Heena Sharma Blog

  World Alzheimer's Day 2021 : Alzheimer’s disease, a type of neurodegenerative dementia that affects memory, is well known in Canada, where more than half a million people live with it. This number is expected to double in the next 10 years as the population ages. Alzheimer’s disease strikes fear in people. They may blame it, in jest, when they forget to buy an item at the grocery store. They worry about it when they can’t recall the name of the actor in a movie. Or they may think about it when they see an elderly person who is disoriented. But do we really know what behaviours help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease? As researchers at the Laboratory of Neuropsychology of Aging at the research centre of the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal, we are studying this question. The answer isn’t simple. Alzheimer’s disease affects memory. But memory is not a single entity, like a basket in which all our memories are piled together. So it’s important to recognize that there ...

Compounds found in green tea , carrots and rice have helped reverse Alzheimer's-like symptoms in mice genetically programmed to develop the neurodegenerative disease , a study has found. The study, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, was carried in mice, and many mouse discoveries never translate into human treatments, researchers noted. However, the findings lend credence to the idea that certain readily available, plant-based supplements might offer protection against dementia in humans, they said. "You do not have to wait 10 to 12 years for a designer drug to make it to market; you can make these dietary changes today," said Terrence Town, a professor at the University of Southern California (USC) in the US. "I find that very encouraging," Town said in statement. The study supports the idea that combination therapy, rather than a single magic bullet, may offer the best approach to treating people living with Alzheimer's. Co...

According to the findings of a recent research, acute kidney injury (AKI) is linked with a higher risk of developing dementia. The findings will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2018 at the San Diego Convention Center. AKI, an abrupt decline in kidney function, often arises after major surgeries or severe infections, and it is associated with long-term health problems including the development of chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. AKI is also associated with acute neurologic complications, but the long-term consequences of AKI on brain health are unclear. To study the issue, Jessica Kendrick of University of Colorado School of Medicine and her colleagues analysed information on 2082 patients without a prior history of dementia from an integrated health care delivery system in Utah. Patients had a hospital admission between 1999 and 2009. During a median follow-up time of 5.8 years, 97 patients developed dementia. More patients with AKI developed de...

For the analysis, van der Steen and colleagues pooled data from 21 smaller randomised trials involving a total of 1097 patients Health News : Music therapy might also improve emotional well-being among those with dementia, researchers found. But they didn’t find any benefits when it came to cognition and behavioural issues such as agitation or aggression, according to the report in the Cochrane Library journal. Although the benefits of music therapy weren’t large, “small effects are valuable, too, because even a small improvement or maintaining a certain level while otherwise a decline is expected is very important for people with dementia and those caring for them,” said study leader Jenny van der Steen, a researcher with the department of public health and primary care at Leiden University Medical Center. “These outcomes are closely linked to quality of life and may be more relevant than improving or delaying decline in cognition for the patients under study - mos...