3 Ways to Get an Alzheimer's Patient to Eat More
As Alzheimer's or dementia progresses getting a patient to eat a nutritious meal, or to eat enough, can become a problem.
By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room
Last week I spoke at an Alzheimer's conference in New York. I was asked several times,
"How can I get my mother to eat more food? Or, she just won't eat what can I do".
When I started answering at the conference, the entire audience of over 200 people seemed shocked and surprised at my number one suggestion (see below).
This told me that we need to work harder on getting families into support groups and discussing the most common problems we face in the...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - November 18, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs
3 Ways to Get an Alzheimer's Patient to Eat More Food
As Alzheimer's or dementia progresses getting a patient to eat a nutritious meal, or to eat enough, can become a problem.By Bob DeMarcoAlzheimer's Reading RoomLast week I spoke at an Alzheimer's conference in New York. I was asked several times, "How can I get my mother to eat more food? Or, she just won't eat what can I do". When I started answering at the conference, the entire audience of over 200 people seemed shocked and surprised at my number one suggestion (see below).This told me that we need to work harder on getting families into support groups and discussing the most common problems we face in the Alzheimers dem...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - November 18, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs
New Study Completely Undermines DOJ's Anti-School Choice Lawsuit
Jason Bedrick
It’s long past time for the U.S. Department of Justice to drop its embarrassing lawsuit which would keep black kids in failing schools.
The DOJ sued Louisiana earlier this year, claiming that its school voucher program may be negatively impacting desegregation efforts. When it became apparent that the DOJ’s evidence amounted to the thinnest of gruel, everyone from Gov. Bobby Jindal and Rep. Eric Cantor to the Washington Post called on the Obama administration to drop its frivolous lawsuit. Even after two PhD students at the University of Arkansas released a study estimating that Louisia...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - November 12, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Jason Bedrick Source Type: blogs
Graduate Program in Science Journalism at Boston University
Want to be a science journalist? Boston University offers Graduate Program in Science Journalism. This program is dedicated to improving the understanding of science, medicine and technology worldwide.
A career in science and medical journalism offers a rewarding opportunity to explore and investigate any number of critical contemporary concerns—from medical and environmental policy to culture clashes and matters of social justice. BU’s one-year Master’s in Science Journalism program is run by internationally known journalists, every one an active and highly regarded expert in the field.
Learn more about this pr...
Source: Non-Clinical Physician Jobs, Careers, and Opportunities - November 10, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Joseph Kim, MD, MPH Source Type: blogs
Diabetes and the "Obesity Paradox"
By David Spero
We hear constant warnings about how fatness leads to diabetes. But a wide range of studies show heavy people live longer and do better with diabetes and heart disease. This is called the "obesity paradox." What does it mean?
In an article in The New York Times, science writer Harriet Brown reports on the work of Dr. Mercedes Carnethon at Northwestern University. Dr. Carnethon has found that thinner people with diabetes have twice the death rate as those who are overweight or obese.
Carnethon's findings are typical. As Brown writes,
"n study after study, overweight and moderately obese patients with certain ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - November 6, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs
Yahoo - poem about aging with dementia
Turning true-blue loyal friends into treacherous strangers.
Dementiaby Max WallackIt gallops in silently on powerful hoofs
Snatching sweet, precious, forgotten memories
Turning true-blue loyal friends into treacherous strangers
Clogging synapses with emptiness
Crumbling trust into excruciating paranoia
With bleak darkness comes the anxious wakefulness of broad daylight
And bitter terror encompasses every living fiber
"If I sleep, where will I be when I wake up?"
The compulsion to run, the paralysis of fear
Mature, child-like dependence
Retracing youthful development, but in rapid reverse
Cureless medicines, meaningless ...
Source: I am an Alzheimer's Caregiver - November 6, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs
Compassionate Access: No Good Answer
Here's a very good look (via the New York Times magazine) at the area of "compassionate use" medications - the practice of allowing desperate patients access to an investigational drug long before it's approved by the FDA. At first look, you'd think that this would be a simple question to answer: if someone's going to die shortly, they should be able to take a crack at whatever investigational drug they want, because what's to lose? But it's not that simple, unfortunately:
But not all companies willingly allow compassionate access to drugs in their pipelines, and ImClone’s and AstraZeneca’s reluctance makes sense on s...
