Senators call for office devoted to Alzheimer's research

July 30, 2009

Two U.S. senators Wednesday introduced a proposal that would create an Office of the National Alzheimer's Project in the White House to coordinate research into treating and eradicating Alzheimer's disease.

Sens. Mel Martinez (R-FL) and Evan Bayh (D-IN) introduced the measure to prepare the healthcare system "to meet the needs of the growing number of Alzheimer's patients." In a statement, they referred to recent statistics showing that up to half of seniors over the age of 85 will be affected by Alzheimer's. A recent census bureau report, An Aging World: 2008, finds that the over-80 population is the fastest growing cohort in the world. Martinez and Bayh aim to coordinate the best practices of both government and non-government agencies to "hopefully one day provide a cure."

In other Alzheimer's news, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, have used neural stem cells to reverse the effects of Alzheimer's disease in mice that have been genetically modified to exhibit Alzheimer's symptoms. The report, which appears in the July 20 online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the stem cells acted like "fertilizer for the brain," creating neural connections and improving cognitive function among the mice.

Reported:

http://www.mcknights.com/Senators-call-for-office-devoted-to-Alzheimers-research/PrintArticle/140863/

I TREASURE COMPLIMENTS ON MY BOOK!

I received the following post and made the subsequent response on the message board provided by National Alz.Org for those of us who served on their Advisory Board this past year.

This comment was important to me, made more important because of its source. Steve is a practicing PhD in Psychology on the East Coast, is erudite having served as a spokesman for Alz.Org and is a very balanced pleasant guy.

As I say in my response I value the kind words placing greater importance on them considering it was him who gave them to me. Although an accolade that would have sent my Ego soaring, I have I hope gotten beyond this in the circumstance of carrying this damaging AD virus at work in my brain.

Each day I am slipping. Things get harder; memory deficiency becomes more evident; negative feeling creep up and overwhelm me. From this aspect having this disease is just no fun at all. My life can be pretty bleak if I let it be. I prefer to remain at home as initiate much in fun activity. My routine of writing, reading and doing art work on my computer has become the practice in which I feel safest.

But overall, my experience with this disease is one that is very positive. Late in my life I have been given the opportunity to give something back with my life. I can give back my experience in having this disease. Knowing it is appreciated gives my life now so much meaning and sense of fulfillment.

Take a look at my book FROM AA TO AD, A Wistful Travelogue. I discuss this in more detail.


Mike,

This is your 'gift' to the rest of us and to all who develop this disease. You are a profound thinker (I don't hand out compliments litely) and a great writer. Keep going I know there is much for you to say.

Steve

Steve,

Thank you so much for your kind words. You don't know how much I appreciate them. Having served on the National Advisory Board with you, having met you, seeing you in action, following your activities over this past year, puts such value on what you have to say to me and of me.

Upon learning I had this disease I made it my mission to do something positive with it. Three years later my writing is the major effort in this. It gives me a great opportunity to be of service to those affected by our disease. I get the utmost satisfaction when I learn I am "Hitting the Mark!"

To often our disease deludes us into believing things are which are not. I worry that my writing could be that. It is so gratifying to hear I am making sense that what I have to say is both intelligible and helpful.

Again, thanks Steve

Mike Donohue

Mediterranean Diet Decreases Dementia

Need any more be said! You've heard me chant the mantra: Eat Right, Exercise Daily, Involve yourself with Social, Creative and Intellectually Stimulating Activity. It prolongs your stay at where you are.


Published Tuesday 14th July 2009 in Research news


Research released at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease suggests that adhering to a Mediterranean diet may decrease risk of dementia.

It is also linked to benefits for people with high blood pressure or pre-hypertension.

The study used a survey which included a cognitive assessment and food frequency questions in order to observe developments across an 11 year period. The results suggested a diet which included vegetables, grains, low-fat dairy and nuts may aid cognitive function.

Alzheimer's Society comment

'The study adds weight to a growing body of evidence which suggests that a Mediterranean diet full of green leafy vegetables, oily fish and the odd glass of red wine is the best type of diet for those who want to follow a diet that can help lower their chances of developing dementia. Some studies have shown this can type of diet can reduce your risk by up to 40%.'

Professor Clive Ballard
Director of Research
Alzheimer's Society

Will Health Care Pass or Congress Go Out to Play For Recess

The hot issue this week on Health Care is will they pass it or take a recess? The Blue Dog Democrats want more time to be judicious about the bill. This is the real question. Is that for sound reason or contrivance to delay?

The Republican strategy is to delay it for further reasonable review. Their parallel strategy is kill it at all costs and destroy Obama along with it.

Do the Blue Dogs fit within their avowed reasons they give or are they in league with Washington money? Paul Krugman has an opinion that appeared in the New York Times that is worth the reading. It is entitled An Incoherent Truth which I have posted on:

MY ALZHEIMER’S ARCHIVE OF ARTICLES AND MEMORANDA

Read it!

GOD IS AN ALGORITHM IN ACTION

We can’t change the world except insofar as we change the way we look at the world — and, in fact, any one of us can make that change, in any direction, at any moment. The point of life is happiness, and that lies within our grasp, our untapped potential, with every breath. Dalai Lama

I believe in God as an algorithm. A system of formulas or laws, like in physics, that explain how things have come to be. (Al Past Distant Cousin; Repatriation)

The foregoing quotes prompt my mind to thinking. Each of them seems to have little relationship to the other. Read the two of them together, blend a little thought into that mix and I find the impact of this:

I have AD. That is what this Blog is about. I can do nothing about it but this: “Make the best of it!” You have heard that from me time and again.

I make the best of it turning it over to the care of my higher power, whatever that is? In AA 34 years ago they said do that to quit your drinking. It worked. I did it with every problem after that having learned how well that works. AD followed AA in my life arriving 30 years later. I turned that over and learned how I could lovingly cope with it.

