Dementia

...ba href=/dementia/a/b, affecting more than 18 million people worldwide.

As the baby-boom generation ages, this number is expected to rise.

To date, researchers have amassed evidence that the disease is caused by abnormal accumulation of a substance in the brain called beta-amyloid.

This accumulation interferes with brain function and effects memory and cognition.

A major goal in Alzheimer's research is to develop ways to remove this beta-amyloid build-up.

One of the strategies for accomplishing this is to trigger the body's own immune system to clear the amyloid from the brain.

Previous and current studies have focused on injectable vaccines to induce antibodies to clear the a-beta or direct intravenous administration of anti-a-beta antibody.

These earlier trials of injectable a-beta were discontinued because of complications that led to encephalitis.According to Howard L.

Weiner, MD, a neurologist who is co-director of the Center for Neurologic Diseases at BWH and who headed the research team, "This basic science finding has tangible bedside implications.

We hope to see this vaccine strategy studied in humans as quickly as possible to help determine if it can slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Until we have a cure or a way of preventing the disease, novel new strategies like this are critical to the development of a treatment regimen that will preserve quality of life for those who suffer from the disease."Previous research found that a vaccine containing a-beta, while promisin...

...ba href=/dementia/a/b Stress link in memory loss - Clinic to diagnose, treat stress-induced memory loss SANJAY MANDAL Are you forgetting major appointments?

Are familiar telephone numbers or names slipping out of your mind?

If the answer is yes, you are probably over-stressed and suffering from high blood pressure, hypertension or even diabetes.

Incidence of ba href=/dementia/a/b or loss of memory is fast rising in Calcuttans and doctors blame it on the change in lifestyle.

“High blood pressure, hypertension and diabetes affect the memory of a person.

These ailments are on the rise in the city because of increased stress and other factors,” said R.P.

Sengupta, chairman and medical director of National Neurosciences Centre (NNC) — a joint venture of Neurosciences Foundation, Bengal, and Peerless Hospital.

NNC is setting up a memory restoration clinic at Peerless Hospital, in collaboration with a Japanese pharmaceutical company, to diagnose causes of memory loss and provide guidance to those affected by it.

Such centres have been set up in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad, too.

The temporal lobe of the brain controls the memory of a person.

The memory cells get affected because of various factors, a minor stroke being one of them.

Such strokes do not exihibit any symptom or cause any immediate damage to the body, but blood vessels in the brain of the affected person get blocked, resulting in disruption in the blood supply to certain areas, including the one that controls memory.

Acute ba href=/dementia/a/b can lead t...

...ba href=/dementia/a/b.

It allows law enforcement and emergency personnel to quickly identify and return loved ones who wander.

People with any of the four types of ba href=/dementia/a/b, including Alzheimer's, may wander for any of a variety of reasons.

According to Dr.

Daniel Wollman, of the Board of Directors of the Alzheimer's Association and Geriatric mental Health Alliance task force, "Wandering is an interesting behavior.

They do it with a purpose or goal in mind.

If something is lost, or missing, they go in search of it." He said that people have to focus on the individual's needs.

He told a story about an elderly man in an elder care facility who would leave his room at about the same time every night, and staff members had no success keeping him in his room, even with barriers.

They researched the man's background and found out he used to be a night floor manager in a factory.

He would meet the coal delivery every night and was still trying to fulfill that responsibility.

Once the staff found this out, they created a place for him to go.

He would go to a place in the building, pick up a "delivery slip" and return to bed as part of his daily routine.

Wollman explained, "We do things in a repetitive manner, but other aspects of our lives modulate this behavior.

People lose these modulations." Four types of ba href=/dementia/a/b The four types of ba href=/dementia/a/b are very different.

Each affects a different region of the brain.

Alzheimer's is only one type and primarily affects the side portions, which deal...