New Research Results! Reversing cognitive impairments in mice with dementia

                                           
                                                               

Date:

June 8, 2018

Source:

Temple University Health System

Summary:

Reversing memory deficits and impairments in spatial learning is a major goal in dementia research. A lack of knowledge about cellular pathways critical to the development of dementia has prevented significant clinical advance. Researchers are breaking through that barrier. They show, for the first time in an animal model, that a drug can reverse tau pathology -- the second-most important lesion in the brain in patients with Alzheimer's.

The following report is from Science Daily

Reversing memory deficits and impairments in spatial learning is a major goal in the field of dementia research. A lack of knowledge about cellular pathways critical to the development of dementia, however, has stood in the way of significant clinical advance. But now, researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM) are breaking through that barrier. They show, for the first time in an animal model, that tau pathology -- the second-most important lesion in the brain in patients with Alzheimer's disease -- can be reversed by a drug.

"We show that we can intervene after disease is established and pharmacologically rescue mice that have tau-induced memory deficits," explained senior investigator Domenico Praticò, MD, Scott Richards North Star Foundation Chair for Alzheimer's Research, Professor in the Departments of Pharmacology and Microbiology, and Director of the Alzheimer's Center at Temple at LKSOM. The study, published online in the journal Molecular Neurobiology, raises new hope for human patients affected by dementia.

The researchers landed on their breakthrough after discovering that inflammatory molecules known as leukotrienes are deregulated in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. In experiments in animals, they found that the leukotriene pathway plays an especially important role in the later stages of disease.

"At the onset of dementia, leukotrienes attempt to protect nerve cells, but over the long term, they cause damage," Dr. Praticò said. "Having discovered this, we wanted to know whether blocking leukotrienes could reverse the damage, whether we could do something to fix memory and learning impairments in mice having already abundant tau pathology."

To recapitulate the clinical situation of dementia in humans, in which patients are already symptomatic by the time they are diagnosed, Dr. Praticò and colleagues used specially engineered tau transgenic mice, which develop tau pathology -- characterized by neurofibrillary tangles, disrupted synapses (the junctions between neurons that allow them to communicate with one another), and declines in memory and learning ability -- as they age. When the animals were 12 months old, the equivalent of age 60 in humans, they were treated with zileuton, a drug that inhibits leukotriene formation by blocking the 5-lipoxygenase enzyme.

After 16 weeks of treatment, animals were administered maze tests to assess their working memory and their spatial learning memory. Compared with untreated animals, tau mice that had received zileuton performed significantly better on the tests. Their superior performance suggested a successful reversal of memory deficiency.

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#Grannydumping

                                                     #Grannydumping
                                                                   
                                                 

      #Grannydumping : A secretive practice called "dumping" that illegally evicts elderly residents from nursing homes. 

I wrote an article in our newspaper that we own in Western North Carolina and I wanted to share it here. Granny dumping is a nationwide problem. It is important and needs to be stopped. Below is the article written today by me.

*My personal opinion is that the elderly are disrespected in our society. Maybe they're a reminder of where those are younger are going. Maybe it's just easier for us to ignore the elderly by shoving them into "homes" that they will be "cared for" and it eases guilt. Whatever the reason, or reasons, we need to figure it out. The elderly have paid their dues. It is not their choice to become vulnerable, it happens to everyone who lives that long. Just as children need to be protected and not ignore, so do the elderly. 

Granny Dumping is nothing new. It has gone on for decades. Once in awhile, a story of an elderly person getting dumped will hit the news. People do get mad, we throw up our hands and say how terrible it it. This shouldn't happen! And when the next story becomes news, we do it again. It makes us feel better, which I guess makes us feel we did something. But we really don't do anything.  Below is an article from 2014. I could go back to the 1990's, I am sure there are stories for as long as nursing homes and hospitals have existed.*

Experts: 'Dumping' Of Nursing Home Residents Happens More Frequently

State Officials Don't Track Violations

Monday, May 19, 2014, 8:00am by Mike Simonson 

A secretive practice called “dumping” that illegally evicts elderly residents from nursing homes might be happening more often than previously thought.

Nursing home resident Greg Lundholm said St. Francis in the Park in Superior has its good points, but it’s still a nursing home. He needs 24-hour care so this is his life. What he insists on is it be his choice to stay there.

“I figure it’s my decision, my right. Just because I’m here, I don’t give myself up, my rights and everything. They don’t get thrown away,” Lundholm said.

State and federal nursing home regulations are supposed to safeguard against illegal evictions, a practice called dumping. But John Hendrick, state Elder Law Center chief counsel, said he's seeing more and more cases of dumping. The reason? Money.

“Both on the state and federal level, the Medical Assistance program has been tightened up, the financial incentives are to use the beds for people who can privately pay because the Medical Assistance payment is substantially less,” Hendrick said.

Hendrick said some homes will use reasons other than financial, like unruly behavior or mental illness, as an excuse to kick out a resident. But this practice is so secretive that the state doesn’t track violations.

“A lot of nursing home regulation is done somewhat privately, and even though it should be a public record, increasingly those records are not available," he said. "It does make it difficult and it does make it difficult for family members that are trying to get legal recourse after something happens."

Not only are records often unavailable, but Hendrick said that a national report says for every case of dumping reported, 20 cases go unreported.