I found Buddhism in the mix of that. It seemed to offer a blueprint on the how does it and why it works. I was interested in learning this because I was so filled with power not my own when I “Turned it over.” I wanted to know “How Come?” My first answer I found in my practice of Christianity. Fifteen years late I converted to Judaism. In that I found more of an answer. In applying what I learned in research I discovered Buddhism.

Putting them all together I can answer my “How Come” so much better.

As the Dalai Lama says: Happiness lies within our grasp, our untapped potential, with every breath; It is ours; It is in us. We can exercise this potential every day we live and breathe. Think of it! What a power we have being alive. What prospects we have in this confine we occupy between our birth and our death.

It is in our hands to do as we will with it!

Why? Seeing God as the creator, the first cause, my higher power, that something responsible for what is here, gives understanding to the fact and function of all around us, before us and yet to be. Looked at in this way fits so well into the second of the foregoing quotes. Like: It had to start somewhere some how? Or, If our dimension is limited by time and space as we perceive it the time of it must have a limit of start.

The argument of God as “he” or “she” or “it” seems sophomoric when realizing that is the product of our anthropomorphizing god. That is a long word used to shorten a longer explanation which is: Making into a metaphor a description of God into a material example we can understand more readily. Too often the metaphor is forgotten and the belief becomes in that which was the metaphor. It is in this way that to many of us believe in an anthropomorphic god. This of course makes god finite and insults whatever God really is.

Heschel, a Jewish philosopher said:

God is infinite we are but finite. We cannot know what something infinite is because of our finite horizon. To know what God is, all we have to work with is our ability to know what God is Not! That is our starting point.

Concepts associated with “First Cause” produce cognitively some idea of God. My experience turning things over to my Higher Power produce another way of knowing God. In this way we know of God by the existential experience of the countless times we evoke God and the full impact of knowing the positive result. (Heschel calls this Radical Amazement.)

God is that Higher Power working in us as we coexist somehow with God in the framework of this time and space dimension we find ourselves occupying from our birth to our death.

The manifestation of God as power working in what we are as persons occupying this life having within our grasp our untapped potential, having it with every breath; defies explanation!

The only sense I can make of this is God as an Algorithm in Action. This defines God by what is in the exercise of this power, somehow existing within our finite universe as an effect of a cause not part of our dimension.

The algorithm fits my Alzheimer’s affliction. I have it. I want to make some good of having it. This commitment provides a wonderful opportunity.

The opportunity is the same one I had each and every time I turned it over from Alcoholism to every result of every thing I managed to turn over. Its result was better for me in having turned it over and going through it. Having to turn it over to the action of this wonderful Algorithm, my Higher Power, benefit abounds.

In that way, applying my action with having AD existentially I appreciate the peace and serenity I have result!

Congress Tackles Long-Term Care

The idea has circulated for years, but now advocates think there’s a real possibility such a plan will be incorporated into whatever health care bill emerges from Congress.

To date, two of the five Congressional committees working on a health care overhaul have adopted the proposed legislation; the others have yet to vote. Howard Gleckman, a senior researcher at the Urban Institute, pointed out that while some insurance companies oppose the idea, “the biggest problem the C.L.A.S.S. Act has isn’t opposition, but indifference — a sense on the Hill that they just don’t want to mess with long-term care.”

See the report in the New York Times Article July 22, 2009 posted at MY ALZHEIMER’S ARCHIVE OF ARTICLES AND MEMORANDA

We Need the Health Insurance Public Option Plan Now

Too long the dubious and disingenuous hand of the Pharmaceutical. Insurance and Health Service Industries has manipulated reform of Health Care to their profit. Health Insurance will be manipulated in the same way that Part D Medicare Plans were.

The current available Part D Plan costs me more than my private drug coverage did. I optioned out when the same plan was offered by the same company that wrote my private coverage without the donut hole, which was then removed the second or third year after it was first written. This is tantamount to fraud!

We need the Public Option Plan as part of Health Insurance Reform. Health Insurance Cooperatives as proposed by those trying to temper the impact of Health Care Reform will be manipulated the same way as Part D was all too the damage of the people covered by it.

STUDIES REPORT: 1. Genetic Link Of AD Suggests Treatment In & Before Appearance Of ESAD. 2. Lower Than Normal HDL Associated With Ad.

These two in a series of reports are found in Consumer Affairs,

See: Alzheimer’s Disease - Index www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/alzheimers_index.html


EARLY TREATMENT RECOMMENDED IN REPORT FOR AD CAUSED BY GENETIC LINK.

If genetically linked as some Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is found, early treatment, even before symptomatology manifests itself for those who have the Gene Abnormality suggested as helpful in prolonging AD in the Early Stage.

I have told my children that they do not necessarily have an increased risk of contracting AD because they are my progeny. There is no history of it in my family or ancestry. I have researched my family as a genealogy project and found strokes, cancers, other causes of death but no AD, Dementia, Senility or anything suggestive of a disease similar to mine.

I have it, indeed I do, but don’t know why I have it. I have surmised that it could have been caused by 20 years of abusive alcohol and prescription drug use that was put to rest 34 years ago. It could be caused by the sever stress I underwent in my personal and professional life. However there are no studies suggesting these as causative.

Then on reviewing the foregoing article I noted a companion article which I note as follows:


REPORT OF ABNORMALLY LOW HDL IN MID-LIFE ASSOCIATED CAUSATIVELY WITH EARLY STAGE ALZHEIMER DISEASE (ESAD).

This suggestion via the study reported could account for why I have AD. My High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) on blood cholesterol analysis tested in the high 20’s for many years. This was lower than normal each time. My Doctor historically told me this was genetic, “There is simply nothing you can do about it.”

In my late ‘60’s I saw a Cardiologist. He said the advice I received is not necessarily true. “You can get your HDL up with Niacin, Fish Oil and proper diet.” He then sent me to a Nutritionist who directed me on a proper diet. She recommended the Mediterranean Diet, heavy in fish and lower on Carbohydrates. Added to that she told me drink Heart Healthy Orange Juice and use Benecol.

