Blogs
Minority Alzheimer Prevention Research
Thomas Goldsmith with “NewsObserver.com”, writes about Mr. Henry Edmonds, who discusses the reluctance of many Minorities to participate in Alzheimer’s prevention studies, and what can be done about it.
"They want to know there is something coming back to the community," said Edmonds, who attended Shaw University in the 1960s and recalls being thrown in a segregated Raleigh jail during a downtown protest. "They want to know that their information is going to be secure and that they aren't going to be seen as guinea pigs."
Previous studies of Alzheimer's disease have not included representative numbers of blacks. Research has attributed that trend to memories of efforts such as the notorious Tuskegee syphilis research -- which for decades denied treatment of the disease in black males to study its long-term effects -- and the long-lived North Carolina program to sterilize black women with mental disabilities. "People who are in my age group remember and are very hesitant about participating in any kind of a study," said Etheldreda Guion, 68, a black Durham resident who is a former lab worker, public-school science teacher and assistant principal.
"Because of my background in science and the fact that I did work at Duke for six or seven years, I was more open to experimentation," she said.
As a coordinator of the center's African-American Community Outreach Program, Edmonds assisted a successful recruitment drive in Jacksonville and is still talking up the registry in Durham and the Triangle. Efforts have included health fairs in churches and one-on-one talks that went beyond previous efforts to enlist black participants.
"Researchers were not prepared to go into the African-American community and talk to people on a one-to-one basis," Edmonds said."Too, there's kind of a gap of cultural competence in terms of being aware of how to approach them and talk to them."
Read More at News Observer.com
Alzcare in New Braunfels. Caring treatment for Alzheimer’s patients in Texas in comfortable, home settings.
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Splitting Pills
Bob DeMarco with “Alzheimer’s Reading Room” writes on saving money by splitting pills. Buy a pill that is twice the daily dosage, and then cut it in half. It is necessary to consult your physician before doing so, but doing this can also help cut down on your co-pay.
There is more to splitting pills then meets the eye. There are caveats.
You should ask you doctor before splitting a pill. Not all medications can be split.
For example,
- Extended-release pills that deliver medication over time cannot be split.
- Pills that crumble easily or are awkwardly shaped cannot be split.
- Gel capsules cannot be split.
- Combination tablets that contain more than one medication cannot be split.
- Pills coated to protect the stomach from irritation cannot be split.
These are some of the easier to explain examples.
Here is something you might not know. Tablets that are scored, with a visible line across them, are made that way to indicate approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to split the tablets.
Many blood pressure, cholesterol (statins), and antidepressants medications can be split. Viagra can be split.
It is nearly impossible to cut a pill correctly with a knife. In order to accomplish this mission you need to purchase a pill cutter. I bought the one I use in Walmart for $3.95. Works like a charm.
Read More at Alzheimer’s Reading Room
Alzcare in New Braunfels. Caring treatment for Alzheimer’s patients in Texas in comfortable, home settings.
| | | | | The First Year
Bob DeMarco writes on “Decision Resource’s” finding that approximately 70% of Alzheimer patients did not receive treatment within the first year of being diagnosed. Denial is cited as the predominate reason for this neglect to act, on the children’s and physician’s part's. Often, early signs are ignored.
In the beginning, I decided to move into my mother's condominium and keep her in her own home. I did this because I concluded after reading some of the literature that moving her into a new environment would be too difficult and disconcerting for her. As a result, I ended up living in an over 55 community with a large fraction of the residence 75 years or older. When it comes to Alzheimer's and dementia I have received an eye opening education.
One by one I have watched friends and acquaintances of my mother fall into dementia. More often than not their children do little or nothing as the disease starts to progress. The children often watch the parent deteriorate until there is no alternative to full time care. I watched as one person had one automobile accident, then a second before their children concluded there was something wrong. I watched another go from mild dementia to full blown Alzheimer's almost overnight because nothing was being done by the family, or the personal care physician.
I suggested to them that they get some memory testing, and/or a neurological or geriatric consult. They didn't listen.In the future I will start adding this, I hope you don't regret your decision not to move on this. (I'll say this to myself, I hope I am wrong and it doesn't get worse -- much worse -- then you could ever imagine).
It is only after you become a caregiver that you begin to understand the importance of early diagnosis. Believe it or not, as hard as caring for someone with Alzheimer's can be, it is likely to be much worse if you stick your head in the sand.
Read More at Alzheimer’s Reading Room
AlzCare in Texas. Quality Alzheimer’s treatment in a home setting. San Antonio, New Braunfels, San Marcos, Waco, Fredericksburg, Victoria.
| | | | | Alzheimer's and Tau Dysfunction
Report from “Science Daily” on the findings of a recent study by “Translational Genomics Research Institute” that show how varying proteins can dismantle connections in brain cells, and how this may link to Alzheimer’s disease.
"The ultimate result of tau dysfunction is that neurons lose their connections to other neurons, and when neurons are no longer communicating, that has profound effects on cognition -- the ability to think and reason,'' said Dr. Travis Dunckley, an Associate Investigator in TGen's Neurodegenerative Research Unit and the scientific paper's senior author.
Tau performs a critical role in the brain by helping bind together microtubules, which are sub-cellular structures that create scaffolding in the neurons, allowing them to stretch out along bridges called axons. The axons support the synaptic, or chemical, connections with other neurons.
Under normal circumstances, kinases regulate tau by adding phosphates. This process, called tau phosphorylation, enables the microtubules to unbind and then bind again, allowing brain cells to connect and reconnect with other brain cells.
"That facilitates synaptic plasticity. It facilitates the ability of people to form new memories -- to form new connections between different neurons -- and maintain those memories. So, it's an essential function,'' Dr. Dunckley said.
However, sometimes the tau protein becomes hyperphosphorylated, a condition in which the tau creates neurofibrillary tangles, one of the signature indicators of Alzheimer's
Alzcare in New Braunfels. Caring treatment for Alzheimer’s patients in Texas in comfortable, home settings.
| | | | | New Website to Assist those affected by Alzheimer's
A piece by Jessie Moniz of “The Royal Gazette”, on musician Judith Stewart’s journey with Alzheimer's, and how this has affected her daughter, Elizabeth Stewart. Includes information on Ms. Stewart’s website http://www.alzbermuda.com.
Ms Stewart said after her mother's diagnosis, there was no support from the medical community. "We left the doctor's office, and that was it," Ms Stewart said. "We were never to hear from anybody again."
Ms Stewart said she and her mother felt a terrible sense of isolation after the diagnosis.
"You don't have anyone telling you what to do next," she said. "In other countries you would have someone assigned to your case who would come in and assess and make suggestions about what you should do. Here you are just left to your own devices."
For this reason, Ms Stewart is in the process of setting up a website to act as a clearing house of information for Bermudian families dealing with the illness.
"The website is really meant to be a one-stop-shop of information about the disease," said Ms Stewart. The website will include advice on hiring a caregiver in Bermuda, advice for caregivers who might be suffering from burn out, and legal advice, among other things.
Read more at The Royal Gazette
AlzCare in Texas. Quality Alzheimer’s treatment in a home setting. San Antonio, New Braunfels, San Marcos, Waco, Fredericksburg, Victoria.
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