**Read full article on wpr.org

The following article is on Forbes.com Nov 2, 2017 

Carolyn Rosenblatt , CONTRIBUTOR

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

If you have an aging loved one who ever has to go to a nursing home, beware of a nasty practice in which some of these facilities engage. Some elders among us are low income and receive Medicaid. Some live in nursing homes, as they need full time care. It may not affect your own family, but certainly could affect an elder you know. Medicaid recipients are vulnerable and can be subject to terrible treatment, including being kicked out of a home just because they have to get temporary treatment at a hospital. It is disgusting to think that a nursing home will not only violate the law in refusing to allow its own resident back into the home after going to a hospital, but it will callously separate spouses by doing so. Neither has the luxury of choice. One spouse can stay while the other gets the boot?

AARP Foundation

Nursing Home evicted Ms. Single

That's what happened to eighty-two year old Gloria Single who lived at Pioneer House, a nursing home that accepts Medicaid residents. She and her husband lived there together until she went to a hospital, expecting to return to Pioneer after she was released from the hospital. Instead, after she was medically cleared to return, Pioneer House refused to let her come home, thereby cruelly separating her from her husband. She now is staying in another home, still hoping to be with her husband again.

Ms. Single would have been voiceless but for the advocacy of AARP Foundation, the affiliated charity of AARP. According to Foundation attorney Kelly Bagby who, with other lawyers, represents Ms. Single in a case against the nursing home, Ms. Singleton has a clear legal right to return to the place where she lived, and the nursing home's practice of dumping her is a growing trend, according to attorney Bagby, who has repeatedly faced this issue. The law prohibits it and the law is ignored. The lawsuit alleges that she is a victim of a corporate policy of evicting low-income residents to make room for more lucrative Medicare or private pay residents. In other words, they dump Medicaid people so they can make more money on other residents who are paid by better sources than Medicaid.

Says another of Ms. Single's attorneys, Matthew Borden of BraunHagey & Borden, "Everyone deserves to spend their last days with their loved ones". In the Single case, the hypocrisy of Pioneer's corporate website advertising is startling. It says that the owner, RHF Foundation's "concern for the whole person includes residents, their families and staff and RHF strives to be fair in all relationships". In their case, concern seems to be directed solely toward the bottom line, not the resident and her family. Pioneer claims to be part of a faith-based organization.

Just to be clear, the term "nursing home" refers to rehab facilities, long term care facilities where skilled care is available, and places where people are often sent for therapy of various kinds after the person has been treated in a hospital. If your own aging loved one is ever mistreated, threatened with being evicted or dumped from a nursing home, know that he or she has rights that can be enforced. The place to start is with the Office of the State Long Term Care Ombudsman. The ombudsman is assigned the task of being the liaison between the facility and the resident or resident's family. The ombudsman individually does not have the power to enforce the law nor represent a resident but can communicate with those involved and work on solutions. Ms. Singleton's eviction went from the ombudsman to California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, a consumer advocacy nonprofit organization, to the attorneys who now represent her.

Our low income, most vulnerable aging loved ones can seek justice, though it will take family members, ombudsmen, and other advocates to get them to the capable attorneys willing to take up their causes. The attorneys at AARP Foundation work vigorously to enforce their rights. The plight of those who live in these homes long term is not always visible to the public. Mistreatment may be concealed unless someone steps in to speak for them and the right organizations lead to the right lawyers to demand accountability by these nursing homes. An impaired elder like Ms. Single cannot speak up and stand up for herself. Nursing homes get away with dumping residents like her.

Ms. Single was treated worse than some people treat their dogs and cats. Having worked in nursing homes myself, I was appalled to learn of this callous practice. It is our hope for her here at AgingParents.com that justice will be done and she can be reunited with her husband before it is too late.

Carolyn Rosenblatt, RN, Elder Law Attorney, Healthy aging and protecting our elders, AgingParents.com, AgingInvestor.com

Read full article on Forbes.com 

Tea Helps Your Brain!

 
                                                                           

We hear so many things that we should do to be healthy, after awhile, we may just tune it all out. Try to stay tuned in as I talk about it again, okay?

Older people, well, we have a lot of concerns, so I thought I would research the subject.

Health is a major concern as we get older and we read so much about cognitive decline. 

On Medical News Today it recommends drinking tea, glad to hear it because I drink a lot of tea! Here is part of what they said:

Thanks to its high levels of antioxidants, tea has been linked to a lower risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. However, its potential health benefits may not end there. Researchers have found that regular tea consumption could more than halve the risk of cognitive decline for older adults, particularly for those with a genetic risk of Alzheimer's disease.

[A cup of tea with some tea leaves]

New research suggests that regular tea intake could lower the risk of cognitive decline in later life.

Tea is one of the most popular beverages in the United States; in 2015, more than 3.6 billion gallons of tea were consumed in the country, with black tea being the favorite.

The possible health benefits of tea consumption have been well documented. A recent study published in The American Journal of Public Health, for example, associated moderate tea intake with a reduced risk of cardiovascular events.

* In the same article it talks about green tea, which I've come to really like!

Past research has suggested that drinking tea may also have brain benefits, with one study linking green tea consumption to better working memory.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/

Hot tea has more benefits than iced tea. but according to Prevention very little.