Category Archives: Alzheimer’s

Advice for dementia caregivers

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Though this New York Times article is title “Advice for Alzheimer’s Caregivers,” the article applies to caregiving for anyone with dementia, not just Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).

A key excerpt from the article on caregiving:

“Research conducted at NYU Langone found that the emotional and practical support received from family and friends led to significantly fewer symptoms of depression and stress and better physical health of the caregivers. The study also found that those caregivers were able to keep their relatives with dementia at home for a year and a half longer than those who did not receive support.”

Please attend our caregiver-only support group meetings, find other support group meetings (for Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s caregivers), or find an online support group! Let me know if you need any leads.

This article is part of a group of articles in this week’s NYT about Alzheimer’s. One very long article, “Fraying at the Edges,” is about Geri Taylor, who has AD, and her husband Jim. It’s a fascinating look at someone coping with an AD diagnosis and trying to live life to the fullest. There’s a link to that article from the online version of the caregiver article.

www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/nyregion/advice-for-alzheimers-caregivers.html

Advice for Alzheimer’s Caregivers
By Amy Zerba
New York Times
May 2, 2016

Robin

Webinar: “Pathogenic Protein Spread? Let’s Think Again”

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The background information (www.alzforum.org/webinars/webinar-pathogenic-protein-spread-lets-think-again) alone on this webinar is challenging reading so I suspect the webinar will be the same, but it’s an important topic.  Do multiple system atrophy, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and frontotemporal dementias spread in a manner similar to prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease?

And, if you are willing to register your email address with nature.com, find a link to the Nature Reviews Neuroscience journal article on the pathogenic hypothesis here:  www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v17/n4/full/nrn.2016.13.html

[The webinar was hosted by Alzforum on Friday, April 8, at 9am California time.  A recording is available on-line at www.alzforum.org/webinars/webinar-pathogenic-protein-spread-lets-think-again.  Unfortunately, the audio quality is poor.]

Robin

More on tau imaging research

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See http://www.alzforum.org/news/conference-coverage/hai-researchers-explore-diagnostic-potential-tau-tracer

There was an important imaging conference in January 2016 in Florida, where tau imaging research was discussed.  Tau is the protein involved in PSP, CBD, Alzheimer’s, and a few other disorders.  The goal is to be able to use a PET scan with a chemical that binds to tau to help diagnose these disorders.  Unfortunately the news at the conference was not very positive when it comes to PSP and CBS/CBD.  As noted in the August 2015 email below, three chemicals are being investigated.  The news at the January conference is that one of these chemicals “falls short of distinguishing people with disease from normal healthy controls. … Researchers noted that while [the chemical] AV1451 seems to bind where one might expect in a given case of tauopathy, it falls short when it comes to being diagnostically useful.”

Quite a bit of this research with that particular chemical is happening at UCSF.  Keep reading if you want more details.

Robin

“Dementia and Alzheimer’s Caregiver Conference” – video available

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Brain Support Network hosted a “Dementia and Alzheimer’s Caregiver Conference” in mid-November in Santa Rosa. A volunteer recorded the half-day conference and another volunteer created a YouTube playlist.  You can find the playlist here:

youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQke7hCaMaCo_dsB4ccz2BIHokENZiYy_

In particular, I’d like to highlight these four presentations:

* “Caring for a Family Member with Lewy Body Dementia” – by longtime LBD group member Helen Medsger  (13 minutes)

* “Coping with Behavior Change in Dementia” – by longtime BSN friend Laurie White, LCSW  (14 minutes)

* “Importance of Estate Planning” – by attorney Steven Goldberg  (9 minutes)

* “Parallels of Dementia and Improv” – by actor Mick Laugs  (31 minutes)

I don’t list Dr. Ali Atri’s presentation as a highlight mostly because I’ve heard so many neurologist presentations on Alzheimer’s and dementia.  But your ranking may be different!

Happy viewing,
Robin

 

Billionaire Richard Rainwater Dies with PSP

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Local support group member Lynn forwarded me a link to this article about the death on Sunday of billionaire Richard Rainwater, who had PSP.  Several years ago Mr. Rainwater began the Tau Consortium, which funds PSP and tau research at UCSF among other places.  Tau is the protein involved in PSP and CBD.  It is also one of two proteins involved in Alzheimer’s Disease.

As part of the obituary in the Forth Worth Star-Telegram, there’s a 3-minute video from January 2015 featuring Mr. Rainwater’s son and Bruce Miller, MD, of UCSF’s Memory & Aging Center.  They note that the PSP research may also benefit Alzheimer’s Disease plus CTE, the disease that football players get.

Here’s a link to the obituary:

www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article36766056.html

Fort Worth billionaire Richard Rainwater dies
by Judy Wiley
September 27, 2015
Star-Telegram

Robin