Bickford of Buckhead

I saw this article and had to share it..... Announcing: A unique new report from Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Outlook Eight leading experts provide the latest thinking on new and emerging approaches to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or another memory disorder... Or if you are caring for someone with Alzheimer's and are wondering if there's a new drug or therapy in the pipeline that might help... Then it's vitally important to stay on top of developments in the field -- so you can ask your doctor the key questions -- and discuss the critical issues that affect the management of the disease. To help you, we have just published Alzheimer's Outlook 2012 -- a valuable new resource that allows you to sit down with a group of preeminent physicians and listen in as they share their insights and ideas about the future course of Alzheimer's disease - and provide a clear sense of what caregivers and patients can hope for. Alzheimer's Outlook 2012 is the first in a series of annual research reports written for concerned lay readers. It gives you special access to information you won't find anywhere else on the future of Alzheimer's research. What's in the Alzheimer's pipeline? In the past few years, researchers have made meaningful strides in the understanding of dementia prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Many important breakthroughs have come from the talented physicians and scientists working here at Johns Hopkins Medicine -- the hospital ranked #1 for 21 consecutive years 1991-2011 by U.S. News & World Report. In the pages of Alzheimer's Outlook 2012 you'll gain unprecedented access to the insights of Hopkins experts, as well as from colleagues at other renowned research centers. And there's so much exciting information to report! For example: Researchers have been able to develop tests for new biomarkers that can help identify people at high risk for Alzheimer's as many as five to ten years before dementia symptoms are evident. This is important because we hope to soon have new medications that can either slow or arrest the progression of disease early on -- before it causes irreversible brain damage. New disease biomarkers to gauge the degree of Alzheimer's pathology is just one of the important topics explored in Alzheimer's Outlook 2012. Here's a sample of other key highlights: • The latest thinking on mild cognitive impairment (MCI)-by Peter V. Rabins, M.D., M.P.H., Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins and Medical Editor of the Johns Hopkins Memory Disorders Bulletin. • The latest update-by Dr. Rabins-on clinical trials of crenezumab and three additional novel drug therapies that may one day modify the progression of Alzheimer's. • The importance of earlier intervention and the controversy surrounding the scanning of asymptomatic people for brain amyloid-by Paul Aisen, M.D., Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. • The promise of the injected tracer florbetapir (recently approved by the FDA) that will allow doctors to see accumulated beta-amyloid in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's-by Marilyn Albert, Ph.D., Director of the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. • How deep brain stimulation may one day function as a "brain pacemaker" to send electrical impulses into specific regions of the brain-by Constantine G. Lyketsos, M.D., Director of the Johns Hopkins Memory and Alzheimer's Treatment Center. • Clinical trials of levetiracetam, an epilepsy drug, which may slow MCI-related brain degeneration and keep it from advancing to Alzheimer's-by Richard J. O'Brien, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Memory and Alzheimer's Disease Treatment Center. • Research on the impact of type 2 diabetes on cognitive decline-by Esther Oh, M.D., Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Memory and Alzheimer's Treatment Center. • Nonpharmacologic strategies for caregivers-by Laura N. Gitlin, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Innovative Care in Aging at Johns Hopkins. • How the National Alzheimer's Project Act (NAPA) is creating a coordinated national strategy to find a cure for Alzheimer's-by William Thies, Ph.D. Vice President, Medical and Scientific Affairs at the Alzheimer's Association in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Thies explores the promise of NAPA and the impact of inadequate funding on the progress of finding a cure for Alzheimer's.

Physical Activity Can Prevent 1 in 7 Alzheimer’s Diagnoses A new study has found that more than one out of every seven cases of Alzheimer’s disease could be prevented by increasing the amount of physical activity an individual performs. The research finds that as little as 30 minutes of light exercise can lower the risk of an individual developing Alzheimer’s. Hoping to shed light on non-pharmaceutical based Alzheimer’s disease interventions, a team of researchers from the Ontario Brain Institute reviewed 871 research articles on exercise and Alzheimer’s conducted over the last 50 years. They then closely examined the 45 most comprehensive studies, pooling the data for their analysis. The researchers found that in seniors without Alzheimer’s disease, physically individuals active were nearly 40 percent less likely to develop the disease compared to those who were inactive. The authors also found that physical activity can improve the quality of life for individuals already suffering from Alzheimer’s. A meta-analysis of four studies showed strong evidence that an increase in physical activity in Alzheimer’s sufferers can improve their ability to perform activities of daily living. Regular exercise also reduced the prevalence of depression in these individuals. While previous studies have shown that exercise may prevent and slow progression of Alzheimer’s, this research indicates that even light or moderate physical activities, such as household chores or walking, can accomplish the same results. The authors hope further research will be conducted to determine the precise optimal amount of exercise for preventing Alzheimer’s. Read the study: The Role of Physical Activity in the Prevention and Management of Alzheimer’s Disease.

