Progress and Promise Against Alzheimers Disease

Check out this video produced by University of Pennsylvania, John Q. Trojanowski, MD, PhD, and Virginia M-Y. Lee, PhD, MBA, lead efforts to understand Alzheimer's disease, other dementias, Parkinsons, ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), and related neurological disorders at the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research (CNDR).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxlHjF1l4EU

Protect Your Brain by Dr. Andrew Weil

2 Ways to Protect the Brain

Roughly 5.1 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease; that number is expected to grow to 7.7 million by 2030. But two studies have identified therapies that may help keep the devastating - and often fatal - deterioration of the brain that characterizes Alzheimer's at bay.Related Weil ProductsDr. Weil on Healthy Aging for a Healthy Mind - Want to help protect your memory?

You can reduce your risk of developing diseases influenced by inflammation, including Alzheimer's, simply by following an anti-inflammatory diet like the one featured on the Dr. Weil on Healthy Aging online guide.

First, scientists at the University of California at Irvine have reported that omega-3 fatty acids may slow the growth of two distinct brain lesions that are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. A study using genetically modified mice is the first to demonstrate that DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid, can delay the development of protein "tangles" in brain cells. DHA also reduces levels of beta amyloid, another protein which can cluster in the brain and form plaques. Mice in a control group ate food that mimics a typical American diet, with a 10 to one ratio of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids. Studies indicate that a proper ratio is important to maintain health, with the ideal being 3:1 to 5:1.Mice in three test groups were given food with a 1:1 ratio of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids. One of these groups received supplemental DHA only. Two groups received DHA, plus additional omega-6 fatty acids. After three months, mice in all of the test groups had lower levels of both proteins than mice in the control group, but at nine months, only mice on the DHA diet had lower levels. These results suggest that DHA works better on its own than when paired with omega-6 fatty acids. The research appeared in the April 18, 2007, issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

"Perhaps no piece of nutritional advice in the year 2007 is more relevant than this one: to reduce your risk of a wide variety of diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's, consume more omega-3 fatty acids and fewer omega-six fatty acids," said Dr. Weil. "A good way to do this: add wild-caught fatty fish such as Alaskan salmon to your diet, and reduce consumption of fried food, which tends to be saturated with omega-6-rich soybean oil." Rebalancing the ratios of these fats is an important component of Dr. Weil's anti-inflammatory diet.

Second, you've probably heard before that mentally stimulating activities can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Now, a new study suggests just how much protection we might expect. Researchers in Chicago found that people who are cognitively active in old age are 2.6 times less likely to develop dementia or Alzheimer's than those who use their heads less. Stimulating activities include such routine habits as reading the newspaper, checking out and reading a library book, as well as playing chess, going to the theater and other mentally engaging pursuits. Investigators from Rush University Medical Center tested more than 700 study participants, average age 80, every year for up to five years. A total of 90 developed Alzheimer's during the study, and risks of getting the disease correlated with levels of mental "workouts". The benefits of mental stimulation held true even after the investigators controlled for past cognitive activity, socioeconomic status throughout life and current social and physical activity.

The study was published on June 27, 2007 in the online edition of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology."The research is clear on this issue: challenging your mind on a regular basis helps to lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease," said Dr. Weil.

Meetings at Baylor College of Medicine

We toured Baylor College of Medicine's Research Laboratory where they are actively seeking answers for FTD. Incredible people doing incredible work.

Also heard brief presentations from the Researchers, outlining what they are working on. These people are not just Researchers, they are compassionate people wanting desperately to find answers. Realizing they are on the forefront of this disease, they understand there remains much to do.

I want to thank Dr. Paul Schulz, Neurologist, Dr. Michelle York, Neuropsychologist, Dr. Qureshi, Neuropsychiatry, Dr. Lai, Director of Parkinson’s Center, and Linda Richardson, Founder of ALS Houston Chapter and Clinic. There are many more to thank….the researchers, but I don’t know them all by name.

