Tag Archives: Dementia

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Did you know that15 minutes of mental health hygiene can change your whole day?

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Incorporating a daily stress-relief exercise into your routine not only helps you feel better now, but research suggests that it may also enhance your overall well-being in the future.

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The cleanliness is seen in the reduction of cortisol levels, which is the primary stress hormone. When you begin with a clear, peaceful mind, you have a calm reference point to which you may look back when things become tough. The goal, according to mental health consultant David Sawyer, is to establish a baseline sensation that will help you feel better while you go about your daily activities. In his words, it is only a matter of learning to handle and nourish that inner space with awareness.

Daily writing and trying various hobbies might assist you in identifying what activities make you feel the most tranquil and stress-relieved in the long run. According to psychologist Tom Sawyer, you may begin to seek to check in with your mental state at increasingly frequent intervals during the day. Sawyer recommends including some kind of low-impact physical exercise into your schedule at least three days a week, such as walking, riding, or yoga. If you can, schedule some time at the end of the day to wind down and relax, he recommends. Step away from screens and decompress, he advises.

Diet, disease, Health, Healthy eating, mental health, Public health

What is Your Opinion on the Benefits of Coffee for Alzheimer’s Disease? Here’s What the Latest Research Says About the Link.

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In a study evaluating the relationship between coffee and tea consumption and the risk of dementia and stroke, the researchers revealed that a certain number of cups consumed per day had the highest association with a decreased risk.

That is the message from recent research that is generating much attention. The research, published in the journal PLOS Medicine on November 16, assessed data from 365,682 adults aged 50 to 74 who took part in the UK Biobank. (If you are not acquainted with the UK Biobank, it is a large-scale biomedical database and research resource.) The health of the individuals and their coffee and tea consumption habits were monitored for 10 to 14 years.

During the research, 5,079 people got dementia, and 10,053 people had at least one stroke. The researchers examined persons who did not drink coffee or tea to those who did and discovered that those who enjoyed their brewed beverages had a reduced risk of stroke and dementia than abstainers. Those who drank two to three cups of coffee or three to five cups of tea per day had a decreased risk of dementia and stroke. Those who drank two to three cups of coffee and two to three cups of tea per day—so four to six cups of coffee and tea per day—had the most outstanding outcomes, with a 32% reduced risk of stroke and a 28% lower risk of dementia.

“We discovered that consuming coffee and tea individually or together was connected with a decreased risk of stroke and dementia,” the researchers concluded. “Consumption of coffee alone or in conjunction with tea was linked to a decreased incidence of poststroke dementia.”

It is worth noting that the research discovered merely a relationship, not causality. That is, the researchers did not discover that drinking coffee or tea reduces a person’s chance of dementia or stroke; instead, they discovered that persons who consume coffee and tea had a decreased risk of these primary health conditions. Scott Kaiser, MD, a geriatrician and the director of Geriatric Cognitive Health at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, tells health that the correlation vs. causation component is critical. He emphasizes that the research “does not establish that consuming coffee or tea caused this decrease in risk.”

Doctors are still interested. “He is delighted that coffee drinking may reduce my own risk of dementia,” Amit Sachdev, MD, medical director in the Department of Neurology at Michigan State University, tells health.

This is not the first research to discover a correlation between coffee, in particular, and good health. For example, one research of over 468,000 adults, presented in August at the European Society of Cardiology, showed that drinking up to three cups of coffee per day is associated with a decreased risk of stroke and heart disease. In addition, a meta-analysis of 34,282 people’s data published in the journal Clinical Nutrition in 2016 discovered that drinking one or two cups of coffee per day is associated with a decreased risk of dementia.

Of course, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. For example, research published earlier this year in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience discovered that consuming more than six cups of coffee each day increases your chance of developing dementia.

The “considerable disagreement” around the link between coffee and tea intake and stroke and dementia is one of the reasons the researchers claim they undertook this most recent study.

