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Memory loss is not enough for a diagnosis of the dreaded disease. Relying on clinical symptoms of memory loss to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease may miss other forms of dementia caused by Alzheimer’s that don’t initially affect memory, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study, according to newswise.com. “These individuals are often overlooked in clinical trial designs and are missing out on opportunities to participate in clinical trials to treat Alzheimer’s,” says first study author Emily Rogalski, associate professor at Northwestern’s Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Now here's the truly scary part. There is more than one kind of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer’s can cause language problems, disrupt an individual’s behavior, personality and judgment or even affect someone’s concept of where objects are in space. If it affects personality, it may cause lack of inhibition. “Someone who was very shy may go up to grocery store clerk -- who is a...

Uh oh. Just when I thought I was getting out of the woods as a potential Alzheimer's patient, now a new study is saying that older women (ok, so I'm not over 70 or anywhere near it) with memory complaints may well be on their way to this dreaded disease. According to newswise.com, new research suggests that older women who complain of memory problems may be at higher risk for experiencing diagnosed memory and thinking impairment decades later. I drew a complete blank when trying to come up with my allergist's name for another doctor.  Usually the name will come to me sometime over the next hours or days.  But this one didn't.  Then I panicked when my son and I were listening to music and I wanted to tell him about a singer who sounded just like the person singing.  And I couldn't for the life of me remember her name. (I knew the first name, "Phoebe."  But the rest totally eluded me.  I came up with "Swann" but I knew that wasn't ri...

It doesn't take a genius to figure this out but challenging work tasks may be a good thing for our brain. Duh, right?  But a new study has found that professionals whose jobs require more speaking, developing strategies, conflict resolution and managerial tasks may experience better protection against memory and thinking decline in old age than their co-workers, according to a new study published in the April 29 issue of the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “Our study is important because it suggests that the type of work you do throughout your career may have even more significance on your brain health than your education does,” says study author Francisca S. Then, PhD, with the University of Leipzig in Germany, at newswise.com. “Education is a well-known factor that influences dementia risk.”  So much for crossword puzzles and exercise! For the study, 1,054 people over the age of 75 were given tests that measured their memory and thinking...

First I didn't have to worry about it.  Now it seems I do. If you keep forgetting where your keys and glasses are, you just might, after all, have the beginnings of Alzheimer's . At least, that's what a new study is saying. According to newswise.com, new research by scientists at the University of Kentucky's Sanders-Brown Center on Aging suggests that people who notice their memory is slipping may be on to something.  The study appears to confirm that self-reported memory complaints are strong predictors of clinical memory impairment later in life. Researchers asked 531 people with an average age of 73 and free of dementia if they had noticed any changes in their memory in the prior year. The participants were also given annual memory and thinking tests for an average of 10 years. After death, participants' brains were examined for evidence of Alzheimer's disease. During the study, 56 percent of the participants reported changes in their memor...

One of the worst things about Alzheimer's disease has always been that there's no way to prevent it.  But that may be changing.  A new study has found that a protein may inhibit the beginning of the disease. According to newswise.com, scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center have identified a compound in animal studies that reduced by more than half the levels of amyloid ( a starchlike protein that is deposited in the liver, kidneys, spleen, or other tissues in certain diseases) proteins in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers hope that someday a treatment based on the molecule could be used to ward off the neuro-degenerative disease since it may be safe enough to be taken daily over many years. Amyloid beta contributes to the plaques that develop in the Alzheimer's brain.  “What we want in an Alzheimer’s preventive is a drug that modestly lowers amyloid beta and is also safe for long-term use,” the Web site quotes Martin J. Sadows...

I really wish my husband would read this.  But he never reads anything I write, afraid I'll mention him in it. But this time, it would be helpful.  A new study has found that cynicism can harm your brain.  Really. According to newswise.com, people with high levels of cynical distrust may be more likely to develop dementia. Now, my husband's, like most of us, had plenty of reason to develop cynicism about the world.  He's  in a business where patients make an appointment to see you, don't show up, and then try not to pay you.  As I've mentioned before, he's a dentist. This new study discovered that cynical distrust, defined as the belief that others are mainly motivated by selfish concerns, has been associated with other health problems, such as heart disease. But this is the first study to look at the relationship between cynicism and dementia, the Web site reports.  "These results add to the evidence that people’s view on life and perso...

Wonderful.  Something new for women over 60 to worry about (and maybe stop worrying about, too).  You're far more likely to develop Alzheimer's than breast cancer.  (Guess I'm OK.  I had breast cancer at 50.) A new study has found that one in eight women will develop breast cancer over their lifetimes, but for Alzheimer's? It's one in six, according to CNN.com. And for men?  Only one out of 11 men over 60 will develop Alzheimer's. How do we always manage to get the short end of the stick?!   Age is the greatest risk factor for gender differences among Alzheimer's patients, but it's not the only reason. Researchers are also looking at genetic and hormonal differences, according to Maria Carrillo, vice president of medical and scientific relations for the Alzheimer's Association , CNN reports. The disease affects more than 5 million Americans, two-thirds of them women. The new details about this disease and its impact on women come from a surv...

