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Dementia

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK

If you couldn’t see your mashed potatoes,  you probably wouldn’t eat them.

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Boston University Biopsychologist Alice Cronin-Golomb and her research partners designed the “red plate study.” Their idea was to see whether seniors with advanced Alzheimer’s would eat more food from red plates than they did from white ones. The researchers in the Vision & Cognition Lab of the Center for Clinical Biopsychology, which Cronin-Golomb directs, had reason to hope that their experiment would succeed.

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Nursing home staff often complain that Alzheimer’s patients do not finish the food on their plates even when staff encourages them to do so. 40% of individuals with severe Alzheimer’s lose an unhealthy amount of weight. Previous explanations for this phenomenon included depression, inability to concentrate on more than one food at a time, and inability to eat unassisted. Cronin-Golomb and her colleagues took a different approach. They believed this behavior might be explained by the visual-cognitive deficiencies caused by Alzheimer’s. Patients with the disease cannot process visual data—like contrast and depth perception—as well as most other seniors.

So the research team tested advanced Alzheimer’s patients’ level of food intake with standard white plates and with bright-red ones. What they found was astonishing—patients eating from red plates consumed 25 percent more food than those eating from white plates.

Since these findings were published in 2004, some nursing homes have made red plates the norm. Private companies even market special red plates for seniors with visual impairment.

The CAS researchers’ approach to the problem of decreased functioning was what led to their breakthrough. Whereas many scientists look for drugs to treat degenerative cognitive diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, Cronin-Golomb and her team focus instead on finding visual aids that can improve patients’ quality of life. By assisting Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients with their visual perception, the researchers actually are able to improve the subjects’ mental functioning.

Asks Cronin-Golomb,

“If the information getting into their brain through their eyes is already degraded, how can you expect them to do much with that?”

“If we can enhance how fast they are getting information in, then they can have a better shot at remembering it. For instance, we can improve their reading speed just by enhancing what they see.” 

It is generally known that memory problems are associated with Alzheimer’s disease, but many people don’t realize that vision problems can plague these patients as much as their mental challenges do.

Cronin-Golomb and her team put subjects through a battery of tests to determine their visual capabilities—visual psychophysics tests to look at contrast sensitivity, color discrimination, and depth perception; neuropsychological tests to examine object recognition, word reading, facial recognition, and pattern completion; and, finally, tests to determine whether the subjects perform better using visual aids, such as measuring cups with larger lettering. Once researchers understand each subject’s abilities, they can then assess how various visual aids improve a patient’s visual perception.

One experiment the team conducted was to test which shades of gray pills were easiest for subjects to pick out. Seniors commonly take multiple daily medications, but pill manufacturers often don’t take into account patients’ vision problems when choosing pill colors. The researchers found that with the right shade of gray, they could help patients more easily locate their medications.

The researchers also educate local caregivers for the elderly about how to use visual aids to improve patients’ functioning. Many of these caregivers are family members taking care of loved ones. Others are professional caregivers at day programs for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients, as well as architects designing living spaces for older adults.

Team member and PhD candidate Tom Laudate recalls an encounter following his talk to a local caregiver support group. 

“A woman came up to me and said that just the week before, her mother had been in the kitchen trying to pour milk into a mug. The mug was white, the milk was white, and the countertop was white. She poured milk all over the place, and it wasn’t until the daughter heard me talk that it clicked in her mind and she understood her mother’s vision problem. It’s a great feeling to be able to give some information to someone that can make a difference. It’s not huge; we are not solving Alzheimer’s, but we are helping people in their daily lives.”

Cronin-Golomb’s goal is not only to train others; she is also driven by a personal connection to, and respect for, the elderly. While some people stigmatize Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and approach them with a sense of dread, she recognizes that the elderly, including some of her test subjects, are full of vitality.

“I love working with Parkinson’s patients,” she says. “It is probably from my background. My grandma lived upstairs from me. She had all these brothers, sisters, and cousins, and they’d play these really competitive games of pinochle. So they weren’t doting old people. This gave me the idea of old people as very vivacious, and only later did I come across the attitude that old people are slow and frail.”

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Super Bowl XLIX

My mom love the  SEAHAWKS GO SEAHAWKS GO SEAHAWKS

A beautiful saying

A beautiful saying

Different Types of dementia

TYPES OF DEMENTIA

Dementia is a general term for loss of memory and other mental abilities severe enough to interfere with daily life. It is caused by physical changes in the brain.

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE 

Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia; accounts for an estimated 60 to 80 percent of cases.

Symptoms: Difficulty remembering names and recent events is often an early clinical symptom; apathy and depression are also often early symptoms. Later symptoms include impaired judgment, disorientation, confusion, behavior changes and difficulty speaking, swallowing and walking. New criteria and guidelines for diagnosing Alzheimer's were published in 2011 recommending that Alzheimer's disease be considered a disease with three stages, beginning well before the development of symptoms.

Brain changes: Hallmark abnormalities are deposits of the protein fragment beta-amyloid (plaques) and twisted strands of the protein tau (tangles) as well as evidence of nerve cell damage and death in the brain.

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WHAT IS ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE?

VASCULAR DEMENTIA

Previously known as multi-infarct or post-stroke dementia, vascular dementia is the second most common cause of dementia after Alzheimer's disease.

Symptoms: Impaired judgment or ability to plan steps needed to complete a task is more likely to be the initial symptom, as opposed to the memory loss often associated with the initial symptoms of Alzheimer's. Occurs because of brain injuries such as microscopic bleeding and blood vessel blockage. The location of the brain injury determines how the individual's thinking and physical functioning are affected.