It is unclear why there could be a relationship between coffee and tea use and dementia and stroke risk—and the new research did not look into this. “While caffeine is undoubtedly a crucial shared denominator,” Dr. Kaiser explains, “coffee and tea are both derived from plants with many, many potentially beneficial chemical components, including strong antioxidants.” Any of these phytonutrients—chemicals produced by plants to maintain their health—”can really lower inflammation in our brains, protect brain cells from damage, improve learning and memory, and give other obvious advantages for brain health,” he continues.

All of this begs the question: Should the individual start drinking coffee or tea if the individuals are not already? Dr. Sachdev does not recommend it. “He is a little doubtful that this research will affect behavior,” he adds. “He would be more interested if a specific chemical in coffee or tea could be discovered.”

However, if one is already a coffee or tea user, individuals will be relieved to discover that the daily habit may be linked to a decreased risk of dementia and stroke.

Reference:

Korin Miller, Can Drinking Coffee Lower Your Dementia Risk? Here’s What New Research Says About the Association, November 17,Health. 2021.https://www.health.com/condition/neurological-disorders/coffee-and-dementia?fbclid=IwAR2DVl54rZI4I3zAbn17ZsGZxWaVD1CbzGXeTZl2e4qmFfIivm83a10yQj0

disease, environmental, Health

Scientists have finally nailed down one link between brain health and the “polar bear plunge.”

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After many years of anecdotal evidence, scientists have finally nailed down one link between brain health and the “polar bear plunge.”

In a study associated with the #blood profiles of regular winter-time swimmers in London, Cambridge University researchers have identified a protein which was shown to slow the onset of #dementia in mice — and even repair a number of the damage brought on by the illness.

Their findings hinted at an explanation as to why hibernating animals, who lose 20% to 30% of these synapses during the cold winter to preserve energy, can regenerate those neural connections upon awakening in the spring.
Their findings hinted at a reason as to the reasons hibernating animals, who lose 20% to 30% of these synapses during the cold winter to preserve energy, can regenerate those neural connections upon awakening in the spring. (iStock)

For a long time, doctors have observed the healing and protective advantages of cold environments on individual ill patients but had yet to locate any connection.

If they revealed the role of a specific #protein — the RBM3 — in other mammals, such as bears, the #pathology behind its healing power began falling into place.

HEARING LOSS MAY CAUSE #DEMENTIA, STUDY FINDS

In a 2015 study published in the journal Nature, the Cambridge team discovered “cold-shock chemicals” during animal studies on healthy mice, mice with #Alzheimer’s, yet others with a prion, a neurodegenerative #disease. They observed that whenever healthy mice were placed into a hypothermic state — below 35 degrees Celsius — and then carefully rewarmed, they reap the benefits of a natural boost of RBM3. Once fully reanimated, researchers found the ordinary mice had also healed neurons that were harmed by the first shock.

Mice with Alzheimer’s and prion demonstrated neither effect.

However, in another test, scientists instead artificially increased RBM3 levels in the sick mice, then repeated the “cold-shock” process. This time around, the protein seemed to prevent vulnerable synapses — or cell connectors — from breaking, suggesting that RBM3 might shield the brain from #dementia diseases’ outcomes.

Their findings hinted at a description as to why hibernating animals, who lose 20% to 30% of their synapses during the cold winter to preserve energy, can regenerate those neural connections upon awakening into the spring.

During the time, Professor Giovanna Mallucci, who runs great Britain Dementia Research Institute’s Center at Cambridge, confessed to BBC Radio 4 Today listeners that the breakthrough study may end there as few human subjects would willingly submit themselves to hypothermia.

CORONAVIRUS ISOLATION KILLING A LARGE NUMBER OF ALZHEIMER’S PATIENTS

Those few, however, heeded the call of science. Martin Pate, a swimmer at Parliament Hill Lido in London, an outdoor pool open year-round, got in touch with researchers, volunteering himself and a little set of swimmers through the center — in the end, these were familiar with frigid temperatures.

People in a #Tai Chi group who practice near the pool were enlisted as a control group and not submitted to cold weather.