I saw this article on The New York Times website and had to share....Enjoy! February 25, 2013 Mediterranean Diet Is Shown to Ward Off Heart Risks By GINA KOLATA About 30 percent of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from heart disease can be prevented in people at high risk if they switch to a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, nuts, beans, fish, fruits and vegetables, and even drink wine with meals, a large and rigorous new study has found. The findings, published on The New England Journal of Medicine’s Web site on Monday, were based on the first major clinical trial to measure the diet’s effect on heart risks. The magnitude of the diet’s benefits startled experts. The study ended early, after almost five years, because the results were so clear it was considered unethical to continue. The diet helped those following it even though they did not lose weight and most of them were already taking statins, or blood pressure or diabetes drugs to lower their heart disease risk. Really impressive, said Rachel Johnson, a professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association. And the really important thing — the coolest thing — is that they used very meaningful endpoints. They did not look at risk factors like cholesterol or hypertension or weight. They looked at heart attacks and strokes and death. At the end of the day, that is what really matters. Until now, evidence that the Mediterranean diet reduced the risk of heart disease was weak, based mostly on studies showing that people from Mediterranean countries seemed to have lower rates of heart disease — a pattern that could have been attributed to factors other than diet. And some experts had been skeptical that the effect of diet could be detected, if it existed at all, because so many people are already taking powerful drugs to reduce heart disease risk, while other experts hesitated to recommend the diet to people who already had weight problems, since oils and nuts have a lot of calories. Heart disease experts said the study was a triumph because it showed that a diet was powerful in reducing heart disease risk, and it did so using the most rigorous methods. Scientists randomly assigned 7,447 people in Spain who were overweight, were smokers, or had diabetes or other risk factors for heart disease to follow the Mediterranean diet or a low-fat one. Low-fat diets have not been shown in any rigorous way to be helpful, and they are also very hard for patients to maintain — a reality borne out in the new study, said Dr. Steven E. Nissen, chairman of the department of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Now along comes this group and does a gigantic study in Spain that says you can eat a nicely balanced diet with fruits and vegetables and olive oil and lower heart disease by 30 percent, he said. And you can actually enjoy life. The study, by Dr. Ramon Estruch, a professor of medicine at the University of Barcelona, and his colleagues, was long in the planning. The investigators traveled the world, seeking advice on how best to answer the question of whether a diet alone could make a big difference in heart disease risk. They visited the Harvard School of Public Health several times to consult Dr. Frank M. Sacks, a professor of cardiovascular disease prevention there. In the end, they decided to randomly assign subjects at high risk of heart disease to three groups. One would be given a low-fat diet and counseled on how to follow it. The other two groups would be counseled to follow a Mediterranean diet. At first the Mediterranean dieters got more intense support. They met regularly with dietitians while members of the low-fat group just got an initial visit to train them in how to adhere to the diet, followed by a leaflet each year on the diet. Then the researchers decided to add more intensive counseling for them, too, but they still had difficulty staying with the diet. One group assigned to a Mediterranean diet was given extra-virgin olive oil each week and was instructed to use at least 4 four tablespoons a day. The other group got a combination of walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts and was instructed to eat about an ounce of the mix each day. An ounce of walnuts, for example, is about a quarter cup — a generous handful. The mainstays of the diet consisted of at least three servings a day of fruits and at least two servings of vegetables. Participants were to eat fish at least three times a week and legumes, which include beans, peas and lentils, at least three times a week. They were to eat white meat instead of red, and, for those accustomed to drinking, to have at least seven glasses of wine a week with meals. They were encouraged to avoid commercially made cookies, cakes and pastries and to limit their consumption of dairy products and processed meats. To assess compliance with the Mediterranean diet, researchers measured levels of a marker in urine of olive oil consumption — hydroxytyrosol — and a blood marker of nut consumption — alpha-linolenic acid. The participants stayed with the Mediterranean diet, the investigators reported. But those assigned to a low-fat diet did not lower their fat intake very much. So the study wound up comparing the usual modern diet, with its regular consumption of red meat, sodas and commercial baked goods, with a diet that shunned all that. Dr. Estruch said he thought the effect of the Mediterranean diet was due to the entire package, not just the olive oil or nuts. He did not expect, though, to see such a big effect so soon. This is actually really surprising to us, he said. The researchers were careful to say in their paper that while the diet clearly reduced heart disease for those at high risk for it, more research was needed to establish its benefits for people at low risk. But Dr. Estruch said he expected it would also help people at both high and low risk, and suggested that the best way to use it for protection would be to start in childhood. Not everyone is convinced, though. Dr. Caldwell Blakeman Esselstyn Jr., the author of the best seller Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure, who promotes a vegan diet and does not allow olive oil, dismissed the study. His views and those of another promoter of a very-low-fat diet, Dr. Dean Ornish, president of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute, have influenced many to try to become vegan. Former President Bill Clinton, interviewed on CNN, said Dr. Esselstyn’s and Dr. Ornish’s writings helped convince him that he could reverse his heart disease in that way. Dr. Esselstyn said those in the Mediterranean diet study still had heart attacks and strokes. So, he said, all the study showed was that the Mediterranean diet and the horrible control diet were able to create disease in people who otherwise did not have it. Others hailed the study. This group is to be congratulated for carrying out a study that is nearly impossible to do well, said Dr. Robert H. Eckel, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado and a past president of the American Heart Association. As for the researchers, they have changed their own diets and are following a Mediterranean one, Dr. Estruch said. We have all learned, he said.

I saw this information on Northwestern Mutual's Facebook page discussing the benefits of long-term care insurance: One year in a nursing home: $90,000. One year at Harvard: $53,000. Does the cost surprise you? Good thing assisted living is a more affordable and homelike alternative to a nursing home.