Dr. Schulz was my sister's doctor. Dr. Schulz and his team helped our family understand what was happening as the FTD progressed. Had it not been for BCM and these caring doctors, my sister could have passed away before we knew what was going on. They helped us to understand why she behaved like she did.

When the brain is involved, we tend to shy away from what is going on...you can't see it, surely drugs can help?? ...this family knows all the scenarios.

We need to help them raise money to start FTD Clinics...a great concept to help patients and families dealing with this dreaded disease.

FTD description

FTD is a form of dementia, or altered mental status, which is distinct from the cognitive and memory problems evident in Alzheimer’s disease.

FTD involves a change in personality that can produce obsessive behavior, loss of the ability to plan or make decisions, and other more subtle signs that something is amiss in the cerebral cortex.

Frontotemporal refers to the forward part of the brain that sits above the eyes and behind the temples. It is the last region of the cerebral cortex to mature, which explains why teens often cannot make good “adult” decisions. Lowering of the function of this region can lead to impulsive and emotional behavior.

FTD Patients Cannot Detect Sarcasm

Researchers at the University of New South Wales are using sarcasm to determine whether patients have frontotemporal dementia (FTD), otherwise known as Pick's disease:

Researchers at the University of New South Wales found that patients under the age of 65 suffering from frontotemporal dementia (FTD), the second most common form of dementia, cannot detect when someone is being sarcastic.

The study, described by its authors as groundbreaking, helps explain why patients with the condition behave the way they do and why, for example, they are unable to pick up their caregivers' moods, the research showed.

"This is significant because if care-givers are angry, sad or depressed, the patient won't pick this up. It is often very upsetting for family members," said John Hodges, the senior author of the paper published in "Brain".

"(FTD) patients present changes in personality and behaviour. They find it difficult to interact with people, they don't pick up on social cues, they lack empathy, they make bad judgements," he told AFP.
...
The research, conducted in 2006-07, put 26 sufferers of FTD and 19 Alzheimer's patients through a test in which actors acted out different scenarios using exactly the same words.
While in one scenario, the actors would deliver the lines sincerely, in others they would introduce a thick layer of sarcasm. Patients were then asked if they got the joke, Hodges said.
For example, said Hodges, if a couple were discussing a weekend away and the wife suggested bringing her mother, the husband might say: "Well, that's great, you know how much I like your mother, that will really make it a great weekend."

When the same words were delivered sarcastically and then in a neutral tone, the joke was lost on FTD patients, while the Alzheimer's patients got it.

I wasn't able to find the article in Brain yet because I don't think it is out yet, but here is a similar article on the subject.

A couple comments: Pick's disease is really rare. If you have a relative with dementia odds of overwhelmingly that it is Alzheimer's and not FTD. But it is an interesting finding that patients with FTD fail to understand sarcastic statements while patients with Alzheimer's do.
I guess my question would be, what is the mechanism of perception of sarcasm? It must be the perception of some disconnect between the speaker's perceived intention and their actual statements. We know that mirror neurons -- neurons that are active when you perceive someone else performing a task, neurons that we think are involved in empathy -- are in the frontal lobes, so the loss of these neurons may explain the phenotype. However, at end stage Alzheimer's you also see frontal lobe issues. Maybe there is a stage in Alzheimer's where you would also see loss of sarcasm, although likely by that point they aren't doing much talking anyway.

The most bizarre part about all of this is the thought of putting into practice. Could you visualize going into a patient's bedroom and being sarcastic to see if they had FTD? What if they didn't? You would look like such a jackass.

Furthermore, I know a bunch of healthy people who don't understand sarcasm either. What do you make of them?

New Drug for Alzheimer’s

Dimebon is the new drug available (research purposes) for Alzheimer's...would it be good for FTD patients? I will email them and ask the question. I guess for the memory problems associated with it, it could. My brother and sister really had good memories until the end.