As researchers suspected, most swimmers, recovering from core temperatures as low as 34 degrees Celsius, showed notably high levels of RBM3 in contrast to the Tai Chi group.

COMMON SENSE OF SMELL MAY INDICATE LOWER RISK OF DEMENTIA IN OLDER ADULTS: STUDY

“If you slowed the progress of dementia by even a few years on an entire population, that could have an enormous impact economically and health-wise,” said Mallucci, who shared her recent, unpublished findings in a live panel on YouTube.

However, researchers cannot recommend ice baths as a safe treatment due to the inherent dangers of swimming in near-freezing temperatures. A “cold-shock” is sufficient to prompt a heart attack or stroke in patients with high blood pressure levels or cause a swimmer to reduce their coordination, resulting in drowning.

Reference
Cold water may be an effective defense against dementia …. https://www.foxnews.com/health/cold-water-may-be-effective-defense-dementia

disease, Health

Research links widely-used drugs to a nearly 50% higher risk of dementia

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Research conducted recently found some common drugs could raise the likelihood of dementia or dementia-like symptoms by nearly fifty percent. According to the research, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, discovered the increase odds of dementia in people 55 and older who take anticholinergic medications.

Photo by David Cassolato on Pexels.com

Anticholinergics are used to treat your wide range of conditions, including depression, indicators of Parkinson’s disease, bladder control and insomnia. An estimated one in four mature workers take anticholinergic drugs. Some antihistamines like Benadryl are also anticholinergics, but weren’t associated with dementia in this study.

“This can be a very broad class of medications,” CBS News’ Dr. Tara Narula told “CBS Early today.” “A large amount of Americans use these drugs whether prescription or over-the-counter beginning from things such as antihistamines or anti-allergy medicines, sleep aids, bladder control medication, Parkinson’s drugs, COPD meds, I mean the list goes on and on.”
The research, which Narula cautioned is basically a correlational and not a cause-and-effect study, checked out more than 200,000 individuals in Britain who took a strong anticholinergic drug for 3 many years found a 49% increased likelihood of dementia.

“All of these researchers have said, look, some of these drugs that we’re giving – such as the anti-depressants and the sleep aids – we’re giving to people who may have had dementia all along because a few of these things such as depression and lack of sleep are early signs of dementia,” she said.
It is important for pharmacists, doctors and patients all be informed regarding this and also to remember that the elderly are particularly susceptible for a range of reasons including a more permeable blood-brain barrier and because they are often on multiple medications, meaning there could be a cumulative effect. Because of those risks, Narula stated that patients with dementia should not be on these medications by any means.
Past studies have proven that whenever patients turn off anticholinergics the symptoms subside, but researchers are calling for a randomized control trial – considered the gold standard in research – so they can fully understand whether there is a real cause and effect link.

“At every [doctor] visit you ought to be going over all of your medications and saying, must i be traveling on this? Could it be contributing on me, and what are the risks and benefits and are there alternative agents that may be good for me and you should not assume whether it’s over-the-counter that it’s safe.”

Reference:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/research-links-widely-used-drugs-to-nearly-50-percent-higher-risk-dementia/

disease, Health

It is a mystery that increased dementia risk linked to drugs commonly used to treat intestinal, respiratory and mood disorders

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Anticholinergic drugs are utilized to produce a panoply of factors—for depression and psychosis, bladder and gastrointestinal conditions, allergies and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.


Yet, within the study published Monday in Journal of the American Medical Association’s Internal Medicine, patients over age 55 who used strong anticholinergic medication daily for more than four years had a 50 percent increased danger of developing dementia.

“This research provides further evidence that doctor should be cautious when prescribing particular drugs that have anticholinergic properties,” Tom Dening, perhaps one of the authors and head of one’s Center for Dementia for the University of Nottingham, said within a press release. “However, it’s important that individuals taking medications along these lines just not only stop them unexpectedly as this can be a great deal more harmful. If patients have concerns, they would have to discuss them along with their doctor to think about what you should know about the treatment they are actually receiving.”