I did this and was able to get my HDL up above normal. If AD was caused by that this was no help on getting it but I am told this will prolong your stay in Early Stage.

See these two articles posted today at:

MY ALZHEIMER’S ARCHIVE OF ARTICLES AND MEMORANDA

COMMENTS THAT COUNT

The following are some comments I selected regarding My Book: FROM AA TO AD, A Wistful Travelogue http://icmike.blogspot.com/ It is such a pleasure getting this kind of response. Take a look at it at the address of my BlogSite where I have posted it. It is relatively brief as books go; 60 pages at 1½ space. mhd

Mike,

I read through the posts on this page. Thank you. The great gift of your book is that you have so honestly and eloquently put into words what others are not able to.

My father was diagnosed with AD last December. I try to empathize with his position, but I can only imagine what he is going through because unlike you, he is not expressive about it. I'm not even entirely sure if he is completely aware of his situation. He never discusses AD.

Your words have given me a new insight and sensitivity to his situation. You have given a voice to the silent. It is a great gift.

Thank you.

CM Smith


Hi Mike,

I'm a member of the Alzheimer yahoo group. Just finished reading your book. Congratulations on finding meaning in this disease and sharing what worked for you. My mother is the person suffering from the disease. She is an artist, and truly feels most herself when she is expressing herself that way. Her passion and interest in that area has also helped her function in the rest of her life, as people engage with her about her art. Just this past weekend, some of her pieces were in an art show in San Francisco, and she was so excited and so alive to be participating.

Good luck, God Bless and thanks for sharing!

Rose J.

Mike,

Congratulations on the publication of your comment in the NYT. I read much of your book already - what an incredible story. You have remarkable insight and a unique ability to express the unexpressable.

As an editor of a AD family newsletter, I would love to be able to publish some excerpts of your book. Our readers appreciate first-person accounts about what it is like to live with AD.

Lisa


That’s great. Go New York Times for keeping this subject in the forefront.

I started reading your book. I find it so interesting to see what you were thinking at different points of your life... You have done a good job of being objective in your reporting... I will keep reading it. It will be of help to others struggling with AA or AD issues someday.

Keep up the good work. You are obviously keeping your brain very busy. It must be doing wonders as an intervention.

Amy


I learned a lot reading this tonight :) Sheeesh.. it's 2am! You're a great writer!

Heather

Mike, thanks ... You are to be commended for your handling of your illness. It certainly has not had an affect on your ability to communicate with the written word.

John Q

A “HEART HEALTHY” DIET AND ONGOING, MODERATE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY MAY PROTECT AGAINST COGNITIVE DECLINE AS WE AGE

Vienna, July 14, 2009 – Eating a “heart healthy” diet meant to lower blood pressure, and maintaining or increasing participation in moderate physical activity, may help preserve our memory and thinking abilities as we age, according to new research reported today at the Alzheimer’s Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD 2009) in Vienna.

“We can’t do anything about aging or family history, but research continues to show us that there are lifestyle decisions we all can make to keep our brains healthier, and that also may lower our risk of memory decline as we age,” said William Thies, PhD, Chief Medical & Scientific Officer at the Alzheimer’s Association.

The studies reported at ICAD 2009 were:
-- Heidi Wengreen, et al -- DASH diet adherence scores and cognitive decline and dementia among aging men and women: Cache County study of Memory Health and Aging.
-- Deborah Barnes, et al – The impact of changes in physical activity levels on rate of cognitive decline in a biracial cohort of non-demented elders.
-- Mary Tierney, et al – Intensity of long-term physical activity and later life cognition in postmenopausal women.
-- Thomas Obisesan, et al – Aerobic-related physical activity interacting with apolipoprotein E genotypes, is associated with better cognitive function in a nationally representative sample: The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III).

The 2009 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2009) brings together more than 3,000 researchers from 70 countries to share groundbreaking research and information on the cause, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. ICAD 2009 will be held in Vienna, Austria at Messe Wien Exhibition and Congress Center from July 11–16.

For more information, visit: http://www.alz.org

I have completed my book, AA to AD a Wistful Travelogue

It is posted at my booksite shown below. For a book it is quite short. I would appreciate it if any are kind enough to read it give me a critique. I would like to publish and I look for all the editing help I can get.

Mike Donohue

My Book: FROM AA TO AD, A Wistful Travelogue http://icmike.blogspot.com/

I BELIEVE HEALTH CARE REVISION HAS A CHANCE IN THIS COUNTRY NOW!

My reasons: historic timing. The time is right. Think about this:

1. Post Civil war to 1932; that period in our history ruled by what came to be called the “Robber Barons”. Rugged Individualism Ruled! There was a distinct line that separated the “Haves” from the “Have Nots”. On the Haves side there was plenty on the have not side little.

2. 1932 to 1980: “The New Deal.” Government was charged with equitable distribution of wealth and much of it was helped by the economic stimulus of WWII and the Post War Expansion. This was helped further by direct and indirect subsidy by the Government. A case in point was Charles “What’s Good for General Motors is Good for America” Wilson (CEO of GM who served as Secretary of Defense in Eisenhower Administration). Under the auspices of needing a means to move missile freely across the country he built the Interstate Freeway System. The Administration subtlety sold it as needed for Cold War Defense.

Its real purpose, economic stimulus, spawned Howard Johnson’s, McDonald’s etc across the country. The Freeways were accessed by more and more cars made readily available to the public. Detroit in turn produced them in a planned obsolescence program designing them needing rapid replacement.

3. 1980 to 2007: “Morning in America” introduced by Ronald Reagan to "Starve the Beast." Under this program that was in place nearly 30 years the equity reached in the distribution of wealth accomplished by the New Deal was successfully put under attack and the Competitors in Industry, Mega Global Corporations, Banking, Insurance, Drug, Health Care, etc. made out like bandits starving the middle and lower class along with Government.

