Who says there’s no more creativity in American business?

Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder named for German physician Alois Alzheimer, who first described it in 1906. (He forgot about it shortly thereafter.  Kidding!)  Alzheimer’s is a progressive and fatal brain disease. As many as 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s destroys brain cells, causing memory [...]]]> Source:  AARP Bulletin, July 2010

Who says there’s no more creativity in American business?

Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder named for German physician Alois Alzheimer, who first described it in 1906. (He forgot about it shortly thereafter.  Kidding!)  Alzheimer’s is a progressive and fatal brain disease. As many as 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s destroys brain cells, causing memory loss and problems with thinking and behavior severe enough to affect work, lifelong hobbies or social life.  It is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States.

The most common form of the disease is dementia (general memory loss) which interferes with daily life.  The disease is currently without a cure.

A small company in Philadelphia (of all places), Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, has offered information on a radioactive dye which may be used in connection with currently existing PET scan technology.  The dye “sticks” to the plaques (a protein known as beta-amyloid) on the brain which are associated with Alzheimer’s and appear whiter on the scan.  Reportedly, the dye finds and highlights plaques in 97% of the PET scans.

The test, if approved for marketing by the US Food & Drug Administration, could help diagnose the disease in its early stages to allow for medical intervention.  For those suffering along with a family member who has Alzheimer’s the value of added time can not be denied.

~Posted by D.M. Schwadron, Esquire

A stroke is the interruption of blood to the brain.  It is most commonly caused by vascular interruption from a blood clot or cholesterol blockage or cholesterol embolus.  Rarely, it may also be caused by fungal endocarditis and fungal emboli following mitral valve replacement surgery.

Strokes have been classified as “brain attacks.”  [...]]]> Source:  BBC Health; The Lancet

A stroke is the interruption of blood to the brain.  It is most commonly caused by vascular interruption from a blood clot or cholesterol blockage or cholesterol embolus.  Rarely, it may also be caused by fungal endocarditis and fungal emboli following mitral valve replacement surgery.

Strokes have been classified as “brain attacks.”  Like heart attacks, strokes can damage and kill tissue and result in temporary or permanent brain, injury, nerve injury (palsy), paralysis, loss of coordination and balance,neurological impairment, loss of speech and death.  Predicting them and treating them before they occur can be critically important.

Researchers are calling for new guidelines for GP’s (General Practitioners or Primary Care Providers here in the US) to ensure that blood pressure remains at a steady level.  While lower is preferential, it appears to be the fluctuation (change up or down) of blood pressure that determines the risk of stroke.   Current guidelines call for a re-check of a high blood pressure only.  If that second pressure is normal there is rarely treatment in the form of medication.  And medication alone might not be the answer.  Studies published in The Lancet have suggested that beta blockers (a common class of heart medication) may increase variation in blood pressure.

Like the fable the tortoise and the hare, it appears that slow and steady really does win the race when it comes to blood pressure and decreasing the risk of stroke or at the very least predicting those patients at risk for stroke.

~Posted by D.M. Schwadron, Esquire

I know, I know…Let them sleep on their backs…No wait, only on their stomachs…No wait, on their backs but no pillows…or blankets…No smoking…No pets…Never in bed with you…

Perhaps it’s no wonder why the Amercian Academy of Pediatrics is constantly revising guidelines [...]]]> Source:  U.S. National Institutes of Health; Journal of the American Medical Association, February 3, 2010

I know, I know…Let them sleep on their backs…No wait, only on their stomachs…No wait, on their backs but no pillows…or blankets…No smoking…No pets…Never in bed with you…

Perhaps it’s no wonder why the Amercian Academy of Pediatrics is constantly revising guidelines for infant sleep.  There is a wealth of information seemingly linking SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) with, well, everything.  The latest?  Serotonin. Huh?  Okay, back to biochemistry class we go.  Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, don’t worry about what kind, it’s presence or absence in sufficient quantities is  broadly responsible for the regulation of mood, appetite, sleep, muscle contraction, and some cognitive functions including memory and learning. Modulation of serotonin at synapses is thought to be a major action of several classes of pharmacological antidepressants.  As an interesting aside (well interesting to me anyway) certain foods, carbohydrates mostly -pasta, chips also seem to have a serotonin level response.

So why all the chemistry talk? Because researchers studying the brains of infants who have died from SIDS have found that they were producing low levels of serotonin. No, they weren’t depressed, well not emotionally anyway.  However, to the extent that serotonin may be responsible for breathing they may be onto something.  How much lower?  26% lower according to this study. Measures of an enzyme required to manufacture serotonin (tryptophan hydroxylase for those of you playing the home game) were also 22% lower in the brains of the SIDS death infants studied.

Yes, they are still currently recommending the whole back sleeping thing. For a complete list of sleeping guidelines see http://www.nicdh.nih.gov/sids/ or speak with your pediatrician or obstetrician.

~Posted by D.M. Schwadron, Esquire