Researchers assessed medical data on nearly 59,000 people with dementia, which they collected between January 2004 and January 2016. Of given records they analyzed, the average age of patients was 82 and about 63 percent of them were women.

Approximately 57 percent considering the patients in the study received a prescription for a minimum of at least one strong anticholinergic drug, one to 11 years before being diagnosed with dementia. Though the link found between the drugs and creating of dementia appears strong, the scientists noted that their findings are associations and do not demonstrate that drugs cause dementia.

Doctors prescribe anticholinergic drugs as a treatment for conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bladder conditions, allergies, gastrointestinal disorders and warning signs of Parkinson’s disease.

The investigation was mighty at some limitations—for example, some patients will possibly not have obtained their drugs as directed, so anticholinergic exposure levels could have been misclassified.
“Further research is essential to make sure that regardless of the association between these drugs and the chance of dementia is causal. These drugs are prescribed for a range of medical conditions and all of the concerns patients might have to stop them appearing should be discussed using their doctors,” Professor Martin Rossor, NIHR National Director of Dementia Research, said.

These health conditions may be as acute as seizures or psychosis, so weighing the pros and cons of taking clonazepam along with a physician is critical professionals say.

Diet, disease, Health

Blood pressure drugs may help reduce dementia risk

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A massive innovative analysis has discovered a connection concerning choosing many classes of blood pressure-lowering medications and a minor risk of dementia amongst senior adults, adding to the conversation about the relationship concerning cognitive deterioration and high blood pressure.

People who take blood pressure-lowering medication may have a lower risk of dementia.

Dementia is an umbrella term for numerous neurodegenerative disorders, the most extensive of which is Alzheimer’s disease.

The critical trait of dementia is progressive cognitive deterioration, in which a person encounters memory loss and degeneration in their reasoning and decision-making capabilities.

Scientists are still ambiguous as to what causes dementia, but in an attempt to progress prevention stratagems, they have been examining the possible danger causes that may be a factor to the progress of this condition.

Various current studies have connected hypertension with an advanced risk of dementia. For example, a paper that appeared in the journal Neurology last year found that hypertension is coupled to a higher risk of suffering brain lesions, which are, in turn, attached to dementia.

Reference

May | 2019 | My CMS | Page 40. https://www.medicationjunction.com/2019/05/page/40/



Behavioral Science, Diet, disease, Fitness, Health, Healthy eating

Ways to Prevent Dementia

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The World Health Organization (WHO) shows that close to 50 million men and women globally currently have dementia. Dementia is actually a ailment seen as problematic that affects the memory, thinking, and performing daily task.. As for its causes, Alzheimer’s disease is a common disease in the United States that causes dementia and is the leading cause of death. Though currently the WHO orgranization put out new guidelines the guidelines consists of speciafic step for lowering the risk of cognitive problems while dementia is common in seniors the WHO organization points out that this procecss is a part of aging but we can make lifestyle changes earlier this prevention may curb the on-set of dementia.

  1. Exercize regularly
  2. Stop smothing
  3. Avoid heavy Alcohol consumption
  4. Control weight
  5. Eat a healthy diet
  6. Maintaining healthy blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels

The great thing is a number of these recommendations are linked. Meaning if you start working out more frequently and consuming a healthier diet regime, there is an excellent possibility that will favorably effect unwanted weight and heart wellness. Main point here, it’s worth your money a head start, regardless of what that appears to be, on supporting the human brain wellness for the many years to come.

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Would you like to know the six things providers should know about HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders?

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dementia1At the beginning of the epidemic, probably the most terrifying consequences of late-stage, AIDS-related disease was the many neurocognitive problems, the worst of that was dementia. At that time, without any effective antiretroviral treatments, the virus quickly penetrated the blood-brain barrier. AIDS dementia complex, along side early opportunistic infections (OI) such as Kaposi sarcoma and Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), typically occurred when an individual’s CD4 count fell below 200, however it ended up being the result of the herpes virus it self, not an OI. People who experienced this severe dementia declined quickly and tragically.