4. 2007: One hell of a mess! The Economy literally went bust and a lot of the rest of us right with it.

5. 2007: to ….. Bail outs attempting survival through the mess, a slow attrition into more of a mess.

For the 28 years of Morning in America I had disgust and misgivings with the rampant pillage occurring in our country. No one seemed that concerned nor objected all that strongly. During this time I saw the media playing the ubiquitous technology to create and manipulate public opinion. This was cunningly insinuated by the vested interests form the Side of Plenty. There purpose: to mold their consensus through our sound bite way of thinking.

Walter Lippman in his book Public Opinion written in the early 20th Century warned with modern technology public opinion was in danger of being manipulated. In the early 21st Century Al Gore in Assault on Reason told us how it was done.

Gore also predicted in the Age of the Internet the return to media dialogue rather then the monologue of radio, newspapers and TV would arrest the Manipulation by Media of Public Opinion in our Culture.

History is a story of tides, swings and turnabouts. We go from here to there and then we turn around and do something back again. We had the Robber Barons, we had the Do-Good Government. Then we were back to the period of the Pillagers. Their time ended with the Crash which had started to terminally erode with the “Against all Odds Obama Anomaly”

What was the anomaly? This black, young, Harvard egghead, Law Prof, untested; this unlikely guy raised by his Grandmother, from Indonesia and Hawaii no less. This unknown made a keynote speech that made him hot! He got elected to office parlayed that to the Senate, had at best a thin foundation as he entered the Presidential Primary Sweepstakes. Then against all odds, if you stop and think about it, HE WON, hands down!

How did he do it? He took advantage of what technology offered along with his brains and talent. Concentrating on dialogue over the internet primarily with monologue through established media secondarily he went to the crowd and they came to him.

This is phenomena in its happening. We are in my opinion experiencing a cultural shift of historic consequence. The country is operating under new and different rules, currently stumbling its way; it is talking in new language looking at new goals. What will come of all this we can only wait to see.

Right now this massive stirring of National Interest is talking, weighing, trying this and that, seeking solutions to what can no longer be. We have had enough of this bullshit and need something better.

The Health Care mess is one of the severest problems we face.

In the current climate of re-thinking and transition equitable health care revision including Long Term Care relief has its best chance ever.

I am hoping and praying the Obama Administration can pull it off.

COST OF CARE CRIES FOR REMEDY AS NO OTHER!

The issues comprised in Cost of Care need to be confronted NOW! There is so much cost built in to getting any form of Long Term Care. It defies making a choice.

Like all of Health Care Reform, this needs to be simplified and methods found to make available something affordable and not confiscatory to those of us in middle class. Long term Home Mortgages with deduction of interest, many with Gov't protection if not support, transformed our style of life and freed us all for home ownership not otherwise possible years ago.

Remember the GI Bill, FHA, etc etc?

There are ways and means to do this for the needs of our Senior years. Why not get it done now, before those supporting us have pay more for it later?

A recent New York Times Article The $500,000 Question discusses this paradox of Cost of Care. I have posted it in my Archive at:

MY ALZHEIMER’S ARCHIVE OF ARTICLES AND MEMORANDA http://ic-mike.blogspot.com/

Mike Donohue
My Blog: AGING WITH GRACE, My Alzheimer’s Afterthoughts http://im-mike.blogspot.com/
My Book: FROM AA TO AD, A Wistful Travelogue http://icmike.blogspot.com/

DOCTORS TALK FRANKLY ABOUT WHAT ENCOURAGES AND IMPEDES EARLY DIAGNOSIS OF ALZHEIMER’S

THIS ARTICLE REPORTED TODAY BY Alz.Org FITS IN WITH THE GROUND SWELL STARTING TO RECOGNIZE EARLY DETECTION/EARLY TREATMENT LEADS TO SUPERIOR QUALITY OF LIFE AND THE PROLONGING OF IT IN EARLY STAGE

Vienna, July 12, 2009 – A doctor’s positive attitude to Alzheimer’s diagnosis and their trusting, personal relationships with local dementia support service providers are powerful enablers for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, according to new research reported today at the Alzheimer’s Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD 2009) in Vienna.

Current data suggest that less than 35 percent of people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias have a diagnosis in their medical record. While there is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s, early detection is critical to ensuring that people have the power to plan their own healthcare and future, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

“Being diagnosed early is vital to receiving the best help and care possible, living one’s life to the fullest, and capitalizing on opportunities such as participating in clinical studies,” said William Thies, PhD, Chief Medical & Scientific Officer at the Alzheimer’s Association.

Dr. Nerida Paterson, Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of General Practice at the University of Newcastle, Australia, and colleagues are interviewing more than 100 general practitioners (GPs) from four Australian research sites. At ICAD 2009, Paterson reported an interim analysis including interviews with 25 GPs.

The most cited enabler to early Alzheimer’s diagnosis is a doctor’s positive attitude to the diagnosis and treatment of dementia. Most of the GPs reported that referral to local services for planning, education, and support is an important part of disease management. Additional factors that encourage early Alzheimer’s diagnosis include: support from relatives and caregivers, belief in the patient’s right to know, and the desire of GPs to be honest and open with their patients.

The studies reported at ICAD 2009 were:
-- Nerida E. Paterson, et al - Early diagnosis of dementia in primary care in Australia: A qualitative study into the barriers and enablers.
-- Nerida E. Paterson, et al - The barriers to the early diagnosis of dementia and diagnostic disclosure in primary care.

The 2009 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2009) brings together more than 3,000 researchers from 70 countries to share groundbreaking research and information on the cause, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. ICAD 2009 will be held in Vienna, Austria at Messe Wien Exhibition and Congress Center from July 11–16.

The Alzheimer’s Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer care, support and research. Our mission is to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research, to provide and enhance care and support for all affected, and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health. Our vision is a world without Alzheimer’s. For more information, visit alz.org.

