sacredhands on Jan 30th, 2008Pop Quiz: Growing Older Hurts Decision Making (Hint: John McCain)
The presidency is one of the most demanding jobs on the planet in terms of physical and mental stress. Just check out before and after photos of presidents and you’ll discover the job has its downside. Today’s NY Times’ has an article that suggests growing older impairs decision making skills.
So here’s the pop quiz [...]
sacredhands on Dec 27th, 2007Alzheimer’s Disease Lights Up Your Brain Like a Tilted Memory Neuron Pin Ball
Staring at yourself in the mirror may stroke your vanity, but it utterly fails to show you the beauty or ugliness inside your body…say inside your brain. Alzheimer’s disease make mice in New York City kitchens seem like friendly house guests by comparison. The guys or gals in the white research coats are smacking theories [...]
sacredhands on Dec 14th, 2007Author Terry Pratchett Diagnosed with Early Alzheimer’s Disease
Author Terry Pratchett has sold over 55 million books worldwide, but just to show you that diseases don’t skip famous people, he was recently diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Tragedy strikes no matter how much money you have or how many people know your name. So don’t forget to enjoy yourself instead of ragging [...]
sacredhands on Dec 5th, 2007Cookoo’s Nest Shock Therapy Roosts Itself In Depression Patients
The notion of zapping the brain with a couple jolts of electricity in order to shock it out of depression seems about as informed as applying leeches to the body in an effort to rid the blood of unwanted impurities. When all else fails, though, and the days are growing darker by the minute, I [...]
sacredhands on Nov 27th, 2007Last Call For Hospice Station Turns Into One Hell of a Layover Before Death
The whole concept of a hospice flirts with the idea that death normally lingers outside your door for a couple of weeks or months before breaking it down with a vengeance. Nobody said anything about it hanging around for years. The reality is that the type of patient who might end up in a hospice [...]
sacredhands on Nov 9th, 2007Exercise Makes Your Memory Forget Alzheimer’s Diease
Afraid you might one day wake up and feel like someone broke into your head and made off with all your best memories? We thought so. The growing population of seniors who are likely to suffer from memory impairment or Alzheimer’s Disease does not make for a rosy retirement. The grab bag of tricks to [...]
sacredhands on Oct 15th, 2007Chemical Signals Confirm Presence of Alzheimer’s Disease Danka
Scientists have shown some success at “screening for a set of 18 chemical signals that consistently turn up in the blood of people suffering from the Alzheimer’s disease.” Sure glad they can confirm the bad news, but wouldn’t it be better if they spent their time coming up with a way to thwart the problem. [...]
sacredhands on Oct 8th, 2007Alzheimer’s Disease Risk May Depend on How Conscientious You Are
How do you define conscientiousness? According to a couple of researchers, it’s mostly those “things our parents told us to do.” You know, like finish all the food on your plate regardless of portion size. Or take out the trash. Or mow the lawn. Why does it matter? Because your level of conscientiousness just might [...]
sacredhands on Sep 4th, 2007Smokers Over 55 Fifty Percent More Likely to Develop Dementia
Research fact: “Smokers over the age of 55 were 50 percent more likely to develop dementia than similar nonsmokers.”
For those of you who smoke, we suggest buying some long term care insurance for the bleak future. You do have a mind. Exercising it is optional, of course, and your democratic right.
Study finds smokers have [...]
sacredhands on Aug 30th, 2007Gene Therapy Kapows Alzheimer’s Disease Cells
New Alzheimer’s disease research suggests gene therapy might reverse the disastrous damage done by Alzheimer’s disease. The cure for this bastard condition seems within reach. Whether it turns out to be merely a mirage or actually restores the mind to its rightful condition is up to the researchers. Let’s hope it works. There’s too damn [...]
sacredhands on Aug 27th, 2007Chicago Adult Day Care Centers Financially Struggling
The burden of the caregiver is relentless. Quite often the health of the caregiver deteriorates at the same or accelerated rate of the person they are trying to help. Adult day care centers are designed to provide activities for those suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. The problem: caregivers think nobody can take care of [...]
sacredhands on Aug 27th, 2007Pat Moffett Melts Ice Cream Memories Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease just may turn out to replace the word cancer as the most feared diagnosis. Aside from people living longer, there must be some logical explanation for why the human mind is susceptible to this horrible condition. Someone recently declared, “I’d rather have a physical illness than a mental illness any day!” If that [...]
sacredhands on Aug 23rd, 2007Caffeine Drinking Women Juice Their Aging Memory
The dark side of aging is the fact that memory takes a rain check but fails to honor its promise of recall. A name or face that was as familiar as a hundred dollar bill burning a hole in your pocket suddenly vanishes on the spot. Can anything be done about this tragedy? Researchers have [...]
sacredhands on Aug 14th, 2007Alzheimer’s Disease Youtube Question Presidential Debate
Nightmares that force you awake in the middle of the night usually involve some kind of jeopardy that threatens your existence. Maybe you’re being chased by wolves or about to ride off a cliff going 100mph or perhaps you imagine being run over by a drunk driver. Whatever the nightmare, it more than likely will [...]
sacredhands on Aug 13th, 2007I Recognize Your Face Damn If I Can Remember Your Name
Writer Nora Ephron pokes fun at a common problem that seems to become less random as we grow older: the inability to recall someone’s name despite recognizing them. How many times have you been talking to someone and prayed that no one walked up to you in the middle of your conversation, forcing you to [...]
sacredhands on Jul 20th, 2007Sumner Redstone Cuts Daughter Shari Out of Viacom Will
When you get to be 84-years-old I guess you can pretty much do whatever you damn please, because what the hell, you never know when someone is going to pull your life bulb switch. When you’re running a public company like Viacom, though, and your name happens to be Sumner Redstone, then doing whatever you [...]
sacredhands on Jul 4th, 2007Link Between Depression and Dementia Get Over It Fast
Ready for some depressing news: “A bout of depression may raise the risks of developing dementia later in life.” That’s right. Researchers have found a link between the chemistry produced by depression and its effect on our brains later in life. It’s astounding that the mind remembers what the memory forgets. Keep moving, man, otherwise [...]
sacredhands on Jun 23rd, 2007CAD106 Alzheimer’s Disease Drug on Memory’s Horizon
It’s always nice to see scientists reach that ah-ha moment and make a significant discovery that changes all of humankind. A new Alzheimer’s Disease drug dubbed CAD106 is being touted as a real breakthrough drug that just might stop the disease. Great news that can’t come soon enough!
A jab to halt Alzheimer’s could be available [...]
sacredhands on Jun 11th, 2007Medivation Says Antihistamine Dimebon Works Alzheimer’s Disease Miracles
There’s a new drug in town to battle Alzheimer’s Disease. It goes by the name, Dimebon, an old antihistamine drug that has shown promising results in treating the symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease. Wyeth must be envious of Medivation for scooping their research thunder. This is a rare instance where the rush to find a drug [...]
sacredhands on Jun 10th, 2007Wyeth is King of Alzheimer’s Disease Research
It’s nice to read that Wyeth is spending some serious cash on research to discover a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease. Of course, the patent on the drug that may result gives them the victor’s spoils in terms of setting the price for the pills. And who knows how much Federal money they’ve received for this [...]