Happily, the advent of combination antiretroviral treatments (ART) has greatly reduced the seriousness of HIV-associated dementia, but other HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) remain pervasive. Among these, symptoms are generally significantly less serious than previous, nonetheless they stay extremely concerning since they affect intellectual processing, memory, and motor skills.

HAND-related signs are often indistinguishable from intellectual impairment because of other noteworthy causes. They consist of brief attention span, memory loss, mood disorders, irritability, bad judgment, confusion, and impairment of fine engine abilities. There are three classifications of HAND: 1) asymptomatic cognitive disability (some decrease, however it doesn’t impair operating); 2) mild neurocognitive disorder (a noticeable change in performance of everyday tasks); and 3) HIV-associated dementia, the greater amount of severe kind described above that has been common early in the epidemic. Considerably, it is estimated that half of individuals living with HIV, despite viral suppression, end up in either of this first couple of classifications: asymptomatic or mild.

Despite significant improvements into the biomedical remedy for HIV-related conditions, the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and remedy for HAND remains badly understood. Due to the fact quantity of aging individuals managing HIV expands, it really is more crucial than ever before to better perceive HAND and develop clinical interventions. Here’s a listing of a number of this research:

How Does Pathological Involvement Aided By The Nervous System Very First Appear?
The nervous system (CNS) is definitely recognized as a target of HIV. The most severe kinds of neurocognitive disorders, such as for instance AIDS-associated dementia, are pertaining to serious immunosuppression. It had been hoped that ART would decrease the extent of neurocognitive impairment, but people who have undetectable viral loads remain at significant risk to get more mild forms. A 2015 research by Zaina Zayyad, M.D., Ph.D., shows that HIV neuropathogenesis may begin aided by the initial viral entry in the CNS, followed by procedures including neuroinflammation and neurotoxicity, as well as the establishment of neighborhood and compartmentalized HIV replication in brain tissue. A much better comprehension of whenever and exactly how HIV establishes neighborhood illness in the CNS, which CNS cells would be the primary target of HIV, as well as the process through which neurons are damaged by HIV will significantly enhance both the diagnosis and remedy for HAND.

What Are the Biomarkers for HAND?
Because the diagnosis of HIV-associated neurocognitive problems relies on imprecise neuropsychometric assessments, a diagnostic biomarker will be exceedingly useful. A 2017 study published in Viruses proposed that the pathogenesis of HAND begins away from brain, especially in the peripheral blood. The scientists unearthed that the full total HIV DNA into the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) correlates with illness progression and could be considered a promising biomarker to predict HAND. These analyses are carried out by PCR assays (a laboratory method that will produce considerable amounts of hereditary material from a tiny sample). But assessments of HIV DNA in cellular compartments are complex, because of a not enough standardization, which limits their utilization in predicting HAND. In this review, the medical relevance of total HIV DNA in circulating mononuclear cells appears to be evaluated utilizing various PCR protocols in order to identify those who can accurately anticipate severity of neurocognitive disability. Examining the role of monocytes given that carrier of HIV to the CNS causes it to be an invaluable indicator for determining a HAND-associated reservoir. Cost-effective PCR assays may turn out to be essential in distinguishing biomarkers for HAND.

Can various profiles that are risk Discerned?
A 2018 study used latent profile analysis (LPA) of neuropsychological tests and device learning how to determine neurocognitive performance profiles and identify their associated risk facets in individuals with HIV getting ART. Three profiles emerged: Profile 1 exhibited the highest intellectual performance; profile 2 shown reduced executive function (the cognitive control of behavior) and verbal memory (words along with other language-based abstractions); and profile 3 had global disability. Lacking been born in the united states ended up being the principal predictor of profile 3, accompanied by feminine intercourse and toxoplasma seropositivity. Extra predictors included jobless, current depressive signs, a diminished CD4 nadir, and longstanding HIV. Particularly in americans, greater amounts of HIV in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and older age predicted profile 3. HAND diagnoses occurred most frequently in profile 3 (89.8%), followed by the team with minimal higher-order neurocognitive performance (profile 2 = 16.6percent).