NOTICE, I HAVE NOW POSTED CHAPTER IV

I have posted my next chapter Ch. IV, IN LIGHT OF A PARADIGM SHIFT

Take a look at it at: My Book: FROM AA TO AD, A Wistful Travelogue http://icmike.blogspot.com/

My Blog: AGING WITH GRACE, My Alzheimer’s Afterthoughts http://im-mike.blogspot.com/
My Book: FROM AA TO AD, A Wistful Travelogue http://icmike.blogspot.com/

I AM NOTED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, To My Great Pleasure!

I was more than pleased to see my name on the New York Times Opinion Page as shown in its internet publication. I am quoted for a piece I wrote as comment on Elizabeth Kadetsky article Living in the Moment. I have posted the article in MY ALZHEIMER’S ARCHIVE OF ARTICLES AND MEMORANDA http://ic-mike.blogspot.com/

I took special note of this article because it discusses two books the reading of which I highly recommend and a third that is companion to the basics of living in the present. They are:

1. My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor (Hardcover - 2007)
2. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle (Paperback - Sep 29, 2004)
3. How to Practice : The Way to a Meaningful Life by Dalai Lama and Jeffrey Hopkins (Paperback - Aug 1, 2003)

July 9, 2009, 7:53 pm
Forgetting Past and Future
By The Editors

Many readers who commented on Elizabeth Kadetsky’s post, “Living in the Moment,” described their experiences of watching and caring for loved ones suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia. Excerpts from some are below.
...

My Present Losses

A wonderful tribute to love and to being loved. I have Alzheimer’s Disease and find by living in Now the means to withstand what otherwise would be loss. In this way it becomes worthwhile. I can speak for what it is like with this disease.

As you so aptly note, Jill Bolt Taylor’s observations are so poignant. Life from the right brain as she observed is so like life in the Now. It evokes that state that is the object of Buddhism, removed from the demanding attention of the left brain at work, to the separate calm of non-sequential present that can connect us all together with the Cosmos.

— Posted by Mike Donohue
NYT Opinion Page 7-10-09

NOTICE:

I have posted Chapter III, A DIAGNOSIS OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

Take a look at it at: My Book: FROM AA TO AD, A Wistful Travelogue http://icmike.blogspot.com/

GOT A DIAGNOSIS, PROGNOSIS OR JUST SOME KIND THOUGHTS HANDY?

Alzheimer’s, the rogue that it is loves to play its tricks on you. To begin with, most of the time, as the decline progresses, I am totally unaware of its progress unless something draws it to my attention.

Often it is my wife Diane who is closest to me, sees me on a day to day basis. Between her professional background of gerontology and just keen objective observation, she sees it. Some times she mentions it, but is careful not to upset me.

When I see it, it is not as it happens or as it just happened, but in a retrospect sort of way. I make this observation: "I used to be able to do that but I haven’t been able to do it for some time now."

Other incidence of this sneaking conniving insidious process occurs internally where I am not sharing too widely, even with myself. It catches me unaware!

One such incident is as follows:

Periodically I suffer this experience. It is not enough that I can pattern it; it is enough that eventually I notice it because it bothers me.

The experience is this. I get ever so antsy. Described more in detail it is like: I become restless and ill at ease; I lose my concentration; I do not know what I want to do. I tend to be distraught and depressed while this occurs and I am down on myself. I blame myself for not being cooperative with Diane in initiating things to do. I am making her life miserable being such a dolt! I want to sit around, but I am uncomfortable sitting around. I feel lonely yet do not want to make contact with anyone.

This sounds a lot like depression doesn’t it? Often these feelings do accompany depression when I have it. I am no virgin to depression. When that occurs, if I do not realize it and it is brought to my attention I can assign a cause to whatever it is that is getting me down. I know it and know enough from much experience with it to simply let it be and let it pass. I need to get out and do some activity or go exercise. Pass it always does

Sometimes I get the same feelings after a trip, when I am having difficulty adjusting back into routine. I know enough to simply let it be and let it pass. Pass it always does.

In the past it would periodically come up, I would stuff it down because I was shamed by the having of it. I tried to hide it, because I believed it manifested what I was not doing as the vibrant with it type of person I used to be.

Recently my wife Diane asked, “You look like something is bothering you Mike, can you talk about it?” I said nothing was bothering me and she left it alone. I thought about it asking why she was seeing what I was obviously manifesting. After searching myself I had no answer.

I recently read on one of the Boards a contributor writing: “We are going to one of Charlie’s friend’s place for a barbecue and to watch fireworks the Fourth. This is good because the friend understand Charlie and the problems he has. If Charlie gets antsy and wants to leave it is ok.”

Ohmygod! That is me. When I get out in groups so much of the time I get antsy and can’t take anymore. I long to go home but I keep my counsel so Diane can have a nice time. After it is over, and before the next one comes up, I fester; I get down on myself, asking myself “What in the heck are you, a selfish hermit? What kind of a partner do you make your wife?”

I read about Charlie, I hear antsy and somehow it fits. This is not untypical of our disease. We have difficulty in conversations, we can’t keep up, and we feel out of place. I can get antsy alone as it happened the other night as Diane asked “What’s up?”

When it happens with no reason, no depression weighing on me, no broken routine, home from a trip, change of circumstances. Is it possible I am not having another character defect again?

It strikes me this is Brain Chemistry taking off work! This is part of AD! Satisfied that it is I just wait it out and go on doing what I know I enjoy doing in spite of my unrest and distress at the time.

Any thoughts my friends?

Mike Donohue
My Blog: AGING WITH GRACE, My Alzheimer’s Afterthoughts http://im-mike.blogspot.com/
My Book: FROM AA TO AD, A Wistful Travelogue http://icmike.blogspot.com/

NOTICE: HEALTH CARE REFORM IS IN SIGHT

Paul Krugman reported in the New York Times OpEd page: HELP Is on the Way. He reports positive possibilities on Health Care Reform. I have posted the entire report at: MY ALZHEIMER’S ARCHIVE OF ARTICLES AND MEMORANDA http://ic-mike.blogspot.com/ Take a look at it. I also quote pertinent paragraphs as follows.

