Frequency of falling predicts early Alzheimer’s disease

[caption id="attachment_7115" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Elderly faints, then falls - wikimedia commons"][/caption]

GHN Editor - Exercise therapist, Jaime, at the Sunset Athletic Club in Portland includes exercises in balance as routine in his therapeutic plan, especially for seniors, recognizing that problems of balance need attention, even as medical researchers have recently found those same problems indicators of Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine reported this week at the Alzheimer’s Association Intenational Conference that scientists have found those with brain changes indicative of early Alzheimer’s disease also have problems with balance and are more likely to fall than those people without those changes.

Until recently scientists believed that falls were associated more with latter stages of dementia as opposed to early indicators of the disease. But after studying a number of people with changes in the brain that look similar to Alzheimer’s disease, researchers found these people fell more often during these early stages.

Balance is an issue of older adults, with statistically one in three adults who fall each year. But those with high levels of amyloid have an increased risk for falls.

Jaime teaches his students first how to manage what is referred to as core muscle groups. Strengthening and stretching these muscles allow the individual to develop an enhanced range of motion and increased security of movement. “Balance is part of that program,” Jaime tells us. “It is important that an individual be secure in movement, taking stairs for example, walking across a room, and doing activities of daily living. The core muscle groups are trained to aid the individual in developing security of movement and specific balance exercises enhance this.”

The Centers for Disease Control, in addition to reporting that one in three seniors fall each year, gives the following specific statistics on the problem:

• Of those who fall, 20% to 30% suffer moderate to severe injuries that make it hard for them to get around or live independently, and increase their risk of early death.3
• Older adults are hospitalized for fall-related injuries five times more often than they are for injuries from other causes.3
• In 2009, emergency departments treated 2.2 million nonfatal fall injuries among older adults; more than 582,000 of these patients had to be hospitalized.4

As Congress debates the high costs of medical care and looks to trimming the budget, prevention programs are often those cited as ways of saving money. Perhaps that saving can come from programs designed by people like Jaime who know how important balance is to overall health and prepare people for those changes as they age.

French fries, car exhausts and smoke from cigarette inhalationcontribute to Alzheimer's disease

GHN News - With
the growth of Alzheimer's disease in aging, medical research is turning to improving diagnostic methods for detection as well as
sources of the disease, which lately turned up data
about french fries, cigarette smoke, and car exhaust that accelerate the
disease.

What
researchers have found is a growing amount of new evidence of a group
of chemicals involved in the development and progression of Alzheimer's
disease and other neurological diseases such as Parkinson's.  This group
of chemicals is called type-2 alkenes, which are found in smoke
inhalation from cigarettes, French fries and the exhaust of automobiles.

“The
thought process and memory deficits associated with Alzheimer’s disease
appear to be due to the very early loss of function of nerve endings in
the brain,” said Richard M. LoPachin, Ph.D., a neurochemist and
director of research in the Department of Anesthesiology at Montefiore
Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

“Two
years ago, we published a series of peer-review papers describing how
type-2 alkenes (such as acrylamide and acrolein) damage nerve endings in
the brains of animals and, since then, interest in the scientific
community has grown steadily,” said Dr. LoPachin. “For example, just in
the last six months there were more than a half dozen articles published
in neuroscience journals that demonstrate an excess of acrolein and
other type-2 alkenes in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.”

What
this means, according to Dr. LoPachin, there is a process that involves
the generation of highly toxic chemicals within nerve endings that
initiates dementia and launches attacks on brain nerve endings both
inside and outside the body.

“This
dual intoxication of nerve endings led us to conclude that daily
environmental exposure to neurotoxic type-2 alkenes could increase the
incidence of Alzheimer’s disease,” he said.

Curry
spice, wine and apple skins have been found to inhibit the growth of
the disease but not to cure it, as the movement of research continues to
understand and stop the progression of neurological diseases such as
Alzheimer's disease.

Memory loss caused by mixed brain factors not just Alzheimer's disease

Carol Forsloff - It isn't just Alzheimer's disease

that causes memory loss in people over 80, researchers point out.  It is
a series of mixed factors that reduce memory.


Recent studies reveal that those
individuals over the age of 80 have a series of pathologies potentially
in their brains that cause memory problems.



Very few senior citizens have been
found to have "pure Alzheimer disease."  The term should be used
cautiously for that reasons, medical professionals say.



Memory loss can come from vascular
problems that include high blood pressure and diabetes.  These factors
can shrink parts of the brain controlling memory and can impact the age
when elderly people become seriously forgetful or demented.

The following tips from Lifebridge Health may be able to postpone cognitive decline late in life.
• Good Diet
• Optimal Fitness
• Low Stress

A team of experts from Sinai Hospital can explain ways to protect your memory health.