Source: In the Pipeline - November 5, 2013 Category: Chemists Tags: Clinical Trials Source Type: blogs
Alzheimer's, Money, and the Checkbook
Why would any Alzheimer's caregiver think or believe that a person living with Alzheimer's disease is competent enough to handle their own finances, write checks, and make decisions on major purchases like a car?
By Bob DeMarco
+Alzheimer's Reading Room
Alzheimer's caregivers often experience problems with money, checkbooks, and scams being perpetrated on persons lviing with Alzheimer's disease.
I have to scratch my head on this one.
Why would any Alzheimer's caregiver think or believe that a person living in a state of dementia is competent enough to handle their own finances, write checks, and make decisions on majo...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - November 4, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs
What If Alzheimer's Had Never Come Into My Life?
I have heard some people express their pity that my youth was touched by Alzheimer’s. I, too, pity that my Great Grandmother had to suffer from this horrible disease. However, as for me, my contact with Alzheimer’s disease has made me who I am.
By +Max Wallack
Alzheimer's Reading Room
A few days ago, Bob asked “What if Alzheimer’s had never come into your life.” Immediately, I knew it would take me a few days to think about that question!
If Alzheimer’s had never come into my life, I would not be me.
I know that is quite a statement, but I believe it is true.
I believe most of my chara...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - November 1, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Max Wallack Source Type: blogs
New Wrinkle for Old Drug It’s not just for smoothing laugh lines. Botulinum toxin may have the potential to ease OA pain.| Arthritis Today Magazine
Widely used by doctors to soften forehead wrinkles and reduce uncontrollably sweaty armpits, researchers now are exploring botulinum toxin as a potential therapy for osteoarthritis (OA) pain.
Although botulinum toxin (Botox, Dysport, Myobloc) has been studied since the 1950s, recent studies on its use in osteoarthritis pain suggest it could be a new analgesic option for a group of patients that's been hard to treat.
"The Botox story is very intriguing," says David Felson, MD, professor of medicine and epidemiology at Boston University. "It isn't just muscles. It can paralyze nerves. Just like celeb...
Source: Psychology of Pain - October 30, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Scientists Identify 11 New Genetic Areas that Contribute to Alzheimer's Disease
The International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project Global Consortium Aims to Discover and Map all the Alzheimer's Genes and understand the role inheritance plays in Alzheimer's disease.
+Alzheimer's Reading Room
The largest international Alzheimer's disease genetics collaboration to date has found 11 new genetic areas of interest that contribute to late onset Alzheimer's Disease (LOAD), doubling the number of potential genetics-based therapeutic targets to interrogate.
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International Group Finds 11 New Alzheimer's Genes to Target for Drug Discovery, Adding New Clue...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - October 27, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs
Kicking Concussions
Personal adversity can sometime produce a commitment to change. Caroline Cohen is a high school student in our town who suffered several concussions in sports activities, the most recently in 2011 during a Memorial Day soccer tournament. Following that last injury, she was forced to miss school and, eventually, to give up all contact sports.To help spread the word about concussion awareness, she recently organized a one-day, 3v3 "Kicking Concussions" tournament for U10, U12, and U14 girls in our town. The proceeds from the tournament were designated to benefit the Boston University Center for the Study of...
Source: Running a hospital - October 23, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
University of Minnesota must investigate suicide in psychiatric research study
The University of Minnesota must set up independent inquiry to examine what happened in clinical trial that led to the 2004 death of Dan Markingson, say scholars
Over one hundred seventy leading scholars in health law, bioethics and medical research have called on the University of Minnesota to investigate the 2004 death of a psychiatric research subject, charging that university administrators have ”refused to publicly engage in a transparent, open, and critical assessment of what went wrong in this study.” The letter, led by Trudo Lemmens, the Scholl Chair of Health Law and Policy at the University of Toronto...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 22, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