The HELP plan achieves near-universal coverage through a combination of regulation and subsidies. Insurance companies would be required to offer the same coverage to everyone, regardless of medical history; on the other side, everyone except the poor and near-poor would be obliged to buy insurance, with the aid of subsidies that would limit premiums as a share of income.

Employers would also have to chip in, with all firms employing more than 25 people required to offer their workers insurance or pay a penalty. By the way, the absence of such an “employer mandate” was the big problem with the earlier, incomplete version of the plan.

And those who prefer not to buy insurance from the private sector would be able to choose a public plan instead. This would, among other things, bring some real competition to the health insurance market, which is currently a collection of local monopolies and cartels.

The budget office says that all this would cost $597 billion over the next decade. But that doesn’t include the cost of insuring the poor and near-poor, whom HELP suggests covering via an expansion of Medicaid (which is outside the committee’s jurisdiction). Add in the cost of this expansion, and we’re probably looking at between $1 trillion and $1.3 trillion.

There are a number of ways to look at this number, but maybe the best is to point out that it’s less than 4 percent of the $33 trillion the U.S. government predicts we’ll spend on health care over the next decade. And that in turn means that much of the expense can be offset with straightforward cost-saving measures, like ending Medicare overpayments to private health insurers and reining in spending on medical procedures with no demonstrated health benefits.

So fundamental health reform — reform that would eliminate the insecurity about health coverage that looms so large for many Americans — is now within reach. The “centrist” senators, most of them Democrats, who have been holding up reform can no longer claim either that universal coverage is unaffordable or that it won’t work.

BREAKTHROUGH: CURES FOR MICE WITH ALZHEIMER’S!

WHAT A RELIEF, WHEW!

Is my heading and initial comment whimsical? You bet it is! It is intentional, not occasioned by accident or mistake! And here's why:

We are so intent on finding a cure we overlook means at hand to handle the disease we are trying to cure. I have no objection to a cure. I am on the other hand a realist.

Looking at what we can really expect my observations are these:

1. A cure will be difficult to tie down in that there are so many variations of biochemical change that cause AD

2. We can do something with mice, something with rats, but seem to have done little more in finding a curt

3. Ohmygod I hpe we find one but suspect it will not be within my life span!

4. There is so much that needs our emphasis and concentration in care and reducing the cost of it

5. The cost of it currently is confiscatory if you are not super rich or very poor

6. The cost of it confiscates the surviving spouses life time support caring for the afflicted spouse.

7. Having AD is bad enough. The affect on my spouse is reprehensible

8. Care for early stage AD afflicted will slow the slipping into later stage longer saving the eventual cost of care

9. These are tangibles, efforts that produce promise

10. This is where our attention is needed.

Let me close this comment with this: I am sincerely happy with what is being done for the 50 Florida mice in the cohort study!


Coffee 'may reverse Alzheimer's'

Drinking five cups of coffee a day could reverse memory problems seen in Alzheimer's disease, US scientists say.

The Florida research, carried out on mice, also suggested caffeine hampered the production of the protein plaques which are the hallmark of the disease.

Previous research has also suggested a protective effect from caffeine.

But British experts said the Journal of Alzheimer's disease study did not mean that dementia patients should start using caffeine supplements.

“ The results are particularly exciting in that a reversal of pre-existing memory impairment is more difficult to achieve ”

Dr Gary Arendash University of Florida

The 55 mice used in the University of Florida study had been bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

First the researchers used behavioural tests to confirm the mice were exhibiting signs of memory impairment when they were aged 18 to 19 months, the equivalent to humans being about 70.

Then they gave half the mice caffeine in their drinking water. The rest were given plain water.

The mice were given the equivalent of five 8 oz (227 grams) cups of coffee a day - about 500 milligrams of caffeine.

The researchers say this is the same as is found in two cups of "specialty" coffees such as lattes or cappuccinos from coffee shops, 14 cups of tea, or 20 soft drinks.
When the mice were tested again after two months, those who were given the caffeine performed much better on tests measuring their memory and thinking skills and performed as well as mice of the same age without dementia.

Those drinking plain water continued to do poorly on the tests.

In addition, the brains of the mice given caffeine showed nearly a 50% reduction in levels of the beta amyloid protein, which forms destructive clumps in the brains of dementia patients.

Further tests suggested caffeine affects the production of both the enzymes needed to produce beta amyloid.

The researchers also suggest that caffeine suppresses inflammatory changes in the brain that lead to an overabundance of the protein.

Earlier research by the same team had shown younger mice, who had also been bred to develop Alzheimer's but who were given caffeine in their early adulthood, were protected against the onset of memory problems.

'Safe drug'

Dr Gary Arendash, who led the latest study, told the BBC: "The results are particularly exciting in that a reversal of pre-existing memory impairment is more difficult to achieve.

"They provide evidence that caffeine could be a viable 'treatment' for established Alzheimer's disease and not simply a protective strategy.

"That's important because caffeine is a safe drug for most people, it easily enters the brain, and it appears to directly affect the disease process."
The team now hope to begin human trials of caffeine to see if the mouse findings are replicated in people.

They do not know if a lower amount of caffeine would be as effective, but said most people could safely consume the 500 milligrams per day.
However they said people with high blood pressure, and pregnant women, should limit their daily caffeine intake.

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: "In this study on mice with symptoms of Alzheimer's, researchers found that caffeine boosted their memory. We need to do more research to find out whether this effect will be seen in people.

"It is too early to say whether drinking coffee or taking caffeine supplements will help people with Alzheimer's.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8132122.stm

Published: 2009/07/05 22:10:54 GMT

© BBC MMIX

NOTICE: POST OF Chapter II. REBIRTH IN RECOVERY!

