzheimer's Disease Medications
Many patients and their caregivers have high expectations for drugs that are approved for treating Alzheimer’s disease. In certain instances, these expectations are met. For example, some Alzheimer’s disease patients experience improved memory and thinking, and some see benefits for up to five years with cholinesterase inhibitors. However, for the vast majority of people with Alzheimer’s disease, the effects of medication on cognition and behavior are much more modest.
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High-Tech Help for Alzheimer’s Disease
In 2005, Medicare decided to cover the cost of a positron emission tomography (PET) scan for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. A PET scan is a unique imaging test that records organ and tissue function at a cellular level. This allows many health problems to be diagnosed earlier than would be the case with regular x-rays or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). More...
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Mild Cognitive Impairment
People can expect a certain degree of forgetfulness with age. While frustrating, there is no indication that such normal memory lapses will eventually lead to Alzheimer’s disease. But new evidence suggests that more persistent memory problems may be a reason for concern. The disturbances fall somewhere in-between age-associated memory impairment (AAMI) and early dementia. More...
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Simple Tests for Dementia
In screening someone for dementia, tests of mental status—for example, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Short Test of Mental Status, or the Cognitive Capacity Screening Examination—are given to check for any basic cognitive impairment. These tests offer a baseline for comparison should further testing be necessary.
However, although the Mini-Mental State Examination is one of the standard tests physicians use to assess dementia it has several drawbacks. The test takes 5 to 15 minutes
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Can Alcohol Help Preserve Memory?
The harmful effects of alcohol intoxication and alcohol abuse on memory are well known—for example, the college student who can’t remember a conversation she had at a party the night before, or the man who wakes up in a hotel room with no recollection of how he got there.
But what may be less well known are the benefits that moderate amounts of alcohol can have on cognitive function. Growing evidence shows that people who drink moderately are at lower risk for memory loss and dementia.
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