What happened at AAIC 2017? Be the first to know – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Caregivers

What happened at AAIC 2017? Be the first to know –  Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Caregiverswww.OptimumSeniorcare.com

The Alzheimer’s Association International Conference®2017 (AAIC®) has concluded, and we close this gathering of the field’s leading dementia science researchers with renewed determination to work together to end this disease.
We can – and must – build on this momentum. We all must continue to work together to help the Alzheimer’s Association address the global dementia crisis by providing education and support to the millions who face dementia every day, while advancing vital research toward methods of treatment, prevention and, ultimately, a cure.
Your support today is a symbol of your commitment to continue exploring the important findings announced at this conference, including:

  • Brain amyloid PET scans may substantially impact medical management of people with dementia, according to interim results from the Imaging Dementia – Evidence for Amyloid Scanning (IDEAS) Study, which is led by the Alzheimer’s Association and managed by the American College of Radiology. This data will be submitted to Medicare as supportive evidence for why scans should be covered by Medicare in the future.
  • A small but intriguing new study investigated using a blood test for amyloid – a substance that accumulates in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. Blood tests are simpler than spinal taps and less expensive than PET scans – which is how we currently measure amyloid.
  • More than one-third of global dementia cases may be preventable through addressing lifestyle factors, according to The Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care.

Please know that your support makes advances like these possible and provides ongoing care and support for those affected by this devastating disease. For a recap of the highlights from AAIC, read the latest ?updates or watch these videos.
The world’s foremost Alzheimer’s investigators, clinicians and care providers have returned to their important work. Now we must return to ours. Now more than ever, we rely on your support to move forward in this fight.
As we work to change the trajectory of Alzheimer’s disease, we must continue to fight this disease on every front. Thank you for your gift to advance research while providing care and support every day to those affected by Alzheimer’s.

Volunteer Spotlight: Drew Malone – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Caregivers

Volunteer Spotlight: Drew Malone – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Caregiverswww.OptimumSeniorCare.com

The Alzheimer’s Association® counts on 35,000 passionate volunteers nationwide to inspire and make a difference in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. Volunteers show their passion for the cause by dedicating their time and talents. Illinois Chapter volunteer, Drew Malone shares his story about how volunteering for the organization has become an important part of his life.

The Alzheimer’s Association® counts on 35,000 passionate volunteers nationwide to inspire and make a difference in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. Volunteers show their passion for the cause by dedicating their time and talents. Illinois Chapter volunteer, Drew Malone shares his story about how volunteering for the organization has become an important part of his life.

What is your personal experience with Alzheimer’s?
My grandfather started showing strong signs of Alzheimer’s disease back in 2011. He would call twice to confirm the time for dinner the day we all went out. As he started to slip, I became more aware on a personal level of how the disease not only affects him but also our entire family. We are still caring for my grandfather to this day. Alzheimer’s is very unique for being number six in the top 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. Unlike heart disease, lung cancer and diabetes, Alzheimer’s has little to no voice from those who are diagnosed. Currently there is no cure and there are no survivors. It is up to the families of those who are affected to raise awareness and become advocates.

What kind of volunteer work do you do for the Association?
I have been a Junior Board member for the past two years, and have participated in the Alzheimer’s Chicago Walk to End Alzheimer’s® the past three years. I’ve also been a volunteer for Bankers Life Forget Me Not Days® the past two years, and was on the planning committee for this year’s Paint the Night Purple event which raised a record level of funds.

Why do you think others should volunteer with the Alzheimer’s Association?
It is the only disease in the nation’s top 10 leading causes of death with no treatment, no prevention and no cure. Until there is a substantial treatment, it is only going to affect us all more every day. It’s important for people to know how much Alzheimer’s disease is going to cost them and educate them on how to prepare for it.

Volunteer Today!
Read more volunteer stories or view various ways you can become involved. The work of volunteers is critical to achieving our vision of a world without Alzheimer’s disease.

Diet may play a role in maintaining brain health – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Caregivers

Diet may play a role in maintaining brain health – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Caregiverswww.OptimumSeniorcare.com

New research presented at AAIC 2017 found that healthy older adults who followed the Mediterranean or the similar MIND diet lowered their risk of dementia by a third. The idea that a healthy diet can help protect against cognitive decline isn’t new, said Keith Fargo, Alzheimer’s Association director of scientific programs and outreach, but he added, “The size and length of these studies demonstrate how powerful good dietary practices may be in maintaining brain health and function.”

Get social with us! – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Caregivers

Get social with us! – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Caregiverswww.OptimumSeniorCare.com

Walk to End Alzheimer’s® season is here! Stay connected with the latest information and updates by joining your area’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s Facebook group page. Just head to the Alzheimer’s Association Illinois Chapter Facebook page and click “groups” on the left hand side. Help spread the word by sharing the page with friends, family, co-workers and Walk team members.