I posted Chapter II. entitled REBIRTH IN RECOVERY in my new book “FROM AA TO AD, A Wistful Travelogue” You can find it and read it at: FROM AA TO AD, A Wistful Travelogue http://icmike.blogspot.com/

Mike Donohue
My Blog: AGING WITH GRACE http://im-mike.blogspot.com/

FYI: BRAIN GAME

My cousin sent me this article. I do not know its source. I do not its content is relevant to all of us TAKING OUR MEDICATION, EATING RIGHT, EXERCISING DAILY AND PARTICIPATING IN SOCIAL, CREATIVE AND INTELLECTUALLY STIMULATING ACTIVITY.

Remember training your brain through games? Since bursting onto the scene a few years ago in Nintendo's hitBrain Training games, the concept of gaming our way to bigger, better cortexes has flamed out a bit, due largely to a flood of poorly-made, copycat titles and the dwindling of the belief that this sort of thing actually makes you smarter.

Food for thought

But while consumers have shifted away from the pseudo-educational genre, scientists have dropped it under a microscope in the hope of gleaning some insight into exactly how games affect the mind.

And according to some recent studies, it turns out that playing video games not only stimulates those synapses, but might actually make you a sharper thinker after all.
Courtesy of a $1.2 million grant, researchers from North Carolina State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology are hard at work studying whether or not video game playing can boost thinking skills and memory in the elderly. Rather than simply determining if certain games increase certain brain functions, the team is hoping to first identify the qualities that make a game good for the brain, then use that information to build a prototype brain game from the ground up.

The game best suited for the job? Oddly enough, it's EA's critically-acclaimed Boom Blox games. Dr. Anne McLaughlin, assistant professor of psychology at NC State, believes the Wii puzzle-party franchise contains three fundamental brain-strengthening qualities -- attentional demand, novelty and social interaction -- key to making a great brain game.

"For example, if we find that novelty and attentional demand improve cognition, we'll then develop a game that focuses on that," she said.

While McLaughlin and her crew aim to help grandparents stay sharp, other are examining what effects gaming will have on the next generation. A recent article in Scientific American targets "plasticity," or the brain's ability to dynamically change in response to experiences. Children are more susceptible to this kind of change, which means that the kinds of games they play could have different effects on their adult skill sets.

So which games are best for kids? That depends on what they want to be when they grow up. A study at the University of Rochester indicates that playing action games can increase hand-eye coordination and sharpen vision, while playing games like The Sims 2 might improve social interactions and even make people more empathetic. So if Johnny wants to be a fighter pilot, he might want to play some Wii Sports Resort instead of Wii Music.

Plus, you know, it's just a better game. And it doesn't take a big brain to figure that out.

Mike Donohue
My Blog: AGING WITH GRACE http://im-mike.blogspot.com/

FYI: (For What It's Worth!)

CAVEAT!

Every time something hopeful comes up DO WE HOPE? Sure, but when I try I get this empty pit in my gut. WHAT IF? Then I can think about it no longer. I dare not dare to hope less that too get dashed!

I worry that we are putting too much effort and concentration in the basket of finding a cure, doing so at the expense of concentrating more on programs to keep folks in early stage, programs to reduce the Cost of Care so it does not break us all, programs to allow our families to survive our disease.

I wish there was a way to take my disease casually!

Well, here is what I believe is the latest news for a cure!


Science News

Alzheimer's Symptoms Reversed: Blood Stem Cell Growth Factor Reverses Memory Decline In Mice

ScienceDaily (July 2, 2009) — A human growth factor that stimulates blood stem cells to proliferate in the bone marrow reverses memory impairment in mice genetically altered to develop Alzheimer's disease, researchers at the University of South Florida and James A. Haley Hospital found.

The granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (GCSF) significantly reduced levels of the brain-clogging protein beta amyloid deposited in excess in the brains of the Alzheimer's mice, increased the production of new neurons and promoted nerve cell connections.

The findings are reported online in Neuroscience and are scheduled to appear in the journal's print edition in August.

GCSF is a blood stem cell growth factor or hormone routinely administered to cancer patients whose blood stem cells and white blood cells have been depleted following chemotherapy or radiation. GCSF stimulates the bone marrow to produce more white blood cells needed to fight infection. It is also used to boost the numbers of stem cells circulating in the blood of donors before the cells are harvested for bone marrow transplants. Advanced clinical trials are now investigating the effectiveness of GCSF to treat stroke, and the compound was safe and well tolerated in early clinical studies of ischemic stroke patients.

"GCSF has been used and studied clinically for a long time, but we're the first group to apply it to Alzheimer's disease," said USF neuroscientist Juan Sanchez-Ramos, MD, PhD, the study's lead author. "This growth factor could potentially provide a powerful new therapy for Alzheimer's disease – one that may actually reverse disease, not just alleviate symptoms like currently available drugs."
The researchers showed that injections under the skin of filgrastim (Neupogen®) -- one of three commercially available GCSF compounds -- mobilized blood stem cells in the bone marrow and neural stem cells within the brain and both of these actions led to improved memory and learning behavior in the Alzheimer's mice. "The beauty in this less invasive approach is that it obviates the need for neurosurgery to transplant stem cells into the brain," Dr. Sanchez-Ramos said.

Based on the promising findings in mice, the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation is funding a pilot clinical trial at USF's Byrd Alzheimer's Center. The randomized, controlled trial, led by Dr. Sanchez-Ramos and Dr. Ashok Raj, will test the safety and effectiveness of filgrastim in 12 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease

The researchers worked with 52 elderly mice, equivalent to the human ages of 60 to 80 years. About half (24) were mice genetically altered to develop symptoms mimicking Alzheimer's disease by the time they reach 5-months old. The others (28 normal, or non-Alzheimer's, mice) were not. The researchers confirmed through a series of tests that the Alzheimer's mice were memory impaired before beginning the experiments.

