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) When the Mind Falters, Is Sex a Choice?
Already, 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia, and the number will rise as the nation's population ages. At current rates, it's projected that 7.7 million people will have dementia by 2030 and 11 million to 16 million by 2050. A 2007 New England Journal of Medicine study confirms that for most older people, sex remains an important part of life. And some organic brain changes of old age are characterized by increasingly sexualized behavior. The disability rights community has grappled with issues of consent and intimacy. But issues relating to sex in old age, whether consensual intimacy, or sexual assault, or the nettlesome netherworld in between, receive scant attention. They should receive more.Earlier this year, two teenage girls, whose newspaper photos looked less like mug shots than like glam yearbook pictures, were charged with physical, sexual and emotional abuse of seven Alzheimer's patients over four months at the Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Albert Lea, Minn., where they worked. More>>
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) The Pharma Flip
In other words, despite some interesting pipeline projects in Alzheimer's and schizophrenia, Lilly, which defined the mental health market, is no longer going to be defined by its old top-sellers. This is what happens when big drugs like Zyprexa go off patent -- a company's identity can change dramatically. Pfizer, the developer of cholesterol drug Lipitor, the bestselling medicine in the world, and blood pressure drug Norvasc has backed off of cardiovascular research.This shows how tough drug development is. There are big efficiencies to be reaped from having a follow-up for a Lipitor or a Zyprexa. Even with a lesser compound, the existing sales force and marketing expertise would be a big advantage. But very often it turns out to be impossible to find such a follow-up and deliver it before the patents expire. More>>
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) A Dementia That Afflicts Younger Population Has Similarities to
"Frontotemporal dementias and Alzheimer's disease share some common disease mechanisms and much of what we learn about Alzheimer's can be applied to FTD and vice versa. That is why our two organizations collaborated on this study," says Howard Fillit, MD, Executive Director of Alzheimer's Drug Discovery foundation. "FTD affects a younger population than Alzheimer's, and in some respects is harder to diagnose.""Over the past 10 years, 74% of funding for FTD has gone to basic research, and only 10% to pre-clinical drug development or toward early detection and diagnosis," says Philip H. Lovett, Research Liaison for The Association for Frontotemporal Dementias' Board of Directors and a Founding Partner of Millennium Partners. "NIH has provided the overwhelming majority of funding, but from 1999 to 2007 its funding has diminished five-fold, and the size of individual grants is smaller."
Alzheimer's disease is typified by plaques of amyloid protein on brain cells, and intracellular tangles of a protein called tau, that affect brain cells in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, where memories are stored. More>>
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) World Alzheimer's Day raises awareness
Every 70 seconds another person is diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease."Folks will have slowing of their thought processIt's that slowing that is recognized commonly among elderly folks, it starts with forgetfulness or slight slowing of the mind, but is often over looked."Before you can find a treatment you have to know what's causing it and we've learned more about the process of Alzheimer's now than we ever did before," he adds.That research hasn't found a cure, but Alzheimer's Disease Day hopes to raise the awareness to continue to fight for a cure."There's a lot of emphasis in trying to find a cure and a treatment for it. I think we're still a ways a way, but I do think we're making progress.And there are ways you can slow it down."I like to use the analogy that if a body builder stopped working out, his muscles would shrink. More>> - (
) 'The Brain Guy' shares passion with his students
If the brain is shrunken and atrophied, it's a sign of chronic alcoholism, or Alzheimer's disease. Age magnifies the ridges and valleys.Parts of the brain missing or soft? A stroke or Parkinson's disease.
Discoloration?
"That's a subdural bleed, that's what killed this person," he says, pointing to a black area on the side of one. "Most likely a fall, the No. 1 brain injury. She was an older woman. Often times these injuries are preventable. Stairs for older people can be deadly."
At a support group meeting of people with brain injuries and their families, he passes out plastic gloves then sends three different brains down a row of people.
One of the brains has yellow push pins to highlight the cerebral cortex. Another has a flap of skinlike material he uses to talk about the difference between subdural bleeds - "the most common" - and epidural hematomas - "the ones you're most likely to see on TV shows." One is split in two so he can show the inner workings:
"This thing that is the size of a thumb," he says hoisting it in the air for all to see, "is the brain stem. More>>