Speech patterns, hearing loss may increase dementia risk – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Caregivers

Speech patterns, hearing loss may increase dementia risk – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Caregiverswww.OptimumSeniorCare.com

At the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference® 2017 (AAIC®) taking place in London this week, more than 5,600 of world’s leading researchers, investigators, clinicians and the care research community from 68 countries gathered to share the latest study results, theories and discoveries. New research presented at AAIC 2017 suggested that more pauses, filler words and other verbal changes might be an early sign of mental decline, which can lead to Alzheimer’s disease. Another study from the conference hinted that hearing loss may be another clue to possible mental decline.

Your speech may, um, help reveal if you’re uh … developing thinking problems. More pauses, filler words and other verbal changes might be an early sign of mental decline, which can lead to Alzheimer’s disease, a study suggests.

Researchers had people describe a picture they were shown in taped sessions two years apart. Those with early-stage mild cognitive impairment slid much faster on certain verbal skills than those who didn’t develop thinking problems.

“What we’ve discovered here is there are aspects of language that are affected earlier than we thought,” before or at the same time that memory problems emerge, said one study leader, Sterling Johnson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

 

New research suggests that changes to your speech may indicate you’re developing thinking problems. More pauses, filler words and other verbal changes could be a sign of early mild cognitive impairment, which can lead to Alzheimer’s disease. (July 17)

 

This was the largest study ever done of speech analysis for this purpose, and if more testing confirms its value, it might offer a simple, cheap way to help screen people for very early signs of mental decline.

Don’t panic: Lots of people say “um” and have trouble quickly recalling names as they age, and that doesn’t mean trouble is on the way.

“In normal aging, it’s something that may come back to you later and it’s not going to disrupt the whole conversation,” another study leader, Kimberly Mueller, explained. “The difference here is, it is more frequent in a short period,” interferes with communication and gets worse over time.

The study was discussed Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London.

About 47 million people worldwide have dementia, and Alzheimer’s is the most common type. In the U.S., about 5.5 million people have the disease. Current drugs can’t slow or reverse it, just ease symptoms. Doctors think treatment might need to start sooner to do any good, so there’s a push to find early signs.

Mild cognitive impairment causes changes that are noticeable to the person or others, but not enough to interfere with daily life. It doesn’t mean these folks will develop Alzheimer’s, but many do — 15 to 20 percent per year.

To see if speech analysis can find early signs, researchers first did the picture-description test on 400 people without cognitive problems and saw no change over time in verbal skills. Next, they tested 264 participants in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention, a long-running study of people in their 50s and 60s, most of whom have a parent with Alzheimer’s and might be at higher risk for the disease themselves. Of those, 64 already had signs of early decline or developed it over the next two years, according to other neurological tests they took.

In the second round of tests , they declined faster on content (ideas they expressed) and fluency (the flow of speech and how many pauses and filler words they used.) They used more pronouns such as “it” or “they” instead of specific names for things, spoke in shorter sentences and took longer to convey what they had to say.

“Those are all indicators of struggling with that computational load that the brain has to conduct” and supports the role of this test to detect decline, said Julie Liss, a speech expert at Arizona State University with no role in the work.

She helped lead a study in 2015 that analyzed dozens of press conferences by former President Ronald Reagan and found evidence of speech changes more than a decade before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She also co-founded a company that analyzes speech for many neurological problems, including dementia, traumatic brain injury and Parkinson’s disease.

Researchers could not estimate the cost of testing for a single patient, but for a doctor to offer it requires only a digital tape recorder and a computer program or app to analyze results.

Alan Sweet, 72, a retired state of Wisconsin worker who lives in Madison, is taking part in the study and had the speech test earlier this month. His father had Alzheimer’s and his mother had a different type of dementia, Lewy body.

“Watching my parents decline into the awful world of dementia and being responsible for their medical care was the best and worst experience of my life,” he said. “I want to help the researchers learn, furthering medical knowledge of treatment and ultimately, cure.”

Participants don’t get individual results — it just aids science.

Another study at the conference on Monday, led by doctoral student Taylor Fields, hints that hearing loss may be another clue to possible mental decline. It involved 783 people from the same Wisconsin registry project. Those who said at the start of the study that they had been diagnosed with hearing loss were more than twice as likely to develop mild cognitive impairment over the next five years as those who did not start out with a hearing problem.

That sort of information is not strong evidence, but it fits with earlier work along those lines.

Family doctors “can do a lot to help us if they knew what to look for” to catch early signs of decline, said Maria Carrillo, the Alzheimer’s Association’s chief science officer. Hearing loss, verbal changes and other known risks such as sleep problems might warrant a referral to a neurologist for a dementia check, she said.