Alzheimer’s disease

Anne Samaan: Inspirational Caregiver Blazes the Trail

Posted on 04/8/2013 by Amy Goyer | Aging, Home & Family Expert | Comments

Caregiving | Home & Family | Relationships | Your LifeNot even 5 feet tall, she was tiny but powerful; she filled up a room. She was my second “mommie;” counselor, comforter, friend and inspiration. Dr. Anne Samaan, my best friend Laurette and her sister Jenny’s mom, and my godchild Catalina’s grandmother, died last week; she was 91. The world is dimmer without her sometimes colorful presence. She has influenced me since I was 6 years old, especially because she was a caregiving pioneer. She taught me how to make choices …

The BRAIN Initiative: 5 Things to Noodle

Posted on 04/2/2013 by Steve Mencher | News, Culture, Sights and Sounds | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal Health | PoliticsIn 1961, President John F. Kennedy called on the nation to set as its goal “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth” by the end of the decade. Today, President Barack Obama called on the nation to set a similarly ambitious goal: mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer’s disease. “We can study particles smaller than an atom, but we still haven’t unlocked the mystery of the three pounds of matter …

FDA to Ease Rules for New Alzheimer’s Drugs

Posted on 03/15/2013 by Candy Sagon | Personal Health and Well-being | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal HealthSaying there’s “a desperate need” for new Alzheimer’s treatments, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it plans to ease the approval rules for experimental drugs in the hopes of slowing or preventing the devastating brain disease in its early stages. Noting that without new medications the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s could nearly triple to 16 million by 2050, the FDA’s Russell Katz, M.D., wrote on the agency’s blog that “it was with a sense of urgency” …

Dementia Tsunami Headed Your Way: TEDMED Helps Stem the Tide

Posted on 03/12/2013 by Amy Goyer | Aging, Home & Family Expert | Comments

Caregiving | Home & Family | Personal Health | RelationshipsTEDMED, a multidisciplinary community of innovators and leaders who join together to create a better future in health and medicine, recently hosted a Google+ Hangout web chat: Preparing for the Dementia Tsunami. TEDMED is a champ at bringing together doers and thinkers from a wide variety of disciplines, and this event did just that. Doctors, researchers, caregivers and other experts joined many participants on Twitter and Facebook to discuss the huge increase in dementia that is coming our way. By …

Can Caregivers Help Slow Dementia?

Posted on 02/13/2013 by Sally Abrahms | Caregiving | Comments

Caregiving | Personal Health | RelationshipsWouldn’t it be incredible if you, the family caregiver, could help affect the cognitive and functional progression of dementia in someone you love? A new study from Utah State University, published in January in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, suggests it might be possible. Researchers from Utah State and Johns Hopkins University, through National Institute on Aging funding, assessed 226 people with dementia and their caregivers twice a year for six years. Their goal was to measure the genetic and environmental factors that …

Pope Shows Lifetime Jobs Aren’t Always for Life

Posted on 02/12/2013 by Associated Press | General News | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal Health | PoliticsBy Marilynn Marchione, Chief Medical Writer, The Associated Press The world seems surprised that an 85-year-old globe-trotting pope who just started tweeting wants to resign, but should it be? Maybe what should be surprising is that more leaders his age do not, considering the toll aging takes on bodies and minds amid a culture of constant communication and change. There may be more behind the story of why Pope Benedict XVI decided to leave a job normally held for life. But …