Exactly What Role Is Played by Host Genetics?
The pathogenesis and danger factors of HAND will always be perhaps not totally understood, partly due to the complexity of HAND phenotypes, which present with a high variability and alter in the long run. The role of host (human) genetics determines, to some extent, the potency of the resistant reaction along with other factors that improve the vulnerability at hand. An assessment called “Risk Factors and Pathogenesis of HIV-Associated Neurocognitive condition: The Role of Host Genetics” looked at studies that examined the part of individual host genetics within the pathogenesis and danger facets of HAND. While variants in host genes that regulated immune reactions and neurotransmission have already been of the protection or chance of HAND development, the consequences are often small and findings badly replicated. Nevertheless, the review discovers that a couple of particular gene variants impact the danger for developing HAND. Identifying these will improve our comprehension of HAND pathogenesis and possible treatments.

How Has Pathogenesis of HAND Changed With Antiretroviral Treatment?As noted earlier, despite extensive use of ART and higher prices of invisible viral loads, HAND remains a typical complication of HIV. It now typically occurs in earlier phases of HIV infection, plus the clinical program varies from before. A write-up published in the Journal of Neurology reviewed these distinctions and possible variants in pathogenesis. Today, the prevalent clinical feature remains a subcortical dementia with deficits into the domain names of concentration, attention, and memory, but engine indications such as for example gait disturbance and impaired handbook dexterity are becoming less prominent. The writers note that, just before ART, cerebral disorder could at the least partially be explained by viral load and virus-associated complications. In topics with undetectable or at the least surprisingly low viral load, the pathogenic virus-brain discussion is apparently less direct, implicating a myriad of poorly understood immunological and (probably) toxic phenomena.

What’s the Relationship Between Vascular Cognitive Impairment (VCI) and HAND?
It’s been proposed that VCI is clinically for this persistence of mild types of submit the aging process individuals coping with HIV. New research when you look at the Journal of Neurovirology proposes more fundamental links between VCI and HAND, noting that the neuropsychological and neuroimaging phenotypes of VCI and HAND largely overlap, suggesting that further scientific studies are necessary to accurately differentiate them. The scientists also linked VCI and HAND in the biomechanical degree by proposing that the neuro-vascular unit (NVU, the structural mobile structure of neurons, astrocytes, and endothelium) could be the primary target of HIV-related mind injury in addressed HIV illness. They suggest that the possibility contribution of vascular harm to overall mind damage in aging people coping with HIV is most likely a lot higher than presently calculated, due to methodological restrictions and because this research is only emerging. In addition they note that VCI risk factors tend to be more prevalent, occur previously, consequently they are sometimes accelerated within the HIV-positive population at large, significantly increasing the danger for neurocognitive problems older than 60.

As neurocognitive problems continue steadily to afflict people coping with HIV, including individuals with invisible viral loads, new research is illuminating more information about the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and remedy for these conditions.

Health

There is a common brain disease that looks like Alzheimer’s but it is not!

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For numerous seniors who are clinically determined to have Alzheimer’s disease. A definite type of late-occurring dementia known as LATE may be the source of their state. The issue is, informing the two apart is far from easy. Though, recently publicized recommendations may help health professionals differentiate both conditions, providing individuals with either of the medical conditions, a much better diagnosis of their foreseeable future, while promoting understanding of different types of dementia.

With so much concentration on Alzheimer’s recently, it’s not hard to neglect there are additional neurodegenerative medical conditions to look out for.

Many are relatively simple to recognize depending on patient background, numerous biomarkers, or distinctive signs of illness.

One specific type of dementia known as limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy – or LATE – acts uncannily like Alzheimer’s disease, rendering lots of chance for misinformed diagnostic classification. However, dementia is set to be an increasing challenge in a world with an maturing populace; an illness that may be demonstrating much more complicated when compared with the first. Unraveling that difficulty is actually a required step in choosing the best intervention to help patients