Brain changes: Brain imaging can often detect blood vessel problems implicated in vascular dementia. In the past, evidence for vascular dementia was used to exclude a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (and vice versa). That practice is no longer considered consistent with pathologic evidence, which shows that the brain changes of several types of dementia can be present simultaneously. When any two or more types of dementia are present at the same time, the individual is considered to have "mixed dementia" (see entry below).

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VASCULAR DEMENTIA

DEMENTIA WITH LEWY BODIES (DLB)

Symptoms: People with dementia with Lewy bodies often have memory loss and thinking problems common in Alzheimer's, but are more likely than people with Alzheimer's to have initial or early symptoms such as sleep disturbances, well-formed visual hallucinations, and muscle rigidity or other parkinsonian movement features.

Brain changes: Lewy bodies are abnormal aggregations (or clumps) of the protein alpha-synuclein. When they develop in a part of the brain called the cortex, dementia can result. Alpha-synuclein also aggregates in the brains of people with Parkinson's disease, but the aggregates may appear in a pattern that is different from dementia with Lewy bodies.

The brain changes of dementia with Lewy bodies alone can cause dementia, or they can be present at the same time as the brain changes of Alzheimer's disease and/or vascular dementia, with each abnormality contributing to the development of dementia. When this happens, the individual is said to have "mixed dementia." 

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DEMENTIA WITH LEWY BODIES

MIXED DEMENTIA

In mixed dementia abnormalities linked to more than one type of dementia occur simultaneously in the brain. Recent studies suggest that mixed dementia is more common than previously thought.

Brain changes: Characterized by the hallmark abnormalities of more than one type of dementia - most commonly, Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, but also other types, such as dementia with Lewy bodies.

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MIXED DEMENTIA

PARKINSON'S DISEASE

As Parkinson's disease progresses, it often results in a progressive dementia similar to dementia with Lewy bodies or Alzheimer's.

Symptoms: Problems with movement are a common symptom early in the disease. If dementia develops, symptoms are often similar to dementia with Lewy bodies.

Brain changes: Alpha-synuclein clumps are likely to begin in an area deep in the brain called the substantia nigra. These clumps are thought to cause degeneration of the nerve cells that produce dopamine.

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PARKINSON'S DISEASE

FRONTOTEMPORAL DEMENTIA

Frontotemporal dementia includes dementias such as behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD), primary progressive aphasia, Pick's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy.

Symptoms: Typical symptoms include changes in personality and behavior and difficulty with language. Nerve cells in the front and side regions of the brain are especially affected.

Brain changes: No distinguishing microscopic abnormality is linked to all cases. People with FTD generally develop symptoms at a younger age (at about age 60) and survive for fewer years than those with Alzheimer's.

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FRONTOTEMPORAL DEMENTIA

CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE

CJD is the most common human form of a group of rare, fatal brain disorders affecting people and certain other mammals. Variant CJD ("mad cow disease") occurs in cattle, and has been transmitted to people under certain circumstances.

Symptoms: Rapidly fatal disorder that impairs memory and coordination and causes behavior changes.

Brain changes: Results from misfolded prion protein that causes a "domino effect" in which prion protein throughout the brain misfolds and thus malfunctions.

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CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE

NORMAL PRESSURE HYDROCEPHALUS

Symptoms: Symptoms include difficulty walking, memory loss and inability to control urination.

Brain changes: Caused by the buildup of fluid in the brain. Can sometimes be corrected with surgical installation of a shunt in the brain to drain excess fluid.

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NORMAL PRESSURE HYDROCEPHALUS

HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE

Huntington's disease is a progressive brain disorder caused by a single defective gene on chromosome 4.

Symptoms: Include abnormal involuntary movements, a severe decline in thinking and reasoning skills, and irritability, depression and other mood changes.

Brain changes: The gene defect causes abnormalities in a brain protein that, over time, lead to worsening symptoms.

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HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE

WERNICKE-KORSAKOFF SYNDROME

Korsakoff syndrome is a chronic memory disorder caused by severe deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B-1). The most common cause is alcohol misuse.

Symptoms: Memory problems may be strikingly severe while other thinking and social skills seem relatively unaffected.

Brain changes: Thiamine helps brain cells produce energy from sugar. When thiamine levels fall too low, brain cells cannot generate enough energy to function properly.

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WERNICKE-KORSAKOFF SYNDROMED

Beautiful Verse

Dependence on God

For we have become partakers of Christ 
If we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end
Hebrews 3:14

My people, heed my words; do not walk carelessly, nor lay out your own paths on which to travel. You cannot know what lies in the distance, nor what adversity you may encounter tomorrow. So walk closely with me, that you may be able to draw quickly upon my aid. You need me; and no matter how well developed your faith is or how mature is your growth in grace, never think for a moment that you need my support any less. The truth is that you need it even more. For I shelter the newborn from many of the trials and test I permit to confront those who are growing up in the spiritual stature. You cannot grow unless I bring into your lives these proving and testing experience. So hold more firmly to my hand as you journey on in your Christian walk. Trust not in your own increasing strength, for truly, it is not or strength but rather my strength within you that you feel. You are as vulnerable to the treachery of the enemy and as frail as ever; but your knowledge of me as deepened, and because of this your trust in me should come easier. Move forward with courage and confidence; but always allow me to walk ahead and choose the right path.

This you can find in "come away my beloved." Awesome book