Articles
Healthier Brains & Bodies: New Research Sheds Light on Alzheimer’s, Memory Loss and Stroke
Print
Email
Comments (1)
Welcome to the December installment of new medical research. This month I have highlighted three important studies relating to Alzheimer’s, memory loss and a new way to help people who have had a stroke.
Stopping the Embrace
Nearly 100 years ago, German physician Alois Alzheimer discovered the plagues and tangles in a woman’s brain that are characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. Today a debate still ensues in the medical community about whether these plaques are part of disease or just a repercussion of it. What we do know now is that amyloid beta protein is responsible for the plaques. Researchers believe that amyloid beta protein forms when an embrace occurs between two other proteins, apolipoprotein E (apo E) and amyloid. (Apo E can be considered a chaperone that ferries cholesterol and fats around the brain along with amyloid.) Researchers from New York University Medical Center and School of Medicine did a study on mice, inserting a nontoxic, synthetic protein fragment (or peptide) that adheres to apo E—thus not allowing apo E and amyloid to bind; plaques did not form in the mice’s brains. No major adverse affects were seen in the mice. Whether stopping plaque formation would in turn halt the disease remains to be seen.
Parrot Your Way to a Healthier Brain
Edgar Allen Poe may be the reason for some Americans’ hatred of poetry, but all those hours spent learning the lines about the wind that was chilling Annabelle Lee may just pay off. A group of Irish researchers presented their findings at the Radiological Society of North America: older adults benefit greatly from memorization, which helps combat memory loss. Twenty-four healthy adults (ages 55–70) spent six weeks immersed in intensive memorization of a 500-word newspaper article or poem. This was followed by six weeks of rest. Cognitive skill exams were administered before and after this period.
A type of magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), checked half of the group’s levels in three metabolites correlated to memory performance and cell health—specifically, N-acetylaspartate, creatine and choline. After six weeks of the memorization exercises, no changes were visible in cognitive skills tests or in these metabolite levels; however, after the rest period, all the volunteers reported experiencing memory improvements and the half tested showed changes in metabolite levels in the left-posterior hippocampus, a memory-related structure in the brain. Results published in Science Daily quote one co-author, Richard Roche, PhD, of the Department of Psychology at National University of Ireland in Maynooth, “Unlike other studies on memory involving specific training regimes, memorizing is an everyday activity that anyone can undertake, the brain is like a muscle that should be exercised through the retirement years as a defense against dementia, cognitive lapses and memory failure.” Do you need some ideas for what to memorize? The Academy of American Poets lists some recommendations by people in the know—specifically other poets. Happy reading!
Botox to Better Health?
We all know getting to emergency services after a stroke is critical within the first few hours, but now its seems the resulting muscle spasicity that can result after a stroke can be helped by Botox, the injections known for killing frown lines. It seems the favored injection of the dowdy rich is making a real name for itself in helping improve muscle tone and reducing limb pain associated with strokes. Physicians at the Methodist Neurological Institute have been pioneering this new use of the drug and feel—coupled with physical rehab—it could prevent contractures, whereby muscles and tendons are permanently shortened.
That’s all—until next month,
Lara Belonogoff
Posted in: Alzheimers & Dementia Care, Senior Care News, Senior Health
| Answer a few questions and get a detailed, personalized action plan. |
|
Botox and poetry-who would have thought this could help people be healthier. Thanks for the update. I’ll add some memorizing into my life which now also has more vegetables, coffee and glass of evening wine as per your last posting in the series!