Could we be diagnosed with Alzehimer's in time to stave it off?  Well, not yet, but scientists say b rain imaging using radioactive dye can detect early evidence of Alzheimer's disease that may predict future cognitive decline among adults with mild or no cognitive impairment. As newswise.com reports, a Duke University study confirms earlier work that  identified "silent beta-amyloid plaque build-up in the brain (that) could help guide care and treatment decisions for patients at risk for Alzheimer's." “Our research found that healthy adults and those with mild memory loss who have a positive scan for these plaques have a much faster rate of decline on memory, language and reasoning over three years,” the Web site quotes lead author P. Murali Doraiswamy, M.D., professor of psychiatry and director of the neurocognitive disorders program at Duke. The disease currently affects an astounding 5 million people in the U.S. today and was recently moved to the head ...

There's been some talk about moving cancer from the second highest cause of death to first place. But what's even more astounding is that Alzheimer' s has now moved into third. According to The Washington Post, Alzheimer's used to be the sixth  leading cause of death, but experts are now taking a step back because the stats may be wrong -- many more people may have it than is reported. Tara Bahrampour writes, "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists Alzheimer’s as the sixth-leading cause of death, far below heart disease and cancer. But the  new report , published Wednesday in the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, suggests that the current system of relying on death certificates for causes misses the complexity of dying for many older people and underestimates the impact of Alzheimer’s." She adds that, w hile the CDC attributed about 84,000 deaths in 2010 to Alzheimer’s, the report estimated that number to be a whopping 5...

I took French in school and my son's now taking Spanish.  I remember only a little of it, and wish it was more, now that a new study has found that speaking two languages can ward off Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. According to newswise.com, "In the largest study on the topic to date, research shows that speaking a second language may delay the onset of three types of dementias." At least for a while. The study found that people who spoke two languages developed dementia four and a half years later than people who only spoke one language. “Speaking more than one language is thought to lead to better development of the areas of the brain that handle executive functions and attention tasks, which may help protect from the onset of dementia," the Web site quotes study author Suvarna Alladi, DM, with Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad, India. The study took place in India among people with an average age of 66 with dementia. ...

OMG!  I feel like I won the lottery.  Researchers at Cornell University have reportedly found a way to separate out what may go on to become dementia from simply forgetting where your keys are. According to newswise.com, the scientists discovered "a reliable method to distinguish memory declines associated with healthy aging from the more-serious memory disorders years before obvious symptoms emerge." Even better, the method also allows research to accurately predict "who is more likely to develop cognitive impairment without expensive tests or invasive procedures." Finally!  I don't have to worry I have Alzheimer's Disease because I can't find my keys -- and they're in my hands. The results aren't just good news for those who may be prone to, or developing, dementia but also for healthy adults, newswise.com quotes Charles Brainerd, professor of human development and the study’s lead co-author with Valerie Reyna, director of the Insti...

Loneliness stinks.  But did you know it's as bad as obesity, high blood pressure, lack of exercise or smoking when it comes to illness and early death, Jane Brody reports today in The New York Times. Brody quotes a doctor who has studied this,  John T. Cacioppo , an award-winning psychologist at the University of Chicago, who says loneliness is so detrimental and harmful because it "undermines people’s ability to self-regulate."  In one study done in Chicago, people who scored high on a test to determine loneliness ate far more fatty foods than people whose score was lower. In another study, people made to feel disconnected from others ate many more cookies than those who felt more connected.  Cacioppo told Brody that lonely people will do whatever they can to make themselves feel better -- eat, smoke, drink, (in my case) shop, even have indiscriminate sex -- all to get rid of that clammy, awful feeling. Loneliness can also hurt us by increasing stress hormone...

If you know where this comes from ("Lost in Space," remember?), this epidemic applies to you. Listen all you Baby Boomers out there.  The next epidemic won't be measles or mumps.  Experts are predicting it will be Alzheimer's. That's because the disease primarily hits people in their 70's and older, and we're getting there.  A story at USA Today notes that by 2050, the affliction rate will have tripled, striking 1 in 85 people by this date.  (Of course, how many of us will be alive then?!) But it's something to think about, for our children.  Though doctors know how it develops, and now may be able to definitively diagnose it when we're still alive, no one knows why.   The symptoms are more than forgetting your keys, which I do all the time, or forgetting a word, like fork, which I also do.  Amnesia, the inability to communicate, difficulty with tasks, confusion about time or place, are all part of the disease. It's important to remembe...