Some mice were treated for three weeks with injections of the GCSF compound filgrastim. At the end of study, the Alzheimer's mice treated with GCSF demonstrated clearly improved memory, performing as well on behavioral tests as their non-Alzheimer's counterparts. The Alzheimer's mice administered saline injections instead of GCSF continued to perform poorly. GCSF treatment did not boost the already excellent memory performance demonstrated by the non-Alzheimer's mice tested before the study began.

Further experiments showed that the size and extent of beta amyloid deposited in the brains of the Alzheimer's mice was significantly less in those treated with GCSF. Depending on their ages, mice treated with GCSF had a 36 to 42-percent reduction in beta amyloid, the protein considered a major culprit in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

GCSF reduced the burden of beta amyloid deposited in the brains of the Alzheimer's mice by several means, the researchers found. One was by recruiting reinforcements to clear beta amyloid accumulating abnormally in the brain. The growth factor prodded bone-marrow derived microglia outside the brain to join forces with the brain's already-activated microglia in eliminating the Alzheimer's protein from the brain. Microglia are brain cells that act as the central nervous system's main form of immune defense. Like molecular "Pac-men," they rush to the defense of damaged or inflamed areas to gobble up toxic substances.

The growth factor also appeared to increase the production of new neurons in the area of the brain (hippocampus) associated with memory decline in Alzheimer's disease and to form new neural connections.

"The concept of using GCSF to harness bone marrow-derived cells for Alzheimer's therapy is exciting and the findings in mice are promising, but we still need to prove that this works in humans," said Dr. Raj, a physician researcher at the Byrd Alzheimer's Center at USF Health.

In addition to Dr. Sanchez-Ramos, other authors of the Neuroscience paper were Shijie Song, PhD; Vasyl Sava, PhD; Briony Catlow, PhD; Xiaoyang Lin; Takashi Mori, PhD; Chuanhai Cao, PhD; and Gary Arendash, PhD.

WHAT IS AD LIKE?

My Cousin Terry Hopper a retired Humane Officer for San Diego County CA, living with his wife and daughter in Thailand corresponds with me by email regularly. Recently in email he asked me the following questions which I answered.

The questions were pointed and covered some basics of my diagnosis of AD but three years ago. Here is the question answer exchange:

Hi Terry,

I got your questions, they are good and right on point. Here are my answers:

Q: What first caused you to seek help for a condition (AD) that was still undiagnosed?

A: I didn't seek any help! Diane my wife was nagging me about driving. I finally got tired of listening and agreed to go into the doc. I did. He said don't drive and set me up with a bunch of tests. To prove them both wrong I set up a driving simulation test at the hospital. I flunked it miserably. Did that ever turn my crank! I went on with the tests; a neurologist dropped the bomb on me with a diagnosis of AD on June 30th 2006

Q: Was there a specific symptom or symptoms?

A: After diagnosis and validation thereafter by a 4 hour neuro psychometric exam I was able to see in retrospect a series of events that were inexplicable when each occurred. When added together the cause was evident. These were such things as missing appointments, turning the check book and handling our accounts over to Diane because of the confusion I was having with them and the mess I was making of them. I took a number of bad falls tripping over things in plain sight. One was dramatic through a glass case at Sac's Department Store. This was then verified in the Neuro Psychometric which put the damage in the front and right side of the brain and not so much in the areas that control memory. My memory remains fairly good as does my writing skill and my reading ability.

Q: How do they determine that's its AD that you have? Is there a test for it, or just a whole lot of things adding up to it?

A: AD is different in every person who has it because everyone's brain is different. They call it AD when it is consistent with a lot of other people with similar symptoms, when it is possible to rule out vascular blockage as cause or a variety of other degenerative conditions that produce dementia. Mine is different than normal but sufficiently alike that they classify it as Atypical AD. They can do CATScans or MRIs to show brain damage which often it does not because the damage in to discrete as is true in my case. An autopsy will confirm it, but I told them I would wait with that.

Q: Obviously your mind is still sharp. Is it that way all the time for you, or are there moments...?

A: There are moments. Most of the time my mind is clear and running on all cylinders. At times, particularly if I am tired, stressed or depressed it gets cloudy out for me. Diane says she can see it: I look like a deer in front of the headlights. Hell, what does that do for George W. Bush. He was that all of the time. When it is cloudy it is like the air has turned to viscous (like a thick oil) and everything I do or think is slow and impaired.

I avoid stress because I am very vulnerable to it. It is astounding how down I can get when something sets me off. Sometimes travel does that. The trip to Washington DC to be on a panel at a joint conference of the Administration on Aging and National Alzheimer’s did a real number on me. I was down lower than the proverbial belly of a snake for a few weeks after I got home. I concluded that it was because I had worked so hard preparing for it, it went so very well, and then when it was over I still had this crap! AD just didn’t go away. (Here I refer to my unconscious or subconscious acting, none of this was conscious). Not all travel sets me off. Big gatherings and a lot of noise or pandemonium also does a number on me.

Q: Can I assume that by keeping your mind active that you delay AD getting worse, or is that an unknown?

A: Excellent question. You assume correctly. The mantra is this Eat Right, Exercise Daily, get involved in Social, Creative and Intellectually Stimulating Activity, do this and take your medication. This prolongs you in Early Stage AD.

Q: Is there a timeline for going from early stage AD to the end stage, or is that something that is different for each person?

A: It is different for each person. I am going slowly so far. Others around me at the same level seem to be going faster. For them I regret this because we need one another. They told me I could expect 8 - 20 years before I croak from it.

Thank you for asking Terry. I feel it so important that people do ask cuz this disease is only going to get worse. It is better that it gets Early Detection Early Diagnosis because in Early Stage you can retain a quality of life in spite of the disease and stay in that longer by doing something about it. On this issue I am truly on my soap box. That is one way I am able to help others and it is important to me to be able to